I threw my back out, Obama is getting reelected, and traffic is madness in Los Angeles. Needless to say, I barely have the gusto to put this post up. However, press eficionados Audible Treats came out with a election friendly playlist polled from their esteemed clientele. Check out the playlist on Spotify here.
Read about the artists and the reasoning behind their selections after the jump. Oh, and vote for Jill Stein, duh.
“Fight night! Round 1 of the debate is finished.” By Michael Greaney via VisualNews.com
@PharoaheMonch called the first debate last night the “Presidential rap battle” & it is a good analogy – dudes talking about how great they are with pre-written words meant to sound like they are ‘debating’ live & of course no females are invited to take part (the wives and daughters of the candidates are there for hugs after, of course – forget including Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein & running mate Cheri Honkala who might actually have brought different points to debate about rather than political style points to prime time television). Just like in a rap battle, we are meant to decide who we like to look at and listen to better while hearing the same empty nonsense over and over again & just like when you watch an awards show – the most talented people you actually want to hear and see perform are on the outside, without the bling, being effectively hidden from the masses.
The world is a phony place these days. From fake food to fake hair to fake nails to fake help to fake boobs to fake journalists to fake butts – we are a world and certainly a nation that expects and accepts a high level of fakery on a daily basis. Political campaigns seem to embrace a level of fraudulence that can annoy even the most artificial people – and if they are fake about simple things like who follows them on Twitter, how can they be real about what they would do if elected?
Obama and Romney made of Play-Doh by Ian Williams via VisualNews.com
This morning, @BarackObama’s camp was firing shots at fakery over Twittter, calling out “the real” Romney who they claim did not show up to battle rap at the debates last night. Here are 3 examples:
1) “The man onstage last night — he does not want to be held accountable for what the real Romney’s been saying for the last year.”
2) “When I got on stage, I met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be Mitt Romney. It couldn’t have been Mitt Romney.”
3) “The real Romney has been running around the country for the last year promising $5 trillion in tax cuts that favor the wealthy.”
Obama’s campaign team obviously thinks it important to continue the debate from last night over Twitter today, but how real is @BarackObama’s Twitter following? Statuspeople.com is here to help, claiming the President’s Twitter account is followed by many fake or inactive followers. Here is the #ZIF breakdown:
@BarackObama (verified account) 20,515,399: 18% fake + 31% inactive =
49% zombies vs. 51% “real” followers (10,462,853)
the Vice President:
@JoeBiden (verified account) 177,765: 15% fake + 44% inactive =
59% zombies vs. 41% “real” followers (72,883)
What Americans saw during the debate last night may not have been the “real Romney” (who clearly doesn’t feel he has anything to prove over Twitter today) – but how real are @MittRomney’s Twitter followers? The #ZIF breakdown:
@MittRomney (verified account) 1,273,313: 18% fake + 34% inactive =
45% zombies vs. 48% “real” followers (611,190)
his VP running mate:
@paulryanvp (verified account) 344,919 = 21% fake + 32%inactive =
53% zombies vs. 47% “real” followers (162,111) – (I must note that a few weeks ago when I started researching for this post, only 7% of Mr. Ryan’s followers were ‘real’ – kudos to his camp for figuring it out.)
And what about the Green Party presidential candidate? Is she full of Twitter fakery, with more zombie followers than real ones? @JillStein2012′s Twitter following may be a small one (13,552) but of those followers, Statuspeople.com claims 76% of them are “real” – giving her the highest percentage of active followers.
Perhaps, like many hip hop artists we love, you will choose to support none of the candidates this election year. Perhaps you have been waiting for more “information” trickled down from what we are still calling “debates” (they should be called “Ruling Class Conversations” or “Simple Talk with the Republicans and Democrats” something more descriptive of what is actually going on there) and whatever propaganda the news outlets have in store. Regardless, in the meantime, when you sign into your Twitter account and see annoying political retweets on your timeline, let it be a comfort that you can know the facts about the level of fake attached to each campaign account.
Want to check out my level of fake (@infamousladyt), or find out how fake your favorite rapper’s accounts are? (like @kanyewest for example, who can boast an embarrassing 60% fake followers) – check out Statuspeople.com.
If that doesn’t interest you, try eating a Thug Waffle instead & remember that the only candidate who will allow for the kind of sour treats Flatbush Zombies are talking about is the Green one, Jill Stein who supports the legalization of cannabis and slams the Obama administration for attacking medical cannabis patients across the country.
xo – Lady T
Jay-Z has over 2 million Twitter followers and he hasn’t tweeted since May of this year. Well, there goes that commendable streak, Jay-Z tweeted the following under an hour ago.
The guest list he is referring to is for tonight, when he will be hosting President Obama during a fundraiser in NYC. Attendance will be capped at 100 people, though a few seats will be set aside for some lucky contest winners. The $40,000-a-head bash will be held at the 40/40 Club, the chichi Jay-Z owned joint in Chelsea. As for the second tweet, I’m not sure what “work” Hova is referring to, sounds obnoxious and lacks presidential grace. Damn Jay, can’t take you anywhere anymore.
As for Mitt Romney, he will be in New York later this week for a breakfast fundraiser. Expect a Nicki Minaj tweet?
*(skip to 2 min mark)
I’ll take the Korean guy with the sense of humor and a history in development over another crotchety old white guy in a Wall Street pressed suit. – ZIF
Ah, the World Bank. What is must be like to be tasked with literally throwing money at the world’s “problems”. There is little secret that the U.S. has first dibs when it comes to choosing who leads the heavily American funded World Bank. Last week, President Obama nominated Dartmouth University President Jim Yong Kim for the top job at the Bank. The nomination has come under heavy fire, with right-leaning economists and conservative pundits alike calling into question the experience that Dr Kim brings to the table. In essence, Kim is hardly a “money” guy, the medical doctor and academic power figure has a lot of experience with development and in that sense many are calling this choice inspiring. The fact is, the World Bank has an outflow of about 40-60 billion dollars per annum, contrast that with the 1 trillion dollars in global private capital flow, simple math suggests an increasingly smaller role for the World Bank. Read more about this at the WSJ. On the academic flip side, Dartmouth is losing a hell of a leader, one that had no problem getting his pseudo-rock star on at last years Dartmouth Idol event. Here’s hoping for that paradigmatic shift.
Today is World Tupac Day. No, it’s not officially listed as an internationally recognized day, but for tens of millions of people, today is about Pac. Tupac’s days were spent running mental marathons in one of the most pensive and creative minds of the last century, and he bears the mark of a true American folk hero. Recognized for his gangsta, it was his spirit and his mind that encouraged 75 million albums to be sold, people related to Pac because he spoke a lot of truth. It’s 2010, and so much has seemed to have changed since that fateful day 14 years ago, imagine what Pac would have thought of Obama citing Ludacris as his favorite rapper. Imagine who Obama would have cited as his favorite rapper.
I remember seeing people cry that day, and I wondered if it was dramatic. Nah, man, it was barely a tribute.
R.I.P Pac
B-More Club music is a lot of things. I’m too coffee-less to peruse the adjectives right now but one adjective that certainly does not fit B-More, is pretentious. And for that very reason, I dig it. I’m not saying dense musings pertaining to the ills of the world aren’t necessary but with so many folks out of work or in jobs they despise, oil raping the ocean and the world crumbling as we speak, sometimes we need dudes like Blaqstarr to whip up non-clandestine songs about sex and drugs.
Blaqstarr-Oh My Darling (Dirty Remix)
Barack Obama is notably absent from the home page of The Nobel Foundation. Norwegians are silly cowards. Alfred Nobel would be ashamed of all of you! As many of you by now know, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Their reasons are blunt and stunted, plainly, “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”. If you choose to peruse the Nobel site you will not find the plethora of substance you may expect to “qualify” this award. Forget imagery as well, there are three Obama related pictures, one of Michelle and Barack looking typically good, another of the President on the phone in the oval office, and one of him greeting the Mexican President. It really does appear to be the biggest ad hoc accord of any significant global accomplishment in the history of my short tenure on this planet. Mr President? Your thoughts?
A ‘call to action’ is exactly what the Nobel team had in mind when announcing Obama’s award. Unfortunately, the United States of America isn’t in the business of taking orders from Norwegian cronies sitting on agendas. We also have some major internal issues, the Glen Beck infused tea party gang is a hop, skip and a jump away from disrupting peace within our own borders. And by the way, this Nobel junk has effectively armed Beck and his army of idiots with another piece of ‘evidence’ demonstrating the illogical endorsements of Obama. It will become the quintessential punchline for right wingers when hypothesizing Obama’s plans for action. Let alone the fact that Obama will get 1.4 million dollars as a result of the award, it’s the equivalent of throwing a massive rock at a hornets nest. The question really is, why?
First of all, the Germans need to chill the fuck out with the Obama reference. I don’t care what cultural idiosyncrasy is used to mitigate German behavior, their history of racial intolerance combined with a direct diss of our President is unacceptable. If you think I’m overreacting go ask a German dude what they call Hip Hop & R & B? They call it “Black” music, officially, like, if you go to their CD stores you will see a section called “black”, there are no qualms about it. We have a patriotic responsibility to demonstrate our deprecation, I encourage you to take action. Personally, I’m not going to push German artists for a while, sorry Snowgoons, but we bleed white and blue, not just red.
On the flip side of the responsibility scale, we need to do a better job of not cultivating popular stereotypes. For example, the quintessential, black people love chicken! Unfortunately we got too much new stupid money walking around bolstering the archaic boilerplate. Peep the following quote from a gossip blog regarding Kanye freaking at a recent charity show:
“Kanye walked in and noticed a guy eating chicken. He took offense and blurted petulantly ‘Why wasn’t I offered chicken? It’s not fair – you want me to perform for free – everyone is eating – why am I not eating?’
Kanye typically does not shy away from his modest roots, often proclaiming his appreciation of things hood, including fried chicken whilst in Hong Kong on his blog last year. But acting like a petulant child post-Taylor Swift in regards to fried chicken is just reckless. So while Kanye gives more fodder to the masses of racists out there, I challenge you to stay away from the chicken in type casted scenarios.
New Motto: Don’t eat the chicken, Fuck it.
For the privacy of your own home, a bomb fried chicken recipe after the jump
Somehow in this recession L.A. indie King rapper Murs has continued to make money, fuck porn stars, tour and drop a new album. The latest video off Mur’s latest LP Murs for President
MPFREEE: Murs ft. Snoop Dogg & Latoiya Williams – Time is Now
Aye Fab, what does 500 P's look like?
As we start to sink deeper into the comfort zone of having Obama as our President, many people in this country hope to have their own subjective concerns rectified. For a surprisingly wide array of American society, one such concern is the legalization of pot. Researchers doing a cross cultural study between the Netherlands and the U.S. discovered some interesting stats that underscore the misconception of the American marijuana paradigm. According to TIME Magazine 42% of people surveyed in the U.S. had tried marijuana at least once, and 16% had tried cocaine. Contrast that with the fact that only about 20% of residents surveyed in the Netherlands toked up. This disparity shows us that not only is marijuana a global phenomenon, it’s very much an American one. So what are we going to do about it?
Poor innocent little stoners
Mounting pressure on lawmakers to figure out the fiscal nightmare that this recession has exposed will catalyze creative ways to generate capitol. Here in Cali, there’s talk that the decriminalization or legalization of pot would enable taxation. In addition to income generated through tariff, the legalisation of pot would demphasize the so called drug war. Between the state and federal government the archaic war on drugs is costing up to 20 billion annually. So it seems ironic, but a need for a money fix may be the only way for us greenies to get our lungs fed. The debate continues…
Ron Paul defends his point of view on marijuana – a view that lies at the very core of Libertarianism. Baldwin I’m not so sure about, heres a guy who became a born again Christian because his pious Brazilian housekeeper knew how to gargle his balls correctly. In related hip hop news, Fabolous’s tour bus was pulled over recently and 500 pounds of marijuana was found aboard. Fab is aight, though it looks like his bus driver is going to be minding his orifices in State prison for a while.
Peep that story and a Fabolous download:
MP3 Fabolous-Brooklyn (we go hard) Freestyle
Soon kids.... soon.
Recently Ped commented on the letter that Prodigy wrote from his jail cell outlining some of his frustrations. You can read that letter here. Yesterday Crooked I took to the very non-street certified arena of the blog world and responded to P. And you can read that crud here. The unwritten rule of maintaining respect at all costs is a rather distinct and indispensible phenomenon in hip-hop. “No disrespect” is as analogous to rap as it is to gangster flicks. The old hood wives tale that if you step on a dudes kicks, you get handled, is a sassy but veritable reference to the importance of disrespect on the street. It seems rather untimely that this beef is to emerge whilst many mourn the 12th year of Big Poppa’s passing. Even more discouraging is the substance that is blatantly lacking from this quarrel. Mind this pun, but, where’s the beef? A couple noteworthy citations from Crooked’s response include his reference to a freestyle he did over Mobb Deep’s “Get Away” which he goes on to claim his “one of my favorite Mobb Deep songs.” I also find his P.S. amusing, a simple but effective, “Do some push ups.” What’s lamest of all is the fact that this “beef” so far has taken place through written word, but not lyrical song. That’s a shame, because P can flow, and Crooked I can write rhymes, but both these fools are incongruous when it comes to emotion manifested via cuneiform. Ah, well what can you do. This is so-called news, and we just report it.
Download Crooked I Mixtape
Crooked I – The Block Obama II
Support this article on Stumble. Click away.
Welcome to the Black House! With T.I. headed to the injured reserve for about a year, Young Jeezy is primed to serve extra customers. Jeezy having just dropped The Recession has invested into his label’s outfit, freshening up his linen so to speak. The most promising rookie signing appears to be a rapper by the name of B.A.M.A. (Beat a Motherfucka Ass). Apart from possessing the moniker of the century B.A.M.A. brings a young hunger to the CTE family, a hunger nurtured by this economic disaster we are all forced to now call the recession. So while most of us hope Obama brings some legitimacy to the White House, I’m also in the cut looking forward to B.A.M.A. delivering some illegitimacy to CTE, Def Jam and the ATL. You know what I’m talking about, the good kind of illegitimacy that justifies cocaine rap, and secures so called street certification . Either way, two words, welcome back!
Do you hear a little T.I. in B.A.M.A?
New Jeezy. Bang Bang. Appropriate.
For those of you looking to quench your corporate thug thirst immediately, here’s the new Evil Empire & Young Jeezy mixtape – The American Dream. Gratis.
