The Fray Cover Kanye's Heartless

The Fray cover Kanye West's hit single "Heartless". This might even be better than the original.

The Lonely Island

Everyone has seen the video "Jizz in My Pants" by The Lonely Island. I just found these two videos for songs that Andy Samberg did on SNL that I've never seen before and only "Lazy Sunday" is on their new c.d. Incredibad. I thought they we're pretty funny...hopefully you will too. For some reason the videos don't play when you initially hit play so you have to wait after you click it for them to load and then click "watch again".

You Tell 'Em Soulja Boy

Its hard to believe that the same guy who gave us Crank That and Yahhh! could release a relatively good, even a par or even a mediocre song. After a debut album of what sounded like the exact same track (he must hang out with Flo Rida), Soulja Boy finally released something that is praiseworthy.  This "something" comes off of his newest album iSouljaBoyTellem and its called "Kiss Me Thru The Phone." This love song introduces a softer side of the Southern rapper who previously would repeatedly shout at us to "superman that hoe." Despite the 2.5 star itunes album review that is quoted as saying "Even if he is a Southern rap Danny Osmand for the new millennium, there is something to be said for an artist who can make hip-hop love songs without using profanity" this is a solid song. Danny Osmand must be pretty dam good because "Kiss Me Thru The Phone" is a must have for all iPod playlists.

Kiss Me Thru The Phone Music Video

Haterz in the House

Although rap and hip-hop have a strong following there are still many haters out there who think anyone with half a brain can compete with the likes of Kanye, Weezy...and Cam'ron?? Yes, Cam'ron. Despite the immense public appeal of artists such as the ones we saw perform "Swagger Like Us" at the Grammy's, there are other rappers out there who have elevated this musical genre to an art form. One artist in particular who has done this throughout his career is Cam'ron. There are those who believe that rap isn't art and on top of that it isn't even music. Well, I'm about to debunk those theories...like immediately. Lets look at an excerpt from his song "Bubble Music":

Mami all on me cause I'm touchin' her belly

I'm on butter Pirellis

With purple and yellow, hello

That's butter and jelly

I flip butter on cellys

All right in front of the deli

Holly, Lilly, to Kelly all spent once on the telly

(And what else) and I got hella gear

Three townhomes in Delaware

Tomato Porsche lookin' like tomato sauce....

 Technically speaking, this verse has several different components of prosody. It contains assonance (repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within sentences). "Mi...me, lly...llis, llow...llo" It goes on and on. Consonance (the repetition of two or more consonants using different vowels) is used often, "yellow...hello, holly...lilly...kelly...telly...hella." He includes Triple-Rhyme (sdruccio) and he uses rime riche (rhyme of words with identical sounds), "tomato...tomato." 

I'm not english teacher, however, Cam'ron does use all of these techniques in his verses. Cam'ron may be too "hardcore" for some but credit should be given where credit is due. 

Here's some Cam'ron songs to listen to:

I Used To Get It In Ohio- Cam'ron

Down and Out- Cam'ron

Cookies & Apple Juice- Cam'ron

I Hate My Job- Cam'ron

Still The Reason- Cam'ron

Weezy Wee Must Reads

For all of the scholarly types out there or for those who love a good novel every once in a while heres a list of some of my favorite novels:

1. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

2. Watchmen by Alan Moore

3. You Suck by Christopher Moore

4. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

5. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 

6. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris 

7. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

***More Novels to be added Periodically***

Music to My Ears

I'm a huge Lil Wayne fan. Here's a pretty sick track that he did with Drake and with Santogold on the chorus. It came out in late January. Weezy and Drizzy spit straight fire. Enjoy

Drake f. Lil Wayne & Santogold - Unstoppable (rmx) | Hip Hop Songs > HipHopDX.com

Bad Economy = Wardrobe Anxiety

Anyone who has left their basement since September knows about the economic tough times that this country is going through. I'm not a CNBC analyst so I'm not going to get into the logistics of it, but I do wish to talk about one effect of this recession. For those of us who enjoy fine things, whether it be shopping at JCrew and Ralph Lauren, eating out, or actually wanting to leave Borders with that book you've been reading in the Cafe for the past two hours, the economy is leaving its mark upon us. If you're like me, you enjoy all of the above. However, there are ways to solve these miniature dilemmas. Go to the library, look up the call number of the book you want, take it out for the week, and read it. Some libraries even sell books ($1 for hardcovers, $.50 for a paperback), which I'd say is more reasonable than borders. For food, you could just stay at home and eat whatever crazy concoction your madre is conjuring up in the kitchen. If you don't live with your parents, buy some lunchables. And lastly, scavenge the sales racks and outlets for anything that catches your stylish eyes. A problem I am having recently is, I walk into JCrew and everything in there is absolutely fantastic. But, nowadays I can't shell out $80 dollars for a shirt and certainly not $100 for a nice pair of shorts. I even had an anxiety dream the other night where I was wandering JCrew and I couldn't find the mens section. The workers kept telling me they moved it and the store turned into a labyrinth sprinkled with madras belts. This dream quickly turned into a nightmare when I found the men's section and all they had were $600 sweaters that looked like the ones your grandma knits you for your birthday not realizing you only liked unicorns for about a week when you were seven. Style is taking a hit and there is nothing we can do about it. All we can do is throw on our baggy college logo sweatpants and that free t-shirt for going to support our school's basketball team in their effort to not go winless for the season and hope it gets better. I realize that the economy is actually affecting people in serious ways, and I'm in no way trying to belittle the seriousness of the situation that our country is in. What in the World is going on??

  

Summer Concert Lovin'

I've made it a summertime ritual of mine to attempt to attend a few concerts in my local area. This tradition began last year with John Mayer, Billy Joel, and Bruce Springsteen. Already marked with permanent ink on my calendar are The Fray with Jack's Mannequin and Dave Matthew's Band. They will be particularly enjoyable in part of my stance against any "pregaming" activities in the parking lot beforehand. I've decided I would enjoy myself better if I could actually remember hearing "Dark Blue" and "Ants Go Marching" rather than stumbling to locate the facilities every eight minutes. I have nothing against tailgating, but I can put away a twenty four pack any random tuesday I want. Why not just go to the concert for the music rather than pay $100 admissions for a carbon emissions plagued drinking contest? I have nothing against firing up the grill, having the occasional Corona with lime, but getting completely trashed before a concert diminishes the integrity of the musical appreciating experience. All in all, these concerts should be awesome. Seeing Jack's Mannequin will by far be the highlight of my concert experience this coming July. Listening to the beautiful piano melodies with the second to none company of my girlfriend will make this a concert never to forget. I've included some videos of Jack's Mannequin for those of you who don't know about them. They'll probably leaving you thinking "What in the World have I been doing without them?"


Jack's Mannequin "The Resolution" - The funniest home videos are here

The Madness Is Upon Us

Every March, spring is right around the corner. The snow is melting, temperatures are hitting a luke warm 50 degrees, the occasional cold front smothers the suburbs with a blizzard, the flowers are budding, swiffers are swiffing, green bagels are selling like hot cakes, and love is in the air. March has something for everyone. And by everyone I mean lightweight pants, fur lined jackets, gardeners, cleaning services, bagel boss, and the lonely. However, for everyone else who isn't getting a jump on their spring cleaning, a momentous sporting event has begun. The 2009 NCAA March Madness Tournament started up yesterday. After hours and hours of analyzing every match up and re-writing my bracket about thirty times, I finally have the recipe for success. And by recipe for success I mean a bracket where I picked every winner correctly. At least after Day 1 I did. I could get into every single game and spit out every tid-bit of information I know, but I'll spare you the haphazard commentary. I'm sure anyone who is interested has heard enough from Dick Vitale and Digger Phelps everyday for the past week. So to get into the more important games, my final four is Louisville vs. Memphis, Duke vs. UNC. My Championship match-up is Memphis vs. UNC, with Memphis coming out on top of the heap after a high paced track meet. Despite the fact that Memphis didn't show up yesterday and had a tough time with Cal St. Northridge (who?), I think that with their "we get no respect from ESPN" hard nosed defense, a great point guard in Tyreke Evans, and occasional up surd scoring outbursts from the likes of Roburt Sallie, they have what it takes to be cutting down the nets in a few weeks. Don't get me wrong, the Tarheels have an outstanding squad. But I think that an injury troubled Ty Lawson is going to be their Kryptonite. And if the tournament goes according to my bracket he will have to face elite guards Pargo (Gonzaga), Johnny Flinn (Syracuse), the combination of Nolan Smith and Elliot Williams (Duke) and then Tyreke Evans of Memphis in consecutive games. Even though they do have one of the greatest college basketball players ever in Tyler Hansborough, a great scorer in Wayne Ellington, and role players in Danny Green and Ed Davis, unhealthy Ty Lawson= no championship trophy. I could go on and on and on about college hoops, but this is my opinion in a nutshell, a really really tiny nutshell. I'm hoping someone will actually read this, comment, throwing their hat into the March Madness ring. Until then I'll be watching the Marquette vs. Utah St. game thinking  "What in the World is going on??"