Threads: Pnoy Apparel

In addition to Talib Kweli's tweets, I've been getting a multitude of updates from Prometheus Brown aka Geologic (MC of Blue Scholars) about a clothing company called Pnoy Apparel. I'm convinced that he's affiliated with this company because of his Filipino roots (he's a second generation immigrant). While I may be of the Caucasian persuasion, I'm feeling a few of these shirts they're sporting over at PA. In particular, this one that says "Know History, Know Self."
This slogan holds a lot of meaning for me, and it makes a lot of sense too. If you know your history, you know yourself, because you're unique as a result of your past experiences. Without knowing your roots, you can't really know who you are. I'll use a mainstream example: The Bourne Identity. Jason Bourne (the protagonist) spends years of time and risks his life to try and recover his history so he can remember who he is; it's that important. But in all practicality, your history is who you are, and it at least warrants the importance to be emblazoned on a t-shirt. The shirt I want is only $18, but shipping is $7.50 for me here in Portland. Still not that bad a price. Check the pic and links below.

Pnoy Apparel website
Another tight shirt

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Now playing: Alchemist - Therapy (feat. Evidence, Blu, Talib Kweli, & Kid Cudi)

Threads: Blacksmith

I've been getting a lot of tweets from Talib Kweli lately about this "Year of the Blacksmith" (YOTB) website so I decided to check it out. I first got linked to their shop where I saw their sick logo and thought I should grab one of their shirts. I haven't ordered it yet, but I'm definitely considering it. If you follow the link, you'll see that the shirts are only $20 (my shipping is about $6 but it might be different depending on where you're at). Their logo in itself is sick enough (being an ambigram), but the fact that it's neon takes it to a whole other level along with the "glow-in-the-dark" lettering. I've got to grab one of these with all the money I'm making off landscaping haha.
Aside from their ill threads, The Year of the Blacksmith has a few great acts backing it. MCs like Talib Kweli and a group called Idle Warship which I hear is pretty good. So check out their site in the links below and see what their movement is all about. Support YOTB's mission of uniting so many diverse cultures and peoples under one love: hip-hop.
Check it.
Year of the Blacksmith website
Year of the Blacksmith store -- shirt I'm getting

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Now playing: La Coka Nostra - Mistaken Identity

Club Songs

I hit a dance in downtown (Portland) last night that was hoppin pretty hard. With beats, not ladies unfortunately. Despite the offset ratio of guys to girls, the music that was bumpin was pretty legit. When I was lucky enough to find a single girl, I found myself grinding to some of the dopest club mixes I've heard for a while. This is just a quick post, but if anyone out there's reading, link me up to some of your favorite club songs. In return, here's a quick analysis of the hook of what I'm feeling right now:

Caribou Lou -- Tech N9ne

"151 Rum,
Pineapple juice and Malibu.
Caribou get dem all numb.
Make baby girl cum,
out of her shell and raise hell.
We gon party till the cops come.
151 Rum, Pineapple juice and Malibu.
Caribou get dem all numb.
Make baby girl cum,
out of her shell and raise hell.
Don’t stop till the cops come."

Rhyme Scheme: 1, 1... 2, 2... 1... 1... 3... 3... 1, 1, 1... 2, 2... 1... 1... 3... 3... 1. You can already see how this song is easy to rock with.
This song is so "catchy" because of the way the flow is helped along by the rhyme scheme. While there are no multis, the short bars and quick end rhymes make the song easy to remember and feel. While multis and multi-syllable rhymes are good for complex, deep hip-hop songs, quick, easily understood lyrics such as these make for a popular club song. Either way, when you're grinding, you aren't looking for lyrics or depth, mainly beat, and this song definitely has a dope one.
Drop your favorite club songs or any popular ones in the comments.

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Now playing: Tech N9ne - Caribou Lou

Kicks: 1st Installment

We all like a sweet pair of kicks, am I right? Living only a few miles from the Nike world campus and their employee store in Beaverton, I'm always looking out for the sick shoes that I want to get. Sadly, my collection is limited by the size of my bank account and how often I'm able to get into the employee store (once every 6 months or so). One thing I don't like about the employee store is that the selection is very limited. Basically it's a store where everything is 50% off, but they tend to offer more high quality gear, so you still end up spending a lot of money (that's how they work you). My opinion is that you try and go if you get the chance, but don't be disappointed if you don't find what you're looking for. I was in there a week ago and their shoes selection was trash. There weren't any nice 6.0s or AF1s. But since I'm on the subject, let me share with you what I'm currently stuntin.

Nike 6.0 Air Heist
These shoes are huge (I wear size 13) and comfortable. They aren't good for playing basketball or anything because your feet slide around too much inside them. However, they are cushioned a lot so they feel pretty nice. Not much arch support though so they start to hurt if you wear them all day (might be because I don't tie them; just tuck the laces in and slip them on/off). They do look pretty sick though haha. I paid: $54.00

Nike Livestrong Trainer Dunks Low
I don't know why these are considered Dunks but that's what it says on the box. I just got these and they're extremely light. Good for running distance or just walking around. They look cool and they're pretty comfortable. I've been looking for a pair of trainers like this for a long time and I'm glad I finally found them. I paid: $46.00

Post some pics of what you've got if you're feelin me.

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Now playing: Swollen Members - Battle Axe Experiment (Feat. Evidence)

Link the Weak: Sunday, July 26

So I spend more time on the internet then I probably should. While a lot of this time is wasted looking at worthless stuff and doing mind-numbing tasks, I've managed to accumulate a number of resources for finding some crazy shit on the internet. So in the "feature" I'm going to list out my top 7 sites/stories I've found over the past week and lay them out for you. I'm going to try and do these every Sunday; just a heads up.
Here they are (in no particular order):

1. A Manual Sink Faucet -- Creative designs like this always catch my attention.
2. Abandoned Memories -- I've always been mystified by abandoned buildings and regions once inhabited by humans.
3. Great Timing -- Unphotoshopped pictures taken from around the world. You've got to have some serious camera skills to be able to capture these.
4. Curveball Illusion -- Check out this optical illusion, I've never seen it before.
5. The Pirate Bay to Become a Pay Site -- Draw your own conclusions.
6. Okotanpe Contact Juggling -- This shit puts me in a trance every time. Check the video and tell me what you think (here's another).
7. "The Dunk Heard 'Round the World" -- Check here for two different angles of Lebron James getting dunked on at his basketball camp by Jordan Crawford, a sophomore at Xavier. In my opinion, King James made a bigger deal out of this than it really was by confiscating the tapes. Honestly, makes him look like a pussy.

*Bonus: Download Seattle hip-hop group The Physics' new EP: High Society for free.

Sorry if some of these links were weak. For this first week I was just looking through some of my past stuff I've liked using Stumbleupon. Which brings me to my next part: with every link set I post I'll also give you a legit source for finding worthwhile stuff on the internet. This week, it's Stumbleupon.
First, you've got to get Firefox then download the add-on for it here. Simple as that. Then you can turn the toolbar on and start stumbling and finding some cool stuff on the internet. More to come.

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Now playing: Immortal Technique - One Remix F. Akir

Lyrics: Ascend - Sweatshop Union

Every so often, or whenever I find an exceptionally deep song, I'm going to post the lyrics here and try and break them down for you the best I can. By doing this, hopefully I'll be able to reveal the depth I mentioned in my last post, as well as the rhyming genius that it takes to produce a true gem such as this; Ascend off the Sweatshop Union's self-titled album. Now what I'm looking for here in particular is rhyming schemes, flow, and metaphors/similes. For all intents and purposes, I'll be going off of a modified template from a website I'm a member at (JeeJuh.com) that goes something like this:
1. Rhyme Schemes [italics are individual rhymes, bolds are mutli-word rhymes, green is miscellaneous patterns]
2. Wordplay [aka deep bars and meaning; explained after]
3. Metaphors/Similes
4. Structure
5. Flow
Also, there's a video at the bottom with the song in it.

Ascend -- Sweatshop Union

"We are passing into a great change of species
And no matter how loudly the old authorities
may proclaim that this is not so, it is going to happen
Our moment of time, when population reaches it's limit
and the world as we know it ends, is not about death at all
It is about ascending into a new kind of life

They only see to the sky
Our dreams and our lives
Our means to survive
But not between our eyes
We gotta free our minds and re-design them
Seek and find the trees to climb high and
Read the signs between the lines
Defeat the lies discreetly hiding deep inside them
Sheep unite and beat the tyrant
Leave the island but keep smiling (smiling)
'Cause why try to fit in
To this life that has been
Pre-planned to keep man in a cycle of sin
The fight could have been won
But we sit stunned
As we get drunk and forget once we were tricked
And now they can complete their goal
'Cause we're convinced that dung heaps are gold
People sold to keep our souls dug in
Deeper holes than we could know we're stuck in

'Now something is wrong with that... don't you think?'

[Chorus:]
Life can be a sequence of precluded opportunities
just like déjà vu that never ends
It seems our position as spirit beings
on this physical journey's to make our moves and then ascend
Life can be a sequence of precluded opportunities
just like déjà vu that never ends
It seems our position as spirit beings
on this physical journey's to make our moves and then ascend

I know sometimes it seems like it's some kind of dream, right?
Some try to scream and reach the sunshining beams
But the path is paved with choices, and the voices tell you lies
But it's your choice, your life, don't wait for hell to rise
It won't be televised in any case
On any stations anyways
Many wait for many saviors
Many say that any day
The penny's they attempt to save will buy them plenty acres
And the petty labor's every day's work's fruit can then be savored
Believe what you choose to but I refuse to surrender
To the people that rule you and their ruthless agendas
Spent a day away with me
Don't slave this week or play the game
End the pain, I'll make you see
The sacred tree and break the chains
Leave your alleys and streets, walk the valleys and peaks with me
This is all ours if you and I can just leave it be
Freedom is as easy as believing that we're one
Breathing it in deeply and the healing has begun

[Chorus]

Until we change our ways
There's no fucking way they'll change their ways
Manipulate our brains with the airwaves
Our kids will face the same shit when they're slaves
What gets me is they claim that it's fair play
But label us insane if we dare say
Anything that unlocks the staircase
So they can keep us locked in a scared state

Yeah, but until I change my ways
There's no fucking way you'll change your ways
So we'll keep celebrating Earth Day
Even though it's clear it's merely wordplay
What gets me is I know that they can cure AIDS
'Cause they control the healthcare and the birthrate
Then indoctrinate us 'til we serve hate
And incarcerate us in this birdcage

'And what frightens me is that... people are simply letting it happen'

[Chorus]

Sweatshop
You don't need to believe it
Or even agree with it
But give yourself time to make memories then leave it
Innocent Bystanders"

1. Rhyme Schemes: What I really dig about this song is the intricate rhymes that are woven into it. When I first heard this song, I had to listen to it a few times just to pick up on all the things Sweatshop is trying to tell me here. Their end rhymes are standard just like any other hip-hop song, but their massive amount of multis makes this drop one-of-a-kind. It takes true skill to be able to spit something as real as this.
2. Wordplay: I wasn't quite sure how to title this part of the song, but I thought wordplay would work alright. You could call it depth I guess. But this song is all about the government keeping you down. Sweatshop Union is a Canadian group, meaning they live in a largely socialist country where the government runs a lot more companies/services that it does here in the U.S. The first highlighted section is just deep. Talking about your girl like that really puts things in perspective. It's all about putting animosity aside and just loving. Speaks deep to me, I don't know about you (good rhymes also). The next two highlighted sections are about the government keeping a man down. How they run everything but don't help the people. The government keeps everyone in a 'scared state' while controlling the 'birthrate' and spitting whack 'wordplay' to keep the people locked in their 'birdcage.' The line "cause they control the healthcare and the birthrate" is a direct reference to Canada's socialized medicine that uses the peoples' tax dollars as funding. Then the lines ending in "Earth day" and "wordplay" hints at the governments shady intentions. They use Earth Day as a cover to make it look like they're doing real work, but everyone knows they'll just keep funding the polluting corporations. Alright I've said enough, next section.
3. Metaphors/Similes: I was only able to pick a few metaphors and similes out of this piece because I actually find it to be pretty cryptic at times and I get blinded by the depth of this song. If you can find anymore, post them and I'll add them in.
4. Structure: This song is structured very well. There's an intro, 4 drops from each of the four members of the crew, then a conclusion that wraps it up really nice. This song isn't too short or too long, it's a good length where all of what Sweatshop wants to say is said without it getting stretched out too far and losing its meaning. The length is 4:47 for anyone who wants to know.
5. Flow: To get the flow you really have to listen to the song. My favorite part about it is that it's really chill and smooth. The mellow beat accentuates the lyrics, which are the focus in this piece. I've listened to this song many times and I've yet to notice and awkward verse, so the flow checks out with me.

Have a song you want broken down for everyone to see? Post it here.

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Now playing: Lifesavas - Me

Components of Music

When you think of the word music, what comes to mind? Beats, lyrics, bands, stages, crowds, instruments, etc. Music is made up of many different aspects that all merge together to give a certain type of music a certain feel or an impression that it leaves on the listener. Many artists sound completely different depending on whether you're listening to them live or sitting at your desk typing out a blog like I am right now. Moving along, I'm going to do my best to break the concept of music down into its primordial pieces and sort a few genres out and see which one satisfies all the pieces.
First, you've got to start with the beats, or the "music" of music if you will. This precisely blended mix of instrumental sounds is what gives you the sound/beat aspect of music. If music were a towering skyscraper, the beat would be the foundation. Without a beat, music is just lyrics/poetry, which is a separate entity in and of itself. This isn't a negative thing necessarily, it just alters the chemical makeup of the product on the molecular level; it becomes and entirely different work of art (because music is art). Now some genres, like classical and jazz, rely heavily on their beats to form their version of music. Classical is practically all beats, which is why it's an incomplete genre of "music." It's missing the lyrics and depth necessary to inspire. As a listener, I'm left wanting more. Now these "beats" may inspire some sort of emotion within the listener, based on the cadence of the song or the instrumentals featured within it, but I feel like it's lacking a human element. I want to hear the lyrics of the composer and decipher what he or she is trying to say through this piece of music.
This brings me to the second aspect of music: lyrics. The words of a song tell a lot about the artist and help the listener to interpret what the composition is getting at. Without lyrics, the song is just a beat as outlined above. One genre, rap, makes use of lyrics and beats, but it lacks depth (we'll get to that in a minute). The beats are usually acceptable, and the lyrics/rhymes are there, but again, I'm left feeling more-or-less empty when the last few bars are dropped and iTunes rotates on to the next song. It's a superficial existence; dwelling within the beats and lyrics dimensions of music. This is where the majority of mainstream music makes its entry. Akon and T-Pain get paid millions to make songs, about what? Clubs, hoes, drinking, being on a boat, etc. The beats, I'll admit, aren't always bad, but the lyrics are only skimming the surface of our existence. For something more, we must turn to hip-hop.
Hip-hop combines the trifecta of beats, lyrics, and depth. To start off with, the beats are off the chain. A good beat in and of itself can incite depth. That's why you occasionally find gems within every genre. Though I may dislike classical music, I'm sure I could find a few songs that utilize the depth I'm looking for by just pairing a few instruments that really speak to me together. But the lyrics are what really ignite the depth of a song. Groups like Blue Scholars, Strange Fruit Project, and Sweatshop Union (just to name a few) even tell stories with their lyrics. This shit just speaks straight to me like I'm sitting there face-to-face with the emcee and he's telling me what's good. Think of music as an arch (I'm nailing these metaphors today), the beats and lyrics are the arch itself, but it's nothing without the keystone to hold it all together; the keystone being depth.
Now when you go to listen to your music, check for these three aspects and you should be able to tell if what you're listening to is legit or whack. So don't be afraid to critically analyze a few songs and decide if you're getting musically short-changed or not. Music needs to be able to impress thought and emotion on to the listener. Are you feeling that?

P.S. I know this may seem hypocritical, but what I'm listening to right now (see below) is actually an instrumental piece of hip-hop. But like I said, sometimes you find those hidden masterpieces that can get by on just beats or lyrics alone. For the record, DJ Shadow makes some seriously ill beats. Word.

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Now playing: DJ Shadow - What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 1, Blue Sky Revisit, Transmission 3)

My Musical Progression

As of late my musical vocabulary has been expanding at an unprecedented rate. Ever since I started getting music online, I've moved into a whole other genre and depth of music. With that said, I'm going to describe to you my musical progression starting from the very beginning; so that hopefully you can skip past the rough outer layers and get to the sweet, hip-hop bumping center.

Stage 1: Parental Guidance

When I was just a baby/infant, I barely knew what music was. So naturally, I just listened to whatever my parents were playing; namely my mom. She had country music rocking out of her Honda accord 24/7. As I grew up, I my disdain for country music grew exponentially stronger. Nowadays, I can't stand the shit. Personally, it sounds like every song is the same beats and lyrics; no variety. Dogs, horses, trucks, beer, slutty women. Did I miss anything?

Stage 2: First Come, First Serve

Once I was more of a kid than a baby, I started to latch to whatever came my way. Which at first was mostly soundtrack music from kid movies like Pokemon, Lion King, etc. But then I found my first musical love, the Irish rock band U2. To this day, I still feel a lot of U2's stuff (mostly their older hits, there new songs are largely garbage). They were a good blend of smooth rock rhythms and meaningful lyrics. Their lyrics usually told stories; something I look for in a good group. However, as I aged further, I discovered different genres and drifted away from U2. But to this day, I would still recommend them to anybody who likes classic rock and pop. I guess I got lucky. Other people that were my age at that time clung to bands like Good Charlotte, Backstreet Boys, and other trash bands. At least U2 had some form of quality to their music.

Stage 3: Ignorant Bliss

Once I got an iPod and I was a teenager, I started getting into more of the mainstream stuff. By mainstream I mean the popular music a.k.a. a sorry excuse for truly good music. All the mainstream has going for it is the occasional catchy beat. The lyrics, I have determined, are utterly worthless. They are surface level end-rhymes and nothing more. Good music needs deep lyrics and the mainstream doesn't have that, all people look at is whatever is popular or "hip" at the time. For instance, Kanye West, while I'll admit some of his earlier stuff was alright, continues to make chart toppers out of his sorry excuse for music off his new album "808s and Heartbreak." That has to be one of the worst sounding albums I've heard in my life. I'm embarrassed for anyone who calls that hip-hop or even rap. However, he's recognized and he makes money because the mainstream is so locked into him. I saw him in concert, and he's a complete asshole, yet people blindly follow him because they're enticed by the golden light cast on him by the media and the rest of the populace. But not me and you, right? We're better than that. As I got even older (late teens now), I wised up to the mainstream shit they spew on the radio and found what's truly good: real, deep, hip-hop.

Stage 4: Maturity

This is the point in my life where, at least I think I've found, the truly good stuff. Hip-hop at it's finest is right here on the internet. My friend set me up to download on the web and it's changed my whole outlook on music. My music library is no longer restricted my how much money I've got or what the music store carries, just by my knowledge of what's out there (Wikipedia is a great source). With the internet, you're exposed to all of the underground stuff you usually miss out on while blinded by the media limelight. Since discovering this, my music library has grown to 2000 songs from 100 in a few months. And this is quality stuff, not Lil Wayne and Akon and shit like that that cover all the magazines and take the spotlight at the Grammy's. No, underground hip-hop is where it's at. So I beg you to heed my advice, and skip the previous three steps and get right to what I'm saying here. Get on the internet and start searching (The Pirate Bay is a good place to start). I'll be posting more blogs about certain groups that I like and everything, but in the meantime, start your search now and don't waste anytime. Music has more of an impact on your life that you'd think; it effects your mood and even your outlook and certain things, maybe even life. I can tell you right now I feel better listening to some chill hip-hop rather than watching a sub-par stand-up comic or the news. So take my advice and start searching for the MC and DJ that fits you. More to come. Peace.

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Now playing: Solillaquists of Sound - Our 2 Cents