All Aboard the “Black Eyed Peas Suck Bandwagon!” by John M. Ellison IV

Yesterday I was scrolling through my Facebook and Twitter pages and saw a barrage of messages that pretty much summed up the Black Eyed Peas halftime super bowl performance with posts like “Black Eyed Peas suck!” All I have to say is “Wow, an overproduced pop group that doesn’t cut it live and most mainstream audiences think suck anyway is so punk rock, metal, hip-hop or whatever group thought of non-conformity you claim.”
I hate to tell you folks but a half time show to appease Middle America and give their eyes a break from seeing dudes tackle one another for two quarters isn’t a going to be Bonnaroo, Gathering of the Juggalos, Coachella or Maryland Death Fest.

Honestly, I’m indifferent to the Black Eyed Peas…or Collard Greens or whatever they’re called. I just see ‘em as a group that nobody cared about back in the day and now everyone’s upset that they’re a pop group and now so everyone hates ‘em because they’re successful. I’ve had to realize that hating a mainstream group isn’t “alternative” or “rebellious” anymore when you have mainstream audiences hating it too. Theoretically, you just jumped on another bandwagon.

“Okay smartass, what bands would you rather see at halftime?” Well, kind of hard to say…what I find entertaining would weird most of Middle America out. Besides, I don’t think most people would take kindly to GWAR and Oderus Urungus’s umm…”cuttlefish” on display in HD.

“Well, it’s not the band; it’s the bandwagon fans that irritate me.” Yes, bandwagon fans can be annoying but more than likely you were probably a “bandwagon” fan too at one time. You probably still have a copy of “Enema of the State” by Blink-182 somewhere in your CD collection. But, the main point is that you grew and discovered better music from it though.

“Well, what about Prince? He had a great half time show!” Yeah, he did and he’s a great artist too and like most of his work, he’s the exception of the rules of pop music. Besides, after Janet’s wardrobe malfunction in ’04, most of the half time shows have been pretty tame.

Point being, the rebellious thing in this situation isn’t taking shots at an overproduced pop group that’s basically the live action version of “The Crescendolls” from” Interstellar 5555.” It’s not watching the game in the first place. Unless you’re doing a review or op-ed piece on a subject like this though.

Photos courtesy of:
Celebrific
Mutuantreviewers

Feb
4

Rihanna S&M video

By GPR84 // Music, Videos // 1 Comment

I’ll post a review later on.

Feb
3

Rulz for Girls purple tee

By GPR84 // Here We Are Now, Entertain Us or Are We Not Entertained? // No Comments

Rulz For Girls Purple. by GPRmerch
See other Funny T-Shirts

Feb
2

DJ Kool Herc’s in trouble! That’s Terrible…Who’s DJ Kool Herc? By John M. Ellison IV

By GPR84 // Facts, Here We Are Now, Entertain Us or Are We Not Entertained?, The Shit Has Hit The Fan // 1 Comment

(AllHipHop News) Hip-Hop pioneer DJ Kool Herc has been released from a medical facility, but remains in need of financial aid to help with an unknown health condition.

“I just spoke to Kool Herc.he’s ok and in good spirits..but needs surgery..THIS TUESDAY at SUTRA..we’re gonna do a collection for him,” DJ Tony Touch tweeted earlier today.
According to Gangstarr’s DJ Premier, Kool Herc’s health is deteriorating and he is in need of monetary assistance, because he doesn’t have health insurance.”Kool Herc is very sick,” DJ Premier revealed on his XM Satellite radio show Live From Headqcourterz. “For those that know about Hip-Hop, who we call the father of Hip-Hop, Kool Herc, is not doing well. It’s funny how we have a father of a culture that still lives, where as in some cultures they are dead and gone even though they may still be worshiped or reflected on in some kind of way.” According to DJ Premier, he spoke to Herc, who revealed that he was in need of financial assistance because he didn’t have medical coverage.

UPDATE: New York’s Daily News reports Herc is suffering from kidney stones. The hip-hop pioneers’ sister Cindy Campbell told the paper, “He’s been in terrible pain for months. The doctors say they’ve got to come out, but we just don’t have the money.” She said Herc’s bills already total $10,000.

When I found out about Kool Herc’s ailment, I was disgusted at the idea of a pioneer; one of the DJs who laid the groundwork for rap today being forgotten disgusted me. Even though I’m more partial to rock music, any music writer/musician/composer that ignores the history of any genre is missing out on information that could benefit them and broaden their horizons. Back in 2000, when I first became more interested in the history of dub reggae, turntablism and old school hip-hop, I stumbled upon an article about a DJ by the name of Jamaican born Clive Campbell better known as DJ Kool Herc. Prior to reading this article, I was more familiar with DJs such as Grandmaster Flash and Jam Master Jay and their importance to DJ’ing.

While DJ’ing in the rec room of the parties that Herc and his sister gave in their childhood home of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Herc often played albums by funk legends such as James Brown, Jimmy Castor Bunch and Booker T & the MG’s. With funk, you would find a heavily percussive drum break that people dancing enjoyed. So noticing this, Herc bought two copies of the same record and whenever the break for that song started, he had the other record with the same break cued up. With this, an 8 second drum loop could go on and would repeat this process for as long as necessary.

Herc called this technique “The Merry-Go-Round”- a switching from breakbeat to breakbeat done at the zenith of the party. The earliest demonstration of “The Merry-Go-Round” involved James Brown’s Give It Up or Turnit A Loose, “Bongo Rock” by The Incredible Bongo Band and “The Mexican” by English rock band Babe Ruth. With this, he also included saying quick phrases over the mic. When things became more of a laborious process he called in collaborator Coke La Rock to chat on the mic. This actually developed into the first MC and DJ setup in hip-hop.

People that danced to Herc’s breaks were called b-boys and b-girls that were described as “breaking.” Herc also noted that “breaking” also had connontations of getting excited and acting energetically…or as they say now “crunk, hyphy, buck etc.” With all of this, Herc is an invaluable contributor to hip-hop culture and rap in general.

These “millionare” rappers owe a great deal should be morally indebted to Herc for paving the way for them to buy overpriced trinkets and indulge in avarice. So, if some of you “rappers” can afford to buy a $250,000 chain then you can afford to either contribute or pay off a $10,000 medical bill that you can somehow write off in taxes for someone who gave you guys a job in the first place. Shit, I’m an indie writer who gave $10, what’s your excuse?

For all donations to Kool Herc, send to: Kool Herc Productions PO Box 20472 Huntington Station, NY 11746
Or you can wire donations via Paypal to this address:
cindycampbell1@aol.com (his sister)

source

http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2011/01/hip-hop-pioneer-kool-herc-sick-needs-donations

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/amplifier/88246/hip-hop-icon-dj-kool-herc-very-sick-needs-money-for-hospital-bills/