This guy is running for President?!!

Considering that I have a bachelor's in Poli Sci and I am a soon to be social studies teacher, I figured it would be a good idea to finally sit down and watch these politicans deliver their scripted responses in these so called "debates". If all you knew about politics was based on what was on TV, you would probably think that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the only two people running for President. But the 20 of us that actually follow politics know that Obama and Clinton are just two of the 10 candidates that are running for the Democratic nomination. Last night, Tavis Smiley hosted a debate at Howard University designed to grill the candidates on issues pertaining specifically to the black community. The debate covered the usuals (HIV, poverty, education, drug laws) and of course each candidate responded with answers oozing with political correctness and false promises. I enjoyed the debate nonetheless due largely to one man. Barack Obama? No. John Edwards? No. Mike Gravel. Who? Yeah Mike Gravel. I've never even heard of the dude until last night. But he held my interest during the debate. Clinton and Obama may have had the "home field advantage" but Gravel showed up to play last night. After seeing Gravel go hard, I decided to do a little more research on this dude and see what type of history he has. Turns out there's nothing too interesting about Mike Gravel, other than the fact that he was born during the depression (1930). I won't bore you with the legislation he has helped passed but I did find this video on youtube and after watching this clip I'm sure you'll realize that he will never be President.

Myspace Music: Brittany Street

Let's be honest, the female emcee is damn near on the brink of extinction. Remember when Eve, Foxy and Kim were actually competitive (c)rappers in the game. Now Eve is tryin to peddle that B'Day leftover track "Tambourine", Foxy just got her ass mollywopped by a gang of hoes (literally), and apparently Kim is more focused on becoming a Michael Jacskson look-a-like. And L'Boogie is in a category all by herself. Luckily we still have Jean Grae, to carry on the tradition that began with MC Lyte, Oueen Latifah and others. But it looks like soon we will have a new name to add to the list of up and coming femcees. Introducing Brittany Street. I try my hardest to stray from the use of trite, cliche phrases but in this case I think it is very appropriate. So, with that said, "never judge a book by its cover". A quick glance at Brittany Streets pic may lead one to believe that coy face and cute smile would be suited for a dance-heavy, radio friendly sound. But if your looking for bubble gum, radio pop you won't get it from Brit Street. Think more MC Lyte and less Lil Mama. I was pleasantly surprised to hear such intensity from Brit Street. Check her "Black Republican" freestyle and you can hear that hunger Eve, Foxy and Kim desperatly need to rekindle. Brit is from the surburbs of Indianapolis but it's her passion that translates into the gritty feel of her music. The songs on her page showcase her versatility; a quality that many signed rappers are currently lacking. It also says she has been fortunate enough to have work with the late J Dilla and the legendary Large Professor, so she does have some notches under her belt. Check out Brittany Streets page, I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

www.myspace.com/itsbrittanystreet

Life lessons from Bell Biv Devoe...

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At 8 years old I was hardly capable of understanding the social and political structure of America. Nevertheless I was fascinated by Public Enemy's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. It wasn't until I was much older that I really began to understand the significance of the words Chuck D was so vehemently speaking. In a similar situation, when I was 10 years old I had yet to be "seasoned" enough to understand the importance of a line like "never trust a big butt and a smile". It wasn't until my over-inflated hormones took precedent in those perverted high school days that I began to slightly understand the scandalous nature of some females. The point I'm making is that music, good music in particular, can withstand time and can have a complete different meaning depending on what stage of life you are in. In the context of my life, Bell Biv Devoe's Poison is one of those records.

I dug this out of the archives a few weeks back and it has been getting a lot of burn lately. Now that I've lived well into my 20s and have had my fair share of scandalous females, I'm much more prepared to understand what this record was really about. Aside from being a very well produced album (which I'm just finding out was co-produced by The Bomb Squad), the highlight of the record isn't the actual singing but it's how vividly BBD described their brash sexacapades. Any young man can stand to learn a few things from BBD.

Poison- This is the song that spawned one of the greatest lines in music history; "Never trust a big butt and a smile". So next time that little "tenderoni" with the big ass smiles at you and asks you to buy her a drink, remind yourself of Bell Biv Devoe not T-Pain.

I Thought It Was Me- So you found yourself a little freak, huh?! Well don't think she wasn't freakin' before you met her. As men we would all love to think we were the ones that turned her out, but chances are it wasn't yo ass!

Do Me!- "Kinda wet, don't forget, the J-the I-the M- the M- the Y.." Don't get yourself caught up in baby mama drama, strap it up and play it safe. Ricky, Ronnie and Mike were definitely having a lot of groupie love but at least they were smart enough to pack extra jimmy hats.

There's so much to learn from BBD's Poison but those were just a few of the highlights. If you're over the age of 25 you need this in your collection. Go get it!

Official Kanye Tracklist & Cover?

I don't know how legit this "official" tracklist is, but I found it this morning and thought I better post it anyway.

1. Time To Leave (Intro)
2. Up In It (featuring John Legend and Miri Ben-Ari)
3. SKIT #1
4. Make Me Over
5. Homecoming (featuring Chris Martin)
6. Another Time Too Soon (featuring Jay-Z)
7. Can't Tell Me Nothing (featuring Young Jeezy)
8. Egotistical (featuring Akon)
9. SKIT #2
10. Stronger
11. Street Scene (featuring Common and Eminem)
12. Learn The Insides
13. Into The Fall
14. Top Of The World (featuring MYSTERY GUEST and Ne-Yo)
15. A Way To Get Through
16. Bottom
17. Stay Strapped (featuring The Game)
18. SKIT #3
19. ??? (featuring MYSTERY GUEST)
20. Voices Linger
21. Bittersweet (featuring John Mayer) [Bonus Track]

Cover and Tracklist brought to you by Waymorefresher

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The Return of Myspace Music: Starikon...

So it's been a few weeks since I've done a myspace music post, mainly because finding someone worth profiling is like finding that proverbial needle. And luckily with this weeks profile I didn't have to search that long. On a earlier post I did on Dom Kennedy, one of the producers on his best tracks was a cat named Defikon. Well when I heard his Song Cry remix with John Mayer here I knew I had to profile this dude. Starikon is a producer out in Cali that has managed to perfect a minimalist/neo soul sound without being too redundant or "j-dilla inspired". Even though he credits Dilla as an influence, the tracks on his page highlight his own melodic production style and shows the versatility of his work. The tracks blend the lines between hip hop and soul and this is definitely a selling point. As mentioned before, the "Still Looking" track now features Dom Kennedy and its a banger. Go check Starikon!

Fresh is dead...the year was 1980

As of today I am eradicating the word "fresh" from my vocabulary. Ironically enough the usage of the word has managed to become contradictory. Nowadays everybody is fresh. So in true Diddy fashion I will have to undergo a name change. From now on, on my small space in the blogosphere I will be known as 1980. My new aliases is taken directly from the greatest year in the history of the world (my birth year of course). Obviously, my birth was the most important thing to happen that year, but here are a few other "minor" events that took place in 1980:

Kool and The Gang's hit "Celebration" ruled the charts.

The Steelers became the first NFL team to win four Super Bowls

Quincy Jones got a star on the Walk of Fame

The United States Olympic Hockey Team defeats the Soviet Union in the semifinals of
the Winter Olympics, in the Miracle on Ice.

In Los Angeles, comedian Richard Pryor is badly burned trying to freebase cocaine.

Former Beatle John Lennon dies after being shot outside his New York City apartment by Mark David Chapman, a deranged fan who had received his signature earlier in the day.

New Edition formed and began their crusade to conquer pop and r&b.

Happy Uncle's Day...

Since the dirtbag that impregnated my mother scrammed before I could say a word to him, I can't celebrate this day like the rest of you cats. But don't get me wrong, I am by no means bitter. I was fortunate enough to have an educated, strong black mother to guide me through life and derail me from the path of the average child of a single parent. But you know the old saying "it takes a man to raise a man". Since my "dad" skipped town, I had to look up to my uncles to teach me about manhood. So today I want to show love to all my uncles that helped raise me into the man I am today. All though they didn't teach me things the conventional way, I learned alot by just watching them. Who else could have taught me that you can use a car key as a q-tip?! Or how to disguise your beer in a 60oz. cup from the fountain drinks at the gas station. And was my mom going to teach me how to spread my fingers across the ball when I shoot? I don't think so. It takes a real man to teach a child how to crack open a crab and suck every morsel of meat out of it. Shout out to all my uncles for teaching me how to play spades, drink beer and talk shit!

Eardrum>The Beautiful Struggle...

The advance version of Talib Kweli's Eardrum, which I'm pretty sure will be the same version released to stores this summer, has been floating around the net for a couple of weeks now. I told myself I wasn't going to listen to it, until it is officially released and I have my own personal copy. But when my big homie R.E. sent a link for the advanced copy, along with Pharoahe Monch's Desire, directly to my email, I just couldn't resist the urge. I was highly disappointed with Kweli's last official offering, although it did have a few shining moments (i.e.., Black Girl Pain, Never Been in Love). So I was anticipating Kweli would do something to regain my interest and seek redemption for that lackluster performance known as The Beautiful Struggle. The glaring weakness of The Beautiful Struggle was the lack of cohesiveness. The poor beat selection ruined the consistency of the record and at several points the flimsy production eclipsed the lyricism that Kweli has branded as his selling point. After the prompt sale of my copy of The Beautiful Struggle to my local record shop (all with some other worthless cds) for gas money, Kweli has since released two buzzworthy mixtapes. I spoke about Kweli's potential in an earlier post and stated that if these mixtapes were any indication of what's to come, then Eardrum would be a beast. And since I have an uncanny ability to foresee the future, my suspicions were totally correct. Eardrum is a beast. Eardrum is a success largely thanks to the production, which is obviously much better than TBS. But it is not only the production where Kweli scores. Ironically, the content on this record would suggest that it would be more aptly titled The Beautiful Struggle. I'm not a big fan of track by track reviews, and in this case there is no standout track (which isn't a bad thing), so I'll just say listen to every track. But the way Kweli speaks about survival on "Eat to Live" or the contradictions of modern day religion on "Hell" is definitely noteworthy. On every track Kweli speaks with more passion and urgency, a trait that was obviously missing from TBS. Noticeably absent from this "advanced" copy is Mos Def. Now I've heard that there is also a track by Dilla that is supposed to be included on the album, so maybe this "advanced" copy is limited and there is still hope for a BlackStar reunion. With or without Mos Def, Eardrum is easily Kweli's best effort to date and I will be buying the hard copy and this time it won't be sold for a gallon of gas.

My Favorite Things...

Oprah had her favorite things episode a few weeks ago (I only know because my girl watches it religiously) in which she showers her "soccer mom" audience with products that she is endorsing as the "must haves" for the summer. Unfortunately I don't have a net worth of $1 billion+, so you cats will have to get these products the old fashion way, no hands out here. Luckily these aren't products that will require you to break a lot of bread so don't worry about getting a side hustle just to support this list.

Summer hasn't officially started but it's already hotter than a summer day in hell (word to weezy). So to avoid having a damn heat stroke, I advised you to keep your body hydrated. I usually only drink water, but once my taste buds got a hold of this Snapple White Tea I was hooked.

I'm not going to give you a summer reading list like they did in middle and high school. But I will highlight a few books that might occupy my time this summer. The first one is Streetwear by Steven Vogel. Amazon.com describes this book as the definitive insiders guide to streetwear and streetwear culture but author Steve Vogel says otherwise. I suggest you pick it up if you want to find out how your favorite brand got its start.
Further reading - The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner: My girl says this is a must read. I trust her because she's a nerd like that and she knows all the good reads.


The first half of '07 hasn't been that successful commercially (unless your Akon or T-Pain) or critically for hip hop. Fortunately, the summer has the potential to change the dismal course of the year. The coveted #1 spot for most anticipated cd this summer has to go to Kanye. I know the official release date is Sept. 18th but 'Ye made it pretty obvious on his new mixtape that its going to get pushed up.

Most Anticipated:
1. Kanye West - Graduation
2. Common - Finding Forever
3. Talib Kweli - Eardrum
4. T.I. - T.I vs. T.I.P
5. Pharoah Monche - Desire
Honorable Mention - Little Brother - The Get Back

Everybody has an Ipod. Give yours a make over and protect it at the same time with a Dave White gelaskin. If your not familiar with Dave's work, get familiar (word to clinton sparks), dude has some dope oil paintings of everybody's favorite sneaker- The Air Jordan. So if you can't afford the $700 it takes to buy one his paintings, lace your Ipod with the gelaskin and separate yourself from the bland colors offered by apple. Get you gelaskin here

So this is a brief public service announcement. I've seen this situation with fakes reach epic proportions. It's at a point where more fakes are bought than authentics. I don't really have a problem with that, (I made a good grip myself selling fakes in my hometown) but the problem is cats are flashing their shoes like they are real exclusives. Dog, Nike never made clear Jordan 7's with a yellow sole!! If you really want something exclusive go to Nike iD and design your own.

I've never worn shades in the club and I refuse to call them "hater blockers" but no summer look is complete without a good pair of shades. Don't you just feel 10 times cooler when you have on shades?! Go get your Young Jeezy on, drop a lil change on these Von Zipper "Rockfords" and stop buying those cheap knockoffs from that lil stand in the middle of the mall!

Polo is the classic American brand. It's one of only a few brands that can be worn on a yacht in St. Tropez and a project building in Brooklyn, NY. If you don't own a polo shirt or t-shirt, you have two options: 1) kill yourself 2) go to your local department store and get one immediately. Here are the Polo "must have" items:
1. White Classic fit knit polo The traditional white polo with the navy blue horse is like the white t-shirt, it matches with everything.
2.Polo Bradbury Linen short Hov said it best "Linen shorts so my balls don't get hot!"
3. Polo Sport Cologne It gets hot as hell in the summer, you better keep a fresh scent with this cologne.


So there it is; my favorite things for the summer. Now like I said earlier this list shouldn't put you in the poor house and if it does then you need a new job!

Coming Soon

The write up on his website calls him a "lifestyle specialist", whatever that is, but Kenny Burns is more notable for his involvement with Roc A Fella Records and his clothing line RyanKenny. When the entire world followed Hov and his "grown man" movement, it was Kenny Burns' clothing line that spearheaded the change. Anyway, here is a clip of what is to come for his show. Dude definitely has charisma and energy so I'm guessing the show will be entertaining.

Ladies Love Cool Fab?

Maybe it was intentionally planned or maybe LL just has an uncanny ability to foresee the future, whatever the case is, Mr. Smith managed to transform the edgier image he debuted with to something more suitable for his rap moniker. LL is synonymous with "hip hop love song". It took the abrasive tone of Mama Said Knock You Out to remind people that this was the same man that made I'm Bad, Rock the Bells and I Need A Beat. Although his claim as G.O.A.T is certainly debatable, you can't deny the fact that he was smart enough and mature enough to create his own lane which in turn practically ensured his longevity in the game.

So why mention LL? Well today I had some extra time on my hand and decided to finally listen to this Fabolous record that has been camping out in my ipod for a week now. Earlier reviews haven't been too flattering, and judging by today's listen there's no reason to debate earlier reviews. But the main thing I took away from this quick listen, is that it looks like Fab is heading down the same path as LL. Let's be honest, the potency of his "gangsta" records are less convincing when 70% of the album is catered to the female listener. Fab is definitely not a lousy rapper, he has given us a heap of witty punchlines and metaphors-- this album certainly isn't lacking, but no matter how clever he is with the wordplay he is building a resume to rival LL. Which isn't a bad thing. If Fab can keep this up he will have potential LL longevity. Street cred is overrated anyway.

Divorce is the new marriage...

America's fascination with divorce is sickening but apparently amusing. In a country where 1 in every 6 marriages end in divorce, I knew it was only a matter of time before "reality tv" would attempt to capitalize on the vulnerability of failed marriages and broken vows. What I didn't expect was for ABC to disguise Waiting to Exhale as their new reality show The Ex Wives Club. Shar "Fedex" Jackson and two other bitter ex wives, that exhausted all of their alimony funds (if they even had any) have been hired by ABC to revamp the self esteem of women that apparently are too weak to get it together on their own. I hate to be stating the obvious, but who wants to get advice from professional baby mama Shar Jackson? Even though I'm pretty sure I'll never watch another episode, the show wasn't that bad. If you can bear Shar as "the sassy black woman" for an hour, then maybe this is the show for you. Or maybe you've been brokenhearted too and you're tired drowning in your own self pity. Either way, the point is divorce is running rampant and now that network television has gotten a hold of it, divorce is here to stay.

International Players Anthem...

Summer hasn't officially started yet but the weather has certainly permitted females to prance around town in white pants, mini skirts and whatever else they can find to show some skin. UGK and Outkast have provided the perfect song to accompany all your relentless attempts of capturing that perfect summer fling. Since I've been locked down for a long ass time, I can't enjoy the summer the same way most of you cats do. But that won't stop me from blaring this summer time joint in my car with the old lady in the passenger side. I gotta say this video is a pleasant surprise. But then again, considering Outkast has been known for unconventional hip hop videos, I should have expected them to push UGK to do something orginial.

weekend love...

rain...boredom...weekend love

Check the Rhime..

For some reason when I woke up this song was playing in my head...