the dotmatrix project

Disorder has to be the best way to describe the state of FM radio today.

Here we have this ingenious group of people whose music individually (and now we know collectively) is always on the cutting edge, always leaving us wanting more. They all have such great originality and musical ability.

Why are they not all over the radio like maybe Young Joc, Young Dro, Young Jezzy, Young Buck?

Music is becoming more the business than the art.

So we have to ask ourselves what actually sounds good and makes you feel good? And, if you came up with that feeling on your own.

In business, the best way to sell your product is to know the market. Hopefully you can know it so well that you can make something they like before the consumer even gets to test it out. If you’re very lucky (or the most clever) you can mold your customer to want whatever it is you sell. The latter is the hardest but is that not where record labels have gotten so many people with their huge sphere of influence? An influence that dictates what is played on the radio and what is most accessible. An influence that makes people feel almost inadequate if they are not in with the trends.

I must admit I’ve fallen for some of the Soulja Boy songs against my (hopefully) better judgment. My disorder? I go to clubs for business and I would be so disappointed at what I heard, yet, I found myself wanting to like the music like I thought everyone else did.

Thank goodness a friend of mine who was all into this fad admitted to me that he really wasn’t as in it as much as he lead others to believe. Can I be mad that he wasn’t truthful with himself and others? A little maybe, but I was turning into a hypocrite myself.

So since I’m not the only one feeling this way there still just had to be a reason why it’s so popular.

That’s when I realized maybe people just don’t care about what they hear anymore; they just want to have “fun”. Add some deep bass and words they repeat over and over, loudly at that, and it feels “fun”, I’m only guessing? I too let go, my ex roommate Dima wanted to kill me for that; I just told her “It’s just fun, I just don’t think about what I’m listening to and pretend that I really like it, it’s the new thing!” She knew I was kidding, but I don’t think the other people who say that to themselves realize how detrimental this music is to the progress of our music and to the people as well.

We really can’t have more children wanting to be the next [insert sucky rapper] when they grow up.

On a side note, since when did you have to stop thinking to have fun? Oh yea, that goes with those who have to get sloppy drunk to have a good time too…

Try this: Next time your alarm goes off get out a pen and paper and write down what you’re going to eat at the next fast food restaurant you go to… Post the “song” with the “music” from the loud beep on YouTube and it really could be the next big thing.

Just like Wale said “Hip Hop’s not dead,” but I’d add the radio is.

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(originally uploaded by ElPrimo181)

NYOIL on that “Nigga” Nas

[…] Nas you’re that nigga that pretends to have a grasp on the social quagmire that our people are stuck in and yet cannot for the life of you articulate or justify your position on this obvious plea for controversy. Does this brother realize that his attempts at diffusing the word “Nigger” by making it some all inclusive colloquialism to represent all races is as weak as the beat he spit it too?

Does he realize that when Robert Schwartz decides to stop being a nigger all he has to do is change his look; maybe trade in the bapes and backpack put on a suit and he’s right and exact.

When Robert Yung decides he’s no longer a nigga he can be whatever an person of Asian decent can be in the country stereo types not withstanding.

When Robert Rodriguez decides to stop being a nigger he can become a proud man of Latin descent.

However for Robert Jenkins, whose Grand parents were NIGGERS, blown over by fire hoses and beat within an inch of their lives, when the term meant what it will always mean despite his attempts to make it a term of endearment. Whom despite his affluence or allegiance has to be as scared as a runaway slave when pulled over for driving black or shopping black, or standing in a group of more than 3 in his own neighborhood while black or any of the number of things blacks can do innocently while being black and end up dead because the Cop who shot him 50 times like Shawn Bell or 42 like Amadou Diallo didn’t consider himself a nigger… We’re the only race that embraces our disgrace, and now you would have everyone else sing along with us in our shame.

My nigga Nas

You’ve been everything they ever told you to be. Nasty Nas, Nastrodomas, Nas Escobar. and now you’re their Nigga.

At what point are you going to be a MAN? […]

I’ll save my opinion until I vic the album, digest the lyrics and flow and write a review. Of course I’ll be coming from a different position with my opinion than NYOIL, but I think I’ll be able to speak to dispersing self-degradation as a concept.

In any case, can you say, “OUCH!?”

UPDATE: I had to include NYOIL’s What Up My Wgga? in the conversation:

Is the Obama shoulder brush in 2008 the pop equivalent of Clinton playing the sax on Arsenio Hall in ‘91?

Classic.

(via Nah Right)

All that’s left to see is Charles Gibson doing the Superman dance.

(via Ill Doctrine)

Is this for real?

If it is, this completely redefines the concept of selling out. I know the music industry is in the shitter these days, and of course Kanye West isn’t Anton Newcombe, but still… this is pretty damn crazy.

May 17th at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Do I need to say anything?

(originally uploaded by stublog)

Bob Lefsetz
Apple Buys Universal
April 1, 2008

[…] With the Net ablaze with talk of Jim Griffin’s P2P licensing scheme, Steve Jobs has worked in secret to pull off the staggering, mind-bending, game-changing acquisition of Universal Music.

[…]

And starting April 15th, all Universal tracks at the iTunes Store will be fifteen cents. Steve wanted the price to be lower, rumor has it as low as nine cents, but he couldn’t convince Marty Bandier and the rest of the publishers to lower their share, so fifteen cents it is. […]

I’m holding on as if this is a huge prank. Not that I disagree with a similar move, though:

Me
Jermaine Dupri’s Shuck ‘N Jive
November 21, 2007

[…] If Universal and Warner both pulled out of iTunes tomorrow, Jobs could shift his focus to the relatively untapped, global long tail market of unsigned and small label acts in the wild. If he made it easier for such acts to upload music to his arena, he could pocket the cut (53%) that once went to labels like Universal and Warner, turn off DRM (the only reason he’s using it is because the big labels insist upon using it) and start a price war that even four gas stations at an intersection haven’t seen before.

You think labels are struggling now? That kind of a move would truly revolutionize the industry. And Jobs wouldn’t have too much to lose as it’s the iPod — not iTunes music sales — that is Apple’s revenue darling.

Who needs whom?

[…]

I’d bet my bank that an indie artist would jump at the opportunity to have their album/tracks available in as prime of a spot as iTunes with a $.29 price point per song. If I have $10 to spend on music, I have $10 to spend on music. Set a market-friendly price and watch sales jump through the roof while illegal downloads decrease, overnight. […]

If this were true, it’d be game on.

UPDATE: Alas…

UPDATE II: The best April Fool’s Day post in 2008 has to go to Davey D (Myspace blog):

[…] “New York City being the center of the cultural universe is a myth. It’s one big urban legend that in many ways is harmful”, Rochester stated. “One of the biggest falsehoods is that New York City is the birthplace of the music phenomenon called Hip Hop. For almost three decades we have been led to believe that a bunch kids from public housing projects went out and created one of the most vibrant and certainly one of the most popular art forms in the 21st century. It sounds good on TV. It reads well in newspaper. It tugs at our heart strings”, Rochester grimaced, “But the truth of the matter is this cultural expression is rooted in Texas sharecropping and cowboy culture.” […]

Oh man, his flock of sycophant Hip Hop heads ate that shit up! Bravo, D.

G.R.L. @ M.o.M.A. from fi5e on Vimeo.

(via Wooster)

One of the many reasons I love visiting NYC is that I know I’ll most likely discover an inspiring indie film that has zero chance of reaching theaters back in Greensboro. Aside from the art house section within Carousel Cinemas, there just aren’t many theaters in the area that cater to such a niche.

Persepolis is a beautifully told and engaging, animated story of a young Iranian girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution and experiencing the changes that Islamic Law brought to her sense of freedom. Music is a huge element of the story, as she finds punk and metal to be the antithesis of acceptable forms of expression and a vehicle for rebellion — a similar post-puberty approach to rebellion by millions of kids back in the states, except this form of rebellion could get you hung… or worse.

The film is a tad bit long, but the story cries for details as it’s far more expansive than a coming of age story. Persepolis paints a vivid picture of life in Iran — how the Shah both entered and exited the scene, presenting a position on the United State’s role in the Iran/Iraq war and expressing day-to-day life in a country where freedom is more cherished by its people than oxygen — a complex situation often painted in broad strokes by Western media and history books.

The animation’s art direction is spot on and highly original. There were a few short war and protest scenes where the imagery seemed to be loosely referencing elements of The Wall, but much more as an ode to than a straight bite.

Persepolis is one of those films that really should be seen.

Along the lines of historical knowledge being dropped through art; if you’re looking for a song to provide factual, historical context to the situation in the middle east, I highly recommend Head (Of State) by The Coup.