Posts Tagged ‘hip hop’

Hip Hop on Trial at The Barbican

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

‘Hip Hop doesn’t enhance society, it degrades it’ was the subject of last night’s ‘Hip Hop on Trial’ debate at The Barbican. Put together by Versus and Intelligence Squared, this was a panel debate that combined on-site speakers (the likes of Reverend Jesse Jackson, KRS-One, Michael Eric Dyson, dream hampton, Tricia Rose and Benjamin Zephaniah to name a few) with contributors in the States (Q Tip, ?uestlove, Toure, P.J O’Rourke) beamed to us live by Satellite, using Google + technology and YouTube to bring the whole thing to a wider audience. So, how did it all come together?

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Bangs Goes Rap

Monday, July 11th, 2011

Back by popular demand, it’s me, making a fool of myself once again. This time, I put the lyrics of Lil Wayne under the microscope. Enjoy! Oh and there’s a fair amount of swearing – turn the volume down if you’re watching it in the library.

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Posted in video blogs | 13 Comments »

The London – Paris Mixtape

Friday, February 26th, 2010

This is music to blast through your headphones while you’re on the tube.

It’s music to listen to while you read in a quiet Parisian cafe.

It’s music to blare in the background at a cool New York loft party and pretend like you know about foreign music.

Enjoy.

London – Paris by bangsandabun

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Best I Ever Had? I Think Not.

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

The above is the video for rapper/singer Drake’s first single, Best I Ever Had.

A little background: Drake is a Toronto boy (woo hoo!), rapper/singer/actor triple threat. He’s been on the seen in Toronto for a minute, but over the last year has aligned himself with the over-tattooed, gremlin-like Lil Wayne. This has garnered him an incredible amount of buzz. So much so, that the above song ‘Best I Ever Had’ is currently sitting at #3 on the Billboard singles chart. This is unusual because Drake doesn’t even have an album out yet. This single is from his underground mixtape. Pretty amazing achievement.

Drake is poised to be the biggest thing in the rap game – or at least that’s what all signs seem to be pointing to. His hype is out of control and this song has been getting played everywhere you go (I’m sure you can imagine how much Drake we hear in Toronto). So this video, directed by Kanye West was much anticipated.

So, watch the video…..

*sigh*

Was Drake even in that? I can’t tell because I feel like I just got slapped in the face with multiple pairs of oversized titties. How does this video relate to the song? Maybe I’m slow, but I just don’t get it. For once, just ONCE, I would like there to be a hip hop video that wasn’t about hos, tits and ass. For the love of Christ!

This is the worst piece of trash I’ve ever seen. Drake was meant to be better than this!

This video should be a PSA about the dangers of playing sports without supportive undergarments. I can’t even imagine the pain those big breasted video hos were in. They probably had to have ice packs on their boobs after the shoot.

And Kanye West directed this crap. It’s not really surprising that it’s shitty in that sense. He’s been falling off since right after The College Dropout. He’s descended into being an autotune using, video ho dating loser. Originality has been slipping from his grasp for a minute, so not surprisingly, he thought throwing some tits and basketballs into the mix would make a decent video.

For all the hype Drake’s been getting (and all the hard work he’s put in trying to get there), he really needs to be careful. If this video is any indication of things to come, it’ll be a pretty quick fall from grace.

Someone please introduce him to some girls with B cup breasts, STAT!

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Posted in life | 7 Comments »

Heave Ho

Monday, April 27th, 2009

 

Let me begin with this simple statement: Hip Hop videos can go to hell. 

 

I don’t know who this Paul Wall character is, nor do I care, but I stumbled across this video of his and it made me choke on my Earl Grey a little.

 

For all the arguments about Hip Hop objectifying women, I think we can safely say that these heifers are objectifying themselves. Seriously ladies, can we please do better? Are you really in a video in your underwear, dry humping couches and cleaning some muppet’s house, trying to look sexy? Is that what’s really hot in the streets right now? 

 

Cleaning. Cleaning. Could it get any more stereotypical? 2009 and that’s still all we’re good for. Well, in the world of hip hop at least. (Quick sidebar: I’m finding it a real stretch to call this nonsense ‘hip hop’).  

 

But of course, it was men who came up with the concept for this video. It was men who put out the casting call for ‘scantily clad attention seeking women with a flare for dish washing and vacuuming’. But it was these women who reduced themselves to actually being in it and helping the cause of continuing the cycle of women being treated as nothing more than maids. And am I the only one who doesn’t don fake eyelashes and lacy briefs to do housework? Shit, what happened to rubber gloves and some sweats? 

 

Let’s face it though, hip hop is not real life. In real life, this gremlin would not have 20 hot chicks cleaning his house in their underwear. I am hard pushed to find a more physically repulsive individual roaming the earth. What the hell is all that shit in his mouth? He sure as hell isn’t getting manicures at home from some chick with questionable lingerie choices and services this fool on her knees, no less. 

 

I know it’s a recession, but you never need a pay cheque this badly. Please, attempt to have some class. Keep your clothes on. Cleaning your own house is fine and if you want to do it in your underwear, that’s your own business. But cleaning Paul Wall’s house, when he barely looks as if he cleans himself on a regular basis? I’ll pass, thanks.

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Posted in life | 8 Comments »

Hip Hop a Hippy to the Hippy the Hip Hip Hop and Ya Don't Stop

Sunday, December 7th, 2008

 

Friday night, I went to see Q Tip in concert. Two points: a) if you haven’t got his new album, The Renaissance, go get it and b) if you’ve never seen him live, go do it. 

 

It was, quite simply, the best show I’ve ever been to. And I’ve been to some pretty damn good shows. 
One thing that never fails to irk me at hip hop shows though, is the insistence upon the crowd to make some noise.
When the first support act came on, that’s apparently, all they wanted us to do. After each song (and occasionally in the middle of a song) they would tell us to ‘make some motherfuckin’ noise’. I’m not sure how one goes about making ‘motherfuckin’ noise’. I’m not entirely sure what would constitute ‘motherfuckin’ noise’ to be honest with you and I’m not sure I want to know. They also requested that we make ‘Goddamn noise’ a few times. Is that different from ‘motherfuckin’ noise’? And if so, how? 
Honestly, if I knew what it was, I would try and make it for you. I can do a mean round of applause. Sometimes, if I’m really impressed, I’ll even lift my hands above my head while clapping. I can clap in time to the beat, which, as we all know, is a major accomplishment for a white person. I can do a ‘woo’ every now and then and on occasion, I have been known to bust out a prolonged ‘WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!’ But ‘motherfuckin’ noise’? I’m not sure I can muster that up for you. Would it involve me learning how to do the fingers-in-mouth-whistle? Because that is notoriously hard for a girl. 
Anyway, when the next support act, The Cool Kids, came on, they just required us to ‘make some noise’. It didn’t have to be ‘motherfuckin” or ‘Goddamn’ noise, just ‘some’ noise, was sufficient. I appreciated them not putting too many demands on me as a spectator. 
When Q Tip came out, he didn’t ask for a thing, he just got on with it. Performed his ass off. And I danced and danced. And about half way into his performance, when the opening bars of ‘Check the Rhime’ played, I officially lost my shit. And I believe at that point, I made a whole lot of ‘motherfuckin” and ‘Goddamn’ noise. 

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Did I Miss Something?

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008


I feel like I’ve been asleep for a really long time and I’ve woken up in some sort of parallel universe where, all of a sudden, Lil Wayne is the most popular thing on the planet. What in the name of Jesu Christi is going on here?!

 

Does the fact that his album sold over 1 million copies in its first week mean that he’s actually good, or that there are a million people out there with no taste whatsoever.

 

My issues with Lil Wayne are threefold:

 

Firstly, he’s ‘Lil’ and we all know my issues with short men.

 

Secondly, he’s really not that good of a rapper. I know it’s commonplace in hip hop for rappers to publicly declare that they’re the best thing to ever roam planet earth, but Lil Wayne? Seriously? Anyone who is actually into hip hop and puts this fool in their top five needs their head checked. Furthermore, Mr Wayne himself should probably get his head checked, since he’s the one trying to convince everyone that he’s the shit.

 

Thirdly, his tattoos. When you’re tattooing your face, it’s time to admit that you’ve run out of space. Find a new hobby.

 

Fourthly, (OK, it turns out my issues with Lil Wayne are fourfold) – that frikkin’ Lollipop song. A thinly veiled reference to your penis as a ‘lollipop’ will not go down as the smartest lyrical wordplay in history. Is that really the best you could do? She wants to lick lick lick lick lick you like a lollipop (that’s five licks y’all, which I think any man will tell you, doesn’t amount to much). We’re all more than aware that rappers get a lot of ass. You would think a girl wanting to give his lollipop five licks would not warrant an entire song.

 

There really isn’t enough time in the day for me to share my befuddlement over Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em and Flo Rider right here, so I’ll just call it a day.

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Posted in life | 5 Comments »