Where Ideas Can Hang Out...And Do Whatever!
OOOOOHHHHH
Total babeage.
“The Duchess”, born Norma-Jean Wofford, was an acclaimed guitarist who played with Bo Diddley and his band from 1962-1966.
(via forgetyrperfectoffering)
Look at that caveman go.
me: “Just 500 more Capital One rewards points and Anne Wilkinson, 33, gets to go out for pizza with acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie” (The Onion)
i don’t know why, but that made me laugh hysterically
the idea of that being a promotional thing
Billy: lol wtf
“Five more Frequent Flyer miles, and John Flack, of Naperville, Il., gets to eat a burrito with Saul Bellow.”
me: I just need 5 more Camel Cash points before I can share an ice cream sundae with Desmond Tutu
Billy: Just 5 more Exxon Gas Points until I can eat fishsticks with Au Sang Suu Kyu.
7 more McDonald’s Burgrewards™ Points until I can visit a tamale stand with Rand Paul.
me: if i eat just 7 more taco bell gorditas and redeem my Gold Card, i get to spend a day at a water park of my choice with rick moranis
Billy: If I buy 8 more golf tees at Dick’s Sporting Goods, Lindsay Buckingham will take me to Jamba Juice.
200 more Victoria’s Secret points, and Billy Ocean will personally change my oil!
If I bring my own bag the next time I’m at Piggly-Wiggly, I can eat profiteroles with Petey Pablo.
me: I just got entered in a drawing at Safeway to go ziplining with Noam Chomsky
Billy: Just for signing up with America Online, I get to drink Zima with the Chemical Brothers.
I’m sure your dashboards are flooded with posts about Adam Yauch, so bear with me. I’ll write more later, but this is the first celebrity death I can remember that has truly bummed me out. The Beastie Boys were one of the first groups I ever liked, thanks to a rap tape my older brother made me when I was 8 years old. For me, this is kind of like learning that Weird Al died.
So here’s “Paul’s Boutique” in its entirety.
It was one of the first CDs I ever bought- at Best Buy, with birthday money. I have fond memories of opting out of sports at recess in 7th grade to sit by myself and listen to it on my discman.
“My approach may not appeal to hip-hop fans who believe that the culture existed in some pristine state before it was sold, nor to those who believe that corporate executives assembled in a room and decided to promote violent, misogynist hip-hop for profit and the degradation of Black people. My experience and research uncover a more nuanced reality […]
Despite the dramatic ascent of the culture, some critics and fans alike argue that hip-hop is not a success story; that its failure to sustain itself as political, ‘positive,’ and uplifting art makes it superfluous and anachronistic; that its continued fascination with all things crude and violent make it dangerous; that its commercial prosperity is yet another cultural sellout or co-optation.
I think those conclusions are unfair. Materialism, vulgarity, and violence are not hip-hop’s ills. They are America’s ills. Hip-hop is a child of America.
Hip-hop resulted from unfettered young urban Black expression finding its own way to the masses after being denied access to mainstream and Black marketplaces. Thus, the cultural squeeze that created gangster rap also caused a precipitous rise in Black entrepreneurship. The ostracism of Black youth from traditional modes of commerce and communication created a self-sufficient and self-confident generation. That’s why hip-hop has done as much for the economic, political, and social advancement of Black America as any cultural movement in history. Who desegregated radio stations and video channels across the country? Hip-hop blasted through that wall. Who climbed into the upper echelons of Hollywood? The rappers did. Who truly made good on the Black Nationalist dream of economic independence? The hip-hop entrepreneurs of the late 1990s led a 45 percent growth in Black-owned businesses. Who fulfilled the civil-rights era vision of the ‘table of brotherhood’? The hip-hop generation, which intermarries four times as much as their parents did. In so doing, hip-hop set all of America free.
Hip-hop is nothing less than a triumph. Even in its blatantly commercial forms, the culture has given a tremendous gift to this country and the world.”
-Dan Charnas, “The Big Payback”
Poetry.
