I just…I just don’t understand it.

I’ve pretty much said “screw it” with rap.  Listening to it anyways.  I’m actually doing a rap/rock project at the moment along the lines of Rage Against the Machine.  Some of you have heard the instrumental I’m working with right now.  It’s written, just waiting until I’ve got some more completed, then I’ll head to the studio and lay down the vocal tracks.

But anyways, yeah, pretty much done with it.  Of course when The Roots, Little Brother, Lupe, or Jay drops, I’ll go pick it up.  Some others as well, but just naming a few.  But this shit down here in Dallas is RIDICULOUS.  I mean I’ve never heard worse in my life.  For example, there’s this joint out right now called “Clean As A Whistle”.  After some googling, I found out who it was by and was surprised there was actually a lyrics page for this.  Humor me for a moment and read this: Click For Lyrics

If you’d like to sing along:

I don’t want to pick on him as if he’s the sole reason I’m writing this, just kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back.  I’m aware of dance music.  I’m aware of catchy beats.  I like some of those beats as well.  But has there ever been a genre of music that’s just been ruined so badly?  God damnit Dallas, we’re pathetic.  This is the best we have to show?  This and that Big Chiefa “I think she like my swag” shit?  REALLY?

You know the music is awful when I change the radio to a “hip-hop” station and I can either hear two sounds from the beat or one lyric from the song and know that it’s going to be nauseating.

Jesus Christ man.  I was in the studio with a certain rapper about two weeks ago, recording him.  He’s got a single on the radio in Dallas.  He’s apparently about to sign to a major label.  I’m walking through the door to fill in the for the engineer that’s currently running the session and I’ve got my camera around my neck to take some pictures of the studio and this guy in the booth begins hollering at me. “Oh yuh, turn your camera on and get me n*gga.  Get this n*gga”.  I look at him like, “Nah”.  Seriously, what the fuck?  I’m cocky when I record too, but I’m not over the top.  When I say I’m cocky I mean when the engineer hits record and I’m about to lay my verse down, a confident person speaks.  Not cocky in the terms of I’m the be-all-end-all of everything on this planet.  I might say I’m the best in a verse, but NEVER will I walk around and speak to others in a demanding fashion to pay me mind.  Stop talking to me, face the microphone, record your shitty verse and leave, please.  Then he records this awful track, comes back in the the control room high as hell on himself talking about “THIS IS WHAT I DO!  THIS IS WHAT I DO!”.  I’ve never moved my bowels and been that happy about creating waste that I had to exclaim it to everyone, so why does he?

Mindboggling.

But I’ve gotten way off track.

This Clean as a Whistle song.  Does this guy pride himself off these lyrics?  Let me quote some gems.

Actually, as I looked to copy/paste some of them from the lyrics page I linked, I didn’t know where one stopped and one ended.  Just read them and you’ll see.  Here’s an example of a hot song.

The Roots - Why (What’s Going On?)

Sky’s the limit so you know I’m gonna rise and shine
I gotta do my thing, I’m kinda getting a little tired of all that’s hidden
That’s the reason I’m a speak my mind, keep from going insane
Now work with it, we in the last innin’
The world keeps spinnin’, my peoples steady losin’ while the rich keep winnin’
It’s like we neva smilin’ and the devil steady grinnin’
killin’ what we representin’
Even our children and women, 2K4, livin’ above and under the law
Young teen joins the marines, says he’ll die for the core
Inducted up into the goverment’s war as if the land of money and oil
Funny how ain’t none of it yours
I can’t sleep yo I’m paranoid, it’s code orange
It’s far from right, I guess that’s why it feels so wrong
To see the world get stripped out of every resource
And people pray to Coca-Cola now instead of the gods
What’s goin’ on?

WHY?? [hook repeats out]

Alright, now does it even seem as if these two songs belong in the same genre of music?  Hell no.  You may say The Roots aren’t just hip-hop.  I’ll give you that.  Here’s a link to Lupe Fiasco’s “Real”. Click For Lyrics.

Really?  REALLY?

Rap is by far the most degrading, pathetic, ignorant music as a whole EASILY.  And nobody, at least around here cares.  We’ll dance to a song called “Do The Stanky Leg” so much that it’s gone NATION-WIDE.  We’ll support something like that while an artist who actually has something to say, who actually has talent, who actually can speak to you will get overlooked.

I used to get in to heated arguments about this.  I once got called out because I “hated” on Yung Joc.  Excuse me for calling bullshit, bullshit.

I’m cool with a guy I used to rap with, no longer though because he enjoys making that type of music while I, obviously despise it with every fiber in my body.  Around Christmas time he was going to be back in town and he asks me to find this beat for him.  Plies - Me and My Goons.  That leads me to believe that he listens to that song and enjoys it.  Wanna hear it?

Here, sing along too: Click For Lyrics.

Holy shitballs, would you read the youtube comments?  There’s something to be said about the people that follow your music.  Let’s lead a revolution of people who get hyped about commiting homicides and dealing drugs.

My mind is so infuriated right now I can hardly even think.

Ugh.  But whatever.  When my band completes some music, I’ll be sure to link everyone to something worth listening to.

Captain Save-A-Genre signing out.

And so it’s official. President Obama.

Well, got off of work early today and was able to catch the inauguration.  I’ve never seen a crowd like that in my entire life.  Today makes me think of just how awful it would’ve been to see McCain get sworn in.  Sorry if you were a McCain supporter, but you cannot deny the effect Barack Obama has had on this country’s morale.  I do believe there are smoother roads ahead, within Obama’s time as our President.  I hope that with this inauguration, a new era can be ushered in of honesty, integrity, peace, hard work, and happiness as opposed to the last 8 years where we’ve suffered through two wars, a total economic collapse, lies, deceit, fraud, and criminal agendas.

Here’s to 4+ years in the right direction.

And Juwanna Mann is on Comedy Central right now.  Today is a good day.

Joaquin Zihuatenejo

That’s talent.

He’s a teacher in the Dallas Independent School District, and if what I hear is correct, he’s over in Paris, France representing the United States in a very prestigious competition.

His passion is incredible.

Can we PLEASE change what “hot” means?

Or at least scrap the word altogether? I think the word “hot” has been completely redefined. Nowadays, it’s more common to find a girl with basketball sized boobs and an ass that rivals the circumference of the Earth attractive than it is to find a very proportionate woman to be. What’s even worse is that 99% of the time, the woman who is “hot” due to these outlandish features has a hideous face, and yet most guys would still “hit that”.

Quick note: If you watch “The Girls Next Door”, “The Rock Of Love”, or any of those other God awful excuses for TV shows on a regular basis, you sicken me. I’ve seen drag queens that are more attractive than any of the “sexy” women on those shows.

When did we go from Marilyn Monroe to CoCo?

From Tyra Banks to Buffie The Body?

Are we serious? Honestly? The most beautiful women on this planet are beautiful beyond their chest and behind. It’s hilarious that what’s even on their chests and behinds is even considered attractive in the first place, but again, whatever.

I’ll willingly admit, as a man, I find a woman with decently sized breast and a decently sized behind more appealing than a woman that’s flatter than a tabletop, because it’s the curves that are attractive. (Score for finding a lady that suits this!)

But even then, there are tons of women who what seems like the majority of guys would overlook to get a shot with a CoCo or a Pamela Anderson.

Off the top of my head…

Rachel McAdams

Charlize Theron

Carrie Underwood

All of those women are pretty damn tiny in every way, but are also, all-in-all, more attractive than these super”models” that are truly sluts.

There are women that are pretty or attractive but perhaps not just drop dead gorgeous. Tons of them. Problem is too many times their minor flaws get magnified or they don’t have enough T&A to become some super sex vixen.

Examples:

Tina Fey

Emma Watson (Hermoine Granger from Harry Potter)

She’s all grown up and classier than 99% of 18+ famous females.

Hayley Williams (I adore her.)

I think she’s incredible. Sure, her figure isn’t amazing, and her teeth could use a little work (lol), but she’s cute as hell and her talent magnifies it even more.

Why do we allow this onslaught of sex, sex, sex, and more sex in the media mold our minds into thinking that’s what attractive women are? It saddens me because it makes other women think they need to portray themselves as those types of females. Just because that’s what gets the attention. It makes some men view women differently. Instead of, “Wow, she’s beautiful,” it’s “Damn, look at that ass!”. Pathetic really.

So what’s a more attractive body…

Hilary Swank

or Jodie Marsh

I would hope some of us would stop being so shallow.

Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

Ah, good song.

Anyhoo.

I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t pay too much attention to college football, especially since my Hoosiers are rarely on TV at all, and the Fighting Irish have been ass since Charlie Weis took over.  But I normally catch a few quarters of some of the BCS bowl games, including a hefty chunk of the National Championship game, and seeing two Heisman winners Tebow and Bradford go head to head isn’t something you always get in a title game.  It’s pretty exhilarating to watch.

Thankfully we could possibly see this happen again as both have decided to stay in school, Tebow for his senior year, and Bradford for his redshirt Junior year.

I always think it’s great when a superstar college athlete decides to stay in school and give it another year, or even decide to play all four.  It’s even more impressive when they decide to do it when their professional draft status would be very high.

Although, can the decision to stay in school actually hurt you?

Academically, of course not.  Physically and Financially?  Definitely.

It’s a privilege to play sports at any competitive level, let’s not forget that.  In school, if you don’t make the grades you don’t get to play.  It’s that simple and it’s how it should be.  Though sometimes it sickens me that in some schools (my old high school for example), if a coach had a player not pulling his weight in the classroom, he’d make a special trip to that teacher and somehow “persuade” them to pass their athlete [I'm looking at you, Texas High School Football].  It’s retarded, but that’s really beside the point.

So if you’re a stud athlete in college and you decide to stick it out all 4 years, how can it possibly hurt you?

Let’s ask Matt Leinart, quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals.  He won the Heisman his Junior year at the University of Southern California and was projected to be the #1 draft pick in the following NFL draft, but he chose to stay another year.  In doing so, he lost in the national championship and entered the NFL draft with a much better draft class.  He slipped to the 10th overall pick and nearly cost him $20 million dollars in guaranteed money.  TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS!  It’s insane that someone playing a game should even get paid that much, but if you have the opportunity to make 20 million…you make the 20 million.

That’s the just financial standpoint, but what would be worse is hurting yourself BOTH financially and physically.

Check this scenario out.  You’re a college basketball player, you’re breaking all kinds of records, you’re a great student-athlete, everybody loves you, a great role model, and sure to be the next big thing in professional sports, and you’re a sophomore.  The agents all want a piece of you, everyone thinks you should go pro because they want to say they know an NBA player, but mom and dad want you to get your education, too.  No harm in that.  Until you’re playing some slack team with nothing to play for, and you accidentally blow out your knee on a bonehead play by somebody else.   They are calling it a career-ending injury.  Your childhood dreams, crushed.  Your immediate fortune, gone.  Your nest-egg for your future kids college funds, vanished.

That’s a scary thought.  Even if it’s not a career-ending injury, a bad enough injury can keep you from playing at the level the pro team you’re drafted by expected you to play.  There goes your playing time, eventually you’re released, nobody wants to take a chance on you, then what?

I look at it this way.  You can always go back to college.  It’s even easier to go back when you’ve got millions of dollars to pay for it with.

Pete Carroll of USC has a situation on his hands where his quarterback Mark Sanchez declared today that he would be entering the draft.  He’s only played 16 games as a college athlete, sitting behind both Matt Leinart and John David Booty, both NFL quarterbacks.  He’s leaving for the NFL as a Junior and Pete Carroll is upset with him.  He feels he’s not ready, but can you really blame the kid?  His draft status would be high.  Top 10 even.  People make the argument that he won’t be ready for the NFL after playing only 16 games in college.  Matt Cassell didn’t take a single college snap and had a great year for the New England Patriots.  All the reps he got in practice obviously amounted to something.  Pete Carroll doesn’t think Sanchez will be ready, though he sat behind two current NFL quarterbacks, one being a Heisman trophy winner?  I’m sure he’s learned a thing or two.

Point is, I think college is good for anyone.  Everyone should go and get their education, but if your career is calling and you want to make that jump and start the rest of your life a year or two earlier than “normal”, you shouldn’t feel guilty in the least bit.

*nod*

Only a month and a half or so until March Madness!

-  Lonnie “Wrythm” Clark

Oh my, how lame we were.

So I’m talking to my girlfriend, and she’s telling me about how she had all of these notebooks her and her friends would write back and forth in during middle school and high school or whatever. Then she found a bunch of notes she had received from friends and while she never really went into any detail about how incredibly lame they were, I was once a high schooler. The lame was inside of me, too. A few things come to mind when I remember grade school and the form of communication we had come to use before cellphones and texting ruled our lives. The “note”.

A few interesting tidbits about “the note”.

1) If a boy was interested in a girl, 9 times out of 10, he tried to make sure his handwriting was more legible than any English paper he’d ever written. Apparently we thought penmanship was important in courting a lady or something.

2) Girls decorated the bejesus out of their notes. My lord, it’s an art no straight man had ever grasped (or even wanted to grasp), but females were amazing at it. A guys note was as plain as the piece of paper he so neatly wrote on. But the lady’s? No way. I had the 128 color crayola crayons, and damnit, I know for a fact there were colors used on those notes that no combination of crayons and RoseArt markers could ever birth, but somehow…there they were.

3) Seriously girls…you could’ve just folded the notes in a regular way. You know, a couple of hamburger folds, couple of hot dog folds and be done with it. But no, these were secret notes. You had to fold them so that we got frustrated while unfolding them, or even worse, folding the damned things BACK! I was good with the little note that had the “pull here” tab. I could roll with that. I was a pro at that one. But what the hell was with this crap?

If for some God forsaken reason you want to torment someone, learn how to fold that here.

There are many other folds. The heart fold, the box fold, etc. It was painful enough for the guy to WRITE our damn notes, so it made it even more astonishing that not only did you write a college dissertation in “lolspeak”, and color it like crazy, you spent another stretch of time learning how to fold the freaking thing into different shapes and sizes. And none of which, any competent male could have possibly done in less than 2 hours!

It’s amazing, honestly.

5…or 4 if you’re keeping count [my mistake, shut up]) The actual note itself, read 4 years later would probably make your face explode. The amount of embarrassment and lameness that oozes from each sentence…*shudders*

You see, I came across notes of this sort about 2 or so years ago…I read about half of one and nearly shot myself. I tried to read another, got about 2 sentences into it before I began fashioning a noose out of the closest thing I could find capable.

Though it *is* embarrassing, it’s pretty hilarious to look back on things and see just how we really do mature in life. I couldn’t imagine talking like that now OR then, but apparently I did at one point.

I think that we don’t truly realize how much we mature, because we’re with ourselves every moment of our lives. From the outside looking in, I’m sure it’s more evident. I think these old grade school notes are another way to show us just how completely off-the-wall insane we were.

In 4 years I should re-read this post. Maybe I’ll have matured a bit more.

- Lonnie “Wrythm” Clark

Jizz In My Pants…

Enjoy.