Damn It Feels Good To Be A Blogger

VS.



What'd you say?
Golden geto oldies or fresh goodies?
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Riding on the Wings of a $-Bill

Don't think I've heard a track this good in a while...
Sends shivers up my spine!

Say Whaaaaaaaaat?!

I don't really know how to describe this song/clip...
Exhibit D or just pure audio-visual dopeness...?
I feel like Jay Electronica is kinda saving hip-hop right now, you with me?

Smooth Criminals

Baby-making music at its best with Dilla Dawg taking this track to some next level shiiit!

Plaaaaaaaaaayaz!

R.I.P. Pimp C, duuurrtiest Southern producer ever...

Midwest Stand Up!

Reincarnation of Tupac Shakur or just one of the best rappers in the game right now?!

This Is how they USED to chill...

Definitely couldn't say "This is how we chill from '010 till..." hahah

Localism

Very easily within the top 10 hip-hop videoclips ever...
Faaace!

Mo Dilemmas Mo Problems

OR

Mo Dilemmas

OR

Bam Bam!

Compton- X-Kingston connection...
Works well if you ask me!

American Anthems!

I remember listening to this in Back to the Future and wanting so much to be like McFly!
I think that's half the reason I started skateboarding and playing the guitar...
I know, quite pathetic, but still what a golden oldie...
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GOLDEN Era

I remember hearing this song in Above the Rim, STILL can't find it anywhere damnit!
Nothing like 91-94 East-Coast...
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Going Out to the Hardcore Hip-Hop...

KRS + Premo = 2 much!
"Some MC's don't like the KRS but they must respect him
Cos they know this kid gets all up in they rectum"
hahahah
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One What?

Last and most underrated song on Illmatic... No wonder they based the script for Belly on it!
The thing with this album is that every now and then I get re-hooked on one of the tracks like its the first time I heard it...
1-X

Alkaholiks Anonymous

"I got soul power, never took a cold shower, never had a girlfriend the colour of cooking flour."
What jokers!
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R.I.P. GiftedUnlimitedRhymesUniversal

As some of you may have already heard/read, Guru of the legendary Gangstarr has passed away this morning after battling cancer for many years. I'm not gonna dwell into the details of his tragic death, I'm sure you can find more than enough on the net. What I will do though is spend the rest of the day listening to all the tracks he blessed with his smooth voice, chilled flow and intelligent lyrics throughout the 20 years of his bright career.
Rest In Peace Guru, one of the best MCs to grace the hip-hop scene and pioneer of the jazz/hip-hop crossover genre...
You will be deeply missed...
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Good Weather = Westcoast Flava In Yo Ear

When its sunny you KNOW the playlist gets loaded with Cali anthems...
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Imagine That...

Definitely a step down from Illmatic, but still better than the rest of his stuff...
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Sink Out

This song is so underrated!
Everyone keeps on raving about "Oh baby baby it's a wild world" and shit, this is much better song I think...
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9th Wonder

One of the illest new producers on the scene bringing us the shit...
Look out for this cat, he's gonna get LARGE
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BeatNUTS

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D-D-Doin' It Again!

Madlib has clearly done it once again with this PHAT production work...
Buy or download the LP ("In Search of Stoney Jackson") from Stones Throw NOW!
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LBC (Still) Going Strong

Nowhere near the Almighty Sublime, but not bad...
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Heavy Metal Aborigines

Vice TV reporter to aborigines in Australia: "So, what kinda music do you guys like?"
Aborigine gang member in faded black 80s Slayer sleeveless t-shirt: "Um, I like Ice Cube, NWA, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and...um...SLAYER FUCK YEAH MAN!!!"

Required viewing for all head-bangers, suggested viewing for those looking for chuckles...
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Stick 'em up punk its the...

Hyped-Hyped-Hyped about the show today peeps!
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Even More Dilemma

Mario - Just a Friend
Uploaded by lachula. - See the latest featured music videos.

OOOOOOOR



No cover/remix can beat any original if you ask me.
Call me old-school or an elitist but that's the way it goes folks..
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Homeward Bound

Going out to the Athens massive...
You know who you are.
Peace
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Represent the LBC

Young Einstein on the 1s&2s...
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Bay Area Reps

Reachin'

Love the early-mid 90s wintery vibe in East-Coast hip-hop vids...
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Das EFX Vs. Me

Just some artwork/photoshopping I did, with the help of my good friend AdamTheBadman...
For those of you who don't know what time it is, this was originally the album cover for Das EFX's debut LP ("Dead Serious")...
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Thrashin' Uganda Style

Saw this on the 50-50 blog and just HAD to post it here...
Most inspiring shit I've seen in a long long time!
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More Dilemma

Punk-Rock Johnny Cash?

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Swedish meat-loving skaters?

Just Wanna...

Forgot this?
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BIG L R.I.P. (May 30, 1974 – February 15, 1999)

"Nobody can take nothing from Big L but a loss, chief."
Good guys always die early...
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GRL

Back when Against Me! used to mean shit...
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Sum Dilemma

OR



One of the timeless debates in music history...
I used to have the In Too Deep single which also had Fat Lip (for some weird reason) and I was always a fan of the former.
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"I like songs with distortion, drink in proportion, doctor told my mom she should've had an abortion!"

Game by the Pound

Don't Believe the Hype

This is an article I wrote for Intuition Online Magazine about the Greek riots of December 2008, based on personal experience, discussions and a bit of reading. The link is http://www.intuition-online.co.uk/article.php?id=1064 but you can also read it below...

Of Greek Tragedy

For most British people, Greece is a warm, happy, carefree place. Those who have already been there grin upon encountering its name. They reminisce over their post-A-level holidays: the sun, the sea, the beach parties, the bars/clubs and round-the-clock access to cheap underage alcohol. Some might have even noticed the charming Mediterranean setting - the architecture, the cuisine, the people, the culture - all of secondary importance to their wild nightlife, naturally. Their Greece was Malia, Corfu, Zante and other budget summer destinations in the Greek islands.

A few hours away on the ferryboat lies Athens, Greece’s ancient capital. Self-proclaimed lovers of Greek culture gently smile at its thought. They cannot forget their cultured excursions in the picturesque neighbourhoods of Athens’ centre: the landmarks standing the test of time, the simple beauty of meze, souvlaki and seafood, the haggling at Monastiraki’s flea market, the daunting magnificence of the Parthenon. However, what lay beyond this tourist-entrapping façade evaded them altogether.

For most Athenians, the cement-ridden reality of their hometown is not so bright. Home to an estimated four million people - more than a third of the country’s population - Athens is the most densely populated city in the developed world. In many respects, it is a city like every other. There is traffic and pollution, injustice and crime, poverty and inequality. In its asphyxiating urban environment people struggle daily, most of them without much success, to make ends meet. But Athens is not just like every other city.

The events of the past year are testament to this statement. On December 6, 2008 police officer Epaminondas Korkoneas fatally shot a fifteen-year-old, Alexis Grigoropoulos in the Exarcheia district of central Athens. Korkoneas reported that the victim was part of a group of teenagers that confronted him verbally, and that he fired three warning shots in the air, in order to disperse them. The bullet that hit Alexis was, allegedly, a ricochet. Eyewitness testimonies explicitly contradicted him and their authenticity was later confirmed by forensic tests. It has hence been established that the officer shot Alexis directly, defying orders from police headquarters to disengage. He was thereby publicly condemned and imprisoned on charges of intentional homicide.

On the other hand, Alexis - Athens’ own Rodney King - was martyrised despite his apolitical nature and to this day his death is far from forgotten. Nevertheless, tragic as his story of police brutality was, the events that followed overshadowed it. Alexis’ death served as a spark for underlying social strife, immediately setting off an explosion of unrest.

Within an hour erupted the largest turbulence in Greek history since the end of the military dictatorship in 1974. Riots, occupations, sit-ins, rallies and demonstrations occurred in every major Greek city for roughly a month and on an everyday basis. Daily routine, along with Christmas holidays, came to a nearly complete halt. Stores and government buildings were severely damaged, almost destroyed or burnt to the ground. Literally hundreds of cars were torched. More than 15,000 rounds of tear gas were fired and 330 people were arrested. 124 members of riot police were injured. The total monetary cost of these damages was an estimated 2 billion euros, the social and political cost even greater.

At the same time, groups/organisations/movements from all around the globe ensured that tension in Greece did not go unnoticed, by organising hundreds of demonstrations and sit-ins in their respective countries. As a result of these efforts, attention was eventually drawn to the general predicament of Greece’s youth. Why was their response to a proportionately minor event so timely, prolonged and vehement?

Interpretations vary greatly across political perspectives. On the nationalist Right (LAOS Party), illegal immigrants were accused of fuelling the destruction and looting of hard-working Greeks’ property. On the centre-Right (New Democracy Party, ND), supporters of the incumbent government at the time blamed the lax educational policies of previous governments (Pan-Hellenic Socialist Party, PASOK) for student discontent. Similarly PASOK supporters, located on the centre-Left, blamed the ND government for its failed educational reforms. Finally, the far Left (Communist Party) urged an interpretation of events based on class struggle, viewing the riots as a popular uprising of the oppressed masses. Unfortunately, the major parties were absorbed by blame-passing and catering to their established voters’ preferences.

Although one could see why each party was voicing its respective position, it was clear that neither of them could grasp why Greek youth were rebelling. LAOS’ position was an intentional misunderstanding of the role of immigrants in the uprisings. It was undeniable that the looters were mainly non-Greeks, but it was also undeniable that looters were the poorest amongst those rioting, those most in need of valuables they could exchange for money. It was the socio-economic profile of the looters one should focus on, not the racial.

ND’s position was simply a defence of its interests against its main competitor, PASOK. It was easy to blame the latter’s past educational policies, which strengthened the state-centred approach to education, due to the educational system’s current failures. After all, ND had not been in power for 12 years. But did the products of a failing education system warrant such a reaction? Furthermore, could that have been the rationale of those who were not in higher education for participating in the events?

PASOK, much like its competitor charged ND for its attempts to introduce private universities, an act previously prohibited by the Greek Constitution. This was greeted with much opposition from both students and academia, but legislation was still passed and the wave of reaction to it had withered away by December 2008. It seems, therefore, a bit presumptuous to assume that recent reforms could have fuelled such deep-rooted discontent.

Lastly, the Communist Party was trying to fit facts into pre-determined interpretations, as opposed to formulating new ones to accommodate events. Despite the presence of a majority of underprivileged young people in the protests - most of them unsympathetic to the ruling elite -there was no unifying vision or guiding ideology in their actions. A revolution requires a planned set of arrangements (economic, political, social, cultural) for the future. The participants in this ‘uprising’ were aware of their predicament and, to an extent, its roots, but by no means had they located its remedy. In this sense, the Communists were, once again, advancing traditional Marxist rhetoric of class warfare, not searching for a ‘way out’ for the young.

Outside the politics of blame passing, and catering to a loyal body of voters, stood only one party. The Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), a minor party with only half a dozen seats in Parliament, was viewed as the only hope for Greece’s youth. Its popularity had risen exponentially in the months preceding the December events, and was further boosted in their light. This was viewed with much hostility by the major parties, which proceeded to undermine its public image by waging allegations against its leader, A. Tsipras. The latter had tried to justify the rioters’ actions and cultivate unity amongst them. With the assistance of the mass media this was immediately turned against him, which portrayed him as an anarchist and an extremist, driving the country to chaos. Within the course of the next few months, SYRIZA’s appeal had dropped to a fifth of its peak. The issues it raised, though, did not disappear.

SYRIZA resonated with the rioters because it managed to see the hopelessness that Greece has entrapped its youth in. This was reflected in the way they were rebelling; there was no Hollywood ending in sight, just a burning desire to escape the present’s Panopticon. Reactionaries were quick to downplay their concerns. However economic figures are, as always, undeniable and the picture that they paint is grim one.

According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) unemployment amongst people aged 15 to 24 was 22 per cent at the time, with some estimates placing it around 30 per cent, making it the highest in Europe. As a result, a quarter of young Greek people live below the poverty line, a trend that has been increasing over time and will most likely continued to do so due to the economic crisis. Data like this makes it clear why Greek youth could only foresee a dark future. Repeated historical experience from past governments had taught them an ugly lesson: do not expect things to change. At this point, one inevitably asks oneself, “What lies ahead”?

If the future, as they say, lies in a country’s youth, then Greece’s prospects are bleak. Disestablishmentarianism, the English language’s longest word, finds its shortest fuse in Greece’s young generation. Unfortunately, few can say that much was achieved by December 2008’s events. Fundamental problems remain intact, solutions as hazy as ever. Many have since accused the young of accelerating the anxieties they wished to alleviate. Maybe so. But as every Greek parent teaches his children “Better try and fail, then live in regrets”.

Hero of Our Time

Might have to start a new religious cult: Ricky-ism, kinda like Dude-ism (which already exists btw)...
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Clow-Sir

Finally some friggin' sunlight in this god-forsaken patch of land!

90's HYPE!

Creedence Clearwater Survival

Errrrry goddamn day man...
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This is Hip-Hop

What's up with the LP guys?
I've been checking on these cats ever since they released the single but still no sign of the Golden Era... Hurry up y'all, I'm tired of recycling the same Premo beats in my head...
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East Coast All-Stars 91'

No need for potty-mouths back in the day...
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Where The Paaarty At???

Anyone who doesn't know this one and fronts like he's some top Biggie fan... Shame on You!
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BUKU!BUKU!

So, um, you were saying that the conscious mind is made of...

Rich Kids on LSD

Still flailing after all these beers...

B4UREKYOSELF

Gotta love the Cube...
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Reasonable Doubt

No doubt Jigga's most reasonable joint...
Who says no?
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Cream of MY Crop