the dotmatrix project

(via wooster collective)

(via Nah Right)

Rebel Diaz

Wall Street tumbled again Monday (gun shot).
The Treasury Department has formally asked Congress to approve a $700 billion dollar bailout of the financial industry (gun shot)
The Bush Administration proposal could be the largest government bailout of private industry in the nation’s history (gun shot)
Some analysts say the final cost to taxpayers could top one trillion dollars
One trillion dollars
One trillion dollars

Yeah
(A trillion)
A lot of people askin’
(A trillion)
Is that really nine zeros?
(A trillion)
Nah, homie, that’s twelve
(A trillion)
(A trillion)
(A trillion)

Lot of speculations on the moneys they made
Markets they played
Pimpin’ the system ’cause they run the game
They trades inside in the old boys network
Money stays in as they build they net worth
Ledges gets cooked
The books get fixed
And if it all falls down, in steps the government
Oh you bailed out?
Shit, no jailhouse?
In my hood you flip currency you get charged with conspiracy
Admittedly dog, all these numbers complicated
Stocks and the bonds and the inside trading
But I ain’t in over my head
When I know we’re getting juiced
How they ain’t throwin the book at them Wall Street crooks?
Look, if was to flip money that ain’t even exist
Or get a loan on my home and not pay back that shit
Interest would stack up
Moving truck would back up
And the repo man would pack everything up
Stuck and wake up, about to lose it all
And no one would come and save me with a trilly rewards

(A trillion)
(A trillion)
Haha!
(A trillion)
That’s what they givin’ out nowadays, man
(A trillion)
Come on, look

Lil’ Wayne making a mill
Jay makin’ a bill
But look who got the money, they loanin’ them trilllls
This is hypocrisy on a monumental scale
These the real crooks
But we the ones in jail
These conservative Republicans want the government out of their businesses when they makin’ money
Yet when their greed puts them in a little fix
They the first to call daddy Bush so he can bail them out quick
The same dudes who made laws so they could trade without regulation is the brains behind McCain’s administration
(Now what you mean, who that?)
Let’s call up Phil Graham
Or Alan Greenspan
Or maybe we could start with the Enron collapse
Or the S&L scandal right before that
It’s not complicated, just do the math
I have to inform, it’s part of my craft
$85 billion to save AIG
It could have gave us health care to fight HIV
So they gave financial freedom to Charles Keating
While we live a nightmare they was American dreamin’ making..

(A trillion)
(A trillion)
(A trillion)
Come on!
(A trillion)

As sure they set a premium
Bankrupt the Brother’s Lehman
Slap on the wrist, turn around and called it even
But the deficit deepens
They drowning in debt
All their money’s spent
So they print more of it
Damn, it’s that easy to solve all our problems?
Then how come in the hood we starvin’?
Infuse some green backs into seeds that would lead us
Instead of an illegal war overseas, man
It’s war over oil
War on the poor
If you ain’t payin’ taxes you expendable
Another soldier in the army of the unemployed
So they could hire me for less if they fired my boy
The strong rebuild, divide and conquer
How they live with themselves and their moral conscious
Their moral conscious is pulled by forces
Sitting at the table eating extra portions
Greedy notions
Evil, deceitful inside the people
Me, I’m on the side that resides within you
Love and the honest, righteous thing to do
I look forward to
And prey these Wall Street types find the light
If they don’t
If we don’t fight
Human kind won’t survive

(A trillion)
Yo!
(A trillion)
Look if you can’t oversee your need

(A trillion)
Or legislate away hate
(A trillion)
Then the sign of the times say that we
(A trillion)
In spiritual warfare… and that’s keeping it
(A trillion)

UPDATE: Danny fills any gaps in the rap:

Daughtry: Greensboro, NC - 3/23/07

Obama: Greensboro, NC - 9/27/08

Thankfully, Daughtry isn’t running for President.

Double thanks for the internet, otherwise I’d have to recognize Daughtry’s existance as a musician on a daily basis.

For people managing indie band profiles, the above music player is the only discernible difference between the old MySpace setup and the new one.

And in typical MySpace fashion, it sports bugs — the rotate on entry playlist setting doesn’t work and the play count is busted, stuck at 10. The worst feature change of all? You no longer have the choice to give away your music with free download links.

The entire launch is focused on the major labels, so now people can friend major label minions who are busy managing multiple acts, like U2 and Coldplay, stream tracks and buy tunes on Amazon via MySpace.

What exactly is so earth shattering about this experience?

[...] “The whole consumption patterns for both music and video have changed a great deal in the last five years,” MySpace co-founder and CEO Chris DeWolfe said. “We wanted to put together a music service consistent with those changing patterns and layer a business model around it.” [...]

Why would I invest my time in listening to streaming music on a site with as crappy of a user experience as MySpace? Last.fm has a much more intuitive interface, but even streaming music over there is painful.

“Consumption patterns”

Ah, that’s right. The suits needed to add features that could return dividends through aggregate consumption.

Just like the horrible click count user experience with MySpace proper, which drives ad revenue, these upgrades weren’t made to improve the user experience for users of MySpace, they were made to increase the potential for revenue.

No wonder they can’t find a CEO to run the MySpace Music operation.

This isn’t a music service; it’s a music hack.

Now that’s a music video.

Thanks to the All Aces Media crew — Micah Moore, Blake Faucette and Andy Coon — for shooting and creating this Sin City’ish styled video. Sick, sick stuff.

Audio mix by the venerable Dan Bayer. You can download the live album on AmieStreet.

Remember, we have another show tonight. Come on down!

UPDATE: The interlacing issues will be fixed as soon as possible.

Poster design by Justin Reich

Lyrics by Tom Paxton

Oh the price of gold is rising out of sight
And the dollar is in sorry shape tonight
What the dollar used to get us now won’t buy a head of lettuce
No the economic forecast isn’t right
But amidst the clouds I spot a shining ray
I can even glimpse a new and better way
And I’ve devised a plan of action worked it down to the last fraction
And I’m going into action here today

CHORUS:
I am changing my name to Chrysler
I am going down to Washington D.C.
I will tell some power broker
What they did for Iacocca
Will be perfectly acceptable to me
I am changing my name to Chrysler
I am headed for that great receiving line
So when they hand a million grand out
I’ll be standing with my hand out
Yes sire I’ll get mine

When my creditors are screaming for their dough
I’ll be proud to tell them all where they can all go
They won’t have to scream and holler
They’ll be paid to the last dollar
Where the endless streams of money seem to flow
I’ll be glad to tell them what they can do
It’s a matter of a simple form or two
It’s not just remuneration it’s a liberal education
Ain’t you kind of glad that I’m in debt to you

CHORUS

Since the first amphibians crawled out of the slime (of the slime!)
We’ve been struggling in an unrelenting climb
We were hardly up and walking before money started talking
And it’s sad that failure is an awful crime
Well it’s been that way for a millennium or two
But now it seems that there’s a different point of view
If you’re a corporate titanic and your failure is gigantic
Down in congress there’s a safety net for you

CHORUS

I have no idea how Frank Zappa made it through this interview without popping John Lofton in his doughy mouth.

Shot by Aaron Aadland, Justin Sale and Jason Pierce, edited by Aaron Aadland and sound by Danny Bayer.

Thanks fellas.

Citified’s live album is available at both Last.fm and AmieStreet.com.