I have not done music, remixes, etc. in quite some time.

Instead, I have re-focused my energies on Birthplace Magazine, www.BirthplaceMag.com, what I hope will soon be known as THE online source of New York-area hip-hop news, views and all other things.

Check out the original ‘manny-festo’ by reading “Re-Birthplace: Documenting New York’s (Hopeful) Hip-Hop Resurgence”

Check out the BirthplaceMag.com site overall, participate, send us suggestions, love mail, hate mail, etc.

If you are an artist, organization, or entity in any way involved with hip-hop and are in-or-around the New York City area, hit up Birthplace Magazine at info@BirthplaceMag.com.

As always, thanks for your support.

Available here. Thanks to I Did It Creative for the link.

So, what happened was, Usher’s new song Love In This Club, was produced by Polow Da Don. But it turns out, Polow Da Don essentially made the track using preset loops in Apple’s GarageBand software, which comes free with a Mac computer [seen @ Miss Info]. Well, this interests me of course, and as usual, I see things in at least 3 ways.

1. As a “struggling” or “up-and-coming’ producer
This crackerjack-ass no-talent-having, gets 50Gs for doing not much more than <click>, <drag>, <export>, [OK to continue]? No, it is NOT OK to continue Goddammit! I been crate digging, DJing, sampling on cheap ass reverb machines rigged to loop, spent car insurance money on records and Ensoniq keyboard memory chips, listed to hours and hours of albums over and over, looking for JUST the right loop.. Turned my back on good weed and better ass cuz I wasn’t done with this track I was working… Played baselines, piano twinkling, day in, day out, up until 4am on the regular with full time jobs and baby mama drama to turn out to be a pretty damn decent producer/remixer, but who is still not making a dime, while this guy essentially takes his textbook, photocopies chapter 12, hands it to his teacher as an essay, and gets a fucking A!!

2. As a sampling up-and-coming producer
OK, so the argument is, how is this different from me (or Kanye, or Pete Rock, or countless other successful and talented producers in Hip-Hop’s history), sampling loops, adding some drums, and calling it a beat. Lord knows I’m still milking good response and radio play from my Bartender remix, which unashamedly samples George Benson note for note. Well, it is kinda the same. Sort of. I mean, I consider myself a connissour of good music. I sample from records I own (yes, vinyl), or mp3s I download. I filter out so many songs, my ear listens for loops, they are not handed to me. OK so the Give Me The Night loop didn’t take DJ Premier-like audio genius or skillful chopping, but still… I’ve come across royalty-free Loops/Beats CDs here and there, and I would never in my life use any of them. No matter how hot it was. I’m sorry, I just wouldn’t. But there are those producers, who might be very musically talented, who would say the same of me and my sampling. While I just can’t bring myself to say that Polow’s extremely uninspiring method of selecting music and creating tracks is nearly close to being equal in creativity to doing what I, or many other talented sampling-based producers do, to really call him out on it, would verge on hypocrisy.

3. As a listener
Well, I do like the song. I kinda thought Usher was gonna remain fallen off, but I think this is a good look. Personally, I have to say dig the joint. I bounce in the car a little like a fool when it comes on and I sing the hook sitting at my desk at the day-job. I guess at the end of the day, that’s what really matters.

No matter who, or what, made the music.

See, hip-hop in 2007 is not the hip-hop that was in 1990. In the 90’s, it was easy to blame hip-hop music and subculture for the woes of the inner city. In actuality, it was probably crack-cocaine and IT’S subcultute that had the most impact on the African-American youth of our nation. But since hip-hop music was closely associated with that youth, it was too easy for the uneducated and ignorant politicians, newsmen, parents and racists, to blur the lines between the youth intricately involved in the crack epidemic, and those who just relayed the messages over a funky, James Brown-sampled, beat.

Enter 2007 and the tragedy that is/was Sean Tayor. (For the record, it does not matter what the circumstancs were behind this heinous act, it is a tragedy in every sense of the word. But the issue I am addressing is that of Mr. Whitlock and his blaming of hip-hop. The issue is that in 1990, he would have been wrong. In 2007, I truly hate to say this, but he is right.)

It is not that hip-hop itself is to blame however. This is the tricky part. As many of those reading this know, I am a producer, remixer, and part-time lyricist. I have been a hip-hopper since the 80s. I will not apologize for the fact that I now, in my ….. um.. late 20s/early 30s (roundabout, sheesh.. shutup!), continue to make beats, mix songs, and write rhymes. It is in my consciousness and will never leave my soul. I am a product of my looped-funk-and-R&B-over-hard-12-bit-drum-sounds roots and will be that until I die. But in 1990, hip-hop was a product of the culture of the youth. Today, it IS the culture of the youth. And in becoming so, is no longer what hip-hop originally was, or was intended to be.

When I see on YouTube, young white children in ballet class, “Supermanning” that proverbial hoe, there is no question that life has completely swallowed up art, and now, spits it back out as a cartoonish mockery of itself. Hip-hop has lost the exclusivity which made it so eccentric in the beginning. It is probably like the elite nightclubs or celebrity hot-spots of NY or LA. They begin, much more secretive, reclusive, hard-to-get-into. But once word gets out that a “celebrity-of-the-day” frequents the joint, the ‘regular people’ find their way down. By then, the star/starlet has moved on, eager to avoid having to mingle with the peons, and all of a sudden the hot-spot of the stars, ends up being just the lukewarm-spot of the wannabes.

So, when Mr. Whitlock blames ‘hip-hop’ for the problems of the youth, on the surface, it sounds like a back-in-the-day attack, when the uninformed critics would criticize hip-hop, because it sounded different, and sounded mean, and looked menacing, and was unknown. And the hip-hop fanatics and defenders are so used to being attacked for their beliefs, that we raise up when even the slightest suggestion is made that hip-hop (and by default this mean rap-music) is to blame for any ill. But actually, Mr. Whitlock is not swayed by any emotional attachment to hip-hop culture. He is not distracted by a love for the music that he met when he was 10 years old, and what he loved most was that she had so much soul. No, he is saying ‘hip-hop’… But he means ‘youth’. No longer is hip-hop a piece of the culture of youth. The culture of youth, is now simply called ‘hip-hop’.

So, I cannot attack the statement, “The ‘keepin’ it real’ mantra of hip hop is in direct defiance to evolution”, until I can accurately determine how the writer chooses to define hip-hop. If he is mindlessly equating black youth, crime, violence and hip-hop in one big melting pot of tragic circumstances, then no, I will not support his theories. But he seems smart enough on the surface to not fall into that trap, and instead, realizes that hip-hop today is not hip-hop of old, and that today, black, white, hispanic, asian and practically any race, creed or ethnicity that is young follows a twisted, perverted and different culture than the hip-hop purists would claim as their own. And unfortunately the culture of today’s youth does indeed draw from the roots of hip-hop, but the overall culture of today’s youth is that twisted, cartoonish hip-hop-ish mashup that was created when mainstream USA dug their claws into Golden Era hip-hop. The result has been an increase in buffoonery and self-denigration. A blind adoption of the original tenets of hip-hop, without the understanding or experience necessary to appreciate, understand and relate to them. An adaptation of hip-hop by mainstream popular culture that has become the culture of the popular mainstream.

In essence, the violence that fell on Sean Taylor was not due to hip-hop as I, or the authors of the comments of the aforementioned blog would define it. It was more likely the result of the twisted, mutated evolution of youthful society. A society which, across racial and economic boards, has cherry-picked the most extreme and egregious characteristics that hip-hop as a culture, and through its music in the past, has to offer, and followed with pseudo-religious abandon.

So Mr. Whitlock, while wrong, is kinda right. Defenders of hip-hop, defend out of habit, and defend because their defense of African-Americans particularly, is reflex, and for good reason. But today, hip-hop doesn’t equal hip-hop anymore. Realistically, this morphed version of hip-hop is now simply ‘popular culture’. And that popular culture could, by itself, be what is to blame for Sean Taylor’s tragic end. Hip-hop, at it’s core, was a form of expression. A vibe. A way of life that existed to give a voice to the voiceless. Not to give guns to the gunless. A reporting of the reality. Not the reality itself. What is called hip-hop today, is not the hip-hop we hold dear to our hearts. It is the radical Islam of hip-hop. A force that does not reflect the hip-hop that true hip-hoppers believe in. And therefore, many of us denounce today’s hip-hop, today’s popular culture, and any and all factors that could have contributed to the violence that Sean Taylor, or the thousands of young people today must endure, that are done in the name of hip-hop.

It is simply cultural heresy. Hip-hop, as Nas and I once knew it, is indeed dead. Perhaps, and hopefully, it is setting the stage for a rebirth. If so, long live hip-hop. If not, good, ’cause they ruined it anyway.

They’re never sorry until they get caught. Amazing, huh?

That being said, here’s an idea that I sorta wanted to do as a radio show, or podcast, but will do here. Every Sunday (hopefully, don’t quote me on that, I will put up my weekly list of things that I’ve stumbled across on the internet or that have been sent to me via email. (I was going to make it 10 things, but y’all know me, it’s difficult for me to stick to anything in the first place, much less ‘10′ of them)…

This week-end recap could be anything from music, to stupid YouTube videos, to news articles, or whatever. Stuff that caught my eye/ear, that I’m passing on to you all. (All 3 blog readers should feel very special).

So without further delay, let’s begin. Pencils down.

Hm. Should I do a reverse countdown maybe, in order of coolness? Like David Letterman? Hm. Thinking.. I’d say yes, that’d be freshest.. But more work. Ugh. Ok, let’s just see what happens…


10. Donny Goines – Do It For Hip Hop
Donny is an e-acquaintence, affiliated through our wanderings through the BumSquad DJz site. We’ve emailed support back and forth a couple times, thought he was a nice guy. Saw he been getting some shine over at AllHipHop.com and NahRight recently, then yesterday, Different Kitchen put up one of his joints, Reninsance, which is ok, and the link to the his video for “Do It For Hip Hop“, which I watched and thought was pretty cool too. So big up to Donny, glad to see you still grinding and getting somewhere. (His MySpace)

9. An Intelligent, Organized and Successful Hip-Hop Event (which of course, you never heard about)
Chess and Smart Choices, from hiphopmusic.com, an interesting recap of the recent Hip-Hop Chess Foundation’s first annual chess invitational. My 9-year old plays chess. Holds his own with decent playing chess-adults, and would probably whoop bad chess-playing adults. Though my boy is not a follower, something like this might help with the kids who won’t do anything unless their favorite rapper does it. Hope it keeps going.

8. Ok, sorry but HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
You’ve probably seen it. It’s old. It’s stupid. But watch AT LEAST 30 seconds. Promise me.

7. ESPN Sportscenter if ESPN was hip-hop and athletes were rappers
Or something like that. Jumpoff.tv has a weekly ‘look-back’ show at some worldwide rap freestyle going on. It’s like a highlight reel of what would probably be otherwise a little drawn out freestyle battles. Oh whatever, forget the analysis, watch this if you like battle rap, you’ll def be entertained with a few punchlines. Like: “I’ll take this / reverse albino smurf / and powerbomb him on this fine stone earth / until his spine don’t work / and he needs Terry Shiavo’s nurse”. Nice.

6. Fortune cookie say: Learn Chinese BEFORE Getting Tattoo
A teenage-girl just wanted to impress her mother by having the word “mum” tattooed on her back in Chinese letters. After the tattoo was completed, the girl found out that the symbols meant “Friend from hell.” (ncuby.com) — Which is funny by itself, but would have been HILARIOUS if it was because her Chinese-speaking friend decided to punk her.

5. You’re a shining shooting star… No matter who you are…
Weather permitting and under very dark skies away from light pollution, skywatchers could see several meteors per hour. Rates will be significantly lower in cities and suburban areas. (msnbc.com) — Rates will also be significanly lower if you are looking at the ground.

4. Nas is killin’ me
First off, Nas and me need to speak. I really do got that fire for him. I always felt I could be a perfect production compliment to the cat (i.e., my Bridging the Gap remix)… But destiny hasn’t been kind. I had some ‘guy’ who was supposed to be affiliated with his clique, or label, and was going to bring my remixes for them to hear. Never heard back. Then, I’m standing in Family Court about a year ago and not 2 feet away is Mr. Jones himself and his lawyer (during the Carmen court drama). But of course, I felt ‘not the right time’, so I just parlayed. Well, not completely true, I was gonna slip him a respectful little “I’d like to talk biz” note, but when I came out, he was gone. Anyway, what annoys me as an upcoming (forever) producer who uses samples, is the eventuality that someone decently well known will use one of the loops or samples that I’ve either used, thought to use, wanted to use, or is going to use. Well, Nas (and in reality, the producer, maybe Chris Webber?!? ), wins again with “Surviving the Times” (video from Hip-Hop is Read, props!), sampling The Wiz feat. Nipsey Russell (which, by the way, I own the soundtrack to, on vinyl, unopened) . Good track though, and apparently, I’m not the only one who thought of it already (like, duh.. This happens all the time in hip-hop)…

3. A Giant Leap … for Womankind…
When space shuttle Discovery blasts off Tuesday, a woman will be sitting in the commander’s seat. And up at the international space station, a female skipper will be waiting to greet her. (yahoo.com) — And if it happened a year and a half from now, a woman president would be calling to congratulate them, lol..

2. Abracadabra and hocus poke-us
Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. (cnn.com) — Hm, I dunno bout that, but his beard sho’ is feeeeirrrrce!

1. Appropriate for the halloween season, new Ghostface stuff starting to leak
Celebrate ft. Kid Capri – From NahRight, as they are quick to let you know.

…so they ask the govt for a lil help…

(small town)

…so the dept of homeland security gives them $665,000!!…

(small town)

HOW SMALL IS IT?

(3,500 people)

…only big ‘target’ for terrorism in town is a 1450-pound concrete sculpture of cheese…

(yes, cheese)

…and the best part?

None of the $665,000 can be spent on a fire truck.

Genius.

The astronaut story kills me. Some people are saying space virus. I say, there are people on Earth who are even crazier than her, so forget that theory.

Interesting, a glass/steel walkway for tourists to faint on at the Grand Canyon opens in March.

In other Manny Faces news… My MJB remix used on DJ Medley’s extremely cool-sounding mixtape.

It’s cold in NY.

P.S Someone comment dammit, just so I can continue to live the belief that someone actually reads this stuff from time to time.

I’ve halted my Topical Paradise podcast (some time ago actually)… Quietly working on potential alternative outlet(s) for this idea… God-willing, it will return in some form, at some point.

Latest remix is still Lupe Fiasco’s Daydreamin’… To be honest, there hasn’t been much that I either a) feel like remixing or b) can obtain an acapella in a timely fashion for… But I’m sure I’ll drop something soon…

Have a new mixtape about to drop. This one will be more along the lines of my Affairs to Remember one, as opposed to my Manny Faces Remixes Vol. 1, in that it is not a remix/production affair, just good music to listen to… I’ll reveal it within a week or so, just have to finish it up..

An incredibly touching story that rivals, if not surpasses, the Pursuit of Happyness in terms of a heart-wrenching, father-son, real-life tearjerker..

Another amazing story of heroism, as a man saves a teenager from an oncoming subway train. Between these two stories, who can say there are no good people out there??

First of all, interesting thing I’ve been doing lately… I’ve realized that my children haven’t seen many of the movies that, for whatever reason or another, are ‘classics’ to me… Now, I think that a lot of you out there who have kids, or still ARE kids, or have younger bros & siseses, should make it a point to go back a few years (not even taking Gone With The Wind or To Kill A Mockingbird back), and think about movies that may or may not have come on cable, but that today’s younger generation might have skipped over.. and hip them to some pretty decent movie joints.. So, for each blog post, I’ll have a ‘flashback-movie-of-the-post’.. just to give some ideas… (and for the record, yes, I let my younger ones watch some movies that are PG-13 or even, God forbid, R.. I don’t need CPS knocking on my door, rest assured that since I know these movies already, I do excuse them from parts I deem too much for their surprisingly-mature-already minds…)

Flashback movie of the post: The Fugitive (1993) – Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones
Whoo hoo, this flick was a classic who-dunnit in my mind. I’ve seen it a bunch of times, always knowing who-dunnit, but still entertained each time. Based on a true story, this caught my son’s eyes as we were visiting my girlfriend’s mother’s house, and the movie was being shown, albeit, in Spanish. Now my son doesn’t know Spanish per se, but he was glued to the TV (how do you say idiot-box en espanol?) and at that point I thought, he’d really dig this movie if watching it start to finish.. So, I rented it, we watched it, and he dug it. Mission accomplished!

Also, my most-interesting-according-to-Manny news item of the day. Today’s entry. When asked “What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?” and the stupidest thing you’re ever done is shot someone in the head, but no one knows it, it’s best not to answer “Shot someone in the head.” …

And a nice dumb-piece-of-video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmroaYVD_so

That’s it for now.