mini post: excitement

things like this keep me up at night...



yasiin bey x mannie fresh

OMFGOD

which was the reaction you had if you're as big a hip hop fan as me

good mornin'!!!

grammy's aint cool no mo'

jay "i've admitted several times that i dumb down my music for commercial success" z has been nominated for 46 grammys (not counting all of the 6 he's nominated for this year) in his career and has more than 14 wins (not counting the 3 he won tonight). andre "i'm the greatest MC of all time and here's the proof: you've never brought me up in the debate because my greatness is a given. ask talib kweli" 3000 has 20 grammy nods (precluding his 2 tonight) and only 6 wins (all with outkast). why is this a problem? let's examine the history books.

 

talib kweli: hip hop expert

what do you see in the all-time classics chapter's hip hop section? under all time classics? you see the numbers. jay z has 2 all time classics under his belt (reasonable doubt, the blueprint). how many do you see under andre 3000? i'll tell you. you see 4. twice as many as jay z. what are the four? as follows: southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, aquemini, stankonia, the love below. ok, so if you're a huge jigga mark you can make an argument for black album or even volume 2, but you don't question dre's classics. unless of course you're the grammy organization, in which case you've seen fit to reward the greatest MC of all time half as often as the richest.

straight from the A wants you to know they took that picture. click to hear my fave jay/kast collab

 now i don't want y'all to think i'm just taking a dump on grammy because i dislike jay z, because he's awesome. ok, fine. you want a more egregious example? lil "i jacked my flow from juvenile, Gilly the kid, and most recently drake" wayne has 18 nods and four wins not including this year. only 2 fewer than the greatest MC of all time. and MORE than NAS! Queens bridge's finest only has 9 nods prior to tonight. [link]

this guy has more grammys than Nas... 

and that's why i have a problem with grammy. ever since steely dan beat all the contemporary artists in the major categories (because they legitimately made the best music that year) and everybody (disclaimer: that terrible article caled lauryn hills '98 grammy success a goof... we at the drewniverse do not endorse that message, and in fact refute it vehemently), yours truly included (i was young and hadn't learned how to be sexy yet) threw a ratings killing fit, the grammys have become the AMA and billboards big cousin. same old chart humping formula ([popular * not terrible]/insufferability brought on by saturation = award) with a shiny new "we'll also nominate the black keys" veneer. here's the full list of winners and noms before we get started.

link

 i'm wrong? well then explain how you reconcile this:

 
 w/ this:

those are graphics of a pole conducted by the grammy website asking the people who they felt the voters would chose as the best album in the rap category vs the result. remember how grammy markets itself as the organization that awards the most outstanding music of the year? the people who answered that survey did, and cast their vote for the album they felt was best. what resulted was one of the most thorough ass whoopings i'd ever seen in a poll. 58% of the people thought the superb, provocative bitch slap to rap convention that is Food and liquor 2 was so good that the grammy voters had no choice but to acknowledge it.

however, in keeping with their decade long overreaction to the steely dan backlash, grammy went with the safe choice. the sweet cream ice cream bland "take care". the backlashers even knew that take care stood no chance, coming in with a laughable 18% chance of winning.

and this wasn't the only issue in that category. rick "i made the same song for 5 years" ross and 2 chainz (OK, he's cool) are nominated over the scintillating debut album from kendrick lamar? but they did it elsewhere, too. for example in the record of the year and new artist categories, the soft as tissue (and light bright lily white) Gotye won w/ his one single over the much more interesting and more prolific Frank Ocean (who also got snubbed for AotY). God forbid they reward the first openly gay mainstream urban artist and his anarchistic occultist crew OFWGKTA. and dub step is popular now, so the formerly "awards handed out earlier" segment staple, dance and electric categories were upgraded to the main show (i'm assuming. i didn't watch).

well it's late, and all this vitriol got me stressed. time to wind down with a jasmine and lavender bubble bath, sea weed wrap and full body guava oil rubdown...

black history: down by the riverside

Dr MLK was famous for a lot of reasons. perhaps no other speech in history has been as revered, repeated and misunderstood as the "i have a dream speech" recited on the steps of the Lincoln memorial. Dr. King wrote and recited that speech as a response to the hatred and vitriol that dominated race relations in Jim crow America. what the good Dr. hoped to accomplish that day in the capital was to redefine what the civil rights movement was it wasn't a hostile takeover by the black community, it wasn't a violent overthrow of then conventional ideals. it was simple: the movement was a dream come to action, and that dream was for equality in the truest since. it was a dream in which everybody in the US regardless of our ethnic background was provided equal protection of the laws not because they had to, not even because it was right, but because the differences in skin tone weren't taken into account at all. because they didn't matter. because it's stupid to treat people like they're less than people because they look different than you. this is rightfully the takeaway from MLK's legacy.

but recently, as in over the past 2 decades, the santafication of MLK has happened. what i mean is that people every year around his birthday use hm as a symbol to advance their own POVs even if their position is one that the good Dr. was publicly against during his lifetime this video from the young turks goes into it better than i can:



i wanted to know more about this riverside church speech. so i looked it up. i'm in class right now so i don;t want to do too much more,but it turns out the good Dr. was vehemently anti war. i think i should start listening now, because prof is pacing, but if you'd like to hear the riverside church speech, follow this link

10,000 pageview special: life erichment from the far east

... WE JUST HIT 10000 PAGEVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10k! 10 large! now i really AM your man 10 grand! and to celebrate, watch this little asian kid play the high falooting shit outta this xylophone!! TEN THOUSAND PAGEVIEW SWAG!!!!!!!!!!!

RQOD-ception: RQOD in an RQOD

today's RQOD is about RQOD's: is it better when i do an RQOD like this where i just ask a question and keep it moving, or like this where is go into some detail about whatever random thoughts are going through my head at the time? because i like the latter, but i'm not opposed to doing less work.

in other news, this cat is employee of the month here at the drewniverse

RQOD: internet dating

hmmm..... to be honest with you, i don't really care about this whole Manti hoax thing, so i won't be discussing my opinion on that. but i do like ESPN First Take [especially when they feature Ed "c'mon son" Lover as a special guest] and the Te'o hoax was one of the topics of discussion. as you all know, we here at the drewniverse believe in being timely so now that the horse is dead we won't beat it. we have more journalistic integrity than those ESPN talking heads, you see. but i did appreciate one of the points that was made during First Take's discussion of the issue. during the discussion Lover pointed out [well, to be fair Stephen A. Smith raised the point first] that it was a bit unusual for a young person to meet and fall for another person whom the have never met in person. the debate then went into whether Te'o was just swagless and naive [he is] or complicit and devious [he was probably willfully ignorant][so i discussed my opinion a little. sue me].

but i think they glossed over the most important question that their topic raised, and that question is threefold. first, there's the problem with the pressure we put on young people to succeed. now i don;t mean to suggest that i'm against a society that values achievement. i think merit based reward is a good thing when used right [i'm just not convinced we do it right]. but what we do here in america is put too much value on the reward. one of the theories for why Te'o was complicit, if he in fact was [like i said, he probably was just naive and a little willfully ignorant] is that he needed the story to garner support for his Heisman campaign. that this is even a consideration speaks volumes about the public psyche. nevermind that you've done your best, grown as a player and a person and are considered a lock for your dream career, none of that matter unless you get the achievement.

next there's the question suggested n the title. First Take, being that the talking heads are from a different generation, wholly dismissed [save for Skip Bayless] the possibility that Te'o could have legitimately connected with a person that he'd never had in person contact with. but is it possible to connect on a substantial level with a person we've never occupied space with? last night, while fake shooting people in the face playing Farcry 3 online, i witnessed two players who had never met before develop a friendship over the course of a single match to the point where they planned to "meet up" at a later date to play again. at no point did they plan to meet in person, but the connection was there.

finally, even if we concede that you can make a real connection with people whom you've never met, is it possible that the connection can blossom into love? certainly not, right? well, it seems that there are tons of examples of even online gamers falling in love with -- and even marrying -- each other based on there online interactions.

so here, after all of that, is the RQOD: can we be done with Manti's fake girlfriend now? please??

:-\

gimme some more (update swag)

*sigh*

be still 11-year-old Drew's beating heart

*LOUDER SIGH*

[you. this is what you say]: drew. what is it about ms lawerence up there that's got you so glum?

[me]: iunno... nuthin

[you again. you're persistent. go you]: but drew! but drew! you sad *sigh* twice!

[me]: well... remember about a year ago when i wrote a blog about danielle "topanga lawerence" fishel aka my school boy crush rapping on say what karaoke? you don't? well take a few minutes to read this...

familiar? ok, welcome back! those of you who followed the link now know that i promised the swagalicious ms. sam bam at lawless and flawless that ms. fishel did that IRL, and she was all, "what? no way!" and i was all, "yes, uh huh way!" and then and there set out to find video proof to support my lofty assertion. alas, dear drewninites, i have been thus far unsuccessful in my year-ish long search for said proof. if you recall that post (and since the link is literally right there)

see? there's a large arrow with words pointing to it

i asked that you, you guys, the drewninites out there in the drewniverse, help me by keeping an eye outin your various interwebs for that video. sadly even the combined efforts of all the drewninites combined have not yet been able to unearth this video. here's a little history: accoding to retro junk, say what? karaoke featured [possibly drunk/high] kids who sang hit songs and were judged and voted off. well on one special spring break celebrity edition topanga lawerence from boy meets world ripped the crowd apart with a rendition of Busta Rhymes "gimme some more", and if you're not impressed with that b/c you either don't reember that song, or had terrible taste in music in the late 90's (we don't blame you do we DARK? DARK?? um, DARK's not paying attention. something about evil doers.... that kid's weird) here's the psychedelic, pimptacular sexification of a video they made for it (Luscious told me to write that.... that kid's weird, too)

little miss fishel performed that. live at spring break. word. for. frickin. word. AND, AND she was on beat!!!! impressive right?

[you decided this was a good time to chime in. i disagree, but ok, whatevs]: but drew! but drew! if this really happened where's the video proof?! there's got to be a video somewhere, right? it's one of the rules of the internet!!
[me]: well, i thought you were going to say something asinine, bu look at you raising a valid point! go you! i was thinking the same thing  i mean you're absolutely right. rule 11 of the internet says i have to have at least photographic proof (i'd discuss rule 34, but that's another show). but i've looked through all of the things. i can't find it anywhere! did mtv eradicate every publicly shared copy? i mean, this is the only video i can even find on say what? karaoke that happened during spring break.  this guy over a replyz.com mirrors my frustration

i feel you, bruh

i know the video exists. i can feel it in my plums. now all i have to do is head to times square, raid the mtv vault, find and upload the danielle fishel video and bobbity boobity bam, video proof. at this point it'd almost be worth the NYPD beat down and subsequent prison time....

almost...

5 minute break

i was thinking the other day about law school and what evil i must have committed in some past life to have been put in it i was immediately reminded of a conversation i had with a mentor last summer: "if you love it, then you're in the right field, but if not it may not be worth the effort". i'm paraphrasing, of course. he did not say it wouldn't be worth the effort, but i can't help but wonder if i'm actually supposed to be in law school right now. like cosmically. is this my lot in life? who knows. all i know is that this isn't what i expected it to be, and i don't know if i want to be here. but then there's the side of me who doesn't know how to quit. doesn't even know the meaning of the word quit. so i guess i have to go with that side. it's too late to change my mind at this point, and i don't want to go through life wondering what could have been. so, yeah, get the degree. but what happens after that?

It was all a dream... Right?

Dear Drewniverse,
     I feel like I can share this with you because I just left my first privacy in the digital age class, and am confident that sharing this won't get me arrested like idiotic, drunk 12-year-olds in Oklahoma. I had a really weird dream like a week ago in which I cut my hand -- the right one above the pinky knuckle -- on a barbell. This shouldn't have bothered me, but as with all injuries, I was compelled to survey the damage. The wound's appearance was quite odd. It was a sort of circular, fairly deep wound, at least for the back of a hand. But inside wasn't the normal fleshy stuff you'd expect: there was this red layer on top of which was a sort of nylon polymer looking mesh with a node in the center. I touched the node and was able to move it around a bit. It was kinda like if an orange bag was made of suet and was holding a wet nerf ball also made of suet.

this. it felt like nylon made of this

 It was mesmerizing. I kept going back to it. I couldn't take my eyes off it. I kept waiting for it to bleed so I didn't have to face the sad truth that I was turning into a bag of beef by-product made citrus. But it wouldn't bleed. It was there for the rest of the dream just not bleeding and looking horrible. I remember at one point in the dream I began to shout at the wound, " DAMN IT, JUST BLEED ALREADY! BLEED AND GET IT OVER WITH!!" and then I woke up. Ever since I've found myself peeking at my right pinky knuckle from time to time, you know, just in case.

The Return of the Drewms

Had this dream last night that my dad and I were at our old house (all my "home" dreams use my childhood home as the setting). The crazy, in-your-dreams, part was that we are insurgents at war with some invading alien threat that had taken over a neighboring island (mind you to get to the closest island to my childhood home you gotta drive 4+ hours to the coast. so there's that) so we're at home putting together our guerrilla war kit -- just the essentials: missiles and rockets, launch codes, tactical computer, and cookout tent because, you know, it might rain -- when my big sis shows up to go to the cookout, oh yeah, there was a cookout at some undisclosed location that the rest of the fam was going to. This is an important plot point. so she shows up to go to the cookout, but she unintentionally blocks my car with hers! I'm all, "hey, tryna blow up some aliens, here". so she moves the car. But another car blocks me in! We wind up switching cars. My dad and I are driving, and I assume we've already completed our mini shock and awe mission because we're in my college town. Also it's no longer my dad, but my roommate and we're looking for food. so we stop at this taco bell, and before going in a notice that my folks' car is across the street at this other restaurant. "Eff taco bell" I think to myself as I head over to the restaurant. Once inside, my peeps behaved add if they hadn't Seen me in a while, suggesting either that my mission ran afoul and pops and I had to make ourselves scarce for awhile, or reality had stated to creep in and I'd just been in school (considering roomie was there, the latter is most likely). after not eating and going outside it became apparent that I was now for no reason in this vacation town that I made up in my head. Also it was much earlier than it had been when I went into the restaurant. Just before waking,  the dream jump cut to this childhood "memory" (it was only a memory for dream me) of this time when my neighborhood in the vacation city, because you always stay in a neighborhood when you vacation,  flooded with crystal clear water and the adults and big kids all rode jet skis everywhere. The memory was brought on by the fact that the rain from the beginning of the dream caused the ground to flood with crystal clear water, and ironically we all started riding on jet skis. the moral of this story is don't watch " Starship Troopers" before bed.