Johnny Cash = sissy ??

Today in my Jazz, Pop and Rock class my teacher was talking about how male musicians are percieved as "sissys". If a male is say an athlete, then he's looked at as a "man". I guess I can agree with this but what about Johnny Cash or Springsteen? I don't see how either of these men could have been percieved as "sissys" at any time in their careers. I think it totally rests on the lyrical content of the music that a man creates. Cash and Springsteen delved deep into the depths of the American psyche, Cash as a country musician and the boss as blue collar/workingman rock 'n' roll. Also, the level that hip-hop is at has changed this perception. With someone like Jay-Z who has sold millions upon millions of records about drugs, women and money isn't seen as soft at all. With hip-hop as such a prominent art form in music now men are definitely seen as tough. Just a few thoughts I had after class today. BTW, The Roots- Game Theory is brilliant and is one of my favorite hip-hop records of all time, no lie. It's up there with Things Fall Apart.

rock n roll,

Luke

"Rubber burnin', cornas turnin', beatin' like a congo!"

Lil' Wayne and Juelz Santana- I Can't Feel My Face

I finally found this advaced copy of their collaboration and it's everything you'd hope it to be. Weezy continues his streak of hotness by totally killing every track he's on. There's a little too much Santana on here, he's definitely not on Wayne's level as evidenced by these tracks but a Juelz coke rap verse is nothing to dog on. If you enjoy rap at all you need these tracks!

The new Mountain Goats record is very enjoyable. It's not on par with The Sunset Tree but it's better than most of the music I've gotten in the past month or so. It's terribly sad and more minimal than the last Mountain Goats output.

Season 4 of The Wire starts next Sunday and I can't freakin wait. The season finale of Rescue Me was last night and it kind of left me feeling down. It wasn't close to the drama the last two season finales brought but still better than any other tv that's not on HBO.

rock n roll,

Luke

We turned the street hustle into an art

I had quite the great day at Streetside records today. Taking advantage of their buy 3 used items get the fourth free, I picked up Rhymefest- Blue Collar, Dizzee Rascal- Showtime, Scarface- The Fix and David Lynch's Wild at Heart. The Scarface pickup is the one I'm most pumped about. I had most of these songs downloaded off of audiogalaxy back when it came out and they're prolly on some blank cd gathering dust in my room at home and when I saw this day I had to pick it up. This record is the epitome of coke rap. I really like Scarface, his flow is so heavy and he just dotes on dark topics making The Fix a classic. Recently Face announced his retirement from rap and this one is believeable unlike Hov's. He never stepped into the limelight or anything, I remember the On My Block video on MTV2 back in the day, but he never got the recognition he deserved. If The Fix came out today it would blow up on the internet, the man was just a few years too early, but I have feeling he's just fine with that for some reason.

Cee-Lo, what happened?

I'm totall jacking this from Sean Fennessey's blog but it reminded me of how on point Cee-Lo was once upon a time. The Gnarls Barkley album is so patch and thrown together. Didn't Goodie Mob get back together? Where's that album?

This is a Cee-Lo verse from a Goodie Mob track, Thought Process.

Sometimes I don't even know how I'm gon' eat
'Bout twenty dollars away from being on the street
Shit, you might see a nigga on tv
But hell it's almost like I'm rappin' for free
That little money be gone...got dammit, I'm grown
Gotta help keep the heat and lights on
It would be nice to have mo' but I kinda like being po'
At least I know what my friends here fo'
I wanna lie to you sometimes, but I can't
I wanna tell you that it's all good, but it ain't
It's niggas hurtin' and uncertain 'bout if they gon' make it or not
That's why we got niggas killing
Feelin like they coming up off a little dope they sold
You can get some gold but we won't make it as a whole
Cause without you there'd be no me
And without no unity there will never be any happiness
You could smoke a pound of sess and it still won't relieve yo' stress
God bless my...thought process

"When we first we laid eyes... I swore no compromise."

I obtained the new Decemberists record, The Crane Wife, with very low expectations. Their last effort, Picaresque, was subpar after Castaways and Cutouts and Her Majesty. The Crane Wife loses the pirate imagery and the goofiness of the older Decemberists recordings and is full of somber tunes that are simply beautiful. This is my favorite record right now and I'm really excited by how good it is. We'll just have to wait and see how it stands up as the year goes on (there is a new Hold Steady record coming out) but this will be in my top ten at the end of the year no doubt.

rock n roll,

Luke

"Hov and Nas in November"

Fabolous- Monkey Business

New Fabolous joint where he spits a few bars over a simple dirty beat. Drugs and money for a the first minute and then talks about the upcoming Def Jam release schedule. Luda in September, Jeezy in October, Hova and Nas in November and Fabo in December. I'll always have hope for a Fab album since Breathe is still such a great great song.

rock n roll,

Luke

"I been ready since '81 and I was born in '82."

Wayne got popped on some drug charges. Looks like some weed and some painkillers. His carrier has to be in some serious ish for this goin down. Right now I'm for seriously digging the movie Brick, listening to I'm From Barcelona and Trae and not listening to the one helluva letdown new Outkast record.

The Truth

Trae and Raaaaaaaaws




The new Trae record miiiiiiiight be my favorite rap record of the summer. This is only because I'm not including the Roots album as a rap album (?). It's reeeal gangsta. Trae's flow is hard, dirty and quick. It's a great southern rap album and needs to be heard. I'm deep into the second season of The Wire and I'm hooked once again. Get at me on aim or something if you want any music I've been talking about.

rock n roll,

Luke

"... goin' to the zoo with the rest of 'em."

I haven't been posting much because I don't really a place to live until the 18th and I'm just kind of lazy. I've been getting loads of good music however. The new Mew record, And the Glass Handed Kites, is beautiful. The pitchfork review said Qeensryche meets Sigur Ros. I'm feeling hte Sigur Ros comparison but not the Qeensryche. I'd say Sigur Ros if they spoke english and rocked a bit more. I was late jumping on the boat with Japanese rockers Boris, but their record Pink is glorious. It's dirty dirty rock n roll and I love it right now. Talladegha Nights is hillarious and you should go see it right now, I mean right now. John C. Reilly is the funniest man in the movie, believe that. The outtakes of him might be the funniest thing in the whole film.

rock n roll,


Luke

You gonna come at the king, you best not miss

I just finished the first season of The Wire and it deserves all of the praise it gets and more. It's better than any cop show ever made hands down.

Watch out children, it's a 309

The Wire is amazing. The last Johnny Cash album is beautiful and sad. The live Thom Yorke track on Fluxblog today makes me yearn for a new Radiohead record and I dig Rick Ross' Port of Miami.

I'm so sorry but the motorcade will have to go around me this time, God is on my side

Back when I posted on xanga I would make post each time I'd make a mix. Ima start that back up. I made one tonight and here she is. With the weather being absolutely stellar lately I just felt like I needed some good chill tunes to put on in the car when I'm goin around at night. These are good tracks to turn on and just roll the windows down and enjoy the summer.

Josh Ritter- Monster Ballads
Montt Mardie- 1969
Sufjan Stevens- Decatur
Guster- The Captain
Wilco- Theologians
Ben Kweller- Penny on the Traintracks
Warren Zevon- Accidentally Like a Martyr
Rocky Votolato- Tinfoil Hats
The Killers- When You Were Young
Whiskeytown- Jacksonville Skyline
My Morning Jacket- Knot Come Loose
David Gray- The Light
The National- All the Wine
Cross Canadian Ragweed- Alabama (live & acoustic)
Carbon Leaf- Grey Sky Eyes
Ben Harper- Crying Won't Help You Now

Slow down son you killin' 'em

I swear I listen to more than just hip-hop. All I've been getting recently though is great hip hop stuff though. J.R. Writer's debut, History in the Making, is what Killa Season and What the Game's Been Missing weren't. It's hard as hell and doesn't let down the whole time. Writer is top of the Dips right now after Cam's recent shots at Hova fell terribly flat and Juelz's album fell way short of the great mixtapes he dropped before it. History in the making is bangers from top to bottom, even has a track called Zoolander where Writer shouts out to Wilson and Stiller. Zoolander is the next Scarface in hip hop I guess.

Spent some time on the Apple Quicktime trailers site today and there's some really interesting looking movies coming our way.

First off is The Last Kiss starring Zach Braff. I dug Garden State. It wasn't my favorite movie of that year or anything, but it was terribly entertaining and just made you feel good after watching it. The Last Kiss is associated with the guy who wrote Million Dollar Baby and Crash (Haggis?) and it looks pretty good, plus Tom Wilkinson is in it and I freakin love that guy.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/dreamworks/thelastkiss/trailer-medium.html

The Prestige is Nolan's next movie and he's tapped Christian Bale once again. Even though this means we'll have to wait a little longer for a Batman sequel I think The Prestige will hold up well. It looks pretty amazing and should hopefully get Bale an Oscar nod, not a win but at least a nomination.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/touchstone/theprestige/medium.html

Digillio is so great. I long for the days I could listen to him as I was driving home on the weekends. This is a podcast after he saw The Break-Up. Leary wishes he could rant like this.

Is he the best eva? That's the arg-u-ment

http://youtube.com/watch?v=H31_-qtZGY4&search=Beyonce%20Deja%20Vu

It's no Crazy in Love but it's better than most rap heads are saying.

Luda's been on some Back for the Very First Time ish lately



Been gettin a good deal of hip hop lately. The new Clipse single feat. Slim Thug "Wamp Wamp" is ridiculous. It's no Grindin' but it should blow up, no doubt about it. It's been written about all over the internet so I'll just let you all go check it out. I'm sure most of you have heard the Shawnna remix for Gettin' Some. It's got Lil' Wayne (always a plus) Too Short, Pharrel and Luda. All of the boys turn in memorable performances. Especially Luda, he's on quite a roll and I'm actually pumped for some new stuff from the dude. Here I Come off the new Roots record is the best Roots song I've heard since The Seed 2.0.

rock yo hips

I still don't know what to think about Rick Ross. When Port of Miami drops we'll see if he's reason enough for Jay to leave Redman and Joe Budden albums on the shelf. "Push it to the Limit" is a pretty fire track though, so hopefully he can bring it for a full album. He does have that whole Uncle Phil thing workin for him, so who knows.

"I'm the luckiest sunuvabitch alive."

Saw it in the theaters and it was stellar. Just watched it again and I was floored.

What's Freeway doin in Pirates gear

Freeway feat. Jay-Z - World War III

This song is fiiiiiiiiire. From Freeway's upcoming Free at Last it's got me real amped for its release. Freeway's flow is so aggressive as usual as he sounds like he's about to explode at any moment. This summer has been pretty tame for hip-hop with the exception of the new Field Mob outing, Free at Last will hopefully be a breath of fresh air. I still would have liked at least 16 from Hova though, him on the hook is better than nothing though.