Root Beer Thoughts » Pop Culture

Cake-o-holic

Administrator — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 01:41:04 +0000

End of the year huh? I really don’t live me life by years. This is just another week. I’m moving for the 3rd time in the past 6 months. This time further North to Seattle. I guess the grad motivation actually worked and I got a job. Thank You Jeezy. Now i can get the big bucks right?

I just upgraded to Wordpress 2.0 and so far I have to say I don’t like it. The admin menu is ugly as hell. They should have stuck with the previous CSS. That brings me to me next endeavour. Intellectual Beasts, a collobrative blog that you can expect 1st quarter 2006.

I hope to be able to release some tracks from the long awaited Indie Project featuring a handfull of MC’s I’ve been working with for years. About 10 tracks have been recorded but most still need polishing. I may release a track or 2 in the coming month. Here is a snippet (save target or link as) of an unmixed track that was recorded about a month ago.

BTW Cake-o-holic is a neologism that Dame Dash invented to refer to himself. In his words it means “being addicted to getting money”. This is still no excuse for these old man glasses he is wearing at the tender age of 34!

Coming soon as well should be my annual Best and Worst of 2006 in Hip Hop. Maybe some New Years pics as well.

Current Desktop

2005 Predictions*

Administrator — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 04:46:01 +0000

Television and PC convergence

I don’t watch tv, however I help pay a cable bill for my couch potato roommates. I guess the main reason is that the internet has so much to offer; it actually challenges me and makes me think. Moreover I get shit on demand. If I want to view the latest episode of Samurai Champloo (only broadcasted in Japan) I go and download the torrent, soon there after I’m viewing it, commercial free and fan dubbed.

Social Anxiety From Online Communities

Some of my entries in this blog have already put me in a hot water with some acquaintances. Expect people to be living through there online life a little too much. It won’t surprise me to see as a Yahoo headline “Teen kills 2 classmates over Blog entry”.

More Celeb Sex Tapes

My boy passed me this digusting porno video of former “wrestler” Chyna with some other washed up “wrestler”. I peeped it out of pure curiousity only to be scarred for life. The video attempts to a “stolen home video” but was obviously made for mass production. Why do thes people do such stupid things? I guess just to extend there 15 minutes of fame. The bright side of these things is that the public forgets really quickly. Uou can do release a tape “randomly” right after your latest film/album bombs to divert attention from your failure. Expect a Britney or Timberlake tape in the future.

Online Buzz

I still haven’t figured out how this works. By the time you’ve been hit it’s too late. As people emigrate more and more to the net, it becomes more revelant and acceptable. Online buzz has turned a former daytime talk show contestant into a West Coast thug (multi platinum) rapper. I’m talking about Game. Dude came out of nowhere with no single before “How We Do”. Mixtape appearences that were downloaded by hip hop listeners boosted Game’s buzz. Moreover word of mouth with movies like Napoleon Dynamite that proved very effective. For our generation, businesses know that the net is the best way to get us. If everyone is talking about it, it MUST be worth you’re time, right?

*I actually wrote this over a month ago but like the majority of my entries, I didn’t publish it.

Best and Worst of 2004

Administrator — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 05:52:23 +0000

People love to read lists. So I non-chalantly created a list of the Best and Worst 2004 had to offer, according to what interests me :blah . Is it shallow? Perhaps. Blunt? Very. Enjoy.

Hip Hop Albums*

Cam’ron – Purple Haze (crack)
Young Gunz – Tough Luv (very solid production )
MadVillian – MadVilliany ( an acquired taste)
The Prodigy – Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (very tight)
Alchemist – 1st Infantry (great beats)
Masta Killa – No Said Date ( a sleeper)

*At the beginning of 2004 I made an entry of my most anticipated albums of 2004

Honorable Mention

Nas – Streets Disciple (Would have served better as one disc)

Hip Hop Tracks

( Basically you need these tracks)

Nas ft AZ – Serious (this joint is SERIOUS!)
Jay-Z – Iggnorant Shit (Jay-Z sounding circa 96)
MF Doom – RhineStone Cowboy (Great sample)
N*E*R*D- She Wants to Move (Awesome in all facets)
Usher feat. Lil’ Jon and Usher – Yeah (even though Lil’ Jon has 20 derivatives of this beat)
Jedi Mind Tricks ft Killah Priest – Savior Self (Take note, Stoupe delivers once again)

Blunders

Vote Or Die – This sent the wrong message to the demographic it targeted. Vote or Die? Why because of terrorists will get me? This equates to voting for GW! The Democrats had a horrible canidate (Kerry) and ignored the little people who make up the the majority of voters. Rather they relied on public appears while beong too PC to say vote Kerry, hence (”Vote or Die” slogan) sent a mixed message (in the end we all got dicked as Nas put in). I appreciate the effort though, Diddy.

Michael Moore didn’t help either. I thought we were past the “vast right wing conspricacy”, this isn’t the Clinton era anymore. That shit won’t work. The Conservatives brushed that shit off their should like Jay-Z. On top of that you had the misinformed Dan Rather report. It’s 2005, and politics is a chess game. You must think before you move. Republicans have think tanks dedicated to controlling to the media. I have to hand to the Republicans they are some true gangsters.

Video Hoes

Okay, maybe they aren’t really hoes, but this is what the industry calls the chicks in hip hop music videos. These are the standouts.

Vida

Esther

Melissa

Hype

Kanye West – as a purveyor of Hip hop I must say his above average album does not warrant the commercial success. It’s common knowledge that he pays people to dig for record samples while he is shopping for wrist bands in “Gay Paris” boutiques. I can’t hate on some of his beats though, just stay off the mic.

Paris Hilton – This chick is bony as fuck. Moreover from the looks the porn tape floating around, she doesn’t know how to give head. Though I must congratulate her for making something out of nothing. Anyone will the power to sway the media when having no real job deserves the hype I suppose.

Online Trends

Online communities. They really took off this past year and now it’s become fashion to people outside of the tech spectrum.

Top Phrase

“No homo“made popular my the Harlem rapper Cam’ron and his crew the Diplomats. Though I don’t use it personally, it’s funny that people are so homophobic that the culture had to create the phrase. :greddy

Bad trends

“Stripped Button ups” – I’m sorry this is not for everyone. You don’t walk into a bar with you rboys and all of you are rocking a Banana republic shirt. Just because Jay-Z does it doesn’t mean you should

“I’m Rick James Bitch” – You are not Dave Chappelle, Rick James, or Lil’ Jon. When that episode of Dave Chappelle came on I would hear drunk frat boy at the grocvery store yelling “Yeah!!!! OOOOOOKKKKAAAYYYY” across the aisles. This shit became so bad Dave Chappelle even released a statement to for people to cease and desist this tom and jane foolery.

Conclusion

Fuck, I would have included technological advances and other things that help society but I don’t have time to scour Google and read my back issues of The Economist to bring that info to you. Check stonedrobot.com for that.

Can It Be That Is Was All So Simple?

Administrator — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 22:12:18 +0000

This past month I was cleaning up a storage closet at my Father’s house and come across some interesting nostalgia. Though mostly video games and softcore images, it was a stark reminder of the previous decade.

Yes, that is what you think it is. An original copy of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, for my beloved Genesis console. This was before all the scandal, Michael would slide his way through smokey bars rescuing little girls yelping “Michael!”. The midi soundtrack recreation of his hits is superb. Classic MJ.

The game that started the 16 bit revolution. I believe the year was 1991. This game came with the original release of the Genesis system (hence, not for resale).. Although overlooked by many in favor of Mario, IMO Sonic is the better front man. Super Mario Bros. on SNES couldn’t touch this. Interestingly enough, I have the skills to program this game from the ground up right now, (minus the intricate graphics). So 15 years from now will CS seniors be able to program Halo 2?

Afterburner 2 and the best X-Men video game, second to the Arcade version. Rereleased in Japan recently the Afterburner 2 still proves to be groundbreaking. I’ve used to be into X-Men comics heavily, until the storylines got way too bizarre, and the graphic artists changed there style to appeal to the mass. I guess that is a trend in see in all forms of entertainment. BTW Gambit, is the best character in that game.

A 2GB Iomega Jaz Drive. A true piece of antiquated technology. Theses days I can fit 80 GB in the size of a credit card. Retailed for around $300 once first released.

I really don’t know how I got this. Note that this is Miss January 1988! 17 years ago. Some kid probably passed to me on the playground.

Well this is the full set, of what I found in the boxes, 88, 89, and 91. I don’t even remember owning this shit, oh well.

Back Like Cooked Crack

Administrator — Fri, 12 Nov 2004 08:15:52 +0000

Since midterms have ended my life is finally getting back to normal. Finally I’m partying and going back to the bars…..atleast for a couple days.

What’s Hot?

Ass
Nas and Az- “Serious”
Kobe
Half-Life 2
Yasser Arafat (rip)
Metal Gear Solid 3

What’s Not?

AOL
Diplomatic Immunity 2
2 Party System
Adrian Mutu
Photo Ipods
Electronic Arts

Expect a new site design on the next update along with part 2 of my Fantastic Four Adventures

Current Desktop

Unabashed or Unintentional?

Administrator — Mon, 08 Nov 2004 01:04:35 +0000

Apparently the ad above outraged the some morally pretentious officials in New York. It is supposed to be an advertisment to encourage reading from the urban clothing company “Akademiks”.

Surely I would be the first to admit that “Getting Brain” is synomous with oral sex in the hip hop vernacular. Obviously Akamediks’ main clientele is is familiar with the phrase. The point is that Akademiks didn’t do anything different than what most most advertisers do. Open in Maxim and you will see ads that balance on the line of suggestion. Remember the Miller Lite “Twins” commericials? This just leads me to believe that the concern over the ad in question is just an attack on youth culture, Hip hop culture (once again), and “you know what” culture.

The past 15 or 20 years of youth bashing has great contributed to the apathy of young people on all fronts; from politics and voting to a general cynicism and distrust of anything “right wing”.

Granted the past election saw a 2% increase in youth voting (from 17 to 19), that was mostly due to an extreme and unapologic hatred towards G.W. Bush. Consequently causing the youth to vote for the non-Bush “John Kerry” despite his obvious fakeness. Oh how I tangent….

Getting back to the issue, do I think Akademiks was attacked because of their image as an “urban” company? Yes. Technically the add does promote reading, you read it, right? So what is there is a girl wearing Akademiks apparel? It’s their ad. Bill O’Rielly type people only seem to be offended. Speaking of that man allows me in lead to the underlying notion that this issue is simply discrimination.

We all know when the media says urban in a derogatory manner that means “minorities”. Since we all have been oversaturated with the likes of hypocrites like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (The Perm King) I won’t get into a useless rant on that.

So in the end what is a solution to the these attacks? Oversaturate the market with them aka the America Way. Any publicity is good publicity. This is probably the most attention Akademiks has ever received. Continue to do what you are doing and Americans will accept it. Pop culture has ADD.