I Done Goofed!

Here are the facts of life. Grass is green, dog shit is brown and Ted Nugent will say something stupid before the year’s through. For those who don’t know rocker/conservative radio host Ted Nugent was at the 2012 National Rifle Association Convention in St. Louis in support for republican candidate Mitt Romney. During an interview, he told a crowd of NRA convention attendees “if Barack Obama becomes the president in November, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” Later on, Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign stated “Divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from. Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil.” Or in other words, “Think before you speak, Nuge…but on the other hand you wouldn’t be Ted Nugent.”

When first hearing about this, I wasn’t that surprised because this isn’t the first time Nugent has made similar comments regarding the Obama administration.

Ted Nugent Rant in California back in ‘08
Ted Nugent in Concert Rant

…Yeah.

When I first heard about this, it reminded me of a similar incident with another controversial artist from Detroit. Who’s the artist? It was Eminem. The incident regarding Eminem was in 2003 on the track “We As Americans” that had a lyric that was construed as a threat to President Bush and was called in by the Secret Service for questioning. The song has been back masked but you can find an unedited one here.

“We As Americans”

Later on Eminem was deemed not a threat.

In closing, I’m not surprised that Ted Nugent would slip up. In fact, this proves a big mouth and a small mind are never a good combination.

photo courtesy of Eonline

In commemoration of the passing of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, I thought I’d share an impromptu jam of “About a Girl” from a practice session of my band Jenny Hates Techno. Peace!

On Februrary 24th 2012, DeWayne Carter better known Lil Wayne signed rap rock group Limp Bizkit to Cash Money Records. A “collabo” track between Limp Bizkit and Lil Wayne titled “Ready to Go” is set to be released next week. Don’t get me wrong, Limp Bizkit was great…but so was America Online. I don’t hate Limp Bizkit, in fact I’m still fond of their albums “Chocolate Starfish and Hot Dog Flavored Water”, “Three Dollar Bill, Y’all” and “Significant Other” was cool too. In fact, I respect how Fred Durst supported file sharing program Napster when the music industry was against file sharing.

This all started earlier on 3/1/2012 where I tweeted out “Limp Bizkit with Lil Wayne…talk about mixing “shit” and “vomit.” The response was varied, from “Say what you mean” to people agreeing with me. To clarify, I also stated “Don’t get me wrong, Limp Bizkit was cool…until you discovered Bio-Hazard, Orange 9mm etc.”

Honestly, my inner 16 year old is hoping that this will be something great. But I can think of five good reasons why it shouldn’t be done.

Those reasons being…

“Red Light Green Light” feat. Snoop Dogg

Turn Me Loose feat. Eminem

Rollin (Urban Assault Vehicle remix) feat. Method Man, Redman, DMX and Swizz Beatz on production.

Getcha Groove On Feat. Xzibit

N 2 Gether Now feat. Method Man

Lil Wayne…where do I start with the only dude off of Cash Money that actually made something of himself? Okay, it’s a known fact that Wayne’sa Nirvana fan…well he likes that song Smells Like Teen Spirit…well he liked the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” That’s all well and good but Jason Aldean admitted to liking some Snoop Dogg growing up, that doesn’t exactly make him a hip-hopper.

With proclaiming his fondness for Nirvana for the sake of rocker credibility, notice that Lil Wayne has rapped over rock tinged or rock tracks in the past.

Knockout feat. Nicki Minaj.

Prom Queen

Best Rapper Alive

I’m Not a Human Being

In closing, maybe both acts can have enough chemistry to create something that I and others would find noteworthy…but it’s up for you to decide.

photo courtesy of Prefix magazine

The Never So Deep crew of Sutter Kain, Donnie Darko and now New Jersey rapper Naymez comes to the listener full throttle with the song “Traitors.” Well, the song title is self-explanatory. It’s pretty much a warning track with the theme of calling out chicanery.

In this case, it’s more of a traditional hip-hop sound production wise.

New Jersey rapper Naymez opens the track with an impressive verse although there’s some word play, it’s very to the point.

Darko’s verse doesn’t disappoint lyrically. Interesting enough, I noticed the use of less metaphors in his verse. For him, it’s a change of pace.

Sutter Kain takes it home with an infuriated, raspy delivery. Kain’s usually passionate, but this is a side I haven’t heard from him in a minute.

Overall, I feel that it’s a solid effort from Sutter Kain, Naymez and Donnie Darko. If you enjoy Sutter Kain’s more hip-hop based production rather than his hardcore/metal productions. I recommend this for you.

Hey folks, The Most Offensive Video Crew is at it again with this internet gem. Oh yeah, I wouldn’t recommend you watching this at work or anywhere in the proximity of anyone who’s easily offended.

This year’s Grammys had a somber tone due to the passing of now R&B legend Whitney Houston. I’m not going to act like I was a humongous fan of hers but a true talent was lost. In fact, my dad interviewed her back in ‘85. My thoughts are with her family. A common theme throughout the show was recognizing the loss of musical icons such as Jimmy Castor, Don Cornelius, Etta James and countless others.

The performances were okay…here a few that stick out in my mind at the moment. These aren’t in sequential order, just what stuck out memory wise

Bruno Mars attempt at a 60’s soul pastiche had him looking like the illegitimate love child of GWAR character Sleazy P. Martini and James Brown. From the reaction of the crowd, it went over okay. At this point, you have to take what you get.

Chris Brown and his backup dancers performance looked like a great homage to the classic arcade game Q*bert.

Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt performing a tribute to Etta James by playing “Sunday Kind of Love” was dignified. I noticed Bonnie Raitt got a bigger reaction than Alicia Keys though.

A vignette with Jack Black outside of the Grammys with a crowd where he touted up indie cred was an amusing lead in to The Foo Fighters playing in an outside tent. Oddly enough The Foo Fighters consists of former members of Scream, The Germs and Sunny Day Real Estate. It was cool to see Dave Grohl for wearing a “Slayer” band tee during his performance.

Rihanna and Coldplay performed together…it wasn’t bad. Rihanna reminds me of a digital Donna Summers nowadays.

Bon Iver (real name Justin Vernon) won for best new artist over Nicki Minaj, The Band Perry, J. Cole and Skrillex. I’m not really a fan of Bon Iver, in fact I’m more of a Skrillex guy but honestly, it was like choosing between how can I put this eloquently…garbage, bile and feces. Actually I’ve been mispronouncing Bon Iver’s name, I’ve been referring to him as Bon eye-ver… my mistake.

Jennifer Hudson’s tribute to Whitney Houston was well done and respectful. You could feel the emotion in the room.

Naturally Adele cleaned up award-wise winning Best Song of the Year, Best Pop Performance, Best Pop Vocal album. Also who doesn’t like a great comeback story and soulful vocals?

The Beach Boys homage was okay. The lead dude from Foster the People looked nervous but pulled it off. That’s no disrespect intended, honestly if I had to do a tribute to Funkadelic, Alice in Chains or any band I’d admired I’d probably be in the bathroom blasting Nestle Quik!

The Glen Campbell homage was great, knowing that he’s fighting Alzheimer’s (not All Timer’s) and performing that well is something to respect.

The moment of attempted controversy was Nicki Minaj live exorcism bit. Some were shocked, some were offended I just felt it’s been done. Sorry folks I grew up on Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson, Three Six Mafia, Robert Johnson, The Misfits and the rap subgenre horrorcore. I’ve seen it done better.

Joe Walsh, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl playing guitar at the same time was…well reminiscent of too many guys trying to rap onstage. It sounded like a cluster of badly played stock licks played over a backing vamp that you would hear in a car commercial.

Honestly, I can’t really act like I was that excited or really hyped up over the Grammys this year.

Image courtesy of

http://idolator.com/6097162/2012-grammy-nominations

Hey folks,

I know the updates on the site have been scarce to almost nonexistent. I’ve been busy as of late and kind of in the midst of well pretty much being burnt out writing wise. Seriously, you have any idea how difficult it is to write out a well thought out article on a daily basis for almost three years? It’s exhausting! I’m not trying to complain but I just needed a break. I’m in the midst of trying experiment with this podcast thing and also a few other projects that I’ll keep you guys posted on. Anyway, thanks for checking out my articles even when I’m on break.

-John M. Ellison IV

review coming soon.

On December 11th, 2011 BlankTV uploaded Sutter Kain and Darko’s video for “UFO Transmissions.”
Aside from music, one of Sutter Kain’s other avenues of interest include film. So, it’s not surprising that Kain directs his own videos. In this case, the video consists of black and white shots of a long winding road with Darko rapping and Sutter Kain on the chorus, the red splashes gives the video a more sinister feel.

Production wise, it‘s a fusion of emotionally charged rapping—well more like “emotional recitation” and Donnie Darko over chugging, down tuned guitars. In this case DJ Bless’s aggressive chanting compliments Darko’s venting. After repeated listens, I noticed that”U.F.O Transmissions” is kind of reminiscent of another rap song with an intergalactic theme…Kanye West’s waltz timed “Spaceship.” I mean, aside from concept of space travel, the similar theme of both songs is hoping for a better present than the one that they’re experiencing at the time being. In closing, I feel that DJ Bless use of djent (…metalcore maybe) band “I The Breather” compliments the delivery of Darko’s delivery.

In closing, for a no frills video that compliments the song and sets a mood, Check out “UFO Transmissions”