Monday, March 22, 2004
"Newports, CD's, DVD's, chronic..."
"Newports, CD's, DVD's, chronic..." -- sales pitch of a street vendor at the corner of Fulton & Flatbush yesterday afternoon.You gotta love Brooklyn's Fulton Mall
OK, so Bush is kind of wack for trying to: 1) steal the thunder of the anti-war rallies by scheduling his official campaign kickoff speech at basically the same time on Saturday afternoon this past weekend and 2) also holding it in (Orlando) Florida, the state that was the center of the controversy around the (still) disputed 2000 election results, but did you see actually hear his speech? This guy repeatedly exploited the events of 9/11 (something he promised he wouldn't do during the election campaign), lied about the economy (George: where are the jobs?) and generally made John Kerry look terrible using charges (Kerry waffles on his policy positions, would raise taxes, would be "soft on terrorism" etc.) many of which it's arguable he's just as guilty on. If Kerry doesn't get his act together soon, Bush will have already settled perceptions of Kerry in many voters' heads before he's even made his own case to the electorate. (CNN.com)
Ex-Aide Assails Bush on War on Terrorism. (Washington Post | Related: Reuters)
30-year veteran in the C.I.A.'s Directorate of Operations, Milt Bearden explains why capturing or killing bin Laden or his right hand man Ayman al-Zawahiri will have liitle effect on the overall effectiveness and functioning of Al-Qaeda or on the war on terror in "You Cut the Head, but the Body Still Moves." (New York Times)
Meanwhile the chaos continues in Afghanistan: Afghan assassination sparks bloodbath. (Toronto Star | Related: Reuters UK)
... and in Iraq: Rocket attacks mark Iraq occupation anniversary. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation | related: Reuters)
And developments in Iraq also bring us this ironic little gem:
"In a morning meeting on Wednesday, [Iraqi Coalition Provisonal Authority leader] Mr. Bremer warned the Iraqi leaders that they risked isolating themselves and their country if they continued to snub the United Nations. According to Iraqi and American officials, Mr. Bremer pointedly warned them of a "confrontation" with the United States if the Iraqis failed to invite the organization back." (from 1115.org)I don't think I really have to add a comment to that, do I?
And one more final Bush administration, war on terror-related jewel:
- The Army's allegations last year were grave: A military chaplain at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was linked to a possible espionage ring and eventually charged with mishandling classified information. Six months later, all charges [emphasis added] against Capt. James Yee have been dropped. (USA Today)
Why did I have to find out about this story on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart?: US government faked Bush news reports. (Guardian UK)
And sorry I missed pointing this one out in a more timely fashion: Medicare analyst says Bush aides threatened to fire him. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Related:
- White House Intimidation: A Brief History of Threats and Defamation. (Center for American Progress)
- The Medicare Mess: The Medicare bill backfires on the GOP. (Time)
- White House Backs Probe Into Medicare Drug Cost. (Reuters) BTW, how are those probes into the Robert Novak CIA undercover operative leak and the 9/11 intelliegnce failures going?
And just as I get tired of wielding the mallet over son's head comes this op-ed: Bush claims there are jobs, but he's living on parallel planet. (Salt Lake Tribune)
Back on the hip hop ish, Hashim (aka Madison) is back to active posting at his excellent Diesel Nation blog.
Peep Nas's "Star Wars": like I said before, this Extra-P produced track from the Illmatic 10th Anniversary reissue is super-bananas. (mp3 courtesy: hiphopgame.com)
The Diplomats are kind of a joke to me as a group other than a couple tracks here and there, but their new joint "45th & Broadway" (heard on Kay Slay's Hot 97 "Drama Hour" radio show last week) is straight coconuts! Classic old school, 808-laced southern bounce beats fresh for 2004. Anyone with an mp3 link to this jumpoff, holla, like now.
I've never been much of a fan of Dilated Peoples but their Alchemist-produced "Poisonous" is retarded, don't sleep. (mp3 link courtesy: turntablelab.com)
G-Unit/Lloyd Banks "You" (mp3 courtesy: allhiphop.com)
Guilty pleasure record: Cassidy "Come On" (I think that's the name of the jawn that Hot 97 has been rotating quite a bit recently. It's the one where he keeps going something like: "C'mon, Ma it's yours song, girl" in the chorus but J records, like those jackasses at Universal, seem to not want people to be able to sample their music since I couldn't find any mp3 links for the album at any of the standard music sites.)
There's also a new Shells joint that Enuff just started spinning in his afternoon mix show that's ridiculous! For the reasons just cited above (Shells is also a J records artists, or at least he was when he was signed like 3 years ago), no linkage available on that one either. Anyone with more info on this track, you know the drill: holla.
A snippet of the DFA remix of N*E*R*D "She Wants to Move." This is not the mix I heard on Trevor Nelson's BBC One radio show and is one of the first DFA remixes I've heard that I wasn't totally loving (at least based on this tiny sample), it's just aight to me so far. Also not the remix I heard, this is ridiculous nonetheless: "She Wants To Move (remix)" feat. Mos Def, Common, De La Soul, and Q-tip. My only complaint: they flip the Jungle Bros. hook but didn't put Afrika and Mike G on the track, what gives? (mp3 links courtesy: Piccadilly Records | Mo Ca$h and I'm So Sincerr)
BTW, the N*E*R*D NYC tour date tix are go (thanks, Reggie W for the hook-up).
Public Enemy vs. the White Stripes: the "White Enemy" mash-up. (mp3 snippet courtesy: Piccadilly Records)
Hollertronix style DJ-wannabe's, this might be an essential secret weapon to drop in your crunk sets:"Yeah! Party Break" from Sound Klash Ammo (mp3 link: coutesy hiphopsite.com)
Teen pop fans rejoice: confirmed today (March 20th) on 100.3 "The Beat" (Los Angeles) that B2K are back together. (spotted on Velvet Rope)
For those into this kind of vibe, Citizen Cope's new album The Clarence Greenwood Recordings is a decent listen. Kind of like Wyclef meets Basehead (or the folkier side of Beck) to my ears (thanks Brian R for the advance hook-up, can you do me one more and shoot an Usher jawn this way and keep your head up [or should that be down?] when "Black Friday" goes down over at Arista).
Need something to do tonight? From a new acquaintance of mine:
Singer/Songwriter
Nucomme
featuring
Shawn Banks on percussion
at
CBGB's downstairs lounge
Monday March 22 at 9pm
313 Bowery (between 1st and 2nd street)
(212) 982-4052 or click here for more details
And finally, shout out to Rawj and the Feenom Circle crew out in the Bay Area. They sent me their College Graduates mixtape sampler a couple of weeks ago and I've been vibing to it on and off since then. Definitely recommended if you're into Talib Kweli, Cee-Lo, Jurassic 5, The Roots and similar artists. "Fall/Stand" and "Hardhats" are two of the tracks grabbing me off the mixtape.
And peace to Toronto's Common Difference and the Burga Fat Productions crew. Their Alarm Clock demo album crossed my desk a little while back and, while I didn't love the whole thing, "Top of the World Pt. 2" sampling Chic's "Savoir Faire" is the best record Pete Rock & CL Smooth never made and the acoustic-guitar powered "Stripes" trawls similar ground in alternative hip hop as their countryman K-os.
