Magnetic North

i've been meaning to post this since june.

my friend freida k. got me hooked on hip hop duo Magentic North. i've been listening to their album non-stop since i got in (that is until ben jacked it... don't worry, MN, he's just borrowing it until his own copy arrives!). their sound, lyrics, and delivery are beautiful and complex, plus their DJ has bombass voice. my favorite song is called "drift away". listen to it on their myspace or buy their album on their website

J-5

Last night I went to see X-Clan and Jurassic 5 at the Fillmore. The audience was the whitest audience I have ever seen at a hip hop show. Every show I have been to white folks have been probably been the majority. Last night, however, the place was lily white.

When X-Clan opened, I could not stop looking at the audience. There were couples doing some serious bumping and grinding to songs like “Raise the Flag” and “Xodus” What must it be like to be militant and Afrocentric and perform to an audience with only a sprinkling of black folks? How/ Does the performance change when your audience changes?

Anyways, here are some other, non-related comments about the show:
-I love Chali 2na
-I hate when people can’t control their highs in public places
-I saw this nasty couple who were literally digging their fingers into each other’s butt cracks
-I love my poster

okay, i've been tagged by Gar (i guess).
(The rules: list five songs that you are currently loving. it doesn't matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying right now. post these instructions, the artists, and the songs in your blog, then "tag" five other bloggers/friends to see what they're listening to.) i'm going to modify this by listing 5 albums i'm currently loving:

Soul Sides: Vol 1: Various Artists, compiled by O-Dub (i can't believe i used to have a crush on him when he was my instructor...)

Sea Change: Beck (my favorite breakup album)

Blazing Arrow: Blackalicious (can't stop listening... love Aural Pleasures)

Infinite Possiblities: Amel Larrieux (the first time i heard her was in "Glitches" w/ the Roots. I can listen to her over and over and OVER again.)

Confessions: Usher (tee hee! (?))

i don't own any new music. i'm in dire need for new stuff, but kind of like listening to the same shit everyday.

this is kinda cool. Pandora is created by the folks who did the Music Genome Project. you type in the name of an artist you like, and then they create a streaming radio station with artists who have musical qualities similar to the artist you typed in. if there's a new artist you like you click the link to the iTunes store or Amazon. it may have a few kinks. for example i typed in "blackalicious" two different times and it gave me two different descriptions of their musical qualities. it's still neat though. it's descriptions of goapele included mild rythmic snycopation,, minor key tonality, and vocal-centric aesthetic. other descriptives are like clean lyrics, party style, laid back lyrics, clean lyrics, thin orchestration, acoustic drum samples, dry sound... endless!