Thursday, April 26, 2007

All I ever wanted was a real nice lady, a clean pair of socks, and some fish for my gravy


I do not need more money.
I don't want more money, usually.
The only time I feel that I need more money is when I see some asshole rapper on T.V. waving the shit in my fucking face.
Then I'm like: "why does that ugly-ass no talent philistine have all that shit and I don't"
But in reality I have everything I need.
I should be at peace.
But this fucking guy is showing me the inside of his fridge and the shit is like a whole shelf of champagne and then another whole shelf of Heinekens, and then like a big fucking turkey on the top. and I'm looking at my wife like "when you go to key food you never come back with no champagne, no giant turkeys....what the fuck"

I don't even like champagne. But I'm sayin.....

And I know. He knew the camera crew was coming that day. And he cleaned the crib. He stocked the fridge with Heineken and then the Heineken people will send him mad cases of the shit now cause he hooked them up with the Ill product placement on TV.

I know how it works.

But still. It starts me salivating.
It inspires envy and self loathing.

Art, in my humble opinion, should be an answer to those base human tendencies. It should be the savior of our low morals. It should protect us from the constant corporate onslaught.

That's why I love music and art and shit like that. Because it reminds me that life is in fact beautiful. That my wife, as annoying as she is, is also kind of hot and I'm a lucky slob to have her. And she cook good.

Just listen. This song always made me happy. The little scat solo Mos Def does at the end.
"pap pap pap" that's the sound when I smack the drum skin.

Bush Babies (feat. Mos Def): S.O.S.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Imagine Houdini fucking two Genies puffing two beedis watching the same thing on different T.V's



Beedi smoke brings me back.
Before I ever smoked cigarettes I smoked Beedis.
They were 25 for $1.
They came in those little pink paper packs.
I was a kid.
$5 bucks for a pack of Newports seemed like too much.

Beedi's smell like shit but you don't notice when you're smoking them.
Only when other people are.

They are made by mad eight year-old girls in India who are sold into slavery by their starving families.
Shit is fucked up.
They have to tie on those little red strings individually.

The tobacco is wrapped in a tendu leaf (Coromandel Ebony {Diospyros melanoxylon}, also known as East Indian Ebony)
One beedi produces three times more carbon monoxide and nicotine, and five times more tar than a regular cigarette.

I caught the whiff of a passing beedi this afternoon and it instantly conjured memories of mid nineties New York Indie-Rap.
Go Figure.

Siah & Yeshua DapoED : Gravity
From my favorite Indie-Rap Record of all time.

2 Face: Hey, Hey, Hey
L swift and A-Butter. WNYU (89.1) Freestyle Fanatics.

Reflection Eternal: 2000 Seasons
I can't remeber if this was Talib's first record or if "Manifesto" came out on a B-side first.

Company Flow: Juvenile Techniques
El-P's first Record

Natural Resource: Bum Deal
Jean Grae's First Record

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

This looks like a good show





Looky Look

I was a huge Heiro fan growing up. I've never seen Souls perform live.

I wonder if they will perform Cab Fare. I think it's a lot of people's favorite Souls song (after '93 'til infinity) even though it never came out (Bob James was straight haighting on the bay area hip hop)

I remember that song being traded on bootleg tapes for years.

Plus Embedded Music represents my great hope for a fresh new wave of New York City Hip Hop with brains and soul.

I am eagerly awaiting new albums from Cool Calm Pete, Junk Science, and the new Nuclear Family Spin-off group: Iller Than Theirs

Souls Of Mischief: Cab Fare

Junk Science: Do It Easy

Iller Than Theirs: To Be Ill

Cool Calm Pete: Lost (Blockhead Remix)

See you there.
Except you won't know what I look like.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

We're Back



The reason why I disappeared?

I've just been listening to this song over and over and over .....

The Dugout: Shows Over



Actually I was battling one of my severe bouts of depression. My wife hates me. My job sucks. etc etc.....
To be honest I was thinking about throwing in the proverbial towel with this blog shit while it was still in it's infancy.

Then I got a couple of emails from people saying they liked the site and the music I was posting.
and that's all it took
I figured.....well. at least someone's listening.
So I'm Back

Fuck all of you. I love you very much.

-GRUNT