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Tuesday, March 18, 2008 More Updates: Eliot Spitzer Edition …back like I left something with more updates and more random thoughts from the mind of the man they call Dizastah. UPDATE: The Manchurian Consumer mixtape (as in the mixtape to be released after the Higher Learning mixtape, which still hasn’t been released) is almost finished. The song Rydah, which I demoed up on the page for awhile, is one of the songs from it. As a matter of fact, I’ve previewed a lot of the songs from it up there. I think I’m going to put a poll up there to see which songs y’all most want to hear on that mixtape. UPDATE: The Higher Learning mixtape is STILL at the mastering house. If any of y’all see Tef and his team on the street, tell them dudes to hurry it up. It’s done, and I want to get it to y’all. As I announced before, I’m leaking tracks in the meantime and will have a link for you all to download a track at the end of this post. Please download that joint when you get a chance and feel free to send it to any and everybody. It’s gotta get out there somehow. UPDATE: Some of you might know that I find the drama surrounding Eliot Spitzer’s term as NY Governor to be particularly hilarious. Well to make a funny situation even funnier, it has been announced that his chick (yes, the one he dropped 5,000 dollars an hour to…spend time with) is now a millionaire. It seems that after a week of her myspace link being posted on CNN.com as well as millions of other sites, she has made over a million dollars from people downloading her music. Shout out to shorty girl for pimping the system…..she need to do a collabo with Trina, India, and Jackie O. (….just my thoughts) This whole Eliot Spitzer thing really got me to thinking. So….sources say Eliot Spitzer payed amounts ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 dollars an hour for these ahem "services" totaling around 80,000 dollars. If this "service oriented business" is like other service oriented business, I’m wondering what the service offerings are. I mean…we know for a fact that their services range at least between $1,000 and $5,000. They COULD include offerings for lower and higher amounts, but let’s not speculate too much. If we take a basic example of another service oriented business, like say a concession stand. An example business model would be as follows: Cookie: $1.00 Hot Dog: $3.00 Hamburger: $5.00 Soda: $ 2.50 Now, if we were to take our friend Eliot’s favorite business’ model. It MUST be something like this: Hand holding: $1,000 Massage from Ugly Chick: $2,225 Massage from Attractive Chick: $ 3,000 Happy Ending from Myspace Singer Jumpoff: $5,000 …… Another thing I wonder is, though they have hourly rates, are we pro-rating here. I mean, if my man Eliot lasts for 3 minutes….wouldn’t he feel shorted by paying out the full 5g’s?? …Just my thoughts, people…….right or wrong…… As promised…here’s the link. Let me know what you think. I’ma keep dishing these joints out, because at this point I don’t care about the project, I just want y’all to hear the music. Holla at ya dude. ~D p.s. Fat Joe’s got a new single featuring Plies entitled "Ain’t Saying Nothing"........oh, the irony.... ____________________________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Music Updates Yeo! What’s good, what’s good? I hope all is well with the greater listening public. I just wanted to put y’all up on what I’m into these days. I’ve been heavily producing these days, mostly working on prospective joints for the up and coming offering from my colleague and friend Ms. C-Easy. Shorty girl got soul, y’all. Shout to C. I’ve also been working on some material for my up and coming yet to be titled EP/Mixtape/Album whatever you want to call it. And NO, not the one that’s been delayed since November. The Higher Learning mixtape, which has been sitting in entirety since November of last year, is currently off being "mastered". I’m just as anxious about it as all of you are. I was told I should be getting it back sometime over the next week or so. I’m shooting to drop it at the end of this month (knock on wood). The tape will have a lot of your favorites on it from the past and will be available right here on my very own blog, as well as a number of other places that I will presently omit. The next project, however, will also include some of your favorites from the past (as well as some from the present and future); all on original beats and will be available at a number of places as well. I might even put a few songs up periodically and put a poll out there to see which of the songs you most want to be released on the follow-up. None of these projects, however, have ANYTHING on my debut album, half of which is just sitting at my crib waiting for a positive distribution medium. THAT, my friends, is the "ace in the hole" of which I speak. Until the date of that release, however, I will continue to provide y’all with appetizers…….for the main course will forever tide your hunger for quality hip-hop music. I love y’all. P.S. If Eliot Spitzer aka former Governor of New York was Client 9, who was 1-8?? ………….and they call ME a conspiracy theorist _________________________________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Condi Rice, Judaism, and Plies... Whattup, world? It's a good day to be alive… It seems in his recent attempts to keep from being unanimously hailed as the worst President in United States history, our boy G Dub has been grinding it out (no homo) with multiple attempts at fixing some of the major world issues (most of which he either caused or fueled during his grueling 8 year term as President). During this initiative, it seems he has sent his right hand man (or woman for the more charitable readers out there) Ms. Condi Rice out to all those "3rd world countries" and "terrorist havens" out there to hash up some sort of a resolve to many long standing world conflicts. One of these conflicts, since even before the dark ages (meaning the last 8 years) being the Israel Palestine conflict. Now what particularly interests me about Condi's recent negotiations in said "3rd world countries" is how happy and comfortable she seems in Jerusalem. She seems to have made much headway (pun intended) in Israel. I'm thinking her comfort level and personal investment on this side of the issue, might possibly hint at her in fact being Jewish..... Here's why…. Many have questioned, due to her stance on certain issues; as well as her conspicuous relationship to one G Dub Bush, if she is in fact African American. When looking at her name…it is quite difficult to determine her ethnic origins. Though her first name is about as difficult to trace as it is to spell, within her last name lies the key...You see….what is the most consumed food worldwide??? Rice!....am I wrong?? Who secretly runs the entire world?? (we'll discuss this at a later date)….Jewish folk! Therefore……I'm thinking Condoleezza is a black Jew…….I could be wrong though. On a more serious note, your favorite rapper's favorite rapper (unless your favorite rapper is me), better known as Plies is set to release a new reality show. The TV show, which is obviously a bite off of Flavor of Love, is entitled "Bust It Baby". ….no, for real. I couldn't possibly make something like that up; I'm just not that creative. Personally, I'm already embarrassed and I haven't even seen the pilot for it. Obviously rappers really aren't eating, we lookin' for love on TV….and here I thought having T-Pain on a hook guaranteed groupies. Pshaw! You can read more about it here: http://www.theurbantwist.com/news/120/ARTICLE/2154/2008-02-24.html Higher learning coming soon….In the meantime I'ma get started leaking the tracks, as promised. One a week. You're all welcome! This time, I'ma give y'all a recent sleeper. I haven't heard all of the Smirnoff remixes, but I DID hear that Q-Tip- Midnight '08. If you haven't heard it, go check it ASAP. It's not bad. It's laid back on the Tribe tip, but with a bunch of synths and the like. I'm out! ________________________________________________________________________________________ Monday, March 03, 2008 George Bush the button! I'd like to give a shout out to the powers that be for George Bush-ing the button on Somalia this morning. The attack occurred right outside the Kenyan border, which is home to a "known terrorist target". It's kind of funny to me how the US is supposedly the sovereign nation of justice that goes around the world helping the likes of countries like Iraq and Afghanistan to find peace and independence; yet when known problems such as Kenya's party issues come up, they're nowhere to be found. They can bomb the place, but they can't help preserve the senseless slaughter of innocent people all due to the injustices of said democracy. In the immortal words of Saigon: What a life…. Is it just me or is George Bush always a few steps behind on dayum near everything?? I don't know if you all saw the recent interview when they asked him about the potential for gas prices to hit the $4 a gallon mark. As usual, your boy G Dub shoots a confused look and goes "That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." This comes a week after your boy finally acknowledged that were in an "economic slowdown". I mean..I'm not telling the man how to do his job….but I feel like if you're the President of a country, you might want to be well aware of most of the pertinent issues in said country at the same time as, if not before the average citizen……I'm just saying. I dropped a snippet for a potential up and coming future release entitled "Rydah". Any thoughts on that, y'all? We gotta get re-engaged, man. The mixtape is here, we droppin' that THIS month. I need y'all with me. Anyway, we got a whole lot more to discuss, I'ma be getting back at y'all tomorrow. Stay tuned…. Album: T.I.- Trap Muzik Sleeper: T.I. vs T.I.P. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cf/Trap_muzik_b0000akqgt.jpg/200px-Trap_muzik_b0000akqgt.jpg ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, February 14, 2008 Obligatory Valentine’s Day Post Current mood: apathetic Ahh, so it's Valentine's Day. This is either your favorite or least favorite Pagan holiday, depending on your: a) Relationship status b) Monetary situation c) Ability to convince a member of the opposite sex (or the like, depending on preference) that you are worth an investment of either time, money, or a combination of the two d) All of the Above Let me follow up to my last post by saying that I'm falling back from the mic for a bit. With this in mind, I've been making beats like the anti-Plies is in my studio seeking production (meaning like there's no tomorrow). So….at least a portion of my Valentine's Day will be devoted to dropping that piff through my MPC (which is probably the reason I can't keep a woman). How's that for passion? Furthermore, I'ma be on my East coast grind in the near future (as soon as I can actually sit through a hip-hop album without wanting to commit James Dungy). So all my DMV (DC, Maryland, and VA) fans, friends, and supporters expect to see some shows and events poppin up in your area in the near future. If you know of any venues and/or other mediums popping off, drop me a line. That mixtape is coming, y'all. It needs to be mastered, and I need to care again. Until then….. Some of my people are asking why I've fallen back from my usual political rantings. This is something that has occurred earlier than usual for me in an election; and is a result of the B.S. (yes, I call it B.S.) that we have in our electoral system, namely: superdelegates. These azzholes can basically vote on the primaries as they see fit, and do not have to go along with the people. The whole idea behind them being a part of the process historically was to "keep order"; in other words, keep any candidate who might possibly change anything about the "Good Ole Boy" system as far away from victory as possible. I believe many of them have seen my boy Obama as said threat and decided to try and hold him down. So though my boy is dominating in votes, the superdelegates are making it a close race that he could lose….and he's just light skinneded enough to win. This is one of those things that frustrate me about the electoral system and the government in general. There's so much B.S. to cut through that why should anyone believe in Democracy…… and yet we're in other people's countries trying to sell it like it works here. America and Microsoft go hand in hand…..and Democracy is windows Vista. We know good and well that joint got bugs in it, but we sellin' it anyway. %@! Bill Gates! Aiight, I'm done with all that. Shout out to all y'all Patriots fans, by the way. HAHA…I haven't had a chance to say that yet. Even though I'm late, I had to do that really quickly. I guess that eliminates the idea of the next big hip-hopster coming out of Boston. Oh well…. Tekz, I know what you thinkin'….don't do it! Please my people, don't let Valentine's Day allow you to play yourselves. Tomorrow will be the day after Valentine's Day. All bets are off….and you still have to live with yourself. Remember that. Shout out to Kwis for getting that verse to me….now we waitin' on Jay Smash. Do it for New Money, my dude. Lol Back to work. Holla! Album: Obie Trice- Cheers Sleeper: Oh! ft. Busta Rhymes .. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Monday, February 11, 2008 I’m Out What's good, my people? Let me start by saying : NO, I did NOT watch the Grammy ceremony last night. What I did see, however, was the Beyonce/ Tina Turner collabo performance, which was a result of being called up in the middle of my Sunday evening and told to "turn to channel 9, RIGHT now". That joint was straight…did anyone else feel like Ms. Turner was rocking a spandex silver spacesuit?? Maybe I'm trippin. I heard Kanye's performance was off the blic. That, and the Rihanna joint are the only performances I actually wish I had caught. Through everything anyone has to say about Kanye West, one thing they can never take away from him is his ability to put on a good show. I've been a hiphop head for cool minute, and I'd have to put Kanye's show in the Top 10 Live performances I've ever seen category. The dude is dedicated. I've also noticed lately, that I'm really, truly beginning to lose interest in hiphop. I know this is something that a lot of people have said over and over again and I'm definitely not trying to join the stable of disgruntled hiphop employees. However, if you look at the elements of hiphop that I fell in love with, there's nothing new that hip-hop has to offer. I realized this when I recently listened to a new offering from an artist (or group) that I was really looking forward to copping [Not mentioning names]. I popped the CD into my computer (true indeed, IPODs is running this rap ish) and about 5 songs in realized that this release had absolutely nothing new to offer from what the last one did. As a matter of fact, if I were to have just saved my money and listened to the previous release, I would've probably been better off due to being in a better position financially. This took me back to the past year of releases. I realized that very few artists broke new ground with their new material. The few that did received no praise at all for their contributions. Even the few that I'd say did, I think I may just be saying that to feel as though there is hope. If I were to compare those albums to other albums that I consider to be groundbreaking, would those releases get the time of day?? Probably not. I just want to hurry up and drop this mixtape. Why? Do I think it will break any new ground? To be completely honest…..not really. You WILL hear some political and social references that have not really been made before. But this mixtape is much like any other mixtape. It's a release from an artist who can rap proving to the world that he can rap. The main difference between this mixtape and the next is that the artist is one who hasn't previously had the opportunity to be introduced to the world. The other difference is that this rapper has the ability to rap much better than the next rapper proving to the world that he can rap. However, this is just my opinion. I'll let y'all be the judges of that. I've been waiting for over a month for verses to be submitted for the mixtape's obligatory posse cut, and now it's starting to take too long. If everything doesn't work out by the end of this month on getting this mixtape out, I'm just gonna go ahead and leak all of the music from the tape to the faithful internets and hope y'all pass it around. At this point, that's all I can do because the music is now old to me and I'm ready to move on to a new chapter. I will never do another mixtape like this one again, so please realize what you're getting is a piece of history. Love to all, as always. ~D __________________________________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, February 06, 2008 5 Underrated Mainstream Releases These are the albums that you can't necessarily say flopped, as they got major attention; but still don't get nearly enough credit for being what they are: extremely solid hip-hop offerings. Big Pun- Capital Punishment (Platinum wasn't enough, this album is the truth) Lil Wayne- The Carter (Lil Wayne's crowning moment, and his best offering in my opinion) The Game- The Doctor's Advocate (Doc or no Doc, listen to the music) Clipse- Hell Hath No Fury ("The spirit of competition, one verse could start Jihad") Noreaga- N.O.R.E. (Just try and tell me this isn't one of the best PRODUCED albums you've ever heard) Aiight, now that we've got that out of the way…can someone please tell me what the world is coming to?? People are putting their kids in the microwave, throwing their kids off of bridges, Hanna Montana could easily win the presidential election by a landslide, and it took Rihanna 34 weeks to go platinum. That's an S.O.S. if I've ever seen one. John Edwards finally did himself a favor and SAT THE $&)@ DOWN. His strategy reminded me a lot of many of our favorite unsuccessful thug rappers of late. He decided to go up in the factories and really show the blue collared working man he's on his side, because that's really who the election is about. That's about as idealistic as promoting your album on the streets and "in the hoods" knowing good and well that them cats is gonna bootleg your joint anyway. Go where the buying power is, pimpin….teenage white girls is running this rap ish…..and EVERYTHING ELSE. So I'll put my money behind Hanna Montana, cuz not only does she have that market segment on lock, her pops made "Achy Breaky Heart" and that's a hood classic. Super Tuesday anyone??? Go out and VOTE….. Am I the only person who noticed that Jay-Z's American Gangster album had a song called 'Hello Brooklyn' featuring Lil Wayne?? That didn't bother y'all, even a little bit? Word, that's cool, cuz my next single is called "Africa's Finest" featuring Jin and Joell Ortiz. Holla at a scholar. Thirst….the mixtape is waiting on you, homie. Get that expletive to me. That Little Brother album is the truth, y'all. If you get a chance, go out and support that. It was easily a candidate for album of 2007 (though there wasn't really too much competition). Album: The Game- The Doctor's Advocate Sleeper: Old English ft. Dion (Prod. by Hi Tek) ..[if gte vml 1]> ..[endif]-->..[if !vml]-->..[endif]--> _________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, January 24, 2008 Reparations and the US Economy Being that I'm about to talk semi-wreck less, I'ma just start this post off with a disclaimer. It's not meant to offend anyone or anything like that. Rather, it's more to get people to think, and get my thoughts off in a manor that doesn't involve violence. Anyway, the word is: as part of the effort to stimulate the economy, the government wants to issue additional tax refund checks of $600 to individuals (tax payer or not), $1200 to couples, and about $300 to children come June. What interests me most (besides the idea of getting paid for doing absolutely nothing at all) are the comparisons my mind would tend to draw between this initiative, and another American money topic known as reparations. Now, let me drop another disclaimer. This, by no means, is in favor of OR against the idea of reparations. So yea, the idea of paying the black community back monetarily for the years of free labor this country received as a result of slavery. Not to get all technical on any of you closet racists out there, but for those of you that would argue that America had indentured servitude before the days of slavery, I'd like to point out that indentured servitude was a punishment. The indentured servants that gave the country free labor before the days of actual "slaves" were generally either "criminals" or those who were deeply indebt and were forced to work their debt off. Therefore, in my eyes, their "free labor" is not of the same magnitude. But anyway, back to the reparations thing. So a lot of people are upset by the idea of giving reparations to people because of the fact that it would be paying people money just for being who they are. However, this proposed tax initiative is very much the same thing; especially since it would apply to individuals who aren't necessarily paying income tax (i.e. fixed incomes and etcetera). Many conservatives, however, feel as though the wretched capitalists "better off" should receive more compensation, or somehow benefit greater from this ordeal. The government, however, strongly disagrees and the reasoning behind this is that they feel people who are less financially equipped are more likely to spend these checks right away; which in turn would stimulate the economy. The government feels that the financially equipped would be more likely to save the money, so in turn, they propose reduced taxes for small and independent businesses, to provide extra perks for the "well off". Hearing the government's reasoning behind catering their plan to the lower middle class and below was a trip because immediately it took me back to the Chapelle show skit on reparations. Got it in your mind?? OK, now if I was Paulson, Bernanke, Bush….shoot, anyone in a position to make it happen, why not motion to target this initiative to the black community. Pool all the funds that you would have appropriated to EVERYONE and concentrate them on black US citizens. In this case, everybody's happy. Black people get the reparations they've been asking for for years. You get the increased spending stimulus that you know you were looking for……and you know the vast majority of folks would be rushing out to spend that check on something they don't need IMMEDIATELY after it comes in the mail. Use that to boost the economy….I mean you know FOR A FACT that it's going to increase spending, why take any chances, right?? Just my thoughts, people…..right or wrong…… Anyways, I'ma go buy some rims that are too big for my car, while simultaneously looking at my grill in the mirror and holding a bucket of fried chicken. I'll holla….. Oh, and speaking of grills……. Album: I Got the Hook-up Sdtk. Sleeper: What the Game Made Me ft. Jay-Z, Sauce Money, and Memphis Bleek __________________________________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, January 23, 2008 R.I.P. Health Ledger I guess George W. Bush and Sammy "the Bull" have a lot more in common than poor judgment. Yes indeed, it seems that our friend G Dub, much like "the Bull", is getting to be very good friends with The Fed. LOL….aiight that was a bad joke. But yea, shout out to the Fed for cutting that infamous rate 3/4ths of a point and once again, helping to bail our boy G Dub out of another tight situation. U.N.I.T.Y…. R.I.P Heath Ledger… Aiight, so let me start by saying I have no opinion about this whole "Crank Dat, whatever" phenomenon that has taken the world by storm as of late. It's customary for people to feel like artists are "hating" when they have a distaste for certain other flavors of music within the "Urban" spectrum. What I DO have a problem with, however, is grown a&% men jumping around doing things that are unbefitting of a grown man, be it cranking whatever, or the like. But yea, my boy Tekz, who some of you might be aware of (shout out to Tekz, Myndz Clique '08), forced me to sit down and watch the latest Souja Boy video yesterday. I try to avoid most major music audio and video outlets, and was not aware that the dude had a new song. Again, I'm not going to say anything about the song, or even the video for "Yaahh!" (sp?). At the end, the video goes into another song, which is a reinterpretation of Rich Boy's "Throw Some D's" song (about rims) where he asks the teacher to throw some D's on his report card. Being how I am, I was staring at the screen in disbelief from the 0.03 second mark of the video ANYWAY, but I was particularly interested in the very end where he says, he was joking and he had received all A's in school. This, in part, is due to the fact that I've always wondered if this kid was a genius who was able to take advantage of just how simple the average consumer (as in person who actually BUYS cds) is; or if he, himself, actually believed his own hype and supported what he was putting out. With this in mind, I was determined to find out if he was, in fact, an "A student" as he stated in his video; to get a better idea of the artist's intellect. It didn't take long for me to discover that not only was he not an A student, the dude failed the 9th grade TWICE before dropping out of high school. For some reason, this bit of information put me at ease, because I realized that there is NO WAY the dude knows any better. I mean, he really tried to do something better with himself. He did the 9th grade twice, b. That's effort, if you ask me. I, personally, have never repeated a grade in my academic career, but now I better understand the dude's effort AND intelligence level. I, for one, believe that the industry needs balance. Every song doesn't have to be about poverty or social injustice, or any other social commentary. We need some music for all situations we encounter in life, and as long as the dude stays in his lane, let him breathe. At least he ain't out robbin nobody (to the best of my knowledge). LOL..aiight let me move on. Another funny thing I recently heard is that the Yin Yang twins will be featured on Dr. Phil on January 28th to debate "pants sagging". HAHAHAHAHA…..what has the world come to. I'm not even going to comment on that. I'ma just let that one breathe. There's not a piece or a portion of that sentence that doesn't spell hilarity, in my opinion. Album: Nas- It Was Written Sleeper: I Gave You Power (Prod. By DJ Premier) ________________________________________________________________________________________ Monday, January 21, 2008 Happy MLK Day Wsup, yall?? I wanna start by giving a shout out to George Bush for waiting until like January 2008 to admit that we're in an economic crisis. I guess if I was about to go down in everybody's top 5 worst presidents of all time list, I'd probably be on the same tip though. Like "yea…uh lets speed up that middle east peace process…..and Palestine should have their own state……oh, give the black people some reparations while, you're at it". He's never had any trouble entertaining me….but I guess cocaine IS a helluva drug. So I'm here at work, on MLK day. The roads are empty…everybody is probably asleep at this point, but I'm here at work for one or all of the following reasons: 1. My company hates black people 2. The world believes that computer systems are more important than important black civil rights leaders 3. The world as we think we know it is coming to an end 4. My life sucks 5. Most IT consulting firms don't know who Martin Luther King Jr. was at all (At this point, I kind of feel as though I've traded in my civil rights for a corporate Am-ex card) I'm thinking maybe (in addition to the above reasons) my company might feel as though they are getting some sort of a competitive advantage out of slavedriving forcing employees to work on a national holiday. Someone please explain to me how an office full of disgruntled employees sprinkled with the faces of a few angry black people increases competitive advantage. I propose a compromise…. What the company could do is allow a holiday for all employees whose jobs are not involved in maintaining the current systems in place (i.e. all non-support related faculty). It IS MLK day. Is it really necessary for your employees to be sitting there trying to come up with new ways to implement technology and generate further revenue, when they are fully aware that they could be at home watching daytime television?? I mean, why don't we just support the systems that are already in place, so at least the majority of the staff isn't considering early retirement?? Just a thought, tho….. I find it kind of funny how the lead candidates are spending their time before the South Carolina primaries. Disclaimer: This is just a fact….I'm not passing any kind of judgment whatsoever. But yea…apparently Senator Obama spent his Sunday morning at MLK's former church in Atlanta, GA. Meanwhile, Senator Clinton spent her Sunday morning at another famous black church in Harlem, NY. Does anyone else think that this has any implications on how the candidates perceive the major focuses of the South Carolina primaries? Black churches, huh???......well at least Sharpton and Obama are cool now….lol. P.S. I also omitted a heavy hitter on the most underrated producers list (which is another reason why lists suck). The boy StreetRunner, who's done a lot of production for the Terror Squad camp (meaning Fat Joe) and is being managed by Spliff (shoutout to Spliff) of Diplomat Records fame, is a sick up-and-comer who has been seeing more and more shine and will continue to in the future. That dude is a monster so everyone who hasn't heard him should check him out. I won't even give y'all my South Carolina predictions, cuz I think certain things make this race a bit more obvious than the one in Michigan. I want to thank everybody for their positive comments about some of the recent mixtape cuts that we've posted on the myspace. A bit of clarity on the "I ain't write this" line on Fuego!: a good deal of the 3rd verse was being freestyled, as I really didn't have a third verse but wanted to make the song longer. A bit of that good old 'off the dome' from ya boy D-I-Z…. Shout out to my man Logic, on the message at the beginning of the joint. If you see Kwis or Thirsty in the streets, tell them dudes to hurry up with their verses, cuz that all that's holding this mixtape back, my friends. Full speed ahead……. Album: J Dilla- Donuts Sleeper: Airworks ..
Thursday, January 17, 2008 Obama, Oprah, and Hip-hop Shout out to Mitt Romney for affirming your boy's predictions on the state of Michigan….. I just want to start this post by discussing an issue floating around this presidential election. As most of you know, I've expressed my support for Obama in this year's presidential election. I have absolutely nothing to say about the views expressed by Lupe Fiasco, or Rhymefest for that matter; this is just my personal opinion. What I'd like to discuss is a segment shot for, and aired on, BET entitled "What's in it for us". Here, Barack Obama sits down on a "black network" and has a discussion with a "black host" about his love for hip-hop music, and generally all things "black". Now, I've already stated that I support the boy, but come on…. Can you be any more of a politician, my dude? We don't mind honesty…. So he wanted to get Oprah on the campaign trail, and said initially that he was in agreement with her about her views on rap music. He denounced rap music at the time. Now he goes on BET to try and pull in any "urban" voters that he might have lost by claiming to be a hip-hop head. I didn't really hate on the move until I saw just how insincere it actually was. When asked to name some of the hip-hop artists he liked, Obama mentioned "Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Common". He later goes on to point out that he isn't a big fan of some of the messages that are a constant theme in hip-hop (which I can understand) but cites the fact that he has had discussions with some rappers about changing these themes. When asked which rappers he discussed this with, he again names "Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Common" which makes it more than obvious that the dude has no affinity for hip-hop and is merely covering his bases. On top of all this, the host asked Barack what his favorite album was and he has the nerve to name "American Gangster". Come on Barack, you're a hip-hop head, and a Jay-Z fan; and your favorite album is American Gangster?? I know you a politician, bruh, but at least don't be so obvious…..The dude coulda at least asked someone on the street beforehand what the best Jay-Z album was. I'm quite positive anyone over the age of 18 would not have spat out "American Gangster"….. Anyway…no further hatred on my man Barack O'drama is necessary…..In fact, if anything you have to tip your hat to him. Not to take it on the theoretical, but about 70 percent of African American voters in Michigan chose the uncommitted option over voting for Clinton. CNN proposes that around 73 percent of African American voters would have chosen Obama if he was on the ticket, in comparison to Hilary's 22 percent. Hopefully this isn't a result of her MLK comment, which was blown out of proportion. BTW: Bob Johnson, you're a fool for that Obama comment…..don't play stupid and act like you don't know what you're insinuating. I also think it's sad how Marion Jones (and Barry Bonds) is kind of taking the wrap for all steroid use in sports. It's really sad to see such a fall from grace, as she has been one of the most respected female athletes in the world. Killers are going free every day and she's going to jail for lying about using steroids…..just make sure y'all lock Roger Clemons and them dudes up, too. It seems athletes ain't the only ones using illegal steroids these days. HGH (Human Growth Hormone) is really gaining popularity. Some of the names of people they have proven procured the stuff are shockers….some really aren't. I don't want to speak too much on it, though. I'll let y'all hear the music related piece from a music related source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1579544/20080114/50_cent.jhtml I'ma have to post up another little excerpt from this mixtape we bout to drop, cuz cats is anxious. I appreciate your love, support, and feedback. I'ma keep droppin lil bits and pieces here and there to whet y'all appetite until the release date. Big up to all y'all readin this…… ~D Happy Birthday to Aaliyah, one of the most beautiful people in the history of music R.I.P Brad Renfro (Tom & Huck, Sleepers, etc.) Album: Common- Like Water for Chocolate Sleeper: Thelonius ft. Jay Dee and Slum Village (Produced by the legendary J Dilla) ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, January 16, 2008 IOU Wrote the blog....and its on a different computer....I'ma hit yall tomorrow...scouts honor..... Gone ~D _________________________________________________________________________________________ Tuesday, January 15, 2008 Michigan First and foremost, I gotta shout my brother, Vice, out in Michigan. I know it's cold, bruh. Keep your head up. Aiight, with that being said, my motive behind bringing up Michigan is, of course, the presidential primaries. By the way, for those that don't know, all the democratic candidates are mad because they pushed up the date against the agreement of the DNC, so the only candidate who's even lobbying out there is Clinton (that figures). Anyway, being that I actually believe I have some idea of what's going on in the world (right or wrong as that may be), I'ma hit y'all with MY prediction, early. Y'all can agree, disagree, or agree to disagree at your discretion. The candidate who is coming out big overall in the state of Michigan, hands down, will be Mitt Romney. Now before y'all get all bent out of shape, let me tell you why I think Mitt is going to come out big. The state of Michigan's economy is HURTING. I mean HURTING. The state's economic situation still hasn't remotely recovered from the big blow to the American automotive industry. For those that don't know, Detroit's nickname is the motor city, not for its large export of motorboats, or motorcycles, but its integral part in the American automotive industry. So when the auto industry in this country took a hit, Michigan took a BIG hit. In addition (or as a result), Michigan has the highest unemployment rate (something like 7.4%) in the country (mind you, we (the US) have the highest unemployment rate we've had in like 15 years or something). So yea, cats don't have jobs…..no need to further elaborate. On top the employment crisis (or, again, as a result of), Michigan was also one of the states who was hit hardest by the big subprime mortgage issue in the US. Bottom line: Cats are hurting. Business is hurting. Mitt Romney will win big, not because he's going to bring jobs….nor entertain mortgage relief…..but because of who he is. Do the history…Romney's pops was a Michigan governor. He was a decently well liked governor who was known to have decent financial acumen. Michigan residents will see the boy as someone who can relate to them. He will inherit his father's victories, much as Hilary Clinton is inheriting those of her husband. Mitt Romney has just enough financial acumen, to push the "Home Court Advantage" card and come up big. I think Michigan is going to support the boy, and he's going to come up as a result of this. Now…on the Democrat side, it's a toughie. I want to first say that I think Michigan will see through the BS of this Clinton-Obama race thing. If you don't know what I'm talking about, we'll get into that later. I'm thinking Edwards is the candidate who will get the most merit votes (as in people picking him because they actually feel as though he is the best candidate or has the best positions on issues). But… as we all know, politics is politics and a lot of candidates get chosen because people like their tie or they cried, or whatever. With that said, we have to remember that Clinton is the only Democratic candidate who actually went to Michigan, so she's going to get the most popularity votes, and if a bunch of undecided voters come out, Clinton could take the state off of mere presence. I'ma end it here as this is getting too long, but peep the next blog where we'll talk about this whole Clinton-Obama race drama. Holla….. <--------------------This blog was later abridged to include the exclusion of both Obama and Edwards from the Michigan Democratic ticket. It was written before this detail was confimed. Thank you.... This one's for Trizz… Album: De La Soul- The Grind Date Sleeper: Rock Co.Kane Flow ft. MF Doom …..With the title track being a close second….. It's tough to chose though, this album has SO MANY bangers on it. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Saturday, January 12, 2008 Top 10 Most Underrated Producers Whattup, y'all? Let me preface this by saying that I'm not a big fan of the whole list thing for a number of reasons. Mainly, they're all opinions, and music is so objective that its highly unlikely people can agree on an entire list. Also, industry news is much like any other news in that it is ever evolving and changing. Therefore, a list pretty much expires when the next major wave of events occurs. However, every once in awhile, I get the desire to drop a list. I'm actually posting this list for the fact that rather than using the power of the blog for evil, it actually gives me the chance to give some shine to some artists that actually deserve it. Not only do they deserve it, but everyone isn't already all up on their jock heaping the praise. So here we go….top 10 most underrated producers, and a bonus treat at the end. Feel free to drop your opinions on this list, but this is how I'm feeling at the moment. Top 10 most underrated producers (in no specific order): 1. Jake One- If you don't already know, mark my words….THAT DUDE 2. Moss- I wasn't even really checkin for this dude until I heard "Kilo" off that Fishscale album. But yea, dude is sick. 3. Nottz- I don't even have to say nuthin….my underground heads already know. 4. Needlz- This dude is a problem. Ain't heard from you lately, dawg. Where you at? 5. Rick Rok- The Timbaland of the Westcoast. Dude got sounds…practically the fuel behind the entire Bay movement post Too Short (young Too Short, that is). 6. Fredwreck- This cat is a beast…the illest when it comes to synths, the talkbox, and that westcoast sound (with the exception of Quik of course). 7. Battlecat- Westcoast legend. World class wrecking crew member (do your research). Mentor to Dr. Dre (that speaks for itself) 8. Vitamin D- The next Jake One 9. Evidence- He's the Alchemist with less mainstream attention. Before you hate, see Planet Asia- The Medicine. 10. Hi Tek- What can you say about Hi-Tek? I'd have to say he's one of the most well rounded producers I've ever heard. BONUS: Khrysis- I always thought this was the illest Justus League producer. Need proof?? See Masta Ace- On Da Grind Sid Roams- I wondered what happened to Joey Chavez…..when I found out…I realized he ain't go nowhere. Back and better than ever…. Most underrated production teams: 1. Organized Noize- Birthed "Atliens", "Soul Food" and a whole host of other classic material. Pretty much single handedly created the sound of respectable Atlanta hiphop. 2. Heatmakers- Made Dipset what it is today. Created the soundbed of an entire musical movement. Album: Nas- Stillmatic Sleeper: The Flyest ft. AZ The image __________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, January 10, 2008 January 10th What's the deal, y'all? It's January 10th, meaning we are 2 and a half steps closer to the release to my Western Hemisphere debut mixtape. I hope y'all are ready for the madness. I'ma keep tossin lil tidbits up on my myspace joint here and there, just to give y'all a hint at what's going on. If you like a joint, or you feel some kind of way about it, feel free to drop me a line and let me know what's on your mind. I also wanted to follow up with the last blog. There was a good deal of response to that particular post, so I wanted to thank y'all for your comments. To address a couple of people, the post was not meant to hate on the boy Jay, by any means. It was actually a bit of humor a-la Dave Chapelle (see R.Kelly trial episode). I don't have a hard time believing that the dude doesn't write, but I don't believe that he lays every verse in one take. In fact, I saw "Fade to Black" where dude flubs a verse on tape. No one is perfect, man, there's nothing wrong wit that. I don't one take every verse myself. However, if you dwell on that, then you're missing the point of the post. The post was asking my peers in this rap thing to focus more on the end product (a good song) than the process of getting there (writing process or lack there of). By the way, shouts out to my man Lee…..bout to tie the knot or whatever. In the immortal words of Andre 3000, "Reconsider…..read some liter..ture on the subject,….you sure? Fk it. You know I got your back like Chiroprac-tic". In other news, Souja Boy officially broke the record today for digital downloads with somewhere upwards of 3million downloads…… What? I'm just saying…..it's a fact. Look it up. I'm not touching that wit a 10 foot pole. Moving on….Yayo's manager had his house ethered the other day….literally. It turns out that according to Yayo's co-D it was in fact him, and not Yayo who slapped the kid up like Naman from the Wire or something. In fact, Yayo is the one who pulled this dude off of the kid. I personally think it's a little late for this to be coming out….but to Yayo's co-D….you MIGHT want to: (1) holla at a bit of that protective custody, (2) get you're grandma out the hood, (3) borrow that bullet proof vest that Fif USED to rock on stage…….oh and get him to pay for it. But yea, mixtape is on the way…….got some legitimate heat coming, as volumes 1 and 2 will be complete by the end of this month…but eh….one at a time. Cali on the Rise! ……..D-Will holla at ya boy…… Album: Kurupt- Space Boogie: Smoke Oddessey Sleeper: "On Onsite" ft. Lil ½ Dead (Produced by Fredwreck) ..[if gte vml 1]> ..[endif]-->..[if !vml]-->..[endif]--> _____________________________________________________________________________________ Monday, January 07, 2008* The Great Jay Debate What's good? Happy belated holiday season to all….happy New Years and all that rott. It's '08 and we back like we left something. '08 is a good year, and we got a lot planned. Shout out to the boy Al on the video tip, getting that DVD prepped for production. The mixtape will be dropped this first quarter of '08 and will have a few features from some of my Mastahmyndz Affiliated crew members. Big up to Vice, Kwis, Polo, and my dude Amos, who all will appear on the mixtape, as well as my other collaborators and crew; and all the cats appearing on this next mixtape I'm about to drop. The latest topic plaguing my thoughts as of late has been the epidemic of Jay-Z swagger jacking that is currently prevalent in hip-hop. Namely: the art of songwriting without writing. The topic really peaked my interest recently when an aspiring rap superstar came at me with a CD of him spitting a gang of thoughtless nonsense over the worst production I've ever heard in my brief but thorough stint on the planet earth. He both prefaced, and ended this listening session wit the words, "I ain't even write this down….none of it! I mean I spit these whole songs right off the top." Immediately, my mind made reference to all of the countless times I've heard some of the worst hip hop music of my life from novice artists who claimed they had not written down their verses, or "spit em in one take". Let me start by saying that if, and only if, you actually believe Jay-Z spits every verse off the top of his head in one take (which until I actually see dude do it with his grandmother present and 2 official forms of government ID, I can't say I'd agree with you)……he's still Jay-Z. Meaning he's still a multiplatinum rap artists who also happens to be one of the better ones of our time. The question of whether or not he can make quality music has already been answered without a shadow of a doubt. NOW……If no one has ever heard your music before…. and it sounds like crap…what makes you think they're going to care if you: 1. Wrote it on the toilet 2. Wrote it on your sidekick 3. Didn't write it down at all 4. You're mother's boyfriend wrote it for you …? Don't the ends justify the means anymore?? If your end product is whack, does it matter what steps you took to get it there? Me personally, I don't care if Jay's mother writes his rhymes. If the dude makes a classic song, the joint is still a classic. Therefore, the moral of the story IS……focus on the end product. When you make hot music, people will wonder about how it came about. If the record is hot garbage, no one cares about how it got that way….they just want you to turn it off so they can forget you ever played it for them. Word to Plies. I'ma throw y'all wit this one..... Album: Ja Rule- Venni Vetti Vicci Sleeper: It's Murdaaaaa ft. Jay-Z and DMX _________________________________________________________________________________________- Tuesday, December 11, 2007 When did snitching become cool? Alright, so I'm about 2 hours into the movie American Gangster (starring Denzel Washington) when I came to a bitter realization: snitching is now cool. I'm not exactly sure when it became a part of popular culture, but now snitching is the thing to do. I think the reason is because people have just become so nosey that they feel like they have to know everything about everyone in the world. Snitching gives these people access to information they wouldn't normally be able to get a hold of. So my man snitches and gets a gratuitously reduced sentence (don't want to elaborate too much and spoil the movie for some). I walk away from the movie, and over the course of the next couple of hours I completely forget about my new discovery. The next day I log onto my computer and lo and behold, facebook informs me of every single acquaintance of mine who has seen the movie "American Gangster". Then, to my dismay, I note that facebook wants to know if I have seen the movie, as well as a status update about what I am doing, and what I plan on doing for the rest of the day. After a further look into this and MySpace, I realize that these sites literally track what you're doing on the internet on the day to day as well as giving you the opportunity to snitch on yourself by inserting random details about your personal life, from which they infer even more information. For instance, if you were to put in the status field that you are "In a relationship", then come back the next day and remove the detail, it will alert all of your friends the same day that you just had a break up. Now, mind you, you didn't ask the program to do this…. The owner of facebook recently issued a public apology because facebook was monitoring its users' online purchases, and providing the information to all of the user's friends. Therefore, if the user was buying a present for someone else, everyone acquainted would already know what it was and when it was purchased. STOP SNITCHIN MARK ZUCKERBERG(sp?)! Joking… but honestly, there's a degree of truth to all of this. I personally appreciate my privacy….so all y'all apps developers, fall back wit the new and improved stalk-ware. Thanks! In other news, another white boy ran thru a church in Colorado and shot the place up. Truly a tragic story….However, I bring it up to ask the following: Why is it that when I hop on an elevator, people wanna clutch their purses and/or wallets and fear for their lives; but when a poorly groomed white kid in a trench coat comes through, everything is hunky dory? That's something that always bothered me. Another thing that bothers me about this incident is the dude's back story. Supposedly, the kid blames all of the problems of the world on Christianity and said he wanted to kill as many Christians as he possibly could, whether he lived through the ordeal or not. The reason this bothers me is the way it was portrayed by the media. His argument was obviously so absurd that it was dismissed. I mean, come on, you want to blame Christianity for you running up on a spot and killing a bunch of people?!? Now back track and replace the word Christianity with the word hip-hop. Ahh..much better. See, if the kid said that he had grown up in hip-hop as opposed to Christianity and this was the reason he wanted to kill a bunch of people, his argument would have certainly been taken more seriously. All of a sudden every media outlet would want to go in depth about how listening to hip-hop makes you want to kill people. But I don't see any stories saying that Christianity makes you want to kill people. I wonder why that is?? Anyway…..just my thoughts, people. What do y'all think? Afu-Ra- Mic Stance The image ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Wednesday, December 12, 2007 Drew Peterson and Hip-hop I'ma have to start this with another question, y'all. Is it just me, or is Drew Peterson a G? I mean, the dude merc's his wife, right?....this is general public knowledge….he bodies his wife, then he starts up a website asking people to contribute dough to his defense. Come on…you can't knock the dude's hustle at all. According to CNN, the site received so much traffic that they had to shut it down. God bless America, the only country where people are rushing to throw their own loot behind the defense of a man who murdered his wife (save for most countries who practice honor killings). What really interested me was that you could draw a direct comparison to hip-hop. Hip-hip is a genre where artist put out boo boo records and expect consumers to line their pockets for murdering the genre. Therefore, as someone who loves hip-hop music, it's just as absurd to me when these whack artists want to come out talking about, "Yo, go out and get my album…buy like 3 copies…and download my ringtone, too". The oversaturation of the hip-hop market with garbage records is quite similar. Therefore, am I trippin, or is Drew Peterson hip-hop? I mean, I may be bugging out, but this really seems like a similar situation. Chalk up one point for all the whack hip-hop artists out there, cuz I understand your movement a little bit more. The label is pimping you anyway…get money my dudes. Jay-Z- Lucky Me http://i18.ebayimg.com/03/c/05/8b/1c/3a_7.JPG __________________________________________________________________________________________ Tuesday, December 04, 2007 R.I.P. Pimp C, D’z Up I have to start this post off by saying rest in peace to Pimp C of UGK. I don't know what grieves me more: the loss of a hip hop legend or the fact that this isn't the first, nor the last time I will have to start a blog entry by paying respects to another fallen media figure. If y'all don't know about UGK, please do the history. For all y'all ringtone generation hip hop heads, UGK was one of the first true hip hop groups from the south. Their influence produced the likes of Clifford Harris (aka T.I.) and a host of subsequent rappers to come from the south. All of y'all thinking these cats debuted on "Big Pimpin" got another thing coming. Pimp C and Bun B did a whole lot for hip hop. While some of the Pimp's more recent commentary might have been a bit combative, he will sorely be missed throughout the hip hop community. On the Dizastah front, we got this mixtape getting ready to drop. Most of the tape is done; we got a couple of more songs to get recorded. Definitely holla at me if you're interested in a leak here or there, as I'm definitely leaking tracks from this mixtape. Right now we're getting the movement together so anybody that wants to be down and feels like they got anything to contribute, holla at us. Multinational is definitely the movement in the '08 and I'm looking to give back to my fan base abroad as well as here in the US. We putting together some major international appearances for the '08, so look out for your boy. Another major West Africa appearance is definitely much needed as well, so we're gonna try and make that happen. For everyone who actually listened to the mixtape cut "Murderah" that we put up there, holla at us, let us know what you think. Once the mixtape is done we're gonna start getting at these shows in the DC/VA area. If you know of a spot you want me to put it down at, let me know. I already got the green light at a couple of spots in Charlottesville (shout out to y'all) so those shows WILL be going down in the near future. The music is flowing, y'all. You will definitely get a peak into some of the production work coming out of Myndz clique as well, this year (as I know it's been kinda under wraps up to this point). That about it, man….don't hesitate to holla. Keepin the lines open. I'ma keep droppin these blogs and we're gonna keep puttin that music up. Feedback is appreciated. R.I.P. Pimp C…………… ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Friday, November 30, 2007 R.I.P. Sean Taylor and Ventura Current mood: artistic I just want to take a second to say Rest In Peace to Sean Taylor. He was 24 years young and had all the potential in the world. My heart goes out to his fam and all the people of DC for the loss. Again wit the gun violence, y'all…..we really need to make a change…….. Alright, just when we thought things were looking up and they were ready to start bringing oil prices down from almost 100 bucks a barrel, some geniuses in Minnesota had to go and drop the ball. Shout out to Jesse the Body, (no Karamo) Ventura (although now I think he's referred to as "The Chin") and all the people of the great state of Minnesota. I will be thinking about y'all the next time I'm at the Wawa mumbling some abomination under my breath about our terrible economy, foreign policy, and their relation to the ridiculously inflated petro prices. For those that DON'T know about the pipe burst, feel free go ahead and get your mind right below: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/29/pipeline.fire.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch In other news….as a lot of you all know, I'm from the I.E., Southern California. At times, I make reference to how real certain areas in my "neck of the woods" are. Our good friend Rodney King, of "the cops whooped my a@@, resulting in massive riots" fame made the headlines today after being shot in San Bernardino, California. Leave it to our man Rodney to sacrifice his own personal well being to demonstrate the social ills throughout the black communities of Southern California. Mr. R dot King (in a demonstration of JUST HOW hard we go in the I.E.), after sustaining blows to the face, arms, back, and torso from a shotgun; hopped on his bike and rode all the way to his home in Rialto. Now, again I ask y'all, HOW TRILL is THAT. I.E., baby….do your research. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/29/rodney.king.shot/index.html Also, I had the pleasure of checking out the new Ghostface album entitled "The Big Doe Rehab" which is currently available to stream as one track online. The joint was solid, and in the wake of a Wu Tang album that I'm afraid to listen to due to the fact that everyone (including members of the Wu themselves) have already dubbed a coaster I'm happy to see that some artist are still making music worth actually going out and purchasing. Nowadayz, In what I've dubbed "The Ringtone Era" most releases make a great argument for the road more travelled (aka downright piracy) due to the fact that they aren't worth the pro tools sessions they were recorded on. It's good to see that artists like Ghost can look keep his head in the game despite all the whackness surrounding him. My only discrepancy was the fact that there is a joint on there that directly jacks a sample used on an unreleased Dizastah track, but I won't go into that. Nuff respect to Tony Starks and everyone who contributed to "The Big Doe Rehab". I also hear that that Freeway album is the truth, but I'm not going to cise that until I hear it, cuz frankly..I'm not feeling that track wit J.R. Rotem and fity. ….I'ma leave it at that. Lemme get up outta here....leave u wit that Sleeper of the Day: Sleeper: Slum Village- Def Do Us <---if you aint heard this, get on ur job The image
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 Boston I'm going to start this off with a question. When did Boston become the world's beacon of athleticism? When did Boston become the athletic Mecca of the free world? Let me start off by saying that I will always and forever despise the Patriots. I can, and do, respect their gangsta, as they do have an incredibly sick football team this year, and Brady really is playing out of his mind. This still does not, however, change the fact that they are the Patriots. So we have the Patriots…..Being the undefeated powerhouse that they are, however, is not enough. On top of that, we have the Red Sox, better known as the BoSox…..Now the champions, and undoubtedly the best team in this year's MLB race. Must we really add insult to injury?? The Yankees fall to pieces, and the BoSox become the illest squad in the league in the same year? And I'm by no means a Yankees fan, but come on……..Does anyone else see the world coming to an end? Just when you thought it might be safe, basketball season dawns on us….through some great NBA bribery…..ahem craftsmanship, both Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett head over to the Celtics, making them now the best team (AT LEAST) in the eastern conference. For real, guys?? Boston?? The same city famous for stabbing its only star basketball player (see Paul Pierce)? Great……… And let's not forget BC. That's right, Boston college, right up in the middle of things. Football game is proper this year. Why? I don't know, man. Another sign of the world coming to an end…… All I'm waiting on is the next big hip-hop talent representing the mean streets of Boston. Bean-town is coming for the crown. Remember where you heard it first. Somewhere in a dark alley, Benzino and his cronies are somewhere cookin that crack. Y'all aint ready……. Sleeper: McGruff ft. Big L and Mase Murder- Danger Zone Mase in his prime....don't sleep... http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/drd900/d908/d908481ouic.jpg __________________________________________________________________________________________ Monday, November 26, 2007 It’s a wrap- 2008 Presidential Election Current mood: busy I was worried. I have to admit….. as this years Democratic candidates were blazing the campaign trail, Hilary caught me slippin'. I have to admit that I was really shook that a candidate with no actual opinion on any issue on the agenda would be stepping forward as the lead Democratic candidate. In a country that was once a world leader and is now suffering from a failing economy, I myself know that we can't afford to have a President that plays the Presidency as a popularity contest. And while I'm all for strides in the directions of both racial and gender minorities, I was not feeling the whole, hop on the Hilary Clinton bandwagon. Now that that's been said, I will explain WHY "It's a wrap". It's a wrap because my illest prediction (on that pseudo Ms. Cleo tip) has popped off. About two months ago, I mentioned Oprah as America's lead motivator (no diss to Jeezy). Oprah could sell water to a well. If old girl told America that butt nekid was in, people would be walkin the streets clad in nothing but birthday suits a-la The Emperor (See "The Emperor's New Clothes"). Anyway, what I was saying was that if Oprah were to back any candidate that candidate's stock value would pop through the roof. So this morning, your boy is checkin that CNN.com (get your mind right) and lo and behold, your girl Oprah is hitting that campaign trail with the man B. Obama. This is a VERY hood look for your boy Barack. At this point, if he doesn't roll through the primaries its gotta be either foul play, or 2008 just isn't his year. Before I get that immediate journalistic backlash, let me interject by saying that I do not believe that Obama is a perfect candidate. I don't even think he's a great candidate. He is, however, in my opinion that lesser of the evils (MY OPINION: Best Democratic Candidate). I think he does have a stance on certain issues. I also appreciate his candidcy (see "I did inhale….that was the point"). The bottom line for me is: I feel that we do need to see a minority president, and we do need to see a president who will steer us away from the direction our country (and it's economy) are going (<--- slight jab to the Republican party). Holla if you hear me. Peace to Steadman. P.S. New Mixtape Cut- Murderah.....let us know what you think Album: Joe Budden- Joe Budden Sleeper: 10 minutes......Calm Down being a close second The image _________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, October 11, 2007 The Return Greetings all, It's ya boy Dizzy…..back at it like Nick Cage wit a crowbar. Hope y'all ain't miss me too much in my absence. As always, I've been on my grind, putting all the stars in place. I call it constellational architecture. Anyway, aint much change. Same whackness in the industry supported by the same trash. Ringtones are still all the rage. Album sales are in the toilet. The economy's on life support….God bless America. I'm back on the warpath….well actually, never left. I need to get some feedback from y'all. Preparing to drop the mixtape to end all mixtapes….the beginning of the end…that Volume 1. So y'all gotta feel me. I need to know what y'all think out of all the records I have put up here, what joints y'all liked the most. Therefore, I'ma start regularly rotating the songs…as well as adding some new joints here and there to get some feedback. I just want to know what y'all really feeling, and if theres a joint y'all are really feeling…I'll leave it up there, so you can add it to your profile, or whatever. NBA is on its way….get y'all fantasy game right this season, boys and girls. Cuz we ballin…send all your invitations to dizastah@gmail.com .... Maybe I'ma have to start my own. More on that to come. Its 4th quarter '07, y'all, and I'm clutch. If you on the other team, I'm sorry. You goin home early this year. One….. Album: The Lox- Money, Power, and Respect Sleeper: All for the Love (first Swizz Beatz track ever released) http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/drd900/d911/d91144gwqe3.jpg __________________________________________________________________________________________ Monday, August 13, 2007 Future Single PLEASE READ Whattup all? I'm currently working on a number of projects including mixtapes, appearances, and a debut album. I need some input from y'all. In terms of existing Dizastah material...i.e. songs you've heard, which ones are the best "single material" in your opinion? If you turned on the radio, which one would YOU like to hear? I appreciate your input and honesty. Holla front! ~D _______________________________________________________________________________________ Hiphop is in critical condition Current mood: discontent What's good people?? It's ya boy Dizzy, back like I left something. I apologize for how long it has taken me to get back to my blog. I've been handlin a buncha business which at this point has brought me to Dallas, Texas. This is my first experience with Texas, and it has been an interesting one, to say the least. Anyways, back to my major motivation behind writing this. My belief is ultimately that hiphop will continue to live on through our discussion of it, despite the garbage, genre damaging, repetitive nonsense that the industry continues to back. At this point, I'm hoping this idea is factual because the current state is beyond poor. To be more specific, I wanted to speak to the situation at Atlantic Records. Namely, a very poor management decision to further delay the release of Saigon's debut album, "Greatest Story Never Told" to push the Plies album. Now don't get me wrong, I too occasionally enjoy listening to rappers who have not an inkling of an idea of 1. How to catch the beat and 2. How to incorporate subject matter into a musical artform Case in point: Silkk the Shocker....who, by the way, I feel is a MUCH better rapper than Plies. I can't really think of anything that could possibly be worse than sitting through two consecutive songs of Plies from start to finish....including physical torture. On the other hand we have Saigon. An artist who, though he has an high level of "street credibility" has made the choice to include relevent social commentary and pertinent political information in his music which also happens to be highly entertaining. He has often been compared to 50 cent, one of the highest selling artists in hiphop history (which i feel is short sighted because he has a lot more to contribute topically than 50). Now we have comparisons to one of hiphops top 5 "cash cows" versus a guy that couldn't rap on beat to save his life. He has a song out with T-pain on the hook, whom I feel is a much better rapper than Plies himself. I think something needs to be done about that.... aiight, I'm done rambling.....I'ma leave y'all with a video so you can feel my pain. I'll be back soon with another blog. Please check this out, comment back....lemme know what y'all think. Gone VS _________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, July 05, 2007 Whack Republicans (Big Up to Fox News, Hannity, and Colmes) A little bit of background on the track....slighty skewed, however, generally accurate.. More great entertainment television __________________________________________________________________________________________ Cali Caliente What up, world?? I'm chillin, right now.....where I'm sposed to be.....Killafornia that is. I can't tell you how good it is to be back, weather is on point...and everything else. Not much has changed, either. LAX still seems to employ the most incompetent people on the face of the earth. These cornballs managed to lose my luggage somewhere around the way. This whole TSA, national security propaganda got airport officials heads so far up the...whazoo...that these cats aren't really cognizant of anything. News flash....we've been code orange or higher since 9-11. Nothing is popping. Our president is still.....well, lemme not even go there, y'all already know. On that note, I just wanted to respond to some of your comments and concerns about the track up there, Whack Republicans, off my up and coming mixtape. The song in no way promotes America's Democratic party, any other party. The song is a rebuttal to statements made by specific individuals and entities promoting political propaganda. Particularly Fox News, an obviously conservative and unnecessarily biased news network and Don Imus...of "nappy headed hos" fame. If you listen to my music in depth, you will notice that I do not promote any particular American political party. I just happened to make the song over Nas and Jay-Z's Black Republicans and all of the individuals targeted happened to be both whack and Republican. Big up to Hannity and Colmes especially....your comedic work on your show is highly entertaining. We stepping in hotter this year…..take notice (shout to Dilla)…..Gone This weeks album cut …well, I got the album…that'd be one of my favorites Album: Big Pun- Capital Punishment http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/s61171.jpg My Pick: It's a toss up btw "Tres Leches (Triboro Trilogy)" ft. Inspectah Deck, Prodigy, and RZA AND "Super Lyrical" ft. Black Thought Actually…this whole album is fire….if you don't have it, go cop it now. Gone ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Sunday, July 01, 2007 Next Up What's poppin, folks?? I'm back like Mase before G-Unit wit another edition of the new blog. Just wanted to shout out, once again, to the Chicago Bulls for picking up that 7 foot center from Pitt. That kid is a problem, shoots like a SF and was slept on. I'm coppin' that Live '08 the day it drops like a D.I.T.C. reunion album, real spit. Shout out to D.I.T.C. by the way. My man, Logic....the producer behind the song "Tha Bizness" on my page has apparently been doing big things. He's got an album on the way, so y'all look out for that. We got big things on the way from our camp, dude is one of the most talented producers I've worked with. Westpoint is definately going to be a problem, so keep them cats on your radar. I've been tossing out some fire on the production tip, lately. It's been brought to my attention that I need to make a seperate myspace page to showcase my beats. Lemme know what y'all think about that. I got some real big placements in the works, so keep y'all fingers crossed. I'm also still working on that international tour for next year. I've got a lot of locations confirmed. I wont give specifics, but I AM doing West Africa again, as well as East Africa, Asia, Europe, and possibly Japan. Big up to everybody on the way making that happen. I'm also working out a deal with a company that is going to make it easy for me to do a lot of online releases, so all you digital album coppers, I got a whole lot for y'all...bear with me cuz I'ma be doin a lot for y'all in the future. Still waitin on dropping that Cali on the Rise Vol. 1. I definately feel for artists like Saigon and the CLipse having to deal with industry setbacks holding your project releases back. It's another example of how people consistantly put the business part before the music part. In other news...I'm on my way back to Cali to handle some business. I'll prolly spend a few weeks out there getting things tight, so get at me. I'm headed there this week. I.E., O.C. LA...all points in between, I'll see y'all soon. Me, Logic, Feji, Trauma, we bout to make this happen. We just ask y'all to ride wit us, got a lot of developments on the way so stay in touch and let us know what you want to hear from us. Anybody with art, graf, or graphic design skill, holla at us cuz we bout to start dropping heavily. Anyways, I gotta run...I'ma drop another one of these in the near future, but as always I'll leave y'all wit the same question.....Hottest, non-single, song on an album. This time, for me, we gonna do the Slim Shady LP. Album: Eminem- Slim Shady LP http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/9/97/200px-Eminem_-_The_Slim_Shady_LP_CD_cover.jpg My Pick: Bad Meets Evil ft. Royce the 5'9 _____________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, June 28, 2007 The Big Update (June 28, 2007) Current mood: thoughtful Whattup world! It's a beautiful day to be alive. This whole blog idea was presented to me as a "good career move" by a trusted individual who, at this point in time, will remain anonymous. Today just happens to be NBA draft day. Perfect day to start a blog, right? <---Rhettorical Question.... For those that don't know, I was born in Chicago, and will forever be a Bulls fan...shout out to y'all. We came up big this year, after putting Miami away in the playoffs, we picked up my man Joakim Noah from Florida, who is a beast in the paint and a great addition to constantly improving young squad. However...I am now and forever a West Coast representative, because born and raised are two separate issues. With that being said I do..and have always hated the Lakers. (except that one year where they had Eddie Jones, Van Exel, and Horry along with Kobe and Shaq). Therefore, I am thrilled to see all of the trouble their poor decision making has put them in this year (namely catering to the whims of a big crybaby). Furthermore, seeing who they chose in the draft made things all the more entertaining. 2007-2008 is gonna be a great year….the Eastern Conference is a lot stronger, and the West will be more competitive. (Projected 08 up and comings: Boston, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Washington) (Projected 08 solidified PROBLEMS: Phoenix, Detroit, Dallas, San Antonio) Getting away from the whole NBA thing....the Cali on the Rise Vol. 1 mixtape really is on its way. I've had some "industry setbacks" that have backed the project up...however I'd like everyone to know that (with the exception of 1 song, which will feature one..possibly two artists) the mixtape is done. I will be leaking songs little by little through this and my other myspace page ( www.myspace.com/iesavior). Vol. 2 is also almost completed. I decided to split a 2CD release into two volumes with different overall concepts, so the two volumes will be different chambers of hiphop as told by yours truly. What else…working on a video for Black Republicans, as well as a DVD to go with the album…more on that to come. Besides that, I'd love feedback, please feel free to leave it. Also, if you'd like me to speak on any issue, at all, please feel free to let me know, and I'll discuss it in my next blog. However, I'm not into artists building their careers by trying to diss a bunch of other artists they don't know personally, so I won't actively bash other artists in the game on Dizastah's myspace page… you'll have to check my other blog for all of that. LOL .I'm going to leave all of these joints with a question at the end that I'd like y'all to respond to. Hiphop is NOT dead. It lives through our discussion of it. The more we discuss it, the more we breathe life into it, regardless of how whack the industry is. So..lets get it started. I'ma start off by signing these joints off naming an album and asking you all what the best track is that was never a single ( I'm talkin' SLEEPERS folks)…and I will give you my pick..lemme know what you think. DMX- It's Dark and Hell is Hot http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000006O5Z.01._SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg My Pick: Niggaz Done Started Somethin ft. Mase Murder and The Lox