Lykke Li @ NTBR Part 4 - "Hustlin'"

Lykke Li @ NTBR Part 4 - "Hustlin'" from Drew Innis on Vimeo.
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Now playing: ESPN - PTI: 3/27

Obama Administration 60 Days In

There are a few main reasons I voted for President Obama and three of them came to fruition within the last week.

The administrations attempts to reach out the Iran, as he did last Friday in Obama's Nowruz message, the EPA decision to stop mountaintop removal mining, and the executive order to lift the ban on federal funds for embryonic stem-cell research.

These are actions that never would have occurred under a McCain administration. This is the garbage that the Bush administration forced down our throats and left many of us questioning the other half of America. America has an opportunity here to make things right, where so much was wrong the last eight years. Things of course aren't perfect coming out of Washington. Under pressure from the NRA and Blue Dog Dems, the administration and Eric Holder decided against bringing back the Clinton era assault weapon ban. This is frustrating in that there are no real reason a citizen needs to own the weaponry the administration wanted to ban.

Secretary Clinton stressed yesterday that America feeds the Mexico drug trade, both through the drug market and our weapons flooding the streets of Mexico, and we need to do a better job in preventing guns from entering Mexico. This argument falls on deaf ears of the gun lobby, and I can understand why Obama wouldn't want the headache of the fight this year. He needs the support of those Blue Dogs to get his initiatives through.

I just hope he takes them up soon. We need to use every weapon of our own to prevent these weapons from reaching the wrong hands.
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Now playing: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer - Obama Takes New Media Approach to Rallying Public Support

Web 2.0 Taking Over SXSW

My buddy Jay Smooth over at Hiphopmusic.com and IllDoctrine was interviewed by PBS at SXSW. It's nice to see hip-hop blogging and video blogging in general get some publicity, and of course, we want Jay to get as much attention as possible. We know being named one of the sexiest men alive on Salon.com didn't go to his head quite enough. The interview is a must watch for anyone interested in the interactive and expanding world of blogging and video blogging:


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Now playing: Eric B. & Rakim - Eric B. Is President

Chuck D Still Has It

Public Enemy w/ The Roots on Jimmy Fallon. Great clip.
via: Stereogum

Web 2.0 Taking Over the Capitol

My favorite Twitterer Sen. Claire McCaskill just launched a tumblr via a tweet.

Be sure to add her to your feed.

http://clairecmc.tumblr.com/

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)