Sam's Blog
I saw this on
O–Dub’s Blog :
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ overview of the decline of Rawkus I thought that it was interesting. I didn’t get to peep the XXL piece on Rawkus, but I heard that was better. Here’s what
EL-P said on the subject when I interviewed him about a year-and-a-half ago.
" I have my own, personal beef with Rawkus in terms of the way they handled their business with [Def Jux]. But I think that what happened with Rawkus is what happens to any record label: there was no vision. The only concept behind their label was to make money, and when that's the only thing guiding you in your decision-making process, you're going to go anywhere you think money is. And that's a very dangerous thing because you're chasing down something that's elusive. I felt that they had the potential to do something with their label if they had backbone and stood up and decided that their philosophy was to support new, risky music. They could have solidified something good for themselves. As of now, I give them a year before they fold. I might be wrong, but I was on-point enough to leave a good year-and-a-half, two years before they fired their entire staff before Christmas... I know what they wanted, they wanted to be a part of the already established game, compete on that level and do what everyone else was doing. And I didn't, and I had a serious difference in philosophy with them... You know, if a record label doesn't have a real, genuine vision behind their shit, then what do they have going for them other than a little bit of money? Eventually, that's not going to hold weight, and [they're] going to try to do whatever they possibly can to get some money."
I saw Kanye’s Dairy last night on MTV and it was…interesting. For one thing, rocking a pink sweater, Louie Votton backpack (which is for females, btw) and a tan polo jacket, Kanye looked like the 6th Backstreet Boy. I missed his show in SF because the Madvillain show was on the same night and the “diary “ actually showed clips from the SF show. After hearing Kanye lead the crowd through a “Jesus! Jesus!” chant and watching obese 16-year-olds hold up signs reading “I missed the prom for this,” I’m pretty sure that I made the right decision in going to the Madvillain show. Also, Kanye called “The Grand” on Van Ness – the venue for his SF show – one of the most famous clubs in America…Um, The Grand isn’t even a club. Between that little white lie and all the seemingly scripted platitudes about helping the children, loving his mother and worshipping Christ, Kanye came across as a tad insincerr.
But I'm just playin', really....I'd love Kanye even if he wore an iced-out tutu.
Someone said that this Jim Gaylord painting looks like me.
The paintings of Jim Gaylord occupy the interstices between recognition and
confusion-hinting at specific forms but never corroborating the viewer's
certainty of these forms, preferring to endure in an ambiguous cluster of
perception and suggestion. The result of streamlining the fuzzy topography
of the mind is a dreamlike mayhem of familiar pictures existing astride the
indefinable.
Drawing from the surrealists, Gaylord's work is infused with an aura of
suspension-of linguistic analysis, of rational clarification, and of the
boundaries between the familiar and the unknown. A linguistic parallel to
the paintings would be the "figure of speech," which is not to be taken
literally but as an idea that assumes various associations and implications
beyond its literal meaning. The images are fanciful stand-ins for the
nebulous froth of our emotions and thoughts. Gaylord's preoccupation with
the hazy, pre-rational flotsam and jetsam of the mind's eye reveals a
conceptual sophistication that questions the very idea of "nonsense" in its
attempt to chart the wavering terrain of the psyche.
text by N-Dawg
Bay Area graphic designer, graffiti artist, and FPS associate Damon Soule is pretty godlike, and if he was commissioned to do a daimond necklace of Jesus, I might even buy it (or at least not mock it). Check out his website at www.damonsoule.com
The Passion of Kanye
Three Million for
Shyne. Good god!
Does anyone have the contact info for Jin's publicst? Or for the Ruff Ryders in general? I'm doing a feature on him and having a hard time tracking his contact info down.
Apparently I'm the last one to find out, but Beat Takeshi has remade
Zatoichi , the classic Japanese TV show featuring the blind samuria. The DVD is already out in
Japan and it will hopefully be released here soon.
Thanks go to Jay Smooth for tipping me off.
I may be a bit prejudiced since I usually wake up beside her, but SFStation art critic N. Nataraj is the greatest writer ever. Here's her take on
Romare Bearden. It looks like a great exhibit, and I'll probably get around to seeing it soon.
And since I'm on some tangential, Larry-King-type shit...Is there a short story better than Nabakov's "The Potato Elf?" And doesn't JT Leroy kinda remind you of a cross between Nabakov's The Potato Elf and Kafka's Starving Artist? If you're reading this, no offense, JT...you know I love ya.
I found this while image googling the term "kill bill"
I saw Kill Bill II last night. Most of the hyperbole that has been thrust its way is true, although I may have preferred the first edition more, which was a plotless, meta-study on unrelenting momentum and b-grade culture (which I think reveals more about any given culture than "high art" that is generally dishonest and has the pretence of history, bougie self-importance, etc...although I do occasionally engae with it). I thought that Q.T. stumbled a little bit when he went for dramatic impact in the second edition. With that said, I still enjoyed it.
What eclipsed seeing Kill Bill for me was being treated to the theatrical trailer for HERO! This is really one of the most beautiful and imaginative movies that I've ever seen. I know that both "beautiful" and "imaginative" are horrible words for any reviewer to use - particularly on their own - but you really must see this film (despite my limited film vocabulary).
NEW NAS NEW NAS NEW NAS
http://fileserv1.soundclick.com/fastg9/HiD/twistedbeats+nasandpitbull.mp3
I was so psyched to write my Madvillain piece in
SFWeekly , although I’m sure it will be overshadowed by Sasha’s piece in the
New Yorker . Whatcha gonna do? It’s Sasha in the GOD DAMN New Yorker. And I’m really happy to see Madvillain get the props it deserves. It’s a great album and the release party at the Independent (aka the old Justice League) last Saturday was off the hook.
If there are still any of you out there, sorry that I haven’t posted in a while. Between this Madvillain piece, a thing on Indian hip hop that I’m doing for the new south Asian magazine Nirvana, a Vast piece for XLR8R, and a slew of other reviews/notices…I’ve been pretty tied up. Stay tuned and I promise new material soon (just like I promise to get my articles in on time)!
