Sling Shot Hip Hop!

So, last week I had the opportunity to check out a Sundance flick. I went to the documentary "Sling Shot Hip Hop" It followed the hip hop movement going on in Palestine. It was quite the eye-opener. These cats really threw down. It mostly followed the group DAM and P.R. It was really cool. The Palestinians really have a tough situation, they really get shit on. One of the songs by DAM has a flow about them being called terrorists in their homeland. Kinda makes you think. There are a bunch of clips of Palestinians hurling rocks and just getting slammed by Israelis. I am rather ignorant to the details of that whole conflict, but I know its not good. (anyone with info or links, please leave a comment) The interesting thing was to see their influences, guys like N.W.A., Tupac, Wu-Tang, Talib Kweli, and Public Enemy. They listened to all those guys and related to it in their own way. Thats the beauty of music. American hip hop trickles down throughout the world and now it is being reciprocated back in a new fresh angle. After the movie was over we were surprised to find that the guys from DAM and Mohammad from P.R. were there. They answered questions and did a little performance. It was pretty ill. Talking with the dudes after made me think. Those guys have been subject to and seen some pretty gnarly shit, yet they are just regular homies. Thanks bogus political battles. The guys on top really screw the rest. Anyways, it was a great documentary and the music was good, and the guys are cool and tuff. Check em out! (thanks myspace)

Saudi Arabia: get on your knees America, time to turn a trick

I can't believe what I heard and read today about President Bush's trip to the middle east. Read the following from the Jerusalem Post: "Coinciding with Bush's trip, the Bush administration in Washington notified Congress on Monday that it would offer Saudi Arabia the chance to buy sophisticated Joint Direct Attack Munitions - or "smart bomb" - technology and related equipment, the State Department said. The administration envisions the transfer of 900 of the precision-guided bomb kits, worth US$123 million, that would give the kingdom's armed forces highly accurate targeting abilities.
The proposed deal follows notification of five other packages to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, bringing to US$11.5 billion the amount of advanced US weaponry, including Patriot missiles, that the administration has announced it will provide to friendly Arab nations, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Administration officials say the total amount of eventual sales as part of the Gulf Security Dialogue is estimated at $20 billion, a figure subject to actual purchases.

The arms packages are an important part of the US strategy to bolster the defenses of oil-producing Gulf nations, such as Saudi Arabia, against threats from Iran. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, which have majority Sunni Muslim populations, harbor deep suspicions about Shiite Iran's apparent designs to establish itself as a major power.

Congress already has been briefed on all the packages, which also include the sale of the navy's Littoral Combat system. Lawmakers mostly see the deals as critical to maintaining relations with war-on-terror allies. Some are opposed to the JDAMs portion out of concern that it gives Saudi Arabia the ability to attack Israel, but are unlikely to muster the two-thirds majority needed, within an allowed 30-day period, to block the sales."(italics added by the blog author) And this from the New York Times: "President Bush on Tuesday urged Saudi Arabia and other members of OPEC to consider the strain the high cost of oil was having on the American economy, addressing an issue that has begun to color the last year of his presidency and dominate the presidential election campaign." What the hell is that all about. Why are we in bed with Saudi Arabia? Is it to get control over oil? Is it to get Saudi Arabia to attack Iran? (the U.S. might need an ally when it attacks Iran, cause, unfortunately, that is most likely going to happen at the rate we are going) Saudi Arabia is not our ally. They have never fought a common enemy of ours. 15 of the terrorists in the 9/11 attack were Saudis, the attack was funded by Saudi money, many of the attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq are wrought by Saudis, not to mention they bailed out Citi Group financially, and have billions of dollars of investments in U.S. businesses. They own us. How can we just let this stuff happen? Granted I don't know all the facts regarding our connection with Saudi Arabia (please email with any insights, ideas, or facts) but I'm no dummy and I don't think that our dealings with them are very sound. I am not trying to say that all Saudis are evil, but we need to avoid strong ties. Trade with everyone and avoid strong alliances with any country. I feel like everything is just building up so that the U.S. can take over the entire middle east. What are we doing people!?

P.S. This entry was off the cuff and any specifics of facts will be investigated further this week and emails are appreciated.

(we need a revolution.)

Hard NYE, harder than necessary.

So, for new years I went to L.A. to go to Hard NYE which was a concert featuring 2 Live Crew, Peaches, Busy P and Justice.
(and a few others) I was pretty excited and so we got there pretty early, which was good because I heard the line got too big for security to handle efficiently. Anyways, this was the debut for the event and it showed. They didn't have any kind of schedule posted for the lineup. I figured that it was a minor set back and that all I would need to do was ask someone that worked there, well I was wrong. No one had any idea where and when the artists were playing, not even the damn sound board guys. I just went to the main stage figuring that it would be the best. Well, the super hyped L.A. DJ by the name of Steve Aoki came out. I was pretty excited because everyone was talking about him. He came out in a glitter American flag vest so I assumed it would kick ass. Unfortunately he just kept falling on his ass. He was mad plastered. Now, don't get me wrong sometimes mad plastered can make things tuff and cool, but it took him 20 minutes just to get the borrowed needles plugged in to his tables. He fell over a couple of times and then got playing. Some of it was ok, but then he pulled a cord out or something and the sound cut and that was that. If thats all that L.A. has to offer as far as DJs go, man L.A. sucks. (His album is coming out soon, so I will give it another chance, getting mad drunk on new years can be an exception) After him I think it was Whitey that came on, it was ok. Peaches then came on and she is pretty tuff. I really enjoyed the theatrics of it all. I felt her amazing roland 505 beats got a bit lost in the live performance on account of the rockin guitar, but it was still good and super sexual. Her outfit was incredible. She hit the new years off. There wasn't a countdown which was weird, but whatever. Justice came out after and were perched upon a 10 foot high lit up cross, way tuff. They played a great set with much of their own material remixed. Security blew, so we kept storming the stage to boogie, but they then cut the sound and said no mas until we get down. When I say "we" I mean the Hard NYE security. Justice told everyone to get back up and dance. Busy P was dancing up there and then got up on the cross and Justice mixed right into his set. His set was super dancy and awesome. Some boner blew off a dust bomb thing on the side of the stage and I, being in the front, got dust crap (or anthrax) all up in my face. Nevertheless it was rockin. Now I really wanted to see A-Trak, and I kept seeing him on the stage hanging out so I figured he'd go on there, well he never did. Apparently, (I read later) he played on the other stage at 11, probably during suck Whitey. I didn't know due to the dumb asses "running" the thing. I still am bitter about that. Overall it was worth it and I had a great time, but there was such organization problems it hindered its awesomeness from reaching maximum levels. (p.s. tuff is better than tough)
(Thats me in the yellow shirt)