Guilty Pleasures

Everyone knows what they are.

Everyone has them.

Some are innocent, some are dangerously private. But the ones that are exposed are commonly regarded with the same response ("You like THAT?!?! Why?")
 
Be it a vegan's tendency to enjoy fried ham hocks in the comfort of his own home or the artsy-fartsy film critic who has an undisclosed appreciation and love for all things related to "Mac & Me" (Look it up.....on second thought......don't) the fact is simple and universal.

People like "wack" shit from time to time.

I am no different.

Anybody who knows me knows that I am bit of music fan. I listen to it about 7-11 hours out of the day in one form or another and think about listening to it for the rest of the day. I like all genres and try to hear everything at least once, unless it's just bird dung bad from the jump.

Long story short, I'm a music nerd, someone who has dedicated about 70% of their life to strictly LISTENING to music. In that time, I've developed a taste for what I considered "good" music (stuff I like), and "bad" music (stuff I don't like) not to say the music itself is bad, just that I don't dig it.

"If I don't like, I don't like it, that don't mean that I'm hating" - Common

Now all that being said, there is another corner of my head...

A secret room a few floors above the attic where the elevator doesn't take visitors.

Where my guilty pleasures are stored.

For reasons unknown to me (boredom + time + keyboard), I've decided to bring down some of these so-called guilty pleasures and expose them.

Actually scratch that, I have a reason. My coworker at Encore and I were talking about guilty pleasures one day and he broke it down that there is no such damn thing. You like what you like and that's it.

So fuck it, let's begin.



Now, this song/video was one of the 1st videos I'd ever SEEN (this had to be back in like '92/'93, plus it was recorded on a VHS with several others (one of which I'll also include later) that I would watch over and over and over and over. So naturally I came to like the damn songs. But as time went on, I forgot about most of the other songs except this one. I still really like the video too, oh well.

Here's the other (ignore the subtitles):



Say what you want, but I am an MC Hammer fan, through and through. The 1st rap album I ever had was Please Hammer Don't Hurt Em and this video was the end all be all to me back in the day. Dude came through rapping over the 'Funky Drummer' loop like a BOSS! Plus I would spend hours watching that dance break in awe. Who else could deliver a line like "Hammer is an eagle and YOU A DOVE!" with a straight face and still be taken serious. Give this man his props already.




*Sighs* Somethin about rappers with dance breaks in their videos man...Back in 6th grade, this was my 'middle finger to to the principal' anthem at Scarlet. I've heard the original Public Enemy version down the line and actually prefer this one since it's got more bass, better scratches in the chorus and Puff ad-libs ("uh-huh","yeah","bad boy"). Plus the video was so damn over the top, it could only drop during that 99/2000 era. LMAO off at Diddy's freeze frame, mid-air jump with the 360 degree camera pan. Genius.

Smash Mouth Walkin On the Sun



Smash mouth and Sugar Ray. Lord Jesus. I used to fuck with both of these groups pretty heavily, and kinda still do for nostalgia's sake. I think "Walking On the Sun" is funky as all hell and "Someday" is a dope end of summer track. Plus that creepy voodoo lady dancing in the video always raised an eyebrow, lol....

And there's many more, but I think I've done enough exposing for now so let me leave you with one recent "guilty pleasure" and one not so recent offering.



Peace

Hello, my name is Kyle.

I think.

Therefore I type.

Let's Begin.

I did the Soulja Boy dance at a Frat House Party a couple of weeks ago. And I enjoyed it. 

Al Sharpton's real hair must be turning over in it's grave at that.

It occured to me, as I was Supermanning that ho, that no matter what I say about, "...fuck that coon music..." while I bump my bootleg Little Brother mixtape on my "too underground to be healthy" 1991 CD player, at the end of the day, if I'm at a party, I'll dance to damn near anything. Oh well. Jiggaboo is as jiggaboo does, I guess. 

OJ Simpson is, by far, the dumbest motherfucker in the recorded history of human civilization. I think that's been scientifically verified.

I left my heart in Kalamazoo, that city forever is the shit to me.

"Graduation" (Kanye West) - Buy It

"Curtis" (50 Cent) - Burn It

"One Man Band Man" (Swizz Beatz) - Kill It

My mother's gonna be getting re-married in a couple of weeks and from there she's moving to Conneticut. Word.

I'll be getting her Jeep. Word UP.

If you get a chance, check out Betty Davis' self-titled 1973 album. There is some hard-ass chin-smack funk on there. Good stuff.

2007 has been, by leaps and bounds, the best year I've ever had. No lie. I've rapped on stage more times than I can count. Seen Brother Ali, Blueprint, Guilty Simpson, Black Milk live for the 1st time. Found a second home in Kalamazoo (I can't stress how much I like that city). Made mad new friends. Sold mad Cd's. Cracked my head open (5-6 stitches). Recorded a classic album in one night (O.T.N.'s "3 Heaterz & A Shank, Vol. 1"). Burnt my left hand on a hookah while freestyling and kept freestyling (!) Slept in the shittiest hotel room ever (word to Traverse "Murder Capital" City). Got a mo-hawk. Etc.

And it's not even Fall yet.

I want you to do something for me. On my list of profile comments, scroll down until you see the comment left by "Harlem's Back". Pay close attention to the type of tone this message contains..............than set your eyes upon the profile pic...........

 

Do you fuckin see where I'm goin with this?

 

For some time now, advertisers have been hacking into people's myspaces and savagely jacking swaggers across the nation. Through a few well-manipulated keystrokes, my good friend "Harlem's Back" has been transformed from a strong young black man into a.............well, shit, you tell ME!!!!! And all this in the name of some petty marketing?

I say this shit has got to stop.

Wassup, it's been a minute since I've done the blog and I thought the first day of March is as good a day as any to get back on the train, ya know?

I'm glad as hell the weather is starting to have mercy on our poor souls. True, March in Michigan is like Russian Roulette, climate-wise, but I choose to stay optimistic.

 I cut my thumb on a box of Corn Flakes an hour ago, I think that's God's way of telling me such eating habits are blasphemous. 

Britney Spears....................................Jesus.

I wanna give a shout-out to my man, Hip-Hop State of Mind down in Alabama for our future collab, history in the making, man.

I'm shaving my head.

You know that White rapper Show on VH1? I just got emancipated from having to watch that each week. Shamrock won by fuckin default, Sullee was the best.

I hate myself for knowing that much about the show.

Why is it when I say to certain people I don't have a Facebook, they look at me like I rape trees?

Why do I give the same look to people that don't have myspaces?

It's hilarious to me that "Ghost Rider" is breaking box-office records as we speak, yet every single person I know that's seen it has said it was hot shit paste.

I guess that sums up mainstream better than I ever could.

The quote of the month for me: "A person is smart, PEOPLE are stupid"

If you think about it, that explains a LOT of things. War, Racism, the channels on TV after 59.

I really need some more pics of my own damn self on this fuckin page.

Tree City is taking over.

Funniest quote of 07 so far, (Jacoby to teen at NZ after teen proclaimed to be a Blood): "I didn't know gangbangers hung out at teen centers..."

LMMFAO!!!!

I want to live,
I want to give
Ive been a miner for a heart of gold.
It's these expressions I never give
That keep me searching for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old.
Keeps me searching for a heart of gold..................
......................................And I'm getting old.

"Heart Of Gold" - Neil Young

Truer words have never been spoken. Figure it out.

Ok, now that I have the focus & whatnot to elaborate on my previous blog, here goes nuthin'.

Basically, I was just sayin that for 2007. I gotta DO instaed of SAY. And for those of you who can relate, that is a hell of a canyon to jump (word to Knievel). Mainly I'm doin the followin':

Exercising

Stayin away from dark pop

Getting consistent haircuts

Come to grips with the fact that me & Melyssa Ford just wouldn't work out ANYWAYS.

Manage my money carefully (investments: thatz wassup)

Move out

Move out soon

Move out tommorow

..........................................Move out eventually

Do well in school

& some other sheeit

All the aforementioned stuff is really shit I'm striving to accomplish. Gon' do it too. Better believe it. Aight peace.

 

Whenever I hear people talk about their New Year's Resolutions, they mention as if they already r planning on how to break it. "You know I'm gon' try to stop smokin' & shit, (chuckles)." If you honestly dont wanna stop doin somethin, be honest with yourself first & foremost. Cuz the more u lie to urself, the harder it gets to set any real goals.

That being said, I DO have some Resoulutions for the 0 to the 7. Nothing too drastic, but stuff that I believe could, ya know, yield great results down the line.

More on that later, for now, I gotta go to work for the man.

Peace & Grind to all

As most of u out there know by now, James Brown, the Godfather of Soul/Hardest Working Man in Showbusiness/Soul Brother #1, died of heart failure on Christmas Day at age 73. 

That shit is too bad.

I'll make a more in depth blog on his influence to me personally later, but for now the previous sentence is really how I feel. Take all the complicated paragraphs and what it comes down to is.............that shit is too bad.

Stay tuned for more. For now, let us bow our heads and join in a silent getting on the good foot for Mr. James. R.I.P.

The more I hear people (including myself) talk about how we don't believe in having girlfriends, the more I realize we're either too immature or too ill-equipped to maintain one.

I just saw that movie "The Prestige" at the Briarwood Dollar Show. Man, that shit was great. I also managed to sneak in the food I had just bought at the China Wok across the hall from the theater inside, undetected in my backpack. Orange Chicken tastes 10% better once it's been transported illegally, trust me.

I want facial hair for Christmas, Period. Sideburns at least.

I've had some deep, detailed-ass dreams in the last couple of nights. Nite b4 last, I dreamed I got stabbed to death in a Detroit diner. Last Nite, I was in the movie "Predator." Let's hope I get to smash Melyssa Ford tonite, gentlemen.

I read in Time magazine the phrase "Everyone is world famous for 15 minutes" is now morphing into "Everyone on the web is famous to at least 15 people" Guess what? You're one of my 15 bitches, sucka.

Is it bougie to prefer boxer-briefs ONLY?

How does the lady that drives that the #7 bus have a thicker frickin mustache than me, people?

Will I EVER even consider really celebrating Kwanzaa in its entirety without some gun-to-my-head persuasion? Am I a sell-out for that?

I wanna go to Africa before I die.

Donovan can probably kick some mad ass by now.

There's no male pattern baldness in my family AND I was born with a full head of hair. If anything, I never have to worry about goin Talib Kweli.

 

  

I gotta learn how to play an istrument. I'm tired of bein on the sidelines whenever there's a kick ass jam session goin on.

I'm tired. It's always late at night where I get real introspective. My brain has time to breathe and can suprise me from time to time.

I recently said a nice lil quote to Mike. "I always seem to be 5 minutes late to requests for my existence." That's not in a morbid way either, but in a comic way with an ironic twist.

I lost a glove. Now I'm gettin my O.J. on.

How many Nintendo Wii controller-related deaths will there be come next year?

Beck is the shit.

I saw the footage of Carmelo Anthony's lil Smack 'N' Run. He jus won the bitch move of the month award. (Michael Richards won last month for those of u keeping score).

I'm better than Jacoby at Ping-Pong.

I read this article about how this man in West Virginia went from weighing 300 lb. to 175 lb. based sole on the fact that he wanted to pursue a career in law enforcement. That's some bomb ass motivation.

There's nothing worse than discovering the smell of last nite's fish dinner is in ur threads when ur too far into ur day to do anything about it. U make that one strenuous movement and BAM! Instant Fishscale up the nostrils.

I heard it's gonna rain on Christmas. Jesus won't get wet though.