Hip-hop school part deux

The second lesson for Juan and Rafael...it's pretty funny - they actually ask questions, and we talk about the social meaning of hip-hop. Juan thinks I'll be teaching this at a university in five years. Maybe we should finish the whole thing first...see if it actually is successful or if it just flames out.

Here's the second lesson - the theme is early 90's, mostly from the East Coast. I had forgotten one very important group from the 80's (it was included in my original list but somehow didn't find its' way onto the CD), which is why they are track #1:

Public Enemy - Fight The Power
A Tribe Called Quest - Check The Rhime
LL Cool J - The Boomin System
Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony - 1st Of Oha Month
Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M
Craig Mack - Flava In Ya Ear (Remix) - there's a bunch of guest stars on here, including LL and Biggie
Onyx - Slam
LL Cool J - Around The Way Girl
OutKast - Player's Ball
A Tribe Called Quest - Award Tour
Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony - Tha Crossroads
LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out - one of the hardest rap songs ever, and I will not debate this point
Arrested Development - Tennessee
Method Man - I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need To Get By - w/Mary J. Blige
A Tribe Called Quest - Scenario - more guest stars, including Busta Rhymes' breakout performace
OutKast - Hootie Hoo

I really wanted to put De La Soul's "Me Myself And I" on here, but for some reason iTunes doesn't have it. I would have also like to put more of the Native Tongues clique, or D-Nice (my personal fav), but I didn't.
Next up is early 90's West Coast. I'm looking primarily at the NWA family tree, and my friend's brother is forcing me to put E-40 on there...any other suggestions?

Easter Sunday musings

Happy Easter.

I've got a sinus headache the size of Alaska. It makes everything hurt. I hate allergy season. On top of that, I ate a little too much of this concentrated BBQ sauce the other night and now my mouth hurts everywhere. I'd really like to chop off the top of my head and order a new one...maybe on eBay?

Read this article. I'm not normally a fan of the NY tabloids (I was more of a Times guy when I was there) but this is a very level-headed column about rap from the Daily News, and you don't see those too often these days. Hip-hop School Lesson #2 coming t'm'row...

Hip-hop school

My first lesson for the guys included these songs:

Run-DMC - My Adidas
Salt-n-Pepa - Push It
LL Cool J - I Need Love
Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - It Takes Two
Slick Rick - Children's Story
LL Cool J - Rock The Bells
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Parents Just Don't Understand
Eric B. & Rakim - Don't Sweat The Technique
LL Cool J - Going Back To Cali
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince - Summertime

This is skewed towards my tastes, the things I listened to as a child, and since I spent some time as a kid in New York, and seeing as how most of my extended family is from New York, obviously I lean towards East Coast hip-hop. I tried to stay "mainstream" with the artists; as much as I love D-Nice, I don't think most people know his stuff. There were a couple of other tracks that I really wanted to put on here - notably the Sugar Hill Gang and Melly Mel - but I couldn't find their tracks on iTunes, and I don't have the CDs, and I'm not going to spend hundreds of dollars buying music so my friends can be enlightened. But if you want to send me the tracks, feel free.

This is just the basics for the 80's. This week we're jumping into the 90's, which I've divided into four sections: early East Coast (to '95), early West Coast (to '95), the Biggie/2Pac era, and the late 90's (the bling bling phase).

Let me know if you think I made any serious omissions...

food folks & fun

Yesterday was my friend John's birthday, and he decided to make all of his friends a fantastic dinner. So I put the workout plan aside for the evening and enjoyed some fine food. How cool is that, that my friend decides to GIVE us food for HIS birthday? I say very cool.

Still bumming from this weekend, when my alma mater lost in the NCAA tourney. I always feel really stupid when I get all upset because my favorite team loses. It's nice to care about something, but I hate it when things that are out of my control affect my mood. Still, I'm hopelessly addicted to sports.

Must get up early (for me, anyway) t'm'row, so I close. I'll start posting the hip hop songs this week, promise.

Hip-hop school

So tonight, at work, one of my friends finally convinces me to do something he's been bugging me to do for a couple of weeks: teach him about hip-hop. A bunch of the guys I work with have just gotten iPods, and so we're all kind of music crazy. Anyway, I've got to give them a few new songs or an album a week. Does this make me a nerd?

I'll put the list up here in the next couple of days - feel free to make any additions you feel are necessary.

Anger

Sorry for my absence - it's been a long week.

I hate it when I get mad...it's almost like I lose touch with reality. I've usually got a pretty long fuse, but it's attached to a really big bomb, so when I go off, it's not pretty. It's a little bit scary...I try to always take my anger out on inanimate objects instead of people, but I have been known to administer a pretty good tongue-lashing.

I'm really mad about my cable service...things keep getting messed up and there's nothing I can do about it. I could switch cable companies, but the other one in town sucks, and it's doesn't have DVR, and you can't go back after you've gotten Moxi.

Must go take some deep breaths...

grrr...

Been busy lately - work and the gym and my side project are taking up all of my time.

I'm really annoyed because earlier tonight my friends were all like, "When we're done at work, we'll give you a call and then we'll all go out!" And then all of a sudden it's midnight and I'm still sitting on my couch. One of them called to apologize but I was in no mood to be gracious about it. I could have made other plans! So now I'm just pissed, and I have no outlet for it. Except for this blog.

At least I've got two days off upcoming, although the side project will occupy my time for a while t'm'row. And March Madness...college basketball is awesome.