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Mike Gravel is stuck in a permanent acid trip from 1976
I can think of no other logical explanation for this country/rap/rock cartoon production from Gravel’s campaign:
Auburn Marching Band Plays Thriller in Horror Costumes
On Sunday Oct. 28, dozens of high school marching bands met at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY for the annual New York State Field Band Championships. Congratulations are due to Orchard Park High School (woooo alma mater! wooo!) for clinching their first ever National-class championship.
The show you have to watch, though, is Auburn High School’s rendition of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Trumpets don Freddy Kreuger masks, the drumline all has skulls on their heads and painted on their drums, and, well, you really just have to watch it. The title track of Thriller comes on about 2/3 the way through the video.
A little something about me.
In addition to naming two animals after members of the Wu Tang Clan, my hard drives have a similar nomenclature:
In addition, the first new Wu Tang in 6 years comes out December 11, one week after a new Ghostface album. Says RZA: “How can hip-hop be dead if Wu-Tang is forever?”
Rap Analogies
Sean and I were listening to some Dre tracks last night, and I thought of this analogy that I wanted to demonstrate.’
Eminem’s verse : Dre’s verse on “Forgot About Dre”
::
Obie’s verse : Eminem’s verse on “Drips”
In each case, the younger’s artist verse is solid: the verses flow with the beat and there are some impressive lines. But the older rapper spits that much better in both songs. It’s rare that you find songs where the younger can be comparable to the older, as Eminem and Obie are on their respective songs.
But Dre’s last verse on “Forgot About Dre” is ridiculous (“I was strapped with gatts while you were cuddling a cabbage patch”), and Eminem just kills his verse on Drips.
I don’t know if that makes sense, especially if you’re not used to hearing what Drips is actually about. But it was a bit of a breakthrough for me.
This song has been stuck in my head all day.
Dr. Dre – The Roach (The Chronic Outro)
No one listens to the radio anymore
Today’s New York Times Magazine has a fascinating cover story profiling producer and newly-minted Columbia co-head Rick Rubin. This 10-page online spread is a great read that I have yet to finish, but one section popped out to me (unrelated to Rubin).
Columbia Records commissioned a group of “20 college students from Harvard, Penn State and the University of Miami to work on various music projects” with the label. They did a focus group with the students to see why it was so difficult to sell records.
The results rang true for me, at the least.
The kids all said that a) no one listens to the radio anymore, b) they mostly steal music, but they don’t consider it stealing, and c) they get most of their music from iTunes on their iPod. They told us that MySpace is over, it’s just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That’s how they hear about music, bands, everything.”
Pretty much. I don’t know if Facebook is yet to decline in popularity, but MySpace had a rapid fall from grace over the last twelve months.
This is a striking glimpse into the world of our generation. Established music empires cannot sell music, because we all act on whims.
The articles has tons of fascinating tidbits like this – I really recommend checking out the whole thing.
Nas was right. Hip hop is dead.
Music: Kanye West's New Mixtape Isn't Too Bad
Kanye West was the first artist I listened to on my way to becoming a rap / hip-hop fan a couple of years ago. I loved College Dropout, but thought the next one was pretty “meh.” Did he come out with another one after that? I don’t even know.
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