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GVG
~we're the warriors they write epics about~

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!!!

SYSTEM BAND IS BACK!!!

System Band "Katel"


GVG
~we're the warriors they write epics about~

We fall so we can learn how to rise again...

This is what I call “feel good” music. Come back whole
Ms. Hill, YOU CAN BLOW TOO! PLEASE DON’T STOP!!! I BEG YOU!

His eye is on the sparrow


This is the full song from the Sister Act 2 soundtrack with Lauren Hill, but I unfortunately don't know the other young womans name.

GVG
~we’re the warriors they write epics about~

Sad state of musical affairs...

I just had someone email me the new 50 Cent single "I Get Money" with the subject line, "The hottest song out." If this is truly the case, then Hip Hop as we know it is not only DEAD, as Nas so eloquently proclaimed, it is buried, disintegrated, and forgotten in an unmarked grave.

The only reason 50 Cent’s song is even remotely palatable is because it samples Audio Two’s 1988 classic hit single “Top Billin.” That same timeless beat helped Mary J. Blige launch her career with her 1992 hit “Real Love” off her debut album “What’s the 411.” And now here we are again. 50 has fallen back on the same tactic leaning on nostalgia, betting on our emotional attachment to the original instead of offering something truly new.

The truth is, most people are vibing to the sample not the song. It is the memory it evokes that keeps the track afloat, not the verses slapped on top like filler between the echoes of something better. This is not innovation. This is not growth. This is fear and unoriginality disguised as confidence. It is a calculated move from an artist who feels his relevance slipping away (THANK GOD!) after two flopped singles, “Amusement Park” and “Straight to the Bank.”

Below are both sample uses and the original. You can be the judge.

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS HERE IF YOU HAVE THEM, WOULD LOVE TO READ WHAT YOU THINK.

GVG
~we're the warriors they write epics about~

50 Cent “ I GET MONEY”


Mary J. Blige “Real Love”


Audio Two “TOP BILLIN”

OMG IMPORTANT UPDATE:

WHILE I WAS WRITING THE ABOVE POST I FELT LIKE I WAS SHORT CHANGING AUDIO TWO ON HOW MANY PEOPLE USED THE SAMPLE TO GET THAT NOSTALGIC HIT. SO I JUST LOOKED IT UP ON WIKIPEDIA (ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SITES) AND I WAS BLOWN AWAY WITH WHAT I FOUND. HERE IS THE LIST OF ARTISTS AND THE WAYS THEY'VE USED THE SAMPLE OVER THE YEARS AND I'M CERTAINLY SURE THERE ARE EVEN MORE OUT THERE.

• "Wreck Shop (Remix)" by Wreckx-N-Effect used the drum break from Top Billin'.
  
• The beat for Mary J. Blige's 1992 hit single, "Real Love," comes from the beat for this song.

• The intro to The Notorious B.I.G.'s debut album Ready to Die samples Top Billin' behind a skit of a train robbery.
• "I Got 5 on It" by The Luniz samples the line "Got it? Good" from Top Billin'.
  
• "Bitch Niggaz" from Dr. Dre's album 2001 samples a line from Top Billin' ("stop scheming, and looking hard").
  
• The lines "Kwa is chillin', Tone is chillin', what more can I say, we stay building" on Talib Kweli's song Too Late is inspired by Audio Two's Top Billin'.
  
• "We Trying to Stay Alive" by Wyclef Jean samples Top Billin', and more prominently samples "Stayin' Alive" by the BeeGees.
  
• Madlib also used a short break from the track on Quasimoto's "Basic Instinct."
  
• "What More Can I Say" by Jay-Z from The Black Album takes its name from a line from Top Billin'.
  
• Danger Mouse samples the line "What more can I say" in his remix of the Jay-Z song "What More can I Say" on The Grey Album.
  
• The same line is used in "Is He Ill" by MF Doom.
  
• Earatik Statik samples the line "on and on and on" from Top Billin' on their song "Evil is Timeless."
  
• The song "Chillin'" by Erick Sermon, Talib Kweli and Whip Montez has a chorus completely based upon that of "Top Billin'"
  
• "SexyLove (Remix)" by Ne-Yo and Candace Jones features the "Top Billin'" drum break punctuating the end of each musical phrase.
  
• "Pop the Glock" by Uffie is in large-part based both lyrically and musically upon "Top Billin'".
  
• "Get To Poppin'" by Rich Boy
  
• The track "Why Wout I" by Beanie Sigel that appears on the State Property mixtape "Out On Bail" uses a similar line to the chorus. Sigel rhymes "Sige is chillin', stackin' shit to the ceilin', what would I ever say about a killin'?"
  
• "Top Billin'" appears on Tony Hawk's Underground 2.
  
• "Top Billin'" is sampled in the chorus of 50 Cent's new single "I Get Money"
  
• "Top Billin'" is sampled in the chorus of Lil' Flip's song "I Get Money" (Feautring Jim Jones)
  
• "Top Billin'" is sampled in Apathy's song "The Buck Stops Here."

LIKE THE LINE SAYS

"WHAT MORE CAN I SAY!!!"

TYLER LYNCH TURNS SMART PEOPLE DUMB

Tyler Perry's House of Payne A.K.A COONS GONE WILD

“I could go OFF on a long diatribe about all the reasons why Tyler Perry's House of Payne A.K.A COONS GONE WILD is the worst thing to be put on TV since the shucking and jiving, Tom foolery of Amos 'n' Andy and all the other shows of the same ilk from that era. But why would I waste any more of my time on such garbage? Suffice it to say the race has officially been set back 50 years. THANX FOR THE HELP TYLER LYNCH!”

A couple of weeks ago, I had a flood of responses to the text above, which I had posted as a bulletin on MySpace concerning Tyler Lynch and his new show “House of Payne.” The responses were mixed. Some people 100 percent agreed with me. Others agreed in spirit but thought my language was a bit too harsh (Cousin Steph included). Then there were “The Tylerphytes,” as I shall forever call them. These are the folks who see Tyler Lynch as the second coming of Langston Hughes. To them, he can do no wrong. Anyone who questions him is instantly labeled a hater, a crab in the barrel, an Oreo, or worse. DID YOU REALLY CALL ME ALL THOSE THINGS? OREO? ME? Ok, I’ve been called worse so fuck it, bring it on!

During a heated debate with two women, one of whom is an elder in my building who has known me since I was a kid, I found myself stunned. This is a woman who gave me firsthand accounts of Malcolm X speaking in Harlem, who referred me to some of my now favorite authors, and who has always held me accountable as a Black man while affirming the good she sees in me as a reflection of my mother’s strength. So yes, I was DUMBFOUNDED to find out she was a Tylerphyte. This same woman I would eagerly visit after finishing a Baldwin, Hughes, Hurston, or Du Bois book so we could dissect every layered word together, now calling me a “hater.” (THE COMEDY OF HER USING THE TERM HATER NEVER CEASES TO CRACK ME UP). She genuinely believed Tyler Lynch was uplifting our image and providing authentic storytelling, while I firmly believed the opposite. His work plays to the lowest common denominator and damages the image of our community, especially for impressionable youth who confuse his content for legitimate theatre or cinema.

This conversation was prompted by a comment on my bulletin claiming I had no right to criticize Lynch unless I had seen his “movies” or “plays.” I am not one to condemn anything sight unseen, like those Christians who protested Dogma without ever watching a frame. So I sat through Diary of a Mad Black Woman and nearly made it through 15 minutes of Tyler Lynch’s House of Payne A.K.A COONS GONE WILD. Another commenter urged me to watch Daddy’s Little Girls, promising it would convert me. That film featured two of my current favorite actors: Idris Elba, who made me cancel plans every Sunday for three years to watch him as the coolest, smartest, smoothest drug lord ever, Russell 'Stringer' Bell on HBO’s hit series The Wire (YES! YES! YES! I KNOW ALL THE ARGUMENTS ABOUT THE PERPETUATION OF STEREOTYPES OF BLACK MEN, BUT IT IS A DAMN GOOD SHOW WITH AMAZING WRITING THAT PORTRAYS US IN NUANCED WAYS WITHIN THE SAME SCENE. WATCH IT FOR YOURSELF). And Gabrielle Union, my future ex-wife and mother of at least five of my literary snob children.

So, being open-minded and also knowing it would give me fresh ammo for any future Tylerphyte debates, I went to Blockbuster in my predominantly mid-upper middle working-class Black neighborhood (if you read my earlier blog “In the beginning there was the word…”, you’ll understand the significance). I tried for five days straight to find a copy. Every one of the 100 or so copies was always checked out. (BY WHO? GOD IS THAT ANOTHER POST FOR ANOTHER DAY?) On the sixth day, I finally got a copy. On my way home, I ran into the two aforementioned women. Trying to discreetly hide the DVD in a black plastic bag shoved deep in my back pocket with my shirt layered over it, they still noticed the bulge and asked what I was hiding. After a ten-minute preface and visible shame, I revealed it. Their faces lit up. They asked to borrow it. This DISTURBED THE SHIT OUT OF ME.

That moment, when she called me a hater for questioning her excitement about such trash, shook me. This was the same woman with a personal photo of herself with Malcolm on 134th Street. Her condescending “Have you even seen his work?” felt like a betrayal of everything we had ever intellectually built together.

I will not go into the full argument that followed. What stuck with me most was how I held back. I respected her as an elder, and in doing so, I pulled my punch. I let her walk away still believing in Tyler Lynch. That was the greatest injustice of the night. I also hated how both women tried to sidestep my well-thought-out, clearly superior points with manipulative tactics. I am working on another blog right now about that very habit and other rhetorical dodges like it.

Back to the film. I finally got it back from my neighbor, who proudly told me her two boys, around 13 and 15 years old, watched it three times. She said she would be proud if her sons grew up like Idris Elba’s character. Even more troubling, she said she would be honored if they ended up with someone like Gabrielle Union’s character, a single mother of three living in the projects with a drug-dealer baby daddy, because it would show character and love for their mother who had a similar experience. REALLY? DON’T WE WANT BETTER FOR OUR CHILDREN? FOR OURSELVES?

This is one of my major issues with Tyler Lynch’s latest Coons Gone Wild production. Why is it considered wrong to want a partner who shares your goals and values? If I strive to excel in my personal life, education, career, and community, why should I be labeled a sellout for wanting the same from my partner? The film has Gabrielle Union parroting that tired bullshit about how if you are a successful, driven, intelligent Black woman who does not date white men or rappers, then you are doomed to eternal loneliness with a vibrator and a dozen cats. It is defeatist. It is toxic. And it is a lie.

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS HERE IF YOU HAVE THEM, WOULD LOVE TO READ WHAT YOU THINK.

BELOW ARE TWO SAMPLES OF TYLER LYNCH'S WORK AND THE THIRD IS A PIECE CONCERNING HOW HIS OWN THEATRE INDUSTRY VIEWS HIM.

NUFF SAID!

GVG
~we're the warriors they write epics about~

"YOU NEED TO GIT UP, GIT OUT, AND GIT SOMETHIN. DON’T LET THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE PASSS BY!!!" IT'S SUNDAY!

For years I’ve had a NO RAP on Sundays rule. Sunday is my day to let my ears be seduced by the songs of the entire world not the block, usually a mix of Soca, JAZZ (inside joke), spoken word, French, African, Funk, HIP HOP (YES THERE IS A DIFFERENCE), soul, the unclassified, Kompa (Haitian music, except that Kassav is one of my favorite bands and they’re from Martinique, but we’ll keep that to ourselves), etc. I thought I’d share a small video sampling of the audio foreplay that’s going on today. Enjoy

THIS IS MY ALARM CLOCK MUSIC. WAKE YOUR ASSES UP, IT’S SUNDAY!!!

OUTKAST FT CEE-LO GREEN "GIT UP, GET OUT"


KASSAV LIVE


Zap Mama - Sweet Melodie


KASSAV - "OU LE"


CARIMI “KIDNAPPING”



Boubacar "Kar Kar" Traoré & Ali Farka Touré - Diarabi


"God is trying to tell you something." - (The Color Purple)


Ok, you guys are making me late. I’m going to the Afropunk festival block party at BAM. Make the minutes count.

GVG
~we're the warriors they write epics about~

UPDATE:

ONCE I GOT HOME I HAD TO ADD THIS TO THE POST, IT'S SELF EXPLANATORY!!!!

Ice Cube-Today Was A Good Day