Review: Blue Scholars @ Pacific University

Sorry it's been a while, school's been killing em and I can't get any photos ripped of my cell phone. Anyway, I heard about this Blue Scholars concert out at Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR the day it was happening, so I told all my friends and mustered 3 of them to go with me. I'll break this session down into so key components for you.

1. Venue: The PU Mensch Festival is some hippy shit that happens on the quad of the campus. The campus itself is really nice, but the festival was pretty low grade. However, things were pretty simple, the crowd was relatively small, and there was plenty of grass to sit on (we only stood though). Overall, it wasn't that bad, but if Blue Scholars hadn't been there, there's no way you would've caught me checking on that hippy shit.
2. Performace: The Blue Scholars rocked the campus hard. They played some new tracks off their EP, OOF! that they've never played live before and rocked some of their old joints off their self-titled debut album. They even played a song off their EP, Butter and Gun$ (and of course a few off Bayani). DJ Sabzi and MC Geologic sounded tight and played some awesome tracks. The stage was humble, but they rocked it as hard as it could be rocked. They even let the crowd up no the stage for a few songs. The only thing that got me was that when Geo asked if we'd heard about their new EP, I shouted "OOF!" and he gave me a straight-up death glare then started another song. I don't know what the hell was up with that.
3. Quality: The sound quality was good for the performance. Despite taking a while to get the mics and sound equipment in sync, everything turned out alright. The bass was powerful, but not too much. I didn't hear any squeaking mics either, so it was good. But like I said, the stage was pretty humble, but it was quality.
Song list (from memory): 27, Bayani, Blue School, Coo?, HI-808, Inkwell, Loyalty, No Rest For The Weary, Sagaba, Second Chapter, and a few others I can't remember or didn't know their names.

Final Decision: I'd go again next year if Blue Scholars show again. As long as Geo doesn't kill me.
Also, I shook Sabzi's hand.

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Now playing: DJ Spooky - Creation Rebel

Rhymesayers Entertainment Records

I've been discovering a lot of new artists lately with the help of Twitter and Mufin.com (a website that finds similar artists/tracks to the ones you search for). I evenutally stumbled onto the Rhymesayers website and started listening to some of their signees (Abstract Rude, Eyedea and Abilities, MF Doom, P.O.S., Jake One, Vitamin D; to name a few) and found that they weren't that bad; so I thought I'd plug their label.
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rhymesayers has been bringing hip-hop to the streets of the Twin Cities since 1995. They have a few nationally renowned signed artists such as Atmosphere, Brother Ali, and Evidence of Dilated Peoples. However, they're mainly focused on the local underground scene in the Minneapolis metro area. Not much else can be found about this independent record label other than it's the largest one in the state of Minnesota.
One uniquely awesome aspect of this label is their record store in Uptown, Minneapolis called Fifth Element. It's an offshoot of the Rhymesayers label and dedicated to underground hip-hop. They carry records and clothing and you can expect a review from me coming soon.
Rhymesayers website.
List of Rhymesayers artists.

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Now playing: Abstract Rude - Stuff's Ruff

The Ethics of Traffic Police

I was talking with may friend Jordan the other day on the way to Five Guys (best burger I've ever had) when we noticed that there were a ton of cops out. Then we got to talking about what the cops do and why they do it.
What really got me started was this Speeders program I saw a few weeks ago where a police bureau in South Carolina (I think) dressed an officer in camo and hid him in the woods along the freeway with a speed gun. When he saw someone speeding he would radio ahead the model and color of the car to an officer stationed up the freeway who would pull them over. the one guy I saw who got pulled over reacted the same way I would've, issuing forth profanities like a drunken marine (that's another story for another time). He called this whole operation "bullshit," and I'd say exactly the same.
What is the police department doing here? Are their methods actually causing people to slow down? While they're inciting fear in the local population, I don't think they're actually making anybody slow down except maybe those that they pull over. In my opinion, this is just an over-thought money scheme. Basically, the cops can pull over anybody because everyone goes over the speed limit by at least 5 and usually 10 miles per hour. If you're like me, you cruise with the flow of traffic and when you see a cop car you slow down, the accelerate back up when you're out of sight. Cop cars make you slow down, not hidden, chicken shit cops who are just in it for the money.
So that brings me to my point. While this single bureau probably shouldn't set the precedent for every other cop in the U.S., I can't help but notice that it looks like the police are working for themselves/their careers and not to protect the people. The cops are trying to fill their quotas and get paid, not enforce the law in a manner that benefits the most people.

A few more examples of shady, stingy police work:
1. A friend got ticketed for J-walking; she was walking against the line inside a marked crosswalk. Had she been outside of the white cross-walk lines, it wouldn't have been a ticketable offense. Classic douche bag officer.
2. Another friend is ticketed for going 26 in a 25 mph school zone. She goes to court to fight it and loses. If this isn't bullshit I don't know what is. How can you watch your speedometer so close as to not go over the limit by 1 mph. That's just unreasonable.
3. Again from the show Speeders (my brother watches that a lot), there's one officer they often follow who brags about always giving out tickets. This just flat out makes him look like a jackass. We need less douche bags on the force.

But then again, there's always a couple cops who deserve and honorable mention for giving people breaks:
1. I got pulled over after cutting off a cop, but only after some asshole cop kicked me out of a public school parking lot (it called it private property, my ass). I didn't have my license on me and it was after curfew (my 1 year wasn't up yet). He said he could impound my car, arrest me, and make my parents come get me, but the guy let me off. So I shook his hand and he said not to let it happen again and I got the hell out of there.
2. My friend was in downtown and got confused and pulled the wrong way onto a one-way street. A cop pulled him over and helped redirect him back onto the correct street going the right way. It was all good.

You got any cop stories? Let me know in the comments.

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Now playing: Dilated Peoples - Last Line Of Defense