Thursday, August 31, 2006

my stereo on blast

the other day, i was headed out and forgot my ipod upstairs in my condo. normally, i'd go back up and grab it, but since i was in a bit of a rush, i had to make do without it. luckily, it was late, and there were some good slow jams on, but it got me thinking. now that i have my new car, and the 6 disc cd changer that comes with it, why don't i have that thing loaded?!

... which brings me to my question? what 6 cds do you keep loaded in your car (if you don't have a changer, pretend you do)? now, i'm not asking for your 6 favorite cds because it's different than that ... or at least, it is for me. i'd want albums that would fit different moods and mesh with various people. for instance, even though tupac's all eyez on me, biggie's ready to die, and nas's illmatic are some of my favorite albums, i definitely wouldn't have all three.

here's a first pass at my list (and maybe soon, i'll actually get around to putting these in my car):

- stevie wonder's song review: greatest hits disc 1 (or the temptations' the ultimate collection or the beatles' sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band) - for when my mom or someone else who wouldn't appreciate hip hop or anything else that may be laced with profanity.

- gang starr's moment of truth - my favorite album of all time. it fits almost all my moods and can always lift my spirits ... for we all must me our moment of truth.

- crown city rocker's earth tones - i love this album. not many people have heard of them nor their music, but it's the type of music that even people who aren't really into hip hop can appreciate because of the live instrumentation and jazzy feel. and i like spreading the word of good acts.

- tupac's all eyez on me (disc 1) (or his makaveli album or the nas or biggie listed above) - one of the six has to be some hardcore stuff ... and i mean, who doesn't get amped while driving around to pac's ambition az a ridah? these are the kinda albums you turn up your stereo for and bump with the windows down.

these last two are tough

- maybe kanye's late registration - a compromise between pop hip hop and good hip hop. people know his stuff, and it appeals to the masses, but at the same time, it's a good album.

- maybe blink 182's enema of the state or the cure's greatest hits - to appeal to my non-hip hop enthusiasts.

- maybe lauren hill's the miseducation of lauryn hill - for when i want something a little bit slower or perhaps have a girl in the car.

i dunno ... i'll think about it some more.

... but what do you guys think? would your deck be filled with only hip hop? ... some punk maybe?... only hindi film songs? ... old 80s classics? ... ewok songs? ... stones throw jazz remixes? lemme know ...

(and saying burned mix cds is plain cheating)

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

the legendary roots crew

my order from okayplayer finally came in. i've anxiously been awaiting the new album from the roots. though game theory had been "leaked" onto to the internet awhile ago, i haven't heard any of it besides the lead single, don't feel right. i decided against popping the new album in at work because i felt i wanted to be able to actively listen to it, which doesn't really happen at work. instead i decided to listen to j.period's best of the roots mixtape that was included in the order. oohh ... this thing is HOT! it's not just a compilation of past good roots songs. there's a lot on here that i haven't heard before, including new songs and remixes with zion i, stevie wonder, and rakim ... to name a few. i CANNOT wait to get off work and toss the new album in ... though it'll be difficult to resist the temptation to listen to this mixtape for the rest of the day.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

high fidelity

ripping my entire 200+ cd collection has long been on my 'to-do' list, and recently, my current cd rack has been hitting its capacity. i finally got around to buying a couple new shelves for my cds, and i figured now is as good a time as any to get around to getting all those cds on my computer.

yes, i still buy cds. i think the artists deserve to get paid for their work. shit, they give me a lot ... i give a little back. that being said, i have nothing against downloading either. take zion i, for example. i downloaded their first album after a recommendation from a friend. since then, i've bought three of their albums and seen em live a couple times ... and probably more importantly, i recommend them to others. none of that probably would have happened if i hadn't originally downloaded their first album.

anyway, like rob from high fidelity (which is what i settled on), i found great comfort in sorting my music and find great comfort in knowing my musical collection is now organized exactly as i want it to be. since my last rack was almost completely full, i didn't have the free space to keep the cds as i wanted them in there, and i was growing more and more frustrated with not knowing exactly where a particularly cd was. with my new shelves now only being half full, i was able to get them exactly like i want. i don't sort my music chronologically or alphabetically. my grouping probably only makes sense to me and a few others. the cds are grouped by associations. for instance, there is an la underground group, containing j5, dilated, ozo (because of j5), beat junkies, etc ... an okayplayer group, containing the roots, mos, kweli, common, jean grae, etc.

a few thoughts:
- only two groups did not fit in a single section. the gang starr group, which include premier mixtapes and guru solo releases, and the tupac group. i have more than 15 cds in each of those groups, and it's fitting that they are my favorite group and my favorite mc.

- why did i buy the pj soundtrack and the space jam soundtrack???

- who is militia?

- my biggest challenge was figuring out where to put the beastie boys. i eventually settled with grouping them with the ny heavy hitters group, which includes rakim, krs, jay-z, redman, etc.

- despite long discussions over wingmen, i had no idea jerry bruckheimer worked on top gun. i noticed that fact on the soundtrack case, which is a great soundtrack btw.

... and now that i see so much free space on my cd racks, i feel compelled to go out and buy some new stuff. yes, i did preorder j.dilla's the shining and the roots game theory, but who wants to wait for those to come in (even though they should be here any day now). i think i'll stop by best buy today after work and pick up the new cut chemist and the new outkast. it's too bad i couldn't turn my change into a best buy certificate.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

a dime and a nickel

actually, a lot whole lotta dimes and nickels ... and quarters and pennies.

like most guys, whenever i get home, i empty the change in my pockets into a container (in my case, a jack daniels tin). the thing was getting close to full, and i finally decided to do something with it. thanks to angelo, i found out that coinstar will waive their 9% fee (that's a serious rip off right there) if you turn your change into a gift card with choices of itunes, borders, linens n things, starbucks, and amazon. i decided to go with borders because i figure i read enough to make it worthwhile. i would have gone with amazon to get some music, but i knew i'd then be wasting money on shipping charges. it's too bad i already picked up the next book for me to read (i went with high fidelity).

but here's the kicker ... my total came out to $106 and change!!

Friday, August 18, 2006

take a look; it's in a book

my last comment in my last post got me thinking that i'm nearing the end of the book i'm currently reading (thomas friedman's the world is flat). what should i read next? i'd like my next book to be less serious and not require as much brain power.

potential next books:
song of susannah by stephen king - the next book for me in the dark tower series. the rest of the series has been pretty good so far.

the voyage of the dawn treader by c.s. lewis - the next book in the chronicles of narnia series

high fidelity by nick hornby - i LOVE the movie, and i hear the book is better.

bringing down the house by ben mezrich - story of mit card counters

any other suggestions?

Friday, August 11, 2006

dumbed down for my audience

no, i didn't dumb myself down for you guys ... although i suppose most of my posts aren't very intelligent. i'm referring to jay-z's verse on his "moment of clarity" off of the black album (which is a great album btw).

since i recently reacquired all of their albums, i've been listening to a lot of jay-z and eminem lately. i think most of this post will be about eminem, but jay-z's verse that i mentioned above speaks to my point well.

i dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars
they criticized me for it yet they all yell "HOLLA!"
if skills sold, truth be told, i'd probably be
lyrically, talib kweli
truthfully i wanna rhyme like common sense
but i did five mill' - i ain't been rhymin like common since
this is jay-z, one of the best mc's ever. if people were to make an all-time top 10 mc list, jay-z almost always would be included. he's the self-proclaimed "ceo of hip hop" ... and he readily admits dumbing down his lyrics in order to sell records.

onto eminem ... eminem is an EXTREMELY talented lyricist. the reason i love pac so much is because of the passion and emotion he conveyed through his rhymes, and anyone who has ever heard a song like"kim," you know eminem is the same way. he is a very gifted mc, and i think some top 10 lists would include him as well. add the fact that he's a pretty good producer and a decent actor, and you have a talented individual. through the course of his career, he's put out some top quality songs. for example, i LOVE "renegade". amazing song ... though nas was right when he said jay-z's verses come nowhere close to eminem's on the track*. to sum up, eminem has put out some of the best songs out there (in my opinion) ...

... but he has also put out some of the SHITTIEST SONGS EVER, like "my name is" and "real slim shady" to name a few. unfortunately, these songs are the ones that the radio decides to play, and they sell well. i often wonder if eminem realizes this (i'm pretty sure/hope he does) and only makes them for the same reason that jay dumbed down his songs. i find it fascinating how eminem puts out songs along all points of the song quality spectrum, from some of the best to some of the worst. luckily, his good songs far outweigh his bad ones.

and that just brings me to the state of the recording industry today. actually, i won't start on that topic because i'm not sure if i'll be able to stop. but i definitely think something needs to happen before the music dies.

what do you guys think?

* i think need to start using footnotes and hence the asterick. although "renegade" was released on jay-z's album, it was produced by eminem, and originally, eminem's long time friend royce da 5'9" was actually suppose to be featured alongside eminem on the song instead of jay-z but record company/contract issues stopped that from happening. i have (had?) a rough version of the song with eminem and royce, and i think it's better than the one with jay-z.