huh? w.t.f.
In some strange, sad, weird sort of way… this kind of reminds me of home. :-)
I always enjoy a good rap song and/or video featuring familiar landmarks and local, recognizable streets, sights, and sound from our beloved “Chopper City.” (My house was just a couple blocks from the Freret Service Station in this video.) For instance, I also tried to share this Juvy vid with you all about week or so ago, but the Tumblr servers keep crapping out on me. Yeah, I’ve probably given up on more than a half dozen posts in recent weeks simply because in the process of loading, Tumblr freezes up and crashes my browers… Thanks, Tumblr.
But anyway, I was really feeling this upbeat track by original Hot Boy and authentic Nawlins’s street-slinger, B.G., on Power 103 today. Then it was debuted as a “New Joint” on 106 & Park, to boot. For those unfamiliar with this Southern/NOLA Rapstar institution, allow me to educate:
“Long before the Cash Money camp became known as Cash Money Millionaires, the label got its start hustling albums by a young teen known as B.G. in the dangerous uptown section of New Orleans, one of the most poverty-ridden areas in the U.S. There he struggled to stay out of trouble and stay in school, yet thrived as a talented young rapper. At the age of only 11 [Eleven, son!] B.G. recorded his first studio album, True Story (1993), and quickly made a name for himself in the South. Cash Money rushed the prodigy back into the studio to record yet another album, Chopper City (1997), which again captivated the region with its “baby gangsta” firing off rhymes with the poise of a seasoned vet. Realizing that this was no mere novelty act, the Williams brothers kept shuttling B.G. back into the studio. […] With the money they made off the B.G. albums, Cash Money signed a few other local rap artists and created the Hot Boys, a group featuring B.G., Juvenile, Lil’ Wayne, and Young Turk.” [AllMusicGuide]
Thus inaugurated the meteoric rise of the Hot Boys $ Cash Money sound & image, establishing the Dirty South alternative to the East Coast / West Coast games. Despite “little to no commercial airplay, B.G.’s next album, Chopper City in the Ghetto (1999), surprised many by debuting at number nine on the Billboard charts. The album’s lead single, “Cash Money Is an Army,” supplied push, but it was the anthemic “Bling Bling” (for which B.G. is popularly credited as coining) that hit big. Another Hot Boys album, Guerrilla Warfare (1999), followed soon after, driven by the successful single “I Need a Hot Girl,” leading to the re-release of B.G.’s entire catalog.”
Now B.G. ultimately split ways with his Cash Money cohorts, and has more recently criticized former label mate Lil’ Wayne for “misrepresenting” New Orleans. “The real New Orleans is the Chopper City Boyz and the ChopperCity movement we got going. We’re just here to represent New Orleans the way it’s supposed to be represented.” And judging from the lyrics and video of the new single, that’s exactly what he’s doing in — taking it back to the roots, old-school, and down home, recruiting help from long-time friend and Cash Money/Crescent City DJ’s collaborator Mannie Fresh. “My Hood” features the fella’s from the block, contains the obligatory shout-outs to Uptown and the wards. He raps about people always asking him when he’s going to come home.
But the sad irony is that here in the final weeks of preparation for the release of his anticipated comeback album (after a long-running battle with drugs, a battle which his label claims has finally been won), B.G.’s homecoming is off to a rough start. Two weeks ago, New Orleans’ finest pulled over his Tahoe and arrested him and two others on illegal gun charges. The founder of Chopper City Records was charged with possession of three firearms (two of which had been reported stolen), along with loaded magazines and two extended magazine clips. (Rlly? Lol.) What’s more, it isn’t even the first time… this year. He’s been hit several times in recent months, in several different states as far north as Michigan, with similar firearms charges (in addition to drugs), as well as an outstanding warrant. You think dude would learn his lesson. New Orleans police arrested him in June for drugs charges. Jefferson Parish police arrested him in March for drug charges… (While his spokemen meanwhile say he’s “clean.”) Whew. Well, the list goes on. I guess “Baby Gansta” is now legit gansta, and not so baby anymore. I wish him well, but we’ll have to wait to see just how far he can get his career back off the ground when his time, energies, and resources are all tied up in court. Take a lesson, my many children who dream of being the next rap prodigy.
omg. I just finished watching the hour-or-so-long “Christmas Special” finale to the British version of The Office… and I can’t remember the last time I’ve experienced something so emotionally draining and, truly, spiritually exhausting. Make fun of me if you will. Call me a hyperbolist. However, I experienced true, physical/ physiological/bodily stress and emotional torment through this whole thing. Even with the ending (which I will not spoil), I experienced no catharsis. I told John, it’s like when you’re back in middle school, and you’re about to go ask out the girl you fancy to the school dance… Or it was like when you got up in front of your classmates and horribly embarassed yourself and felt completely mortified. I went through a whole range of emotions that caused my stomach to completely drop to the floor, and my chest to tighten up like I haven’t seen since… well, middle school. I have no idea why I was so emotionally invested in these characters. But even an hour or so later, I still feel the anxiety! It was awful! I truly felt as saddened and as desparate with regard to the human drama and existential questions of life and love and personal meaning as I can recall being for quite some time… Forget Schindler’s List, apparently. All I need is Ricky Gervais… (I am currently being psychically tortured by the spectre of a thought that wind up like David Brent… and that I’ll never find my Dawn Tinsley.) Jesus, I won’t be able to sleep tonight… (a bit melodramatic, I know, I know! I can’t explain it. It just struck a chord, I guess. What else can I say?!)
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Dead Man’s Bones - Pa Pa Power
Jesus, what a day… The one school district amidst a whole sea of school closings. But no, someone suddenly decides to make this the moment that we’re going to suddenly start acting like responsible adults & educators and not let our kids out for frivolous reasons. — Not a moment of valuable instructional time to lose! — I just don’t know where this inexplicable burst of professionalism and dedication to our craft suddenly came from… But I’m willing to bet it’s more likely the result of inadvertent inaction than intentional willfulness. Somebody got caught sitting on their hands…
But if that weren’t bad enough (coupled with the smell of rotting possum carcass entombed within the walls of my classroom — wait it out, I was told. “Expect flies,” I was told…) guess whose school additionally had no electricity for 80% of the day? Yep, you guessed right; ours. No lights. No projector. No computer. No internet. No phone. No intercom. No bells. Nothing. They ordered out pizza for the kids at lunch. They came and confiscated all the flashlights from the science labs! Meanwhile, we all sat in the dark taking ”notes” for close to 2 hours by the overcast gloom of the hurricane-rain-band-filled sky. (Mind you, I changed my lesson plan last night at the last minute to make my instruction today more timely and relevant — produced a kick-ass interactive flipchart with videos and games and activites, all on hurricanes. Ultimately wound up spending way too much time on it, and not getting enough sleep… only to be foiled by Mother Nature, Entergy Electric Company, Hurricane Ida, and the backwater killjoy obstructionism of the Jefferson Parish Board of Education.) With our vice-principal walking the darkened halls as our only means of communication, with first period being held indefinitely into the day, and with no one allowed out, especially not to use the bathroom (pitch dark), we just kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting… expecting someone to show up and say, okay, let’s take the kids down to the buses. We’re calling a half-day. But no. No, we sat, and sat, and sat. And to their credit (and ultimately, possibly, to their detriment), the kids were moderately decent, given the circumstances. I heard some harrowing stories, but my kids managed to keep themselves under an acceptable degree of controlled near-chaos. Eventually, the Eastback Superintendent showed up to assess the situation firsthand. Their initial response at the Board had been, “You have an Emergency Management book. Look in it.” (I have no comment regarding this profound show of consideration and compassion for their employees.) But the deputy superintindent made the observation that our kids appeared under control for the most part, and thereupon promptly denied our request for early dismissal (also, in part because we had no phones from which to call parents in order to alert them, or to field incoming calls from confused parents wanting to know what was going on). Liability one way, or liability the other. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t…
What total ridiculousness. What a real debacle. I hope someone realizes that it’s precisely this sort of absurdity, this sort of incompetence on the parts of some… general churlishness of attitude… unreasonableness, impracticality of thinking, of forethought, planning & execution… that collectively run people off from Louisiana Public Education. Way to go, I say. Another classic one for the books. Needless to say, I thanked my lucky stars when the pa-pa-power came back on, and the kids had ‘not yet destroyed us’…
Basement Jaxx ft. Lightspeed Champion - My Turn
I’ve been a big Basement Jaxx fan since Remedy, but imo, they’re always a bit hit-or-miss. Raindrops rocked my summer, and collaborating with Lightspeed Champion definitely makes this one a “hit” …plus there are glowing, dancing space-bears, so… you know. Not much more to say about that. You just can’t go wrong.
[Though I did go wrong with Burns, last night. I was mistaken. I was thinking of the Deadmau5 show this Wednesday. But no, Alex B. opened for Pretty Lights, and after some initial laptop troubles, rocked the house. Although I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to hear as much of his nice down-beat, low-tempo stuff, a-la J-Dilla. Not that I particularly expected it at a show like this, but… you can DL a free mixtape here, if you wanna know what I mean.)
Burns is opening. Equally fun.
Only downside is that ?uestlove is spinning at the same time tonight at The Republic. Last night was double-booked, too! Saul Williams at HOB, or drive to see Why? in Baton Rouge. Tough decisions, man. I’m really going to miss all this when I leave NOLA.
Going to see Pretty Lights tonight @ HOB! Major excitement.
He rocked the boat at Forecastle Festival in the ‘Ville.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Lil’ Wayne - No Ceilings Mixtape - DOA
Just got off the phone with my Dad…
Dad: “Hey Dev, I’m watching this program… I think it’s on MTV. It’s about a musician from Louisiana, about how he’s given back to the community and how popular he is there. I think his name is ‘Little James.’”
Me: “Lil’ Wayne, Dad?”
Dad: “Yeah, that’s him.”
