NOVEMBER 25, 2003 >< 3:35 A.M.
Man, I pick some crazy times to update this page. Here are (most of) the tidbits I've been meaning to upload here.Great 1977 CBC interview with Iggy Pop archived as a video stream. You might recognize some of this from Mogwai's "Punk Rock" intro track on Come On Die Young.
What's the worst name for a genre: math rock, screamo, or microhouse? Things are getting really sketchy in rock journalism. It also dawned on me recently just how literal the genre name "new wave" is. IDM is a pretty sterile name but at least it corresponds to how the music sounds ("intelligent dance music").
Best internet forum quote from me in a while: "What is this, When Sycophants Attack? How about a comment from someone I've actually talked to before and not someone's brainless lackey?" I need to stop arguing with people on the net but they keep calling me out.
My favorite scene from Bulworth transcribed for you here. Brilliant!
I keep noticing the wad of tissues one of my professors stuffs in the left sleeve of her sweater. Why would anyone put tissues inside their shirt, especially where people will notice it? Why just one sleeve? It's so bizarre.
The problem with being angry is there's so much to confirm your anger. I don't mean on a personal level but on a societal one. If you're worldly there's a lot to keep you angry. It almost makes you not want to follow the news and it definitely makes you wish you could shut your brain up, but you can't.
And now the crux of the update, an open letter from one "BIG CED" to The Source editor David Mays. If anyone's curious what I think of the Eminem racism scandal (listening to the audio I think the song about black girls is authentic but 15 years old, the freestyle with the random N-word is newer but doesn't sound like Em) and The Sauce in general, read below (originally from this link).
So What? This Dave Mays/Benzino/Source shit has and is getting out of hand! I’m sick of these 2 guys putting their personal beef on us. Who the fuck cares what Marshall Mathers did in his pre-Eminem days that have nothing to do with the price of tea in China! They keep claiming that Eminem is destroying hip-hop and they are trying to clean it up! BULLSHIT!!! You, David Mays and Ray Benzino are part of the reason why hip-hop is corrupted and foul now! (Read: The Source: Eminem Lied)
Let’s start with that ‘magazine’ you call the bible of hip-hop. You helped promote ALL the negativity in hip-hop that we know of today. You ‘cover’ all of what’s wrong with hip-hop nowadays. You have been doing so ever since the Source was a newsletter. I wouldn’t even knock what you are doing except that you want to try to mislead, not the hip-hop community, but the Black community into thinking that you want to be a savior for ‘our’ music.
First off, you are always claiming that certain entities are taking away from the Black community and letting certain people come in and take what’s ‘ours’. I could be wrong when I say this, but, You are of Caucasian heritage and I’ve seen you in person and you don’t have any genetic features of a black man (or woman for that matter) and if I am correct, Benzino doesn’t have any black blood running through his veins and even so, let’s make it out to what it really is. You have power and you are trying to wield it over someone who has contributed a lot to hip-hop and the black community.
I am quite positive that Eminem would be accepted in ‘our’ neighborhood WAY before you are accepted. At the very least, Eminem can relate to similar struggles in the black community and I don’t know too much about you personally, but I do know you went to Harvard and I have never heard or seen any of the rappers you cover even mentioning their aspirations of going to such a ‘prestigious’ school. Once again, I am NOT knocking you or your background, but let’s get serious. You have and will always capitalize off of what ‘we’ have been doing for years. You take the money from these corporations that are pushing the negativity and don’t honestly give a fuck what happens in ‘our’ community, yet, you are trying to make ‘us’ believe Eminem is the enemy!
Why not go after rappers who have sold drugs in the past, who have DIRECTLY destroyed lives in the communities? Why aren’t you going after the rappers who constantly degrade and patronize ‘our’ women? When are you gonna start going after the rappers who have stolen from their own brothers, KNOWING what they were doing was/is wrong. Instead, you want to take your personal beef with Eminem and make it sound like you are trying to save hip-hop.
Right now, I’m not concerned with whether Eminem was right or wrong for saying what he said. He owned up to it, I’m satisfied with his response and I know people have prejudices but that does NOT make them prejudiced. I don’t hate white people but I have said many times before (particularly cops) that I don’t like it when whites have this superiority complex, but in the heat of the moment, you say what your emotions dictate. As a black man, I have been prejudged based on my skin color, but I am not gonna be labeled a racist because I say and think at one particular moment that white people ain’t shit, knowing that I don’t hate them. And you as a ‘powerful’ man in hip-hop have had and have the opportunity to really save ‘hip-hop’.
Why not bring up the subject of payola? Why not expose the same companies that fund your magazine as racists? You know how the artists are being jerked; if you were so concerned, let it be known about the racist and sexist practices that go on at labels, radio stations and advertising companies. Its ok for all these entities to take away and capitalize from hip-hop, yet, you want to go on a mission to destroy ONE man’s career based on your dislike of him and the fact that he is one of the hottest rappers out now and he is not fucking with your brand! You actually did a cover story on 50 Cent that was done to discredit him. Take your beef elsewhere.
When will a group like dead prez be on the cover of the Source? When will we see someone on the cover who doesn’t always talk about what they’ve done in the streets or how many hos they scoop or how much bling-bling they have? When are we gonna see more of a positive history of hip-hop?
And if you are trying to save hip-hop, then why is Benzino constantly nominated for Source Awards? Why is he always included in EVERTYTHING the Source does? Be fair and concise with your publication and then ‘we’ can take you serious. Right now, you do have the rap community by the balls, so take advantage because these same people that are ‘supporting’ you are only doing so to help push their product! Let’s see if you really want to clean up ‘our’ music. The proof is in what YOU do, not in what YOU try to expose!
-BIG CED