Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented. It was ruled "Gentlemen Only... Ladies Forbidden"... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
The first couples to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.
Men can read smaller print than women can but women can hear better.
Coca-Cola was originally green.
It is impossible to lick your elbow.
The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
The first novel ever written on a typewriter: was Tom Sawyer.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
Q. What do bullet-proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
A. All invented by women.
Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey
In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase: "Goodnight, sleep tight."
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honeymonth, which we know today as the honeymoon.
I was asked by a friend today as Tina and I celebrated our first year wedding anniversary and the dedication of baby Nazareth in service today, if I have problems about the complaints from people in our apartment complex because we're always having people over at our place, and we're always laughing and having a ball. I thought about NZ for a moment...
Sheesh, I do miss laughing with my friends back in NZ: not that I don't like laughing with my friends here in Singapore... it's just that when we laugh - especially us polynesians, y'all can hear us from the other side of the block! But because there is so much space between you and your neighbour, you don't sweat the fact that you and your "mates" sound like a bunch of hyenas with your ever crescendoing laughter!
Singapore though is home to me now. I love it here. I visited the NZ embassy here in the Takashimaya building on Orchard Road on Friday. Pleasantly greeted by a middle aged assistant there at the counter. I asked her what her thoughts were on Singapore comparatively with NZ. She said, it is a bit claustrophobic here for us NZ giants. What prompted me to write this though was when I saw all the "Kiwiana" at the office. Maori carvings. Copies of Metro and North and South magazines. and of course a wooden buzzy bee. If you don't know now you know.
Who killed hip hop? - (part 1) The Roots
for the real blog check out http://emphas1s.multiply.com
(In this first session, I address defining the culture that has been so misunderstood by going back to the beginning - and looking briefly at its evolution)
"Music creates a cultural feeling of belonging and puts into coded and affirmative language the values of a given social movement. It's part of the cultural backdrop that keeps activists moving forward. But it is, for the most part, supportive. Once you place a heavy revolutionary or social agenda on music that doesn't grow organically, it's very difficult for it to survive artistically. Revolution is a very specific word that speaks to an extraordinary and very dramatic kind of social change." - Trisha Rose
It's disheartening when you have a very talented emcee like Jay Z come out and speak as though he has to "dumb down" his rhymes to make them more palatable and digestible for the mainstream audience, so that his records would sell. Last time I checked, Jay Z was worth 400 million, his fiance, Beyonce (hey that rhymes! A career maybe?) went from hometown church girl, to getting "upgraded" to wearing more ice than Antarctica. Oh, and there are still homeless people in New York, let alone Africa.
B put it best - it's such a beautiful lie. At the forefront of commercial hip hop were always messages promoting lust, uncontrolled anger and violence, hedonism, and the degradation of the value of women. It would sound good, look appealing, but step by step as the depth of message would deteriorate, so too would the creativity.
Now about 30 years old, the culture, which was birthed out of urban ghetto struggles, providing outlets of expression, it has neglected it's roots. Since we're no longer hungry, we're no longer hungry to create either. I learnt that from a Donald Miller book - that the reason why we're hungry is because we need to eat, and in order to obtain sustinance, we need to work. Cats just ain't hungry anymore.
I once had a good conversation with my friend Adam, who is a lecturer at a university in Auckland. He once told me that rap music has been a tool for the outlet of urbanites in the ghettos, but was never really intended to bring answers, just ask questions. Like jazz, it was not intended to resolve, and like soul it was just meant to tell our stories. I think about some of my favourite more "conscious" hip hop groups, that lately have just been releasing album length complaints about the state of hip hop. But no answers.
And oh the hypocrisy of it all! A rapper will on one track blame Bush for their struggle and lack of funds, then on another track talk about their "pimped out" escalade. On another track they'll rap about their mama, and then on another track totally demoralise women as objects. Some will even go as far as to do a gospel number to God, usually at the end. Oh he/she is a Christian now?
There have been answers, but false ones that haven't worked. Late 80's and early 90's hip hop was looking for someone to blame, from the Republicans, to the Man, to the Record Company Executives. By the mid 90's hip hop was blaming other regions, when the east and west engaged in what became Hip Hop's civil war. By the turn of the Millenium, hip hop was the best selling form of music on the planet. Former ghetto dwellers were now CEO's of multimillion dollar companies with clothing lines. Now rap is rich, yet, without a change of heart condition. Now hip hop can afford bigger guns and expensive bullets, only to shoot itself in the foot. The answer was supposed to be money making a better life? Then why are the best selling artists still winding up in court on gun, driving and drug charges - only this time with better lawyers?
Here is a valid question for hip hop and rap artists worldwide: "Does hip hop need answers that work?"
From an impoverished and unfortunate society arises hip hop which appears to be a beacon of hope you would have thought would inspire other people in similar societies all around the world, whether in Asia, the Americas, or yes, even Africa. We all thought Diddy would be the black Bono - fighting world poverty with a cape.
Hip hop ain't hungry no more it's just straight up greedy. There are more rap artists than there are classical music artists or metal artists or emo cats on MTV Cribs, ETV. It's all about who they're with walking down another red carpet, wearing some designer with an unpronouncable surname while we watch Angeline Jolie adopt these third world nations kids. While most of the conscious rappers just complain about both.
The ghetto never left - the Bible was right.
Like the people of Israel in the desert, God was trying to work the desert out of them, before he worked them out of the desert.
As a man thinketh, so shall he be.
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
If I had the true remedy and could give it in one dose I would. But I can't speak for all of hip hop - because there are some real cats that are growing the art form all for the love. At the heart of the remedy though if summed in one word would be this:
SELFLESSNESS
A lot of the real hip hop heads who have followed the culture, particularly the music associated with it will notice a number of trends. By mentioning any of these artists or trends, I am not endorsing their music at all - in fact a lot of it is very questionable morally: I just want to know what happened to the culture I used to love.Let's look at some of these trends:
Piracy - As an artist myself if you burn my cd, my kids don't get to eat, and I won't get any money to hop into the studio to do another one. Most of the good artists are just getting by, nuff said.
The dormancy of New York based hip hop - Everyone accredits New York City as the Mecca of hip hop culture - it started there. Even when the West Coast was strong with the rise of Dr Dre produced rap music, the East always had a counter. Right now, the top MC's from the five boroughs are laying dormant, or going crunk. Apart from Nas' comeback last year, the Big Apple wasn't representing, neither with established or fresh talent.
Who killed hip hop? - (part 1) The Roots
for original blog check out http://emphas1s.multiply.com
(In this first session, I address defining the culture that has been so misunderstood by going back to the beginning - and looking briefly at its evolution)