I have been a biiiiig Fan of 9th wonders sound for some time. It even inspired me in my own creative process. The stuff that he is saying in this video speaks to a truth and I am glad to see the celebration of the black music culture from the 70’s through the 90’s. My only challenge to everyone out there is to move forward and make new music. Be inspired by the past but don’t dwell in it this is your momment.
Notoriously Overrated: What Was so Big about Biggie Smalls?
Notoriously Overrated:
What Was so Big about Biggie Smalls?
Minister Paul Scott
There’s a new movie coming out called “Notorious.” It’s the story of a black kid who grew up on the mean city streets, became a Black Panther and dedicated his life to stopping police brutality and trying to organize street gangs into a revolutionary political movement. The story ends with him being murdered in his bed by the police as he slept next to his pregnant fiancee.
My bad, that was the Fred Hampton story. Wrong screenplay…
“Notorious” is about the life of a drug dealer turned rapper who released a CD, got into a beef with another rapper and was shot on the streets of LA while leaving an after party. The end.
If you ask any Hip Hop fan who are the greatest rappers of all time, dead or alive, he will, most likely, put Christopher “Notorious BIG” Wallace in the top five. Any omission of “Biggie Smalls” is considered Hip Hop blasphemy. Even highly educated college professors have made a career out of quoting Wallace’s lyrics like “The 10 Crack Commandments” as if they were part of some sacred text. Even today, if you go to any Hip Hop clothing store in any city in America you can still buy the T-Shirt of The Notorious BIG with the crown on his head for 20 bucks.
However, as it is with most American icons, we never take a minute to ask, at the end of the day, what was this person’s overall contribution to society that made him worthy of the accolades that we bestow upon him, posthumously.
The tragic story of the Notorious BIG is the cornerstone of the Hip Hop catechism and has been the subject of so many books, documentaries and magazine articles that I am not sure how much more light the film “Notorious” can shed on his life. I guess that the movie company, Fox Searchlight, is banking on the possibility that thousands of loyal Hip Hop fans will be willing to put down $8 a head just to pay homage to their dearly departed idol, even in the midst of a major Recession.
But the question remains, what makes a person like Christopher Wallace still relevant a decade after his death when many of our leaders who sacrificed their lives for black people are forgotten soon after their casket drops?
Most Hip Hop heads can run down in their sleep how Wallace sold drugs in Brooklyn, signed with Bad Boy, married Faith Evans and discovered Lil Kim. Who doesn’t know about his infamous beef with Tupac Shakur during the mid 90’s that had black folks debating who had the best rappers, the East or West Coast, during the same period when right wing conservatives were debating how to take away the few rights that black folks had.
Many of the faithful still get teary eyed when they recall the night that “Big” was murdered, a tragedy that made a black record label owner rich and a whole lot of multi-national white businessmen, richer.
Very few Hip Hop aficionados will debate the fact that many consider Wallace’s first release, “Ready to Die,” a Hip Hop classic. But one would be hard pressed to find anything even remotely political or intellectually, insightful in any of the lyrics on his CD’s where every thing he rapped about could have taken place within a one mile radius of his own block. Besides tales of black on black homicide and suicidal thoughts based on either self hatred or major depression, there is little else to justify any of his work being held in the same light as a ” It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” or “The Score.”
Talid Kweli once rapped about how we have the uncanny ability to find beauty in the hideous. In the case of Biggie’s lyrics, we also try to find depth in the shallow.
Maybe the reason lies within our “mis” educational system. We are trained since elementary school to accept what the text books teach us as the absolute, unadulterated truth. If the book says that Christopher Columbus “discovered” America, then Christopher Columbus discovered America. So as we get older, if a Hip Hop magazine says that Christopher Wallace was the greatest of all time , than Biggie Smalls was the illest. No questions asked.
Perhaps we just have a fascination with death. Especially the deaths of other black folks. I know people who can’t start their day without checking the newspaper to see who got shot the night before. We also have the tendency to elevate people in death to levels that they would have never achieved in life.
In ancient Egyptian culture, when a pharaoh died he was worshiped as a god. So when rappers die violently, they are transformed into gods of war, leading their followers on a quest to seek revenge against all those that had beef with them when they were alive.
Holly’hood has also capitalized off of our necrophilia as, for the last 15 years, the plot of black men getting tragically caught up in the streets has been the theme of too many movies to name. No one wants to admit that although they say art imitates life, in the hood , life imitates art as the death of Christopher Wallace only helped to desensitize a generation of young black men to the finality of death. And with the upcoming release of “Notorious,” we see that we still have not learned our lesson.
Sadly, although the Notorious BIG became even more famous beyond the grave, for the young brothers who followed in his footsteps, the only fame they received was a 15 second news flash on Channel 9.
Back in the day Kurtis Blow said that there were 8 million stories in the naked city. Unfortunately, most of our stories end the same way . No happily- ever- after. No pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Just black blood being spilled on city streets.
I guess the BIG man was right when he said that “You’re nobody till somebody kills you.”
Paul Scott, the Hip Hop TRUTH Minista, writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com
Thanks Micheal Moore and DamnTruth.net for this one.
This is one of those soulful songs that reminds me of what hip-hop can be. Mikkey is sick lyrically and stays on message. He is one of the cats that I hope gets some serious cheese out of his Independent hustle because he and his uncrowned city label deserves it. It is hard to believe that he was once signed to cash money back in 2000. Makes me wonder why baby couldn’t make money off this guy or was he just ghosting for wayne too?
Scripts N Screwz-Brick Video from Scripts 'N Screwz on Vimeo.
I came across this video upon my random web surfing and found it entertaining. I never heard of the group script N screws before according to the Neufutur Magazine article I am posting below they are from East St Louis. Luckily they sound nothing like Chingy or the commercial version of Nelly. Overall I think the video was very creative. The beat was kinda meh, you know a typical back pack hip-hop beat. The hook was the worst part even though it was catchy the amateurish use of Autotune really brought what was set to be a dope hook down. Anyhoo enjoy this great find and peep the article I found about them out below.
East Saint Louis natives Scripts ‘N Screwz share a unique chemistry. While many emcees recycle the same clichéd subject matter, Scripts ’N Screwz explores a range of musical possibilities.
The group’s resident producer, Loose Screwz, has spent years perfecting his trademark eccentric sound. His lyrics have a cinematic, story-telling quality, and his versatile production makes his next musical moves unpredictable.
Diehard wordsmith Scripts adds an edge to the equation. His vivid wordplay and crushing punch lines about a wide range of subject matter will appeal to any hip hop fan.
Currently, Scripts ‘N Screwz is in the beginning stages of producing their first feature-length motion picture. The duo is working with acclaimed St. Louis writer/director Ronnell Bennett on the project. The entire film will be shot in St. Louis and East St. Louis, and it won’t be I’m Bout It, or Killa Season, or State Property or every other rap movie, this one will be kind of trippy. Stay tuned for more on this project.
Scripts ‘N Screwz have been working together for close to a decade, and with their unique blend of experimental innovation and mastery of hip hop fundamentals, Scripts ‘N Screwz will take the music world by storm.
The above heading is a quote from Humphrey Osmond British Phychiatrist and LSD researcher. Have no fear gentle reader I am not endorsing any mind alter drugs outside of the social narcotics you currently use to maintan. I simply stumbled accross the psychadelic poster exhibit that is coming to the Denver art museum. I never thought I would say this but man I wish I was in Denver to peep this. I am a big fan of the psychadelic art and music not the drugs LOL
Here is the specifics if you are in Denver:
The Psychedelic Experience: Rock Posters from the San Francisco Bay Area, 1965–71 is organized by the Denver Art Museum. Support is provided by Accenture, the Denver Art Museum’s Technology Partner. Additional funding is provided by Avanade Inc., the citizens who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, and the generous donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign. Promotional support is provided by The Denver Post, 5280 Magazine, CBS4, and Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
I am a huge supporter of NPR in fact I am listening to them right now. Below you will find an artical from the good folks at NPR about Boom Boxes and what they once meant to the hip-hop community.
All Things Considered, April 22, 2009 – Before there were iPods, or even CDs, and around the time cassettes let break dancers move the party to a cardboard dance floor on the sidewalk, there were boomboxes. It’s been 20 years since the devices disappeared from the streets. It’s high time to press rewind on this aspect of America’s musical history.
Back in the day, you could take your music with you and play it loud, even if people didn’t want to hear it. Fifty decibels of power-packed bass blasted out on street corners from New York City to Topeka. Starting in the mid-’70s, boomboxes were available everywhere, and they weren’t too expensive. Young inner-city kids lugged them around, and kids in the suburbs kept them in their cars.
They weren’t just portable tape players with the speakers built in. You could record off the radio, and most had double cassette decks, so if you were walking down the street and you heard something you liked, you could go up to the kid and ask to dub a copy.
They were called boomboxes, or ghetto blasters. But to most of the young kids in New York City, they were just a box.
And the manufacturers noticed, says Fred Braithwaite, better known as Fab Five Freddy.
“People that were big fans of music at the time were into higher-fidelity, better-quality sound — bass, midrange and treble,” Freddy says. “So [the manufacturers] listened to what the consumer, what the young hip kid on the streets of New York, wanted. We wanted bass.”
The Rise Of The Big Box
The boxes had to be big, to make that bass boom. The speakers in early boxes had extra-large magnets to push all that air around, and they were housed in heavy metal casing to deal with the vibrations from all the bass. Fab Five Freddy says they got pretty big.
“I remember some boxes so big, they required 20 D-size batteries to an already heavy box,” he says. “So these boxes were so heavy that some cats that would carry their boxes all the time, they would develop massive forearms and biceps.”
The boxes were part of a style that included white Adidas and big gold chains. Freddy was a video director and a graffiti artist at the time, and he says he took his box everywhere.
“I traveled with my massive boombox,” Freddy says. “That thing moved with me, you know. I remember, like, being on the plane — it couldn’t go in the overhead bin, but that was my baby. It traveled first class right along with me.”
But the trappings of this new culture were secondary to the music. This was the dawn of hip-hop, and it might not have happened without the boombox.
“A big part of this hip-hop culture in the beginning was putting things in your face, whether you liked it or not,” Freddy says. “That was the graffiti, that’s like a break dance battle right at your feet, you know what I’m saying? Or this music blasting loud, whether you wanted to hear it or not.”
Moving Indoors
As the ’80s wore on, cities started enforcing noise ordinances. The Walkman became popular, and it was lighter and cheaper. Gradually, people stopped listening to music together. The rap world eventually left the corner and moved online. People still pass songs around, but now it’s on file-sharing sites and blogs. Headphones are universally accepted, and eye contact is frowned upon.
These days, you don’t see or hear many boomboxes, except at Lyle Owerko’s house. He collects them. He keeps most of them in storage, taped up in bubble wrap to, as he says, preserve the domestic bliss. His favorite is the GF9696.
“It’s absolutely my most mint box,” Owerko says. “It’s incredibly shiny; it’s 40 watts. The speaker grilles detach, which makes it look really mean.”
Owerko’s collection of 40 boxes includes Lasonics and Sanyos, JVCs and Crowns. He photographs them and blows the prints up to make the boxes look even bigger than they are in real life.
Though Owerko grew up far from the city, in western Ontario, even there all the cool kids carried boxes. The only difference was that they were blasting Led Zeppelin and Ozzy Osbourne.
The Impression Of What’s Real
Boxes didn’t stay cool forever: They started to be made from plastic and decorated in neon colors and flashing lights. They were sold to people who didn’t care about sound but just wanted to look like they were down. Owerko says the transition wasn’t surprising.
“Towards the end of any culture, you have the second or third generation that steps into the culture, which is so far from the origination,” he says. “It’s the impression of what’s real, but it’s not the full definition of what’s real. It’s just cheesy.”
Today, he uses his collection as props on photo shoots, and he says the sight of them sends everyone from models to art directors down memory lane. Vintage boomboxes sell for upwards of $1,000 now, so those who had one back then can kick themselves for not holding on to it.
Fab Five Freddy misses his box, too, but at least he can go visit it — it’s on display at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
The nostalgia for boomboxes isn’t just about a trend in stereo equipment. When the music was loud and unavoidable, we had to listen to each other. Maybe we miss boomboxes because when we’re wearing headphones, we can’t talk to anyone else. Which makes it hard to help each other out, and makes it hard to party.
This piece was reported by Frannie Kelley, Roy Hurst and Caitlin Kenney.
The theories of Ray Kurzweil are both revolutionary and a bit scary. I guess the fear comes from the whole idea that we will loose control of our technology and become slaves to it. This fear has always been there to some degree see Frankenstein which is a classic retelling of the golemn myth. Then in modern times we have the Matrix which displays these fears in the most straight forward ways. Any who I was a bit taken back by Mr. Kurzweil but I am intrigued as to where we are going as a species. Check out the first video in the series from Kurzweil which I found on Mother board.com
The Big Let down
Lark on My Go KArt- This is by far my favorite song but that is because I love it when rappers do the whole left field braggadious rap song. The dusty production works on this one and his stoner lyrics kill it.
Blunt Cruising- is another solid stoner song. It would have been even doper if another person would have performed the hook possibly with a jamacian accent. The beat has a stoner rock feel to it. The rhymes are not his best because he is doing the whole humurous weed head thing, but it does sound a little phoned in. This song could have been great with a little more effort. Hide the Weed!
I Love College- This is the song meant used to create all of his buzz for the album besides the mixtape. The lead single for sleep in the bread Isle. I think it is ok for the crowd it is targeting i.e. the suburban college student and stoner rock fan. It works for his audience but since I am not in the demographic much of the songs charm is lost on me so I ignored it totally when the buzz began earlier on this.
La di Da- This is another solid album cut which I can see a video coming for in the future.
Be By Myself- This is solid album cut with ceelo green. I love the faux 60’s guitar riff and ceelo does his classic funky soul singer stick.
She don’t wanna- I hated this because it is an obvious reach for another pop single but it doesn’t have strong energy to carry it. I would say it fits in the overall sound of the album but this is meh(phoned it in)
Sour Patch Kids- This is Ashers attempt at a social commentary song. I hear the message but it just doesn’t sound or feel authentic for some reason but I do give him points for even going there. The production is kinda bland on this as well so it feels like it was phoned in.
As I EM- This is a solid response to all of the EM criticism. I love the beat this one it feels heart felt.
Lion roar- This is the worse song on the album to me the beat is weak and the subject is meh
Bad Day- This is one of my favorite cuts asher is at his best doing stuff like this and the driving funk pattern by Jazze Pha is on time and the hook is solid too.
His Dream- This hits so close to home so it gets mad love from me I am a sucker for personal subject matter and I feel like it is the perfect way to get to know an artist. Plus as I said the theme speaks to a condition that many of us have or will face on some level. bravo
Fallin- Is a solid cut but the hook doesn’t seem to fit. But the subject matter is great the beat is meh though. It is obvious that Asher is at his greatest when he writing about personal issues and things he cares about.
Perfectionest- It is ok but kinda bland and it sounds like another reach for radio play. The beat is nothing to write home about and you can tell it is a radio reach because it has an OG like Beanes on it plus the hook is typical for todays market though the autotuning is not as pronounced.
All in All like I said in the inital paragrah this is a solid album and a good summer driving album because even the phoned in stuff is tolerable. But it is a bit of a let down not because it is bad but because the hype machine kinda placed too high a standard for it. Also I would like to commend Mr. Roth on having consistant production throughout and solid instrumentation. This album has more in common with Devin the Dude than Eminem at the end of the day. So I think Asher got some vindication on that point.
These 3 boxes are widgets and can be edited through the admin page, just like the sidebar.
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