Discovering hidden gems

On a whim, one day I decided to buy the DVD of "The Chris Rock Show" Seasons 1 & 2, which date back to 1997/98. While the comedic material is typical of American humour, sometimes hilarious, sometimes a chuckle, always loud, shouting and as subtle as a bulldozer moving fine china, the ridiculous lineup of RnB/hiphop musicians that played on the show is improbable in its depth, quality and taste. 

First up, the DJ/Musical Director that Rock signed up for his show was none other than Grandmaster Flash, one of the originators and innovators of the modern hiphop movement starting in the 80s, and an oft-cited inspiration or influence of modern day artists. Rock himself grew up listening to Grandmaster Flash, and Flash was the first person he signed to be on board his show.

But to the performing artists. The first artist to perform on the show was D'Angelo with Raphael Saadiq and ?uestlove (of the Roots). After that there was a slight misnomer with Cake performing "The Distance". But then, the following artists performed, in order WITHOUT skipping a single show:

-D'Angelo

-Cake

- Maxwell

-Erykah Badu

- Puff Daddy & Ma$e

- Wyclef Jean (only just having turned solo after the disbandment of the Fugees)

-KCi & Jojo

- Missy Elliott

-LL Cool J

-Busta Rhymes

-Bobby Brown

- Rakim

-Mary J Blige

- Usher

- Salt n Pepa

- LSG (featuring the renowned voices of Gerald Levert, Keith Sweat, Johnny Gill)

Remember this list of artists is compiled against the backdrop of 1997/98. All of them without exception are superstars of RnB, whether it be from the past (Bobby Brown, Rakim, LL Cool J) to present day superstars (Wyclef, Puff Daddy, Mary J., Usher, Busta, Maxwell...) Although Grandmaster Flash must have had a hand in the selections, but look how many of that list are now superstars of the present, back then only just getting established. People used to say Chris Rock's comedy was ahead of his time, but I figure his musical taste was ahead of its time.

While I'm at it, I can't believe the Roots are the in-house band for Jimmy Fallon on the Late Show. Fantastic! Love the Roots! I'm yet to watch a show seeing as I only realised this fact, but apparently they're going to cover lots of musical genres not just hiphop, to display their versatility. Should be an intriguing watch.

hmm

I don't like spending large amounts of money at once. I'd like to think I'm not a tight arse..people may or may not disagree. What I mean is that when it comes to buying anything that are say over $50 I always think twice, and I've already done research to see how cheap said item is. 

I am a sucker for discounts. This is a direct consequence of having gone shopping with my Dad as a kid, where we would literally wait til about 3.30pm on a Saturday to go grocery shopping. In the town we grew up in, the supermarket shut on Sundays, so all the perishable items like the bakery stuff and the meat would get severely discounted so they didn't go off or get thrown in the bin. Of course, everybody knew this fact so there would be literally a crowd of people surrounding the person with the discount tickets and the marker pen.

So I think what I gathered from that is, don't accept prices at face value. People are generally able to set prices at whatever they want. So most of the time, for any luxury purchases, with a little research, the power of your dollar goes much further. I mean, for God's sake, if you can get stuff at a supermarket cheaper than normal, you can get a $3000 TV reduced in price by a few hundred without too much fuss. I did, lol.

juxtaposition

Just had this song come up on a Genius playlist on my ipod.. I really dug the beat then I realised that it was a song about getting over a break up. That seemed weird to me.

Ne-Yo- Go on Girl

off the album "Because of You"

"The Game- LAX" A Review

Part 1.

The Game “L.A.X”

The third album from West Coast rapper The Game, aka Jayceon Terrell Taylor, is a varied and somewhat inconsistent effort. This is to be his last studio album before retirement, by the rapper’s own statements, and he hasn’t hesitated to bring in an all-star ensemble to help him go out with a heavyweight finale.

The Game is an artist that engenders a love-or-hate stance that causes much heated debate on hip hop fansites. Much has been made about his lyrical style which the detractors state he incessantly name-drops while he boasts about his association with the stars of the rap world: Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac, Biggie, Easy-E etc. While admittedly this did get irritating on previous albums, this has been toned down, but more importantly, when he does drop names it is usually relevant to the statement The Game is trying to make.

The title of the album shares the title of LA’s airport. The symbolism is lost on me, except perhaps the fact that LAX (the airport) was pretty busy with all the guest artists arriving to put their contributions down.  This album is not so much a celebration of Westside rap, but rather a statement to clear some room for the Westside, in amongst the oversaturation of Southside and East Coast on the charts over the last few years.

It is a welcome relief that The Game has moved on from The Beef and the falling out with 50 Cent/G Unit and Dr. Dre. In a very brief synopsis, The Game was paired with 50 Cent and G Unit in a PR exercise, designed to help The Game and G-Unit rise, taking advantage of 50 Cent’s new fame after the success of 2003’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’. The Game rocketed to prominence with 2005’s critically acclaimed The Documentary, and was dubbed the Next Big Thing from the West since Dr. Dre himself. Shortly after the release of the album The Game was kicked out of G Unit for alleged disloyalty, which resulted in multiple diss tracks, mixtapes and assorted controversies. This dominated 2006 and was the main theme of The Game’s second album, The Doctor’s Advocate, which was lyrically strong but commercially unsuccessful.

With heavy throbbing bass grooves, heavy kick on the bass drum, The Game reintroduces old skool beats and structures to an audience more used to one-hit wonders, and that 21^st century phenomenon, the one-hit pop rapper. Anyone care to remember the name of two songs that Souljah Boy released, or Dem Franchise Boyz, or UNK, or Rich Boy? Anyone care? Exactly.

---

Next up, I'll actually deal with the tracks lol.

and then there's this

I love the fact that you're better than me at skill testers.
I love the fact that you want to compete against me in video games. Most girls wouldn't give a shit about games.
I love your little cutesy giggle and smile that you use when we muck around. I feel like you save that giggle just for me.

an entry

I have logged on because I felt the need to blog, but have absolutely no idea what I feel like writing about.

Then it occurred to me that the most apt thing to write is this. I noticed the caption of this blog, one I see all the time but don't pay attention to.
At the moment I am, Darkness
Down
Out

I want to be Light
Up
In

Note to self: I realise that wanting to be "in" doesn't make sense, but hey... :p small joke there.

Baby, I love you and you know that. But please tell me you can see a brighter future, hope it is there, otherwise my last domino will fall.

I don't want to face the day without you.

I haven't paid for the massages yet. I don't want to buy them any more.

Feeling unsafe and insecure.

:(

It's so difficult sometimes. For both.

There's so much I want to see. I am passionate about my desire to travel and see the world, see the sights, see what it has to offer me. This primarily stems from the fact that I was very restricted when I was young and living at home- I barely went out of the house until I started uni and essentially created my own independence from my parents. Also being in financial hardship meant going overseas was out of the question. The only reason I had the money to go overseas was because my parents divorced and sold the family house, from which they gave my brothers and I a small sum. I use the term house because it wasn't "home" for a very long time while we lived in it.

I ended up lending most of my share to my brother anyway. What a stupid move that was.

Now I'm restricted for a different reason. It is nobody's fault, but more we are unfortunate victims of circumstances. For whatever difficulty or irritation I feel, it must be a minute fraction of what it must be really like. 

But that doesn't mean it doesn't get me down sometimes. Wanting to go on a holiday, not necessarily far just somewhere I haven't been to before. Naturally I'm going to ask. But would I be able to go without you?

I'm afraid of what would happen if I did. It's only a week, but it takes less than that for the boat to capsize. I'm not happy about this at all. 

life. in moments. in music.

How often it is that you relate to a song. That completely encapsulates how you feel, when you have no idea how to express it in words.

I recently wrote 25 things about myself that I thought people didn't know about me. It's all over facebook, everyone's doing it! But it was therapeutic. It's interesting, I'm not much of a blogger but I do enjoy writing whenever I do get around to doing it.

I feel like I don't have a rudder, or direction. I have no clear goal for the future in terms of my career. I feel like I don't have a clear goal for the future in terms of my relationship. I feel like I don't have a clear idea of who my real friends are.

How to Disappear Completely- Radiohead

- I will write a review of The Game's last album LAX. The main reason I write this here is that it will force me to do it. It will be a nice change to write something that's not all "me, me, I, I".

upon reflection

Just when I think I've got it figured out, you do something to surprise me.

Thanks. I need things like this now and again. Not so much the whole "I'm the centre of attention" thing. But just sometimes it's good to know that you're willing to go the extra mile just for me and to make me happy. Cos I like to think I always do that for you.

things you shouldn't do #1

Try to talk while drinking easyway with pearls.