Things I Learned From Lollapalooza's Schedule
Lollapalooza has made two announcements prior to today. First they announced the headlining artists and supporting bands. Then they announced they were expanding. Today they announced the schedule. Here are some things I noticed.
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Muthaf**ka We Rollin'... Kanye, Common, and Lupe In Chicago
Damn... I wanted to go to this... Kanye West is hosting the second annual S.H.O.W. for High School kids. Last year's edition was pretty f**king awesome. I had a front row seat, and got some stage daps thrown my way. This year this were kept very hush hush, and got a boost as Kanye was joined on stage by Lupe Fiasco and Common. The pics from The Chicago Tribune, but I found them on LupEnd, and Mike Waxx also got a shot. Props to all of them, and sidenote, I hate you all... haha... Check out another pic below.
Aziz Ansari Is Smoother Than Diddy?
If I was ever going to have a "smooth-off" it would most likely definitely probably have Diddy and Aziz Ansari... Did you get it? Anyway, Aziz and Diddy participated in this new ad campaign for Circo in which they battle to see who is the smoothest with funny consequences. In related news, I have tickets to see Aziz Ansari in Chicago on June 16th, so I got that going for me. See the video below.
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Elvis Costello and Others Pull Out of Israeli Gigs
I was watching the news on Memorial Day. It was night time or sometime in the afternoon, I don't quite recall. I was tired from the Memorial Day activities, and I was zoning out. I woke up pretty quick when news broke about the Israeli Military's raid on a flotilla carrying activists and aid to Gaza. The video looked like something out of a movie, Israeli helicopters flew over the ship, and paratroopers descended and all hell broke loose. In the end, nine activists were dead. Israel said that the siege was justified and necessary, that the boat was not just carrying human rights activists looking to bring much needed aid, but was disguising weapons as well as those wishing to bring Israel harm. My first thought after being awakened from my slight slumber was , 'f**k, not again!'
For those that don't know me personally, or know much about me, I was born and raised in Chicago, IL. I am 28 years old. And I am Jewish. It's the last piece of my identity that is perhaps the most complex, as well as loosely defined. I actually tried to figure it out, really figure it out, and dedicated my senior year of college to a thesis about Jewish Identity entitled from Moses to Sandy Koufax: How Religion and Culture Intersect To Form Jewish Identity Amongst College Students. It was a long title, and a great experience, but I digress. My Jewish identity is more confusing to me when Israel gets involved. I think it was a few years ago when I told someone that it feels kind of like when you play on a team and disagree with your coach, but when it comes down to it, he is still your coach and it is still your team... Well, it gets harder to keep believing that every time Israel does something like this. It gets harder to justify Israel's actions, and some of what they do appears to be in great conflict with the ideals and beliefs that led to Israel's formation. But, this post is not meant to be my take on Israeli politics and statehood, or about my own feelings about Israel, which are complex and at times contradictory. It is about moves by some in the music world to cancel their scheduled concerts because they don't want to be affiliated with Israel's actions.
Elvis Costello is one such artist who pulled out of concert dates. He joins The Pixies and The Gorillaz, who also withdrew. Costello released a statement on his website entitled "It Is After Considerable Contemplation" in which he said,
Donnis: "Aquemini Freestyle"
He is bumpin' Passion Pit... Dope. Donnis is dropping a new mixtape tomorrow, and on Thursday he will be in Chicago for Digital Freshness at The Shrine! Get your tix for that right here. Atlanta to Atlantic... Shouts to Lyor Cohen.
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Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti: "Bright Lit Blue Skies" Video
More from the band with the awesome name that I stumbled upon a while back... Ariel Pink premiered their new video "Bright Lit Blue Skies" on GorillavsBear today. Check it out below.
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Big Boi and Andre 3000 Reunite on Sir Luscious Leftfoot
I remember sitting in the office of my old job (shouts to my old employers) back in 2007 and writing about Big Boi's new LP, Sir Luscious Leftoot: The Son of Chico Dusty. I don't even think I was writing the story for RubyHornet, or if there was a RubyHornet at all. Where am I going with this? I don't know, I guess it's interesting to me that an album that has been talked about for about 3 years is suddenly dripping out in bits and pieces. I'm also interested to see what people think of Big Boi's solo effort, three years in the making, and now featuring a return so to speak of Outkast. Andre 3000 co-stars in "Lookin' For You", which is a song about girls. It's awesome, and probably makes some people wish that more new Outkast was on its way. That is pretty much all I got. Grab the track below.
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Eminem Alludes To Near Lil' Wayne and Kanye Disses on New Album
"Hatred was flowing through my vains, on the verge of going insane, almost made a song dissing Lil' Wayne, like I was jealous of him cause of the attention the was getting, I felt horrible about myself he was spitting and I wasn't anyone that was buzzin' back then could of got it, almost went at Kanye too." -Eminem "Talking To Myself"
Word on the e-streets is that Eminem's new album, Recovery, has hit the world wide web and it is raining Eminem songs. With our buckets out, I've caught a few. By now we've all heard and seen the big single, "Not Afraid". My immediate response to the song was a little lukewarm. It's a solid track, Eminem's back to his old voice, but he is definitely not back to his old ways. That's the crutch of the song, and after hearing more music from Recovery, it truly is the theme of the album. It's easy to take something an artist says, and detach it from any emotions or feelings. We may see the pieces as just "songs", but if you really go back through Eminem's catalog and listen to the songs while trying to imagine Eminem in the booth spitting those lyrics and getting himself into a mental and emotional state to make such aggressive content, you'll see that it must be emotionally and physically draining to make such art. Em's been at the forefront not just because of what he has said in his songs, but also because how he said it. Lil' Wayne says all the time that he is the music he makes. Eminem is the same way. It is famously just the way he is.
The most recent leaks off of Recovery are "No Love", which features Lil' Wayne and samples that song that Will Ferrell and Chris Katan used to dance to in those horrible SNL sketches. Because it is Eminem and Lil' Wayne it is the attention grabber, but another song also leaked entitled "Talking To Myself", which is the best the piece of material we've heard yet off the new album and further demonstrates that Em's Recovery is as much mental as it is musical. This is not just a collection of songs, but Eminem again bearing his soul so to speak. It feels to me like Eminem is saying to his fans, 'you guys loved me when I was crazy and writing raps about killing my wife. Can you love me when I'm not crazy anymore and trying to put my life together?"
I hope the answer is yes... New tracks below.
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