Biggie Smalls Will Always be the Illest

I know I've already waxed nostalgia on Biggie and the disappointing biopic. But Spencer Ackerman reminds us that Christopher Wallace would have been 37-years-old today. What a shame.

Always will be Brooklyn's finest.

of Montreal Cover of The Beatles "I'm So Tired"

h/t StereoGum

Please, Hammer, Don't Hurt 'em!

From following MC Hammer's Twitter, I know he's got a lot going on right now. But there's definitely something ironic with an MC Hammer/Vanilla Ice show in Oren, UT, covered in last week's Newsweek:

Even though their music has come to represent all that was cheesy about the '90s, instead of hiding from it, these two old friends perform it. It's a feat requiring either a complete lack of self-awareness or an overabundance of it. Most would settle for the former, but don't hate on Hammer and Ice for choosing the latter.

Hammer and Vanilla Ice no doubt were in my tape deck rotation in middle school. Who at that age didn't call out, "Please, Hammer, don't hurt 'em"? I know I sure as hell did. Hammer had more of a lasting presence shape shifting his way even onto the Suge Knight's Death Row Records. You can find that album if you Google correctly.

I'm happy for him. He's still getting paid to perform. When you're a born performer, I can't imagine what it'd be like to give it up. But Utah, listen to the journalist describe the audience:

They come costumed: neon colors, translucent fabrics and acid-wash denim, with teased hair and single earrings. Many of them wear the pants that became Hammer's sartorial trademark. One woman wears no pants at all, the better to read the words stitched on the rear of her red panties: "Ice Baby." Most of these folks were just born the last time Hammer and Ice performed together 18 years ago, if they were born at all. Somehow, they still sound nostalgic. "I hope he does his old stuff," says Reagan Nickel, 21, who trekked an hour and a half from Bountiful, Utah, to see Ice. "I saw him on TV a while ago bashing his old stuff. He shouldn't bash it, he should be proud of it. We are. Aren't we proud of it?" "Yeah!" shouts a sextet of nearby girls, in unison, every last one of them 14 years old. The majority of the crowd falls into the late-teen, early 20s range. They aren't the ones who bought Hammer's and Ice's records the first time around. They got their nostalgia secondhand, from VH1's ceaseless "I Love the '80s" and "Awesomely Bad" specials, from iTunes recommendations, from "Family Guy," which derives a solid half of its humor from arcane pop-culture references. To these kids, the Hammer era is fun and frivolous, something to celebrate, not to deride. It's not the lame music their parents conceived them to. It's the music that blared from their older siblings' rooms.

Ironic, right? These kids are reliving my early teens with more gusto than I ever had the first go round. Rock on, Utah! Rock on, MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice.

Life After Death

First ever known recording of Biggie, at 17, in a freestyle battle in Bed Stuy.

Today marks the 12 year anniversary of the passing of Chris "Notorious B.I.G" Wallace. To say I was a fan of his music would be an understatement. In many ways his larger than life personality provided my 16-year-old self with inspiration. It really is a shame he had to go out like he did, but when you live the life he did you're constantly putting yourself in constant risk.

Vibe has been doing an excellent job today. They have a four part narrative of Biggie's life, part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4. Vibe also included a 12 part YouTube montage of Biggie's greatest moments. All worth watching, here. Rest in peace, Christopher Wallace, still larger than life even after death.
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Now playing: Notorious B.I.G - Guaranteed Raw (Demo)

Album and Concert Reviews to Come

Plans are still in the works to move from blogspot to a permanent domain shortly, and I'd planned on waiting until then to add music and concert reviews to the culture section here. A couple things changed my mind. The upcoming A-Trak mix Infinity+1 and a series of upcoming shows that are worth covering caught my ear. Each of which are right inline with the direction I want to take this blog. Stay tuned in here for this all to come shortly.
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Now playing: Animal Collective - My Girls