Monday, June 30, 2008

Tastemaker..



So My man Chino Will aka "The Mayor of Soho" recently reached out and asked me some questions for the Tastemakers section of his blog and this was the result.. Click here.

If you into keeping tabs on what dudes like Kanye will surely be sporting next season or what furniture is prolly sittin' in Jay's Williamsburg condo, Wil's blog is the place to go..

Sunday, June 29, 2008

The Rub.. Greatest Hits Part 1..



Besides the obvious Tony Montana rub, this jumpy stands out as one of the all time great cinematic hits..

maybe i'll edit this later and add the Tony rub.. maybe.. haha..

Thursday, June 26, 2008

The "Popular" Vote..




Homie's publicity game is bananas.. Peep the fake Tiger Beat cover done by The Onion.. hahaha..

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

No Tight Clothes Campaign..



Meet the Thug Slaughter Force. These dudes have taken it upon themselves to defend the oversized ("This tee is big enough for the both of us, Boo") mantra that has prevailed for like ever in Hip Hop and has just recently began to fade in favor of the retro 80's tight gear in style at the moment with the kiddies.. If these dudes had a lick of skills they mighta been onto something. I'm pretty sure Dem Franchize Boyz woulda jumped on the wagon right quick since they smash "White Tee" was solely based on the gown sized tee lifestyle.. Peep the village voice article here.


For those who prefer the direct visual, here's their video:






* Oddly enough, they've included Jim Jones in they're campaign as a poster boy for tight clothes.. hahaha.. I recall Jim getting at Kanye for wearing super tight denim.. Wonder how he feels about this..

Ultimate Voice Impersonator..


Part 1



Part 2



I only let each video run about a minute in and I gave duke the benefit of the doubt.. needless to say, homie has alot of time on his hands..

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Social (In)Justice..


Providence RI, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) march on Jackies Galaxy, a local restaurant chain supplied by HWH/Dragonland in NYC, a supplier notorious for slave labor conditions and a lack of basic labor rights.

A few blocks before finishing the march North Providence police brutally tackled two of the marches after they moved to the sidewalk too slowly, both were arrested and one suffered a badly broken leg in the attack. More info here.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Unique Way To Feed The Homeless..




I had mixed feelings about this one.. Ultimately I concluded that homie could give 2 poops about the homeless men and their well being and just wanted a quick laugh.. That White Castle gotta be in boonie-ville somewhere cuz you know if it were the one on 103rd and 1st Ave. they'da told homie to go ahead wit that bullshit..

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Original Flava Tuesdays.. Memories Edition..





Growing up, the person who wore the pants and was the "godfather" (or "godmother" in this case) of my family was my grandma. She pretty much ran the show as far as my parents and grandparents went. She partied the hardest and would drink my dad and grandpa under the table week after week. She also loved herself some "Balladas". These were pretty much the first tunes I can recall being familiar with (besides the corny Menudo records that we were force fed as kids) since the songs played on what seemed like repeat every weekend. I remember stopping at the record shop in Times Square located underground in between the shuttle and the 1 train to browse through LP's en route to go shopping in my grandma's favorite neighborhood in the city; "El Barrio Chino" or China Town in english. Unlike most hip hop fans who came up on soul tunes and LP's from their parents, my first contact with vinyl and music was through these records. I loved analyzing the artwork and reading the labels and logos on the sleeves. One of these albums was Jose Jose's "Secretos". I remember the first track specifically titled "Lo Dudo" as one her favorites.
Fast forward to spring of 1998. That year DMX was taking the industry by storm, replacing Diddy's shiny suit era with gritty street corner rhymes and equally hard beats. His freshman opus "It's Dark and Hell It's Hot" was the most anticipated album of the year and set off an amazing run for the Ruff Ryders crew. I was puttin' in work having already been makin' moves on the spinnin' front and gettin' ready to graduate from Syracuse.. I was trying to get into the production end and that xmas of '97 had rummaged my grandma's Balladas vinyl collection in hopes of going in a different direction than the monotonous jazzy ummah/beatminerz samples and soulful primo & pete rock chops being copied by every new jack producer out.. One of these records I chose to sample was the aforementioned "Lo Dudo". To put a long story short, Younglord beat me to the punch and used it for one of my favorite joints off that first X album, "Let Me Fly" and opened the door for dudes like Alchemist to start invading the Spanish samples section at A1 record shop..


Jose Jose - "Lo Dudo"

Monday, June 16, 2008

Run Forrest Run...




This shits hilarious.. dude outran 2 toy cops in nuttin' but a sock.. hahaha..


*I know I'm super duper bullshit wit all the crap I kicked last week about being reinvigorated to post some insightful crap on here, but I been busy livin' !!! Don't worry.. it's supposed to be a rainy weekend comin' up so I might be able to go in xtra heavy soon! (pause, no John Amaechi)

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day..





Growing up, the military did some weird things to my dad. For one, he always ate Chef Boyardee and Campbell Soup cold and straight out the can.. He said it reminded him of rations.. Another was his affinity with Spam. He said it was like steak to soldiers.. If my pops we're around and this book were real, i'd so get it for him..

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Awesome Image..





Damn this image is striking..
And we complain about how we have it in 2008..

Who Put That Pole There?





Keepin' with the theme from yesterday, ol' boy right here caught bad one..

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Wall Takes Revenge on Vandal..





Damn.. Homie played himself.. that shit looks like it split in 2..

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Lazy Sundays.. Summer Dominoes Edition.





Ok so I'm posting a damn youtube clip but watch how I freak this.. Growing Up, My Puerto Rican family in the BX stayed parked on the stoop on Tremont Ave. across from the famed Bronx Zoo and they favorite past time was playin' Dominoes.. Today was the annual NYC Puerto RIcan Day Parade so what better way to honor that memory than to post this awesome ad that incorporates tumblng dominoes?? If this woulda been a Budwieser ad it woulda been a damn home run..hahaha oh well, it still rocks..

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Book Review.. "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz




Ok, I'm gonna try to make this a habit. Since I've been making an effort to read more, why not write what I thought of the books on here.. Now I ain't Oprah or The NY Times so my reviews are pretty much gonna be off the cuff and informal on some what I felt type shit..
For This first one, I chose this book based on the simple fact the author was Dominican. I grew up a Puerto Rican/Costa Rican living on the border of Wash Heights and Harlem so the cultural influence of both Dominicans and African American friends was pretty strong.
The story is basically about three generations of one Dominican family. Its main character is Oscar, a fat, lazy, nerdy, uncool, always-will-be-a-virgin loser. Oscar is in search of true Love and is willing to risk everything to find it. The fictional story explores the history of a what seems to be a family cursed, and supports it with factual accounts of the evil and corrupt cultural history of Dominican dictators. The author, Junot Diaz does an excellent job of blending together ghetto spanglish slang, a number of odes to pop culture, and Dominican historiographical substance. Diaz's writing style is an excellent balance of comedic truth and blunt, cynical lyricism... Simply put, Oscar Wao pretty much made me want to read again..


*Junot Diaz had actually taught a class in Syracuse which I found out after the fact, so needless to say I didn't take it..

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The Buffalo Theory of Intelligence According to Cliff..


In one episode of Cheers, Cliff is seated at the bar describing the Buffalo Theory to his buddy, Norm.




"Well you see, Norm, it’s like this . . . A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first . This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers."



*Can't help but think this is exactly how my dad woulda described it..

WTF??

“Smoking kills. If you’re killed, you’ve lost a very important part of your life.”

~ Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.
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Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: “I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,”

~ Miss Alabama’s Heather Whitestone in the 1994 Miss USA contest, who was later selected as Miss America 1995.
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“Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can’t help but cry. I mean I’d love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.”

~ Mariah Carey
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“I’ve never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body”

~ Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.
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“Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country”

~ Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC.
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“I’m not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president.”

~ Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents.
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“That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I’m just the one to do it.”

~ A congressional candidate in Texas.
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“Half this game is ninety percent mental.”

~ Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark
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“It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.”

And (yea he gets two)…

“We are ready for an unforeseen event that may or may not occur.”

~ Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States (and inventor of the internet : )
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“I love California . I practically grew up in Phoenix.”

~ Dan Quayle
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“We’ve got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?”

~ Lee Iacocca
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“The word “genius” isn’t applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.”

~ Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.
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“We don’t necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people”

~ Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instrutor.
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“If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.”

~ Bill Clinton, Former President of the United States
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“Traditionally, most of Australia ’s imports come from overseas.”

~ Keppel Enderbery
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“Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.”

~ Department of Social Services, Greenville , South Carolina
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“If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there’ll be a record.”

~ Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Let Me Explain..





Ok, its been a few days since my last post.. I had a pretty long weekend with little sleep let alone time to sit in front of the lappy long enough to pump out a post.. Initially I was a bit disappointed in myself but eventually realized it wasn't such a bad thing.. Sometimes it's important for us to all disconnect at one point or another and live life..
Me and my kok brethren had a lil jumpy on Saturday night and I had mixed feelings on the turnout.. I thank all those who came out immensely (Ant, Chino, Chitty, Keif, Moni, Joel & crew, Alex Cespedes and her friends, Ty, Dark and 6 block city, Rikeswon, How, Mel, Nicole and the Met batboy, Michelle & crew and dude who was breakdancin' from 11pm right till the lights went on at 3:45.. if i missed you blame it on the brain, not the heart!) It was a decent look in the spot, but Ima keep it 100 and say I was disappointed in certain people who call themselves "fam" that decided not to show. The disappointment comes from the fact I guess I considered them such as well. That along with a few other recent incidents brought me to thinkin' about how loosely we throw that term around.. Ima make it a point to chill wit the use of that terminology as well as my loose consideration of people as such.. Ultimately though, rockin' a party with both Rah and Noodles together was a first for us as a unit and that was prolly the most fun I've had spinnin' in a long ass time.. Well Sunday mornin, on 2 hours sleep I had a 5 mile race in central park for road runners and that was tough.. I manned up and posted my best time this year so far..
This is prolly more info than I've written in quite some time on here and thats kinda deliberately.. I sat down yesterday and analyzed the direction this blog has taken since its inception and while its been a good representation of my comedic side, I've slacked on sharing insight on me personally and even on what it was initially intended for; to showcase my joy of music. So today I decided to make a conscientious effort to do just that. I'll try to be a lil more open with the few people that read this and ima try to post alot more personal music related stuff.. Thanks to any and everyone that checks this out even casually.. Obama just kicked an amazin' ass speech and the Tylenol with codeine my moms hooked me up wit for this migraine i been havin' is kickin' in about now so ima stop this here but thats my word, ima post some music tommorrow and ill try to go back to the old designated day posts I fell off on like Original Tuesdays etc.. as well as ramble from time to time (ill pick a designated day for that too) so please stay tuned!!

It's On..




Wow.. I can't front, I never really thought it would happen.. I assumed a wrench would be thrown in the 11th hour or a hanging chad type scandal woulda prevented it.. It's gonna be an interesting 6 months..