24 June 2009

Old School Hip Hop

I've done a lot of nothing over the course of the break. Nothing I could consider legitimate uses of free time. I spent a lot of time in Birmingham, and listened to a song that has the words "Halle Barry!" in it what seemed to be thousands of times, and by the end of the week had made an meteoric rise to the top of my most hated songs. I also have spent an amount of time in front of the television that even big time couch potatoes would call excessive (I can now say I have seen every episode of NCIS, as well as all three genres of Law and Order). I'm running out of TV shows to watch, which is why I find myself listening to more music, and for the last few days, I have been on what could only be described as obsessive. I've been, as the DJ's and Hip Hop Heads say, digging in the crates, pulling up some of the old classics, and it occured to me that one of the wonderful things about this forum is I can pass along some of the music that's been thumping in my head.

Not enough run goes to the female MC's...and when I think of the tightest females in the genre, for the most part, refer to this woman as a backbone of influence. Lyte, always with tight lyrics, always managed to leave a good message, and this song is a fine example of this...poor georgie...



Anyone that knows me knows a couple of things- 1) I love smart, lyrically driven hip hop music, and 2) i rep all things minnesota, even to the point of forgetting Tavarris Jackson was terrible when we drafted him and instead rep him on the "black QB's" tip...Rhymesayers, a Minnesota hip hop label most well known for being the label of Atmosphere, has provided me with both of these things. Brother Ali is a under the radar rapper, and his beats always seem to resonate with me. There were as many as 15 songs I could have chosen, but I decided to let you hear the song I first heard, the song that made me go to iTunes and become a Brother Ali fan...




I think today, I'm going to try to go out for a run. It's one of those things I know I'm going to regret 1000 ways to Sunday when I actually go out and do it and i imagine that during most of it, I will feel like death is taking over. All these things being said, the road to getting healthier is paved with unpleasent physical feelings, some modicum of sacrifice, and the motivation to facilitate action in the face of laziness and inertia. I figure if I write it down, it will be much harder to not get done, as I will know there's a transcript of my intent, and a place I can refer back to any failures if I happen to not get it done. I remember once, my mother telling me that the sign that you're truly getting old is when the idea of doing something that requires exertion, not actually doing anything that requires exertion, but the idea of that, is enough to commit you to inaction, then you're old.

I'm old.

2 comments:

  1. You say you've done a lot of nothing--but Law & Order is about spiritual enlightenment.

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