DD172
Jan 29, 2010 etc.
Here’s something else I have been meaning to post about.
DD172
It’s part of the arthouse collective assembled by none other than Damon Dash. Yup, that Dame Dash. Also called the 24 Hour Karate School, he has put together an art gallery, recording studio, art studio, television studio and magazine all under one roof. It’s very Warhol-esque. And from the looks of who hangs out and what is produced, it’s kind of exciting. From what I have read, the focus seems to be on creativity and not pressure for product. Everyone from Curren$y to Mos Def to Jay Electronica to Mars Volta to Mickey Factz turn up to hang out and collaborate.
The first official release was the album BlakRoc. Consisting of the Black Keys along with guest appearances from Raekwon, RZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Jim Jones, Mos Def, Nicole Wray, Pharoahe Monch, Ludacris, Billy Danze and Q-Tip.
To be honest, I haven’t heard the whole record. So much leaks on the interwebs, when an album officially drops after all the pushbacks, I miss it or assume I have already heard it in its entirety before it was released.
They have been doing some late night talkshow appearances and the performances were pretty good.
There’s also video from Dash’s video production arm of DD172, Creative Control, for the BTS stuff.
Here’s another video from Creative Control, filmed at DD172 and a few pictures of the space after the video.
The Village Voice blogged about DD172 a few weeks ago.
The name BlakRoc is obviously a shot at Jay-Z and the “DD172″ is Dame Dash from 172nd & Lennox Avenue, Harlem.
There’s been a boatload of negative press at Dash over the last few years and I don’t want to get into all that. I have heard nothing about what a dickhead he is, but we won’t get into that either. I applaud him for the hustle and thinking outside the box, keeping it moving, and trying to fuel artists and their creativity instead of draining or exploiting it.
The fact he is supposed to have a magazine makes me wonder too…
Tags: Billy Danze and Q-Tip, Black Keys, BlakRoc, Curren$y to Mos Def, Dame Dash, Damon Dash, DD172, Jay Electronica, Jim Jones, Ludacris, Mars Volta, Mickey Factz, Mos Def, Nicole Wray, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Pharoahe Monch, Raekwon, RZA, Village Voice
Glenn Greenwald
Jan 29, 2010 etc.
It’s a shame and one of my biggest complaints is that people’s attention span now fits in 140 character or less bites. I think it’s a Chinese water torture death to the brain one Tweet drip at a time and dovetails with media’s financial and social responsibility bankruptcy. Long(er) form journalism and intelligent social commentary do exist, but finding it and getting people to read it are also a problem. Unfortunately.
One person I follow to fill that void is Glenn Greenwald.
One of the reasons I pay attention to him is he doesn’t seem to have a political agenda in addition to his background as an attorney wit a background in Constitutional law and civil rights. He is not some baseless blogger. Sure his column is on the liberal Salon.com website, but he is certainly not afraid to hold Obama responsible for his shortcomings. He doesn’t seem to blindly follow rhetoric or emotion but tends to stick to the facts. I don’t always agree with him, but recently he has been on the money.
There’s been a few pieces he has done recently that I had wanted to blog about but today’s just summed things up pretty eloquently.
If you have read this far, please continue reading at least this first piece by him.
Remember the illegal destruction of Iraq?
The invasion of Iraq was unquestionably one of the greatest crimes of the last several decades. Imagine what future historians will say about it — a nakedly aggressive war launched under the falsest of pretenses, in brazen violation of every relevant precept of law, which destroyed an entire country, killed huge numbers of innocent people, and devastated the entire population. Have we even remotely treated it as what it is? We’re willing to concede it was a “mistake” — a good-natured and completely understandable lapse of judgment — but only the shrill and unhinged among us call it a crime.
He pretty succinctly sums things up while pointing out some of the hard to face truths as a country we can’t seem to admit or own up to.
A post of Greenwald’s from a few days ago.
Presidential assassinations of U.S. citizens
Just think about this for a minute. Barack Obama, like George Bush before him, has claimed the authority to order American citizens murdered based solely on the unverified, uncharged, unchecked claim that they are associated with Terrorism and pose “a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests.”
This one outlining the United State’s sanctioning of killing it’s own citizens without any criminal trial. (And I thought the death penalty was bad. At least people on death row have had the luxury of a semblance of justice.) It sounds inflammatory, but Greenwald strikes a few points where you realize the title of the article is not as sensationalistic as it first sounds.
This post was after Obama’s State of the Union address.
Justice Alito’s conduct and the Court’s credibility
There’s a reason that Supreme Court Justices — along with the Joint Chiefs of Staff — never applaud or otherwise express any reaction at a State of the Union address. It’s vital — both as a matter of perception and reality — that those institutions remain apolitical, separate and detached from partisan wars. The Court’s pronouncements on (and resolutions of) the most inflammatory and passionate political disputes retain legitimacy only if they possess a credible claim to being objectively grounded in law and the Constitution, not political considerations.
I posted earlier about my horror of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Citizens United case and there has been a dust up about catching Justice(?) Alito’s mouthing when their ruling was mentioned.
Greenwald takes what would likely be blown over or missed by most media (not even just mainstream media) and talks about the subtle implications. Well done.
Tags: Alito, assasination, Glenn Greenwald, Iraq, Iraq War, Justice Alito, Obama, President Obama, Salon, Salon.com, State of the Union, Supreme Court, Supreme Court ruling
Pop the Trunk
The lizzadies at work love to stare at dude, but say once he opens his mouth he ruins it.
I have not been a huge fan of Yelawolf, but I like this one.
The video is pretty dope, his flow isn’t half bad and I always talk about my WT interest.
Tags: Pop the Trunk, Yelawolf
Books
Jan 28, 2010 etc., storytelling, writing
I said to someone the other day that as an addict, I am constantly worried about running out of anything I like. It’s reassuring to know I have an endless supply of books on my list to read that I might not ever get to.
I can’t ever run out.
Here’s what I just finished, just started and want to start.
I bought this because it was written by Dave Eggers, the founder of McSweeny’s, which I generally like and turn to for lit related stuff. Plus the whole Katrina angle interested me. But the book fucking bored me. I was extremely monotone. I didn’t think there was any change in the pitch and the angle of a Muslim facing illegal and Unconstitutional treatment post 9/11 in the middle of a catastrophe is trite. I only finished it because it was a quick and easy read.
What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures
Malcolm Gladwell‘s other books, but this one is different. While the others are almost books on theory and interactions/relationships/processing, What the Dog Saw is a collection of Gladwell’s pieces from The New Yorker. And it’s amazing. From stylistically to content wise, it’s hands down awesome. From making completely banal subjects intersting to making interesting subjects even more fascinating, while delivering information in a stylized way, it’s great. It’s only out in hardcover right now, but when it hits paperback I will definitely be copping it. I use books like this almost for reference and inspiration.
*Edit: One guess who spoke at UPenn today. One more guess who didn’t know/go.
Linchpin
I picked this up after having read something about it online. I can’t think of another book, especially about business/branding, that I felt compelled to go out and buy in hardcover the day it came out. But reading what I did about it (here, here, here, here and a post by author Seth Godin here) and having a $25 Border’s gift card, I splurged. I started it tonight and I’m psyched to read the rest. It kind of summed up my thoughts and what I have managed to do in many jobs I have had over the years. To find this niche role where I’m not necessarily trying to shoot up a corporate ladder, but find a void and make myself useful. Not what I am doing as useful, but make myself useful. It looks like Godin cohesively puts it all together.
The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers
I bought this at the same time I picked up this. If you pay any attention to my blog or bookshelf, I am mildly obsessed with the creative process and own many books on writers talking about their process and writing. Can’t wait to get into it.
I love me some books.
Tags: Dave Eggers, Hurricane Katrina, Linchpin, Malcolm Gladwell, McSweeny's, Seth Godin, The Believer Book of Writers Talking to Writers, What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures, Zeitoun
Stop-motion animation
After days on my rap ish, apparently I’m not the past couple of days and posts.
This first one I think I posted before but someone I work with sent it to me and then I stumbled across the second video. If you don’t know what parkour is, it just means you probably don’t live in Europe or were ever a part of the Russian Army.
Tags: parkour, stop motion animation
Google street view sketches
Jan 26, 2010 art
Lehel Kovács is making his way through the alphabet, doing sketches taken from Google Map’s Street View.
Apparently, Paris beat out Philly.
Tags: google, Lehel Kovács, sketch
Troy, NY
Jan 26, 2010 etc., storytelling, video
I came across this and thought it was interesting.
I grew up right outside Troy, NY. (Albany, Schenectady, Troy…)
The idea was to mesh journalism, audio/visual and poetry.
I can’t say that I am a huge fan of poetry, (Using it as a journalistic medium is… interesting. Not sure if it works for a few reasons.) but once again I’m glad people are experimenting and trying new things.
In Verse: Women of Troy
A century ago, Troy, New York, was a thriving industrial capital. Today many of its residents live in poverty. Studio 360′s Lu Olkowski went to Troy with poet Susan B.A. Somers-Willet and photographer Brenda Ann Kenneally to document some of Troy’s stories. They spent a lot of time with a single mother, Billie Jean Hill.
Susan B.A. Somers-Willet wrote a poem about DJ Guerrin, another one of Troy’s single mothers struggling to get by.
“In Verse” is Studio 360′s series documenting the lives of the working poor through poetry and photography. It was created by Lu Olkowski and Ted Genoways, editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review.
Harvard’s Narrative Digest goes on to explain more here.
Any thoughts about the piece itself or the mixing of mediums as a whole?
Effective? Trustorthy?
Tags: Billie Jean Hill, Brenda Ann Kenneally, Lu Olkowski, Narrative Digest, NY, Studio 360, Susan B.A. Somers-Willet, Troy
Cudderisback
Man, I like Cudi.
I like everyone out of Cleveland as a matter of fact. But Kid Cudi is definitely dope to me.
I can’t always relate to the excessive weed serenading, but then again I can’t always relate to the slanging of kilos and murdering everyone in most rap music either, so it’s whatever.
Tags: Cudderisback, Kid Cudi
