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live from the bloggy sphere · by Rafi Kam
The incredible disappearing dis
Spotted last week on a LiveJournal page:
Oh Word decides which upcoming albums will or will not suck . I thought I was a nitpicky bastard until I started reading this blog. But then again if I’m nitpicking the nitpicking does that make me more of a nitpicker? Anyway, they’re kind of dicks but are more or less right most of the time.
We were all really enjoying the last line of that quote when suddenly the whole paragraph disappeared off the page it was on. Later that same day the blogger who posted this sent an email to our submissions@ohword.com wanting to join up.
I have a thick skin (hold your fat jokes) so I don’t mind being called a dick. In fact that last line has a certain magic to it. It’s accurate, it’s lively and it doesn’t waste words.
Unfortunately I can’t say the same holds true for any of the writing he sent in. I know I’m kind of a dick for rejecting the applicant in this way but I’m more-or-less right.
III Sides To Every Beatdown
Unkut continues its phenomenal coverage of the famous KRS-One / PM Dawn brouhaha and what it means to the history of hip-hop.
We heard from Unkut’s guest blogger Kool Kim in late August but this week it was Kenny Parker who supplied his perspective on that evening and the ensuing fallout. The Kenny Parker Show Part 1 and Part 2.
Part 2 has a great section with Kenny talking about the romanticized notion people have of early hip-hop versus the reality of order being preserved by violent crews.
Also nice work from Robbie in a guest blogging gig this week.
Everybody won be don gorgon
Floodwatch does their autopsy of a song on Sound Bwoy Burreil by Smif N Wessun. After you check that, check RHS’s analysis of Dah Shinin from last year at Oh Word.
Presto, read the communist manifesto…
Suspected terrorists / slacking revolutionaries the Coup seem to get a lot more love on their home coast.
This week saw respect paid from two California bloggers: Jesse from The Sound of Young America and Ninoy Brown of Fear of a Brown Blogger
Black Irony in the Hour of Chaos
This paper on Big Daddy Kane’s use of irony was actually posted in the spring but it’s new to me. I love the close reading it does at how Kane’s vocabulary choice is intentionally subverting his boasts. And that it takes a look at the literary debate of aesthetics vs politics which still shapes our perspective today.
Also it touches on one of my old favorite topics which is the racist assumption by fans and critics alike that rappers must always be keeping it real – real dumb. That you need to be a white person to assume the power of an ironic position (i.e. the belated hooplah over mashups).
The piece does have its shortcomings – its length and bogus academic tone will lose many readers. I question some points of its analysis. It reveals itself to be unfamiliar with the slang meaning of “I ain’t the one” when it claims that Kane isn’t inspiring confidence with that message.
It also assumes that Kane is “clearly missing the relevance of the word-group ‘sailing-misery-history’ in the context of a stanza centred on themes of blackness, rhyming, literacy, and slavery” which seems particularly ironic considering how the author slams AllMusicGuide, Breihan and others for underestimating what Kane has going on in his lyrics.
Still this is a highly recommended read and great food for thought.
Comments for "live from the bloggy sphere"
good looks like an eyefull of beauty
— extra penis Oct 7, 10:20 PM