Bumpskies for a Rainy Saturday Evening

Here's a mix I created for your listening pleasure. The mixing is kinda shitty but fuck it. Hopefully you'll catch something you haven't heard before. Hopefully I'll get better.

Rainy Day Mix (Click to download)

1. "The Good Shepard" by The Niceguys

2. "Speakers on Blast" by Skyzoo & Illmind

3. "Suit & Tie Theory" by Consequence

4. "Going Home" by Fashawn

5. "Drawbar 1-2" by 7L and Esoteric feat. Evidence and The Alchemist

6. "Blind Love" by Emanon

7. "You're in Shambles" by Del The Funkee Homosapien

8. "Johnny Ryall" by The Beastie Boys

9. "What?" by A Tribe Called Quest

10. "3 Days Later" by A Tribe Called Quest

"Throw Your Hands in the Air, and if That's Too Demanding You Can Stand There and Stare"

Warning: This is mostly a rant. You have been warned.

I hate when artists perform unreleased music. I'm not talking about a song or two. I'm talking about an entire set. I'm talking about songs from an unreleased album that you haven't heard, which means there's the possibility that they won't be any good. There's the possibility that you won't like it. I don't like spending money on things I don't like.

First off, It's super awkward. How are you supposed to react to it? I've always felt that shows are a personal experience. You go to listen, dance, and sing (or rap) along to your favorite songs. At least that's what I do. When a new song is being performed all you are able to do is stand there and awkwardly wave your hands in the air like you just don't care, but you

actually do. If it was up to you your hands would be in your pockets fumbling through change

or updating your Facebook status on your cell phone ("At show."). Hands can be utilized for other useful endeavors besides being suspended in the air against their will. If my hands are going in the air there should either be (a) a gun to my back or (b) my jammy-jam bumping though the speakers. my hands up just because, homie. I ain't putting Also, what if it's wack? The crowd would look like the following picture.

The reason I bring this up is because I went to a Blu show and he performed only new material from his upcoming albums called "No!York". Don't get me wrong it was a dope set, but it would have been nice for him to give his fans what they paid for (to be fair he did perform "Blu Colla Worker"). Although some fans were yelling out "Below the Heavens" (which I will get to later), the man didn't budge. He kept on going through his set.

Typically I'm a pretty rational hip-hop head, which means that I understand it would be fucking mind-numbingly boring to perform old material strictly to please the masses. I understand that. I honestly do, but I still think artists have an obligation to give the fans what they want. I think an artist can create music that doesn't compromise their artistry just for the sake of giving fans what they're already familiar with and still make them happy. Take Nas for example. Artistically Nas is always pushing the envelope, but the three times I've seen him (in three different years) his sets hardly changed (except of course for whatever singles he had out at the time). Although he still puts out great albums, he knows why the fans are there. They wanna hear Illmatic. That's what pays the bills.

But really, I understand. Artists have to grow. Blu doesn't want to be known as the Below the Heaven guy or that dude that did that album with Exile. He wants to expand artistically. The reason Nas has embraced peoples love affair with Illmatic is because it is a cornerstone in hip-hop music. It's hard to ignore that album. It will forever define (but not necessarily limit) Nas' career.

Now, the fans. Some fans are just assholes. Although I specifically go to shows to listen to my favorite songs, I know that the artists is gonna play whatever the hell they want. Some fans think the're in a fuckin' jukebox. Although I hate to stand through a set of new music, I don't think I'll become that idiot in the crowd screaming "play folk music!" When Dylan performed in the 1965 Newport Folk Festival they weren't ready for his hybridized version of folk and rock. His fans were outraged. But in the end what ensued was a revolution.

Sometimes new isn't that bad.

College: A Retrospective (Part 2)

Sophomore Year: 2006-2007

Musically this was a very uneventful year for me. That isn't to say that there wasn't any good music out, but I don't think my life was altered in any significant way by the music I was listening to. Honestly I was way too busy for music. I had an awesome girlfriend that I was rapidly falling in love with, I was working more hours (as a manager), and I was starting to take school seriously. In order to explain why I think music didn't play a pivotal role in my life this year I first have to (painfully) revisit my high-school days.

I hated high-school. It was probably the worst four years of my life. Part of it was my fault. I thought everybody was stupid and not worthy of my time. Who knew that would make me unlikable. I was like a less witty Mexican version of Daria. I was an underachiever and I felt misunderstood. But really, that's an entirely different blog entry in itself so I'll keep it moving.

In order to prevent myself from wallowing in my own pity, I drowned myself in music (which is also an entirely different blog entry in itself). For most of my adolescent life I used music as an escape. When shit was going down between my mom and dad at home I threw on Illmatic, grabbed my headphones. When I had a rough day at school I went home and bumped every Roots album I owned. If I was feeling depressed I let Tribe relax me electrically. You get the point, right. Well, my second year of college (I was 19 years old by the way) was the first time in my that I felt comfortable with myself and my life. Because of this I didn't really need music.

Not a lot of music from this year stands out to me. I was bumping Lupe Fiasco a lot in the beginning of the school year. Food & Liquor had just dropped. I wouldn't say it affected my life in any significant way but it was by far the best hip-hop album I was into throughout that entire year.

See, during my first two years of college I was working at an Ecko Unltd. retail store and we played a lot of current (as well as old-skool) hip-hop. Because I worked a lot I felt like I got my fix while working. The Roots' Game Theory dropped that year and we damn-near played every song on that mug. It took a while for me to really get into that album but when I did I realized how amazing it really is (which is also an entirely different blog entry in itself).

Like I mentioned earlier, I started to get into other genres of music by the end of my freshmen year. This carried into my sophomore year. For Christmas my girlfriend bought me an iPod. It was my first MP3 player and I was in love.

With the iPod mostly, but also with her ( I kid, I kid). Obviously this allowed me to download more music. I started to get into The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Radiohead, and a bunch of other non-hip-hop shit. These were gateway bands because they eventually led me deeper into the rabbit hole and I discovered all kinds of other crazy shit.

Oh, I forgot one thing! I was bumping this 2Mex song pretty heavily that year. I knocked this song almost everyday on my way to school and replayed it several times.

College: A Retrospective (Part 1)

After five long years I am finally done with school! It was hectic at times but I got through it. One of the things that helped me through college (aside from my girl, family, and friends) was music. Instead of simply reflecting on my years in college I decided to explore some of the music I listened to and how it affected my life. Sound interesting? Well, you have no choice fucker. Read it or die. This is the first part and I will be updating on the daily (hopefully). Instead of

exhaustively listing everything I listened to, I only wrote about the music that I would say shaped my life or left a lasting impression on me.

Enjoy.

Freshmen Year: 2005-2006

This was a weird time for me. That past year a close friend of mine, Alex, had passed away and that really fucked me up. This was the only person that I knew that loved hip-hop as much as I did. Although I continued to listen to hip-hop I don't think I had the same zeal for it that i did during high-school. Because we were so similar I felt as if I had lost a part of myself. It sounds corny but it's true. At this point I was confused. I didn't know who I was or who I wanted to be.

By the time I left high-school I didn't know what the hell was going on. I had a pretty fucked up relationship with a girl (an ex with a kid but we still liked each other), I wasn't getting along with my parents, I wasn't sure college was going to work out, and I felt isolated from my friends. The music I listened to reflected this sense of isolation and frustration. This was when I started getting into Atmosphere.

I had God Loves Ugly in my car cd player for the entire Fall semester. I understood Slug's hate toward Lucy. It became the soundtrack to my life. I was in my full-blown "angsty-teenager" phase.

I don't think this album ever left my car. I listened to it on my way to school nearly every day of fall semester. At this same time I was also really into 2Mex. I haven't really listened to 2Mex in a while (except for The Look Daggers shit from a few years back), but I was a BIG fan. I mean BIG. Aside from my Atmosphere CDs, 2Mex is all I bumped throughout the Fall quarter. If you listen to the song below you can probably get a glimpse at my psyche at the time.

Pretty depressing, huh?

Because I was going to college and many of my friends weren't I felt as if I couldn't connect with them. I was trying to make my life better by going to school and they were doing the same shit. Also, I thought that by going to college I was going to meet plenty of new friends but that wasn't the case. I met a few cool people here and there during my Freshmen year but I've lost contact them. Actually, I became closer friends with people I worked with. And of course I was dealing with the pressure of studying and passing my classes. Well, things got better after Winter Break.

By the start of the Spring quarter things started to change. First off, I started to get over my ex. I started to hang out with my friends and getting drunk on weekends. Whatever works, right? This is when I started to listen to other genres of music aside from hip-hop. By this time I started to get bored of hip-hop--at least that was my explanation. Now that I look at it I think that I was pushing hip-hop away because it subconsciously reminded me of Alex. I jumped into the Arctic Monkeys, The Velvet Underground, and Le Tigre. What really opened up my appreciation for rock was the first Interpol album.

Honestly, as depressing as that album can be at times it really helped me feel better about my future. I remember one time I had to drive to the L.A Zoo for an Anthropology assignment and I was playing this album. For some odd reason it made me feel happy. I felt as if everything was going to work out for me. Every time I listen to that album it reminds me of that moment in my life. That's when things started to clear up for me. That's when I met my beautiful girlfriend, Brooke. I started going out with Brooke toward the end of Spring. At this time I was also being promoted at my job. And of course I was finishing up my first year of college. Things were getting better. She was more into commercial hip-hop so I started to school her. Now I find myself asking her to lend me borrow some CDs!