“Squirt in your face and then I’m Swayze”

In rap music, the reference bank which holds white dudes whom are cool enough to name-drop, is essentially limited to Robert De Niro, Al Pacino(though more appropriately his character Scarface, who is actually Cuban), Bugsy Siegel, Hugh Hefner, and perhaps a few other prolific gangsters.

I never realized Patrick Swayze should also be in that bank; as an 80′s heartthrob who starred in some ultra corn-ball dance and romance flicks, he may appear to be the antithesis to gully–at first glance. However, the Hip Hop Is Read Blog recently dug up a fairly sizable list of references to the late actor from everyone from Kool G. Rap to Biggie to Method Man. I also went back and looked at some of his roles and aside from being a fledgling dancer, he played an orphaned gangbanger (The Outsiders), a surfing bank robber (Point Break) and most recently, a gun-toting undercover FBI agent (The Beast). Maybe P-Sway is gully? Peep the list his of rap quotes here.

Open Wound

It’s fun to think about the number of supposed music enthusiasts who exclaim succinct one-liners to properly capture their aesthetic, “everything…but rap and country”; So, the contrarian’s brain warps in to the question of what about rap and country music is so unappealing to this person who is telling me such GRANDIOSE things about their taste? White women, yes, you, are the media darlings; Sarah Palin confirms it, say what you will, say what you will…So, what’s a guy to do? Oh, I know listen to Buck Owens (Doo Doo Doo Lookin Out My Backdoor) and get to know a forgotten genre; after all, Country Singers Die in Classic Cars…

BATting .300 For Lashes

Kanye said that his apartment was too swanky to bump rap music. My apartment is perhaps a little grittier and I don’t have the rep (or the $30 million annual salary) he has to make such bold claims. However, I have been hovering in a more atmospheric mood lately and therefore, not listening to too much new rap.

I’m kind of all about half-Pakistani, half-English Natasha Khan, better known as Bat For Lashes. Her first album Fur and Gold is eerie and dank but it also knocks. Her 2nd album, Two Suns, drops next week. She’s also one of those girls that girls all seem to heart. I told a friend of mine that she reminded me of BFL and she really took it as a compliment. Peeping the sort of “esoteric” presence of the British singer and considering my homie’s response, it makes me wonder about how girls want to be perceived. Well, that’s another post…

MPFREEEE:  Bat For Lashes – Fur and Gold