I came across this article today... literally stumbled upon it on StumbledUpon and thought I should post it. The author, Sam Sanders, made some very good points about the validity of Black History Month and what we can do to make it a have meaning again.
Here's the link:
Taking Black History Out of the Peanut Gallery
What do you think?
Peace and Love...
VW
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Blood, Guts and the American Way
I just came home from a screening of The Crazies. The movie was eh at best but I guess it's partly because I'm past my popcorn movie days... somewhat lol.
...I don't know about the rest of you guys out there but I'm getting tired of the ultra-violence in movies nowadays. I remember being pissed off at the remake of The Wolfman when I went to a screening for it a couple of weeks ago because they over saturated the movie with gore and took a lot of the story away from it. I hope I'm not spoiling it for anyone who hasn't seen it but it was like every 5 minutes 'here's the Wolfman ripping out someone's entrails' or 'here's the Wolfman knocking someone's head off' and for me, it really bastardized the legacy of the original Wolfman films. I felt the same way leaving The Crazies today.
From jump I knew I was going to get an hour and a half of brainless violence but then I got military undertones on top of that. I remember having a talk with a friend of mine about violence in movies one day and his thoughts on it were that they're used to desensitize us to things and create more soldiers. He echoed something that I was thinking about as well but it wasn't until he mentioned the part about the soldiers that it all became clear. Most of the violent movies I've gone to see in the past have had trailers/commercials for the National Guard play before the movie started. I won't go into my dislike for the military and their practices. I do, however, wonder what these kinds of images in movies is doing to us as a people?
Even video games are starting to become overtly graphic. I remember seeing the cover to a game called Borderlands and thinking "wow, I'm actually disturbed by this" and I'm a fan of Manhunt... the video game that caused a huge stir some 6 years ago. (I'm not going to post it here just because I want you to do some leg work too lol.)
Sometimes I just makes me wonder if people are right to blame the media for what goes on in the world today. I look at these movies and video games, listen to some of the music and can't help but think no wonder we have teens thinking it's ok to beat the hell out of each other on video. Are we becoming the apathetic society portrayed in movies like Idiocracy, The Running Man and Robocop? How long is it until shows like Death Race become a reality and we have mass murder happen on our doorstep and think nothing of it? Seems like we're already there.
Or maybe it's just me...
Peace and much Love to yourselves...
P.S. Check out those films... they're really deep when you read past what you're seeing but don't take my word for it.
...I don't know about the rest of you guys out there but I'm getting tired of the ultra-violence in movies nowadays. I remember being pissed off at the remake of The Wolfman when I went to a screening for it a couple of weeks ago because they over saturated the movie with gore and took a lot of the story away from it. I hope I'm not spoiling it for anyone who hasn't seen it but it was like every 5 minutes 'here's the Wolfman ripping out someone's entrails' or 'here's the Wolfman knocking someone's head off' and for me, it really bastardized the legacy of the original Wolfman films. I felt the same way leaving The Crazies today.
From jump I knew I was going to get an hour and a half of brainless violence but then I got military undertones on top of that. I remember having a talk with a friend of mine about violence in movies one day and his thoughts on it were that they're used to desensitize us to things and create more soldiers. He echoed something that I was thinking about as well but it wasn't until he mentioned the part about the soldiers that it all became clear. Most of the violent movies I've gone to see in the past have had trailers/commercials for the National Guard play before the movie started. I won't go into my dislike for the military and their practices. I do, however, wonder what these kinds of images in movies is doing to us as a people?
Even video games are starting to become overtly graphic. I remember seeing the cover to a game called Borderlands and thinking "wow, I'm actually disturbed by this" and I'm a fan of Manhunt... the video game that caused a huge stir some 6 years ago. (I'm not going to post it here just because I want you to do some leg work too lol.)
Sometimes I just makes me wonder if people are right to blame the media for what goes on in the world today. I look at these movies and video games, listen to some of the music and can't help but think no wonder we have teens thinking it's ok to beat the hell out of each other on video. Are we becoming the apathetic society portrayed in movies like Idiocracy, The Running Man and Robocop? How long is it until shows like Death Race become a reality and we have mass murder happen on our doorstep and think nothing of it? Seems like we're already there.
Or maybe it's just me...
Peace and much Love to yourselves...
P.S. Check out those films... they're really deep when you read past what you're seeing but don't take my word for it.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
What If Sarah Palin Was Black...
I came across this article on Twitter today. I thought it was a really good read so I'm posting it for you all to see...
"What If Sarah Palin Was Black?"
Any thoughts?
Peace and Love...
VW
"What If Sarah Palin Was Black?"
Any thoughts?
Peace and Love...
VW
Saturday, February 13, 2010
R. Me (Rebels Music Empire) - Still Untitled Til' This Day (LP)
R. Me. Rebels Music Empire. Steph LV, X Maximus, Rashid Amir and Real. Four cool brothers from Brooklyn, who I know personally, who dropped an album that goes hard with the beats and lyrics and is very versatile.One thing about me that I love are albums that tell stories: Biggie's Ready to Die, Raekwon's Only Built for Cuban Linx... the list goes on. Still Untitled 'Til This Day is nothing short of a masterpiece when it comes to just that.
I've been playing it crazy since it dropped in December of '09 and I'm definitely going to rock with it for a long time after.
But I won't say anymore. You can check it out for yourselves (for $5) at www.rebelsmusicempire.com
Peace and Love...
VW
Friday, February 5, 2010
"Where The Ladies At..."
It's almost 2:30 a.m. here in Brooklyn and I got back home earlier (had to stop and get some Popeye's for late night munchies before writing this lol) from the She's So Fresh III Showcase. It's a show, organized by a friend of mine Bless Roxwell and J.A.G. Music and Media and is hosted by an even better friend of mine Tasty Keish, where they feature all female emcee acts. If you haven't gone to one, you should definitely check out the next one. Hopefully, I'll stay consistent with this blog by that time so I'll have information up for you when it happens.
The ladies definitely shut it down and seriously repped for the other females in the rap game as well as in general. There was an overall feeling of support and comfort for women of all kinds but they definitely didn't make it a Man-Hating Event at all. The only time I felt like a male groupie at all was when Bless actually put the mic in my face when I was singing along to her song "Peace Love Unity" (I heart you, Bless for that LOL.) It was really inspiring for me to be around such great women who were doing something positive for themselves and made me want to go harder with my mission and do more to support causes backed by women and for women's rights.
That said, the one thing that bothered me as a guy was the lack of men in the event. It irritated me even more that I was like one of four male emcees in the building tonight. I mean as an underground emcee, you know about the lack of support of women in the rap game as a whole, unless you're rapping about sex and money and wearing less than nothing, so why not support a group of female rappers who aren't going that route and refuse to portray a certain image about themselves? And this isn't a random thought because I was at the last She's So Fresh Showcase and it was the same case.
Now before anyone catches an attitude and says, "I had other things to do and who are you, Varyus, to tell me what I should do with my life?" I'm going to make it clear that I KNOW that life happens at times and I'm not in anyway saying that you HAVE to go to every hip-hop event with or without a cause. Believe me, I sparingly go to events just because I choose to exercise that right myself. But I wonder why we, meaning male emcees, don't support our women counterparts more. After seeing women constantly come to our shows and support our music, I wonder why we don't return the favor, especially knowing the nature of the field of hip-hop and how it cannibalizes women.
Is it that they can't rap? Clearly they can. I caught myself and many others making the "oooh! that line was sick" face many of times while women were rapping.
Is it that we're afraid that they'll destroy hardcore rap as we know it and make it all "girly"? No. There's PLENTY of females making "I'll break ya jaw" music and not all of them are lesbians.
So what is it then?
Why aren't we doing more to change how women are viewed in hip-hop and how female emcees are treated? Why aren't we supporting them more?
I don't know.
Peace and Love...
VW
"So where the ladies at?/ Yo we chillin over here..." - De La Soul, Dinninit
The ladies definitely shut it down and seriously repped for the other females in the rap game as well as in general. There was an overall feeling of support and comfort for women of all kinds but they definitely didn't make it a Man-Hating Event at all. The only time I felt like a male groupie at all was when Bless actually put the mic in my face when I was singing along to her song "Peace Love Unity" (I heart you, Bless for that LOL.) It was really inspiring for me to be around such great women who were doing something positive for themselves and made me want to go harder with my mission and do more to support causes backed by women and for women's rights.
That said, the one thing that bothered me as a guy was the lack of men in the event. It irritated me even more that I was like one of four male emcees in the building tonight. I mean as an underground emcee, you know about the lack of support of women in the rap game as a whole, unless you're rapping about sex and money and wearing less than nothing, so why not support a group of female rappers who aren't going that route and refuse to portray a certain image about themselves? And this isn't a random thought because I was at the last She's So Fresh Showcase and it was the same case.
Now before anyone catches an attitude and says, "I had other things to do and who are you, Varyus, to tell me what I should do with my life?" I'm going to make it clear that I KNOW that life happens at times and I'm not in anyway saying that you HAVE to go to every hip-hop event with or without a cause. Believe me, I sparingly go to events just because I choose to exercise that right myself. But I wonder why we, meaning male emcees, don't support our women counterparts more. After seeing women constantly come to our shows and support our music, I wonder why we don't return the favor, especially knowing the nature of the field of hip-hop and how it cannibalizes women.
Is it that they can't rap? Clearly they can. I caught myself and many others making the "oooh! that line was sick" face many of times while women were rapping.
Is it that we're afraid that they'll destroy hardcore rap as we know it and make it all "girly"? No. There's PLENTY of females making "I'll break ya jaw" music and not all of them are lesbians.
So what is it then?
Why aren't we doing more to change how women are viewed in hip-hop and how female emcees are treated? Why aren't we supporting them more?
I don't know.
Peace and Love...
VW
"So where the ladies at?/ Yo we chillin over here..." - De La Soul, Dinninit
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