When a kiss was a kiss...

the more the technology loop tries to suck me in, the more i find myself longing for nostalgia -- for things that remind me of a better, simpler time. of course, it's all an illusion anyway and shit is just relative, but it does make me wonder: WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG, JADAKISS?!?!

that sentiment pretty much goes for all the ruff ryders, DMX especially. in college, my buddies and i would pimp out to all-things-DMX and i was convinced the world would never find a finer hip hop artist.

and then they all fell off the face of the earth and left me with worthless shit like chingy.

here's to those better, simpler times...

I can haz a baby tupac?

i think somebody's on to something here. what i wouldn't give for my very own baby tupac!!!

i'm serious, this could go WAY beyond baby alive and cabbage patch kids.

besides, society is ready for an expletive-spittin', henney drankin', gangsta baby.

(image via ihmp)

Bringin' "ditty" back

sometimes i forget how old i am and, without thinking, allow myself to get all disgruntled over stupid shit that doesn't matter.

i heard a mashup playing the other day that used the hook to one of my favorite childhood rap songs ("ditty" by paperboy) and i got all excited, going into my own personal rendition when i realized the cool kids (the angsty pre-hipster teens) in the vicinity gave me the look of death.

"what? you don't know ditty? how can you not know ditty?"

i almost got really upset. i even nearly started to argue! but then i thought better of it, kept my mouth shut and immediately fired up the paperboy album when i got home.

suck it, jaded youth.

If you are willing to be disturbed...

...then PLEASE watch this scary-as-shit video. you'll quickly learn that the new hand of god is cool and hip (at least, i think that's what they were going for).

either way, this in the zone shit might scare the fuck out of you.

and yes, the participants are real.

(found at the museum of idolatry)

Is there any making sense of the juggalos?

the juggalo phenomenon holds a curious piece of my heart. sometimes i feel like it's a pretty cool thing that such an oddly shunned group of folks can find happiness and unity in their own unique way.

but then, sometimes, i feel like these people are fucking mad.

this mini-doc sheds some light on both angles. i can't help but think the majority of the individuals featured here are high out of their fucking minds on anything from meth to LSD to nitrous oxide, but then again, they seem to be happy. and non-violent (for the most part).

just... y'know, fucking insane.

American Juggalo from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

Lunchablez

while i recognize lunchables are basically just processed boxes of crap with little nutritional value, i sure would consider purchasing them if this commercial were real.

HAPPY FUCKING MONDAY YO!!!

"Keep ya head up"

when it comes to tupac songs, ya really can't get much better than this.

it's one of those songs that i keep in the back of my head at all times and it has gotten me through some rough shit.

ya know, like... people dying. getting my heart broken. being locked up.

so bump that shit yo!

Knowing who you are

one thing i struggle with is being able to identify who i am rather succinctly. i think this harkens back to an older age, but it's always bothered me anyway, not knowing who i am.

we tend to be defined by what we do for a living. he's a banker. she's a chef. he's a bus driver.

i'm a... bookstore manager? that fucking blows. that's not what i wanted to be when i grow up.

so when people ask me what i am i just say "i'm a writer" or "i'm a runner", even though i make zero dollars doing those things.

to some that's cheating, but to me, that's surviving the question without breaking things. i wish i could make a living doing what i love and i'm trying to get there, but it's not easy. if it were easy, everyone would do it, right?

anyway, all the above came to mind after watching the young beat-machine prince, araabMUZIK throw down on his MP. there's no question what this dude is: A BEAT MAKING MASTER.

Man, we's doin' da NINETIES!!!

funkmaster flex.

spinnin da NINETIES.

say no more. just fuckin' enjoy this megabomb shit... and don't bring up no mc hammer or young mc antiruckus. DIS IS DA NINETIES!!!

yes, this vid is long. i suggest you hit play then try not to break nuffin!

Living legend

if my new hobby of dj'ing has taught me anything, it's that one must have a certain feel for the music -- a certain knowledge that goes deeper than the casual ear -- in order to put on a good show.

dj jazzy jeff has that, and he's still doin' it up.

because he is a bonafide badass. and i am in awe:

Whole foods parking lot

i love whole foods.

repeat: i FUCKING LOVE WHOLE FOODS.

sucks that i have to take out a loan to shop there (which is why i usually opt for trader joe's then go to WF when i come up sumthin' fierce)... but for any of you who have ever shopped there, or are familiar with the shitbomb that is trying to find a parking spot (it's just as bad in the chi as it is in l.a. sometimes), i think you'll enjoy this:

Lost in the whirlwind

sometimes, when i'm driving the freeways late at night, in and out of the CHI, i get the urge to blast me some tupac shakur classics.

when he was killed, i was more angry at the amount of great music i'd be cheated out of rather than the stupid crime itself... but time has brought my feelings back to center.

the following was always one of my favorite tupac songs. keep in mind that "girlfriend" here is just a metaphor for "gun". some people never got that bit of necessary information.

the song is violent in nature (no big surprise considering the source) but the musical/lyrical juxtaposition softens the edge a bit, providing the perfect drive-around-not-givin-a-shit soundtrack.

holla!

Much props

as someone who hit puberty in the 90s, most of my musical love bounced between nirvana, tupac, dre and (don't judge me) michael jackson. weird mix, i know, but those were the times.

now, flash forward to me sittin' at my sister's house the other day, playing with her toddler's playschool xylophone. i start messin' around and before ya know it i'm bangin' out musical hits from the 90s. my sister even joined in with the rhythm section (also brought to us by playschool).

i thought, surely other adults have done stuff like this...

apparently they have.

ain't the internets badass?

Adrenaline friday!

every couple of months or so i pull out the roots' things fall apart album and listen to it from start to finish. i remember the day it came out. the tour. being a part of the 'movement'. i was in college then... i was discovering true freedom for the first time... i was... in love having a lot of sex with the most beautiful woman i've ever met.

fitting too, as the movement was all about love. still is. and it's fucking friday, so do yourself a favor and listen to this song, "adrenaline", and love you some of that.

ah... see... i feel better already. and this weekend is gonna be super fun. i'll be out at the lakefront 50 mile race volunteering all day saturday. if you's in the chi, stop on by! and sunday i'm gonna be hitting the trails in the burbs... definitely gonna need some adrenaline to keep me goin'. lots of running adventures are on tap for the spring and summer.

holla!

It's getting hot in here

the other night, i made a nelly reference.

she -- the woman i was with -- didn't get it.

then i looked at my watch and realized nelly hasn't been popular for ten years.

2001. that was when he was at his best, or rather, that was when he was.

period.

time for me to update my rap references.

Asking the really tough fucking questions

there was a time (a long, long time ago, when i was young and dumb) when i would most certainly judge a person by his/her answer to the above pressing question.

staunchly in the tupac camp, i realized (the older i got) that i was missing out by shunning the biggie camp... and after they were both dead, one could even say i walked a fine line by wearing two hip-hop hats, straddling the fence between big boy records and the tupac killuminati faction.

i loved both.

still do.

and the fact that they're both dead (still dead, after all these years, whodathunkit???) still hurts. just think of all the great music we missed out on because of their silly vendettas.

then again, maybe it saved us from having to go through what we've gone through with jay-z.

one can only hope.

Holla!!!

in addition to the myriad forms of "fuck" and "delusionoid", i also find frequent use in the word/phrase/exclamation "HOLLA!!!!"

it goes back to my childhood, where my back-road river-ridin' toothpick-chewin' elders were often heard yammerin' "g'on and holler at them neighborkids".

i'm not kidding.

"holler" was (still is) a word that really came to represent my family. we holler at folks. we don't yell.

and then, there was ja-rule, who did a good job of rulin' my musical world for a few years in the late 90s.

for we youthful skykillers, "holler" quickly became "holla" and we never looked back.

in fact, "holla!!!" has unofficially become the preferred salutation for the entire skykiller clan under the age of forty.

so trow ya hands up 'n HOLLA!!!

when in doubt, just fucking hit 'play' on SET IT OFF

Lil wayne's thoughts after reading the bible in the joint

"I also read the Bible for the first time. It was deep! I liked the parts where some character was once this, but he ended up being that. Like he'd be dissing Jesus, and then he ends up being a saint. That was cool."

(rolling stones link)

---

dude, lil wayne, i totally feel ya. that thing is FULL of some CRAZY ASS STORIES YO! first a bush is a bush, then it's on fire... TALKING! then there's a huge ass flood that covers the planet in water and eventually it dried up without leaving ANY geological evidence. and don't even GET me started on god's power trip where he tells abraham to kill HIS OWN FUCKING SON!

there's a million of dem crazy ass stories in there, dude. or, a "mili" as you'd say...

A blast that keeps getting good

when i get on these musical genre streaks, i might go 7, 8 weeks without listening to anything but trance, anything but jazz, or country or classical or whatever the particular flavor happens to be based on the goings-on in my life. i let my mood effect the music i listen to. i use it, as an ally.

and in doing so, i often forget about certain things i'd once obsessed over.

here's one of those things.

what rap can be when surrounded by quality musical talent.