it’s everything that bothers me about contemporary pop/r&B squeezed into a prepubescent white boy reppin atl when he’s really from ontario (and what’s not wrong with that?). who would have thought R. Kelly would come to represent the most consistently good R&B from the last couple of decades or so? i’ll admit though, the pose at the end of the music video made me say “aw”. still don’t feel bad about this post though.
i kind of tolerated this, a little bit:
despite the fact that it was trey songz and the other 4 artists just like him compacted into a pretty boy with a country singer’s name. at least the camera work is interesting. i think the only reason it’s not unbearable is because of the dream’s co-production. that’s one pop r&b dude i like.
i was thinking that maybe ego is a euphemism for a truck. you know, maybe bey was having trouble parking her truck in the garage or something.
i appreciate kanye’s presence in music. noticed he quotes jay (izzo) and himself (last call) haha
2:18 how does it look like you have ‘new growth’ when you’re wearing a weave? (anyone who’s ever had a relaxer will know what i’m talking about). is that what thick hair and tracks look like? or is her hair supposed to look natural…
seriously… is anyone else into this charles hamilton thing?
1.
It’s interesting because when Chris Brown hit Rihanna, people took both sides but for the most part there was a general consensus that it was “messed up” on some level. Charles Hamilton getting punched by his (ex?)-girlfriend Briana, on the other hand, is circulating as some funny sh!t!
In my opinion, Briana’s violence against Charles Hamilton (all of which we have is the public display. who’s to say what goes on behind closed doors) is just as unacceptable as Chris Brown hitting on Rihanna. Violence is not okay regardless of if it is physical, verbal, emotional, whatever, and regardless of the genders of the people involved.
Why is it that violence against women is more regularly acknowledged as wrong, and violence against men is seen as excusable (and in some cases, empowering)? (How often is a woman setting a man’s stuff on fire/throwing things out the window framed as positive?) And why is it that women hit men with the expectation that they should not/will not get hit back? It seems that we analyze and judge how acceptable violence is based on certain circumstances: size of the people, what one did to “deserve it,” degree of intimacy/time spent together, frequency of occurrence. Among the types of violence that we tend to not take seriously is domestic violence where the aggressor is a woman and violence in non-heterosexual relationships.
What’s interesting is Charles addressed his relationship on his blog:
First, I can’t escape how I feel about Briana. I opened my heart to her, and we spiraled where we spiraled. I’m glad that matters of the heart (and fist) is public entertainment (as said with sarcastic smirk), but the fact of the matter is, I LOVE TO NO END. I’m the kind of person that, I told her to hit me HARDER next time. Knock me the f*ck out. I deserved it. I mean, that punch was on behalf of… lol… every Charles Hamilton ex-girlfriend, every rapper I sh1tted on, every teacher that I f*cked with, every cop I harassed… I deserved such abuse.
I’m not here to psychoanalyze anybody, buuuttt .. ! What are your thoughts? love is complicated, sure. we’ve all been in situations that, in retrospect, weren’t right. it’s very difficult sometimes to draw lines in your own relationship, and more difficult to draw them for others. However, nobody ever deserves abuse. It doesn’t matter how large or small the scale nor what one supposedly did.
2.
This video seems like Hood News caught up with Charles and Briana for an impromptu make-up interview. Please don’t watch the whole thing, it’s painfully awkward.
3.
(it’s 10 min)
So… by the time that i get around to the third video, I’m just confused.
It’s almost like Hamilton wants to use the punch as some kind of catalyst for publicity … after the fact. Or he’s just addressing it so much that it’s no longer amusing? Or, he’s providing us with a tool for discourse around violence in personal relationships that is different from the usual man against woman story. He seems like a smart (or at least self-aware) person, so I can’t help but wonder why he’s approaching “the punch” the way he is.. in an almost satirical yet somewhat seriously introspective way. I’m intrigued by his willingness to make his dealings with post-punch relationship public, although I can’t figure out if it’s working to his advantage…
I’m also interested in the fact that this is all happening by way of independent/DIY/new media (youtube, twitter, etc). (The “counseling session” was someone videotaping a computer screen of a live chat.. whaatt?) What does it mean when you can produce/broadcast your own hype? Whether it’s bad or good (which, for Hamilton, is debatable), it generates exposure. It gives us the power to image ourselves as celebrities. Particularly, if we can get enough people to watch our stuff, other folks will come across it and assume we are important/worth watching simply because it seems as though other people do. we can become “well-known for our well-knownness”. Hamilton, who seems to be a pretty computer-geeky type guy anyway, has exercised a surprising degree of control over his publicity (especially as a rap artist signed to a major label). But to what end?
And how useful is his session with Briana? Are we as upset about them still being together (judging from the blog) as we would be if Rihanna and Chris Brown put out a video? Is it “not so bad” because she just socked him once?
Since I’m writing about him, I did listen to some of his music. He puts out some creative stuff. a little annoying, but i like it. like drake and cudi.
oh, btw this is his single:
Is it just me or is that a KP and Envyi sample? 6th grade, what’s good.
Needless to say… Drake has been in somewhat heavy rotation. The track off So Far Gone that I’m REALLY popping right now is this one. quality is so much better on the download though, so cop. here’s the single:
the “all up in your slot” line makes me cringe. he definitely should have thought that one through a little bit more. dude’s flow is strangely reminiscent of wayne’s (or is it the other way around..?), whose label Young Money he is “affiliated with”. of course i can’t really post this without mentioning that he’s on Degrassi. canada’s overly dramatic and ridiculously heavy soap opera for preteens. i’m down with that though, let me tell my little sister Jimmy’s on the come-up.
this tape isn’t quite popped yet but i think it’s worth putting out there. it was between this and slim thug’s wood grain wheel. a very close call i must say.
so it’s P.O.S. (pissed off stef), Minneapolis based emcee signed to Minnesota’s own Rhymesayers label. “Optimist (We Are Not For Them)” is the second video from his third album Never Better that was released in February.
His flow has a spoken word free style to it. I think I like it, minus the little bit of linkin park esque different-kind-of-hiphop-artist angst that he throws in there every now and then. thats not really my steez, but hey.
If you like what you hear, support. and can we please get into his album website for a minute? he’s on that next…
so, my goal is to have a weekly series that im calling ‘popped tape’ which refers to a song or artist that i’m playing out. it won’t always necessarily be new, but hopefully it’ll usually be something new for someone.
this week it’s thecocknbullkid. she’s giving me afro glam electro dance, and i.am.loving it.
madonna, boy george and grace jones all come together to birth janelle monae’s black sheep cousin — thecocknbullkid.
I can’t seem to find the full SNL video anywhere (it’s worth it). But hopefully someone will enjoy this before NBC (or Beyonce’s army-which is more likely) takes it down. I’ll try to keep it updated.
