Q-Tip Is Coming to Jugrnaut!!!!!!111ONE

FYI - Jugrnaut is a "high-end streetwear lifestyle store" located in the South Loop @ 427 S. Dearborn St. If you're ever in the area or if you want to take a field trip for a couple of hours, definitely check them out and show some love. If you're not in the area but you want to see what they're about, check out their blog and their MySpace page and make it a stop on your next tour of the Chi. In the meantime, if you're as ecstatic about this as I am then make sure you RSVP to get the time of the event sent to you via e-mail the day before.

Yezzurr! © Pharrell

Manic Music Monday @ GangstarrGirl.com

Another Thanksgiving is fast approaching - so give thanks for the short work week and the long weekend, then go check out some of the artists that I'm thankful for this year. And if you haven't already, check out that new isht from Jazzanova - it's quite loverly, I'm sure you'll agree:

(Good lookin' out @ EL3G The Scholar for putting me on)

Q-Tip - "Renaissance Rap"

More excellence from Q-Tip's "The Renaissance":

The Single Guy: Obama Mama!

Kev Clark is back this week with his recap of that fateful Election Night 2 weeks ago. Barack Obama is gettin' brothas play like never before. Who knew? Or maybe some people just know both how and when to capitalize on a sweet opportunity when it comes their way:

Obama Mama! By Kevin L. Clark

The hype for the 2008 presidential elections was unprecedented, understandable and undoubtedly the most powerful thing that we’ve seen in awhile. Once the votes were tallied and our 44th President of the United States was declared, Barack Obama did more to help out the dating game than most would give credit for – and I’ll tell you why!

Q-Tip manages to throw these pretty dope parties at NYC club Santos Party House, and with all the excitement building up to a fevered pitch, people took to the streets to get ready for the New York celebration. Yours truly was trapped at the plantation for a while, but I got my freedom papers in the form of being the guy known for partying. While the rest of my comrades finished our legendary (if not to be seen) video documenting the November 4th election, I headed over to check out what all the fuss was about up the block from the 9-to-5.

The line outside was packed and the electricity could be felt in the air. It was probably how people felt when Joe Louis was declared the heavyweight champion of the world… of the world, Craig! Ladies were coming out looking their Saturday night best on a Tuesday, and the smiles weren’t just relegated for the stars and industry insiders – the everyday man was getting love too!

Word broke out that Obama won, and the game was just beautiful. Black love – hell… universal love! – was on front page and with that, the game decidedly shifted back to the light-skin brothas’ lane. With everyone hi-fivin’, huggin’ and sharing their tears of happiness for the former Chicago senator, this cutie with some slightly chinky eyes was burning a hole through ya boy.

Clockin’ in at 5′3″, 135 lbs, this girl had that whole Cassie/Lauren London vibe and was rockin’ an ill Obama tee. She walks up to me and gives me a huge hug. Almost on cue, Diddy walks in and the pace picks up about five notches. Something about Sean Combs makes people feel giddy, and the girl who shall remain nameless planted a juicy kiss on my cheeks and says, “Obama-riffic!” Cheesy, I know… But hell, she’s cute; what can you say?

Check out the rest here.

Manic Music Monday @ GangstarrGirl.com

Another Monday is upon us, which means it's Manic Music Monday over @ GangstarrGirl.com! Check me out, especially since I had a couple of weeks off due to personal conflicts. But I'm back like AZ circa 2002...

Black Milk - Give The Drummer Sum

The latest from my Detroit bredren Black Milk:

When was the last time you heard horns like that on a hip hop track? Srsly. That's just one of many reasons why his latest release "Tronic" pisses excellence. The song "Try" is another:


Black Milk - Try.mp3
Appearances by Dwele, Pharaoh Monche and DJ Premier are several more. I could go on, but it's one of those things that you need to experience for yourself. Cop that isht - I don't care how - just know that you need it in your life like Sarah Palin needs a conscience.

Amoeba Music: What's In Mos Def's Bag?

Mighty Mos Def stops by the immeasurably awesome one-stop entertainment shop, Ameoba Music on Sunset in LA. Check out the video:

The fact that he had Jackson Conti, Cold War Kids and Jake One in the same bag only reaffirmed my desire to mate with him. Props to EL3G The Scholar for posting the link on Twitter :)

To All The Veterans...

Thank You

Forever grateful to the ones who fought, praying for the safe return of the ones still fighting. But for real, let's dead the wars...

The Single Guy: Cleanliness In Next To Godliness

In all of the madness of the elections last week, I completely forgot to do the weekly syndication of Kev Clark's blog "The Single Guy" over @ Hello Beautiful. This week he ponders the message his ever-present facial scruff is sending to potential targets, er, dates:

Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness
By Kevin L. Clark November 10, 2008 12:33 pm

That phrase seemingly hasn’t hurt my dating life as much as I thought it would by living in trendy New York. Surrounded by tastemakers and fashionistas, it wasn’t until a wholesome Christian girl knocked some hellfire and brimstone from my arse that I learned how close to God I could’ve been.

I wouldn’t think that I’m the most attractive looking man in New York. I may get a few looks in Bed-Stuy, but that’s because the rough look is never out of style there. And, no… I don’t suffer from low self-esteem, it’s just that I’ve had facial hair since 13 and shaving gets to be low on the totem pole of things to do when your nickname in the office is Kunta Kinte or Hey, Mon!

Plus, the scruff factor serves as a truth teller amongst women. I know you guys have the up-and-down glance made into a science - with a checklist in your head just to keep things you like in order. But with me, you get to see my personality shine through the good, the bad, the ugly and jacked-up hair days.

Amid all this college kid angst enters Kennedy, a 23-year-old grad student who attended Columbia as a Psych major. She could honestly have any man she wanted with her bubbly personality, sexy lips, 1000-watt mile and poofy hair that’d make Maxwell jealous. I tried to earn this girl’s attention every Thursday when we’d both be at Cody’s Grill for lunch.

I was attracted, yet she had no clue who I was. Contrary to my homie Carl’s belief, I don’t chase girls - I jog. And as fate would have it, she had just come back from a run and wanted a drink. I, with two lunchtime Coronas in my hand, sensed the urgency and inquired if she wanted one. She gave me the “look” and her face slightly turned smug.

My smile was my shield from judgment and, reluctantly, she took the beer and invited me to sit down. Eventually, we discussed how familiar it was to see each other here every Thursday, talked about the places we partied at and how much a Columbia education costs. When we touched on the subject of dating and being single, she blurts out, “You’ve probably been single for a couple of years now, huh?”

“Four, actually,” I replied and her beautiful eyes lit up. “You know why, right?” she asks. I shake my head no and she answers with, “…all the scruff and gruff - the girls probably don’t like it.” I rebuttal with, “You keep smiling,” and she says, “Only to keep from laughing!” Ouch. Base! My feelings were tinged, but not burnt. But she turned up the heat when she managed to clown my hairline, my Old Navy hoodie and my Bo Jackson sneakers all in a 15-minute time span.

In all that she finally broke it down to me:

“A lady doesn’t really care if you have the washboard abs and the silver tongue to make all the girls come. But when you make absolute NO attempt at trying to get her attention, then you’re failing yourself. Simply put, cleanliness is next to Godliness.”

And with that said…

Ladies… Can a man with personality and wit outshine the dude who wears Dolce & Gabbana with a NY fitted hat and some Timbs? Or are we slaves to personal preferences? Speak on it!

Check out last week's entry, "I'm Through With Dating Black Girls" here.

WTFuckery: Blood On The Sand

Back during the summer when I first started this blog, I asked my dear friend Kevin J from over at 410 Scrolls to grace Write For Freedom's presence with a guest post, because he's an awesome writer and stoopid funny. It took him a while, but he's finally come around with his latest stroke of literary genius: an overview of the clusterfuck that is the video game 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand.

Enjoy:

"THQ Inc. today announced the acquisition of the publishing rights for 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand for the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system. The highly anticipated sequel to the multi-million unit selling title 50 Cent: Bulletproof, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand will put gamers in the role of world famous hip hop artist 50 Cent as he, and members of G-Unit, battle their way across two war-torn countries on a mission to collect payment from a crime cartel boss. 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand is currently scheduled for worldwide release in early 2009, featuring run and gun shooter game play, brawler style combat, online co-op and eighteen exclusive new 50 Cent tracks." [THQ Announces Acquisition of 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand]



Essentially, what the preceding the paragraph dictates is that Fiddy is coming back for one more round in the videogame realm after the commercially successfully, but god-awful, mind-numbing, eyes-bleeding experience that was his previous game title, "50 Cent: Bulletproof" (an epic that detailed his hunt for hitmen that attempted to end him). I'm never one to knock the hustle. I do try not to, often and with discretion. I wonder though – how does someone transcend making music to stopping terrorism to regaining some bling that he lost. And yes, that's the story.



"When 50 was onsite at Vivendi with Tony Yayo, one of the things they challenged us to do was introduce new elements of gameplay in the game," Blean said. "Instead of having them always running and gunning, they wanted something that would break the pace of that." So "Blood on the Sand" will include vehicle missions such as a driver-and-turret-gunner Humvee road chase and a helicopter-borne shootout, in which 50 and his ally "rain death from above" onto enemies in a city." [50 Cent Video Game Exclusive: 'Blood On The Sand' Details, First Images Revealed]

The first game was essentially a G-Unit album wrapped with the marketing appearance of a videogame and multimedia tie-ins. But it was bad. So, so very bad. And you never want to down someone else's hard work, and I'm sure the staff on the game worked hard – but it was bad. Just. Bad. Blood on the Sand doesn't seem like it will fare that much better. For the more technical among you, the game runs on the Unreal 3 engine, a game engine that powers some extremely high-profile and great looking games. Do I really want to watch Fiddy drink Vitamin Water while shooting terrorists to get back his bling? If you answered yes, then welcome to the target demographic. Curtis greets you with open arms.

Maybe I am approaching this all wrong. Maybe this will be a journey rich with subtext and philosophical themes, changing the way we envision what conflict resolution on a worldwide scale could be. Maybe Fiddy is the future. Let's examine some of his body of work. From the work that transcends time, "Gunz Come Out":

"I'll come through and touch ya, walk out then cut ya
In case your dumbass wanna tussle
AR-15, co-exist to make the shell case muffle
Scope, infrared, run you're still dead
Hit your calf, hit your ass, hit ya back, then your head
Contract killa, murder for the scrilla
Search, find a nigga, run up behind a nigga
Shoot car windows out to flatline a nigga"

If we can't depend on Fiddy to "shoot car windows out to flatline a nigga" and take that same vibrancy and leadership overseas – then who can we depend on? If celebrities can't insert themselves into scenarios they never would directly participate in, and thus make a great deal of money on it that will never find its way to the families of those who do make a difference every day placing their life on the line, then what's the point of even getting out of bed in the morning?



We Love You Too, Fiddy. Go Get 'Em.

Obamapalooza Videos

I'm on Vimeo now :) If anyone has an account with them, feel free to add me. That being said, check out me and my +1 on the ticket/partner-in-crime Alex in my wobbly Flip Video Ultra clips from the Election Night rally in Grant Park:

Inside Grant Park: http://www.vimeo.com/2177804

Finally @ The Rally: http://www.vimeo.com/2177848

The Beach Ball: http://www.vimeo.com/2177848

Yes We Can! Yes We Did!: http://www.vimeo.com/2178040

I got footage of his speech, but it surpasses the upload limit for the week so I'll have to do it next Thursday when it resets. That night was so surreal - all of this is. Definitely one of the best nights of my life.

"Obamapalooza" in Grant Park

FINALLY! Here are my personal photos from the now infamous Election Night rally at Grant Park in Downtown Chicago dubbed by many as "Obamapalooza." They start off showing the crowds that were gathering in the early afternoon around 2 PM and ends with the deluge of people leaving the gathering around 11:30 PM:

YES. WE. DID.

Yes. We. Did

This is a time for celebration and rejoice, without a doubt...but we have a long road ahead of us. My friend Paul put it like this:

"Now the real work begins.

Holding Washington accountable and making sure that President Obama (man, I love the sound of that) lives up to the promise of candidate Obama.

Obama is not the messiah, he's still a politician. As much as I believe that we'll be on a much better course as a nation, power does things to people.

Obama is not impervious.

Let's all make a promise to each other that we wont let our government squander this incredible opportunity we've given it.

No free passes.
No blind eyes.

Don't sleep y'all. "


Word.

History...

If Obama wins today, this should totally be his victory song:

History ft. J Dilla - Skyzoo



Obama '08

Let's Go!