Hip Hop Questionaire

In your opinion…


1) Who is the best emcee of all time AND presently?

All Time: Dre of Outkast (listen to the first 3 'Kast albums)

Presently: Common



2) Who is the best group of all time AND presently?

All Time: Outkast

Presently: The Roots



3) Who is the best pure lyricist of all time AND presently?

All Time: Rakim

Presently: GZA



4) Who is the best DJ of all time AND presently?

All Time: Jam Master Jay

Presently: Babu



5) Who is the best live emcee/group of all time AND presently?

All Time: The Roots

Presently: Tha Alkaholiks



6) Who is the best hype man of all time?

Flava Flav (is there any other real hype men)



7) Who is the best producer of all time AND presently?

All Time: DJ Premier

Presently: Hi-Tek



8) Who has been the most influential person/group to the culture of hip hop?

Run DMC



9) Who is the most underrated AND overrated emcee/group out right now?

Underrated: Tie: Brother Ali, GZA, AZ, Wildchild

Overrated: 50 cent



10) Who in the underground scene do you think is the next to make it big?

SKILLZ



11) Which is the best label?

GOOD Music (Kanye)



12) What is the best documentary/film of hip hop ever made?

Beat Street - my first introduction to the culture of hiphop


13) What is the best hip hop video of all time?

BOB - Outkast



14) Pt. 1 – If you could have any emcees/groups (dead or alive) collaborate, who would it be; Pt. 2 – What would be the funniest collaboration (dead or alive) of any emcee/group?

Pt. 1 – JayZ and NAS

Pt. 2 – ODB and Eminem



15) What is the best element of hip hop?

DJ



16) What is the best concert venue you’ve been to, to see a hip hop show?

Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, CA



17) What do you hate the most about present-day hip hop?

4 out of 5 rappers with deals suck.



18) Rank the top 5 songs in hip hop history.

1 – TROY - Pete Rock and CL Smooth

2 – Award Tour - Tribe

3 – Peter Piper - Run DMC

4 – Mic Fiend - Eric B. and Rakim

5 – Da mystery of chessboxin' - Wu-tang



19) Rank the top 5 albums in hip hop history.

1 – Aquemini, Outkast

2 – Train of Thought, Reflection Eternal

3 – Soundbombing 2, Rawkus Records

4 – 2001, Dr. Dre

5 – The Platform, Dilated Peoples





20) In 1 word, what is hip hop?

Expressive

Its tha Liks, baby!

Tonight at the Belly Up Tavern, The Alkaholiks are performing. They are sick live and I am looking forward to being faded. I already took a vacation day off tomorrow from work cuz I would not be able to wake up by 6am.

Last weekend was one of the best weekends in a few months. Friday night, Mills and I went to a Cocktail party. Oooh-Weee. The ladies were bangin. So many honies. It was guy heaven. I didnt know SD had all these hotties. Why didnt they go to UCSD. And since it was a cocktail party, all of them were dressed in their finest outfits. That would be short skimpy dresses. Anyway, I met some of Mills' classmates and hung out with them and met some other people. It was a good time. Definitely a good start to branch off into different things.

Saturday night, we headed downtown to celebrate Pacey's birthday. We started off at Yard House for some half-yards, then to the Field for some carbombs and good Irish beer. The night progressed to Dick's where the same band that was playing when we went a year ago for my bday was playing again. And they remembered Mills when he was playing the cowbell and they made him stop because he was throwing off the drummer. That was pretty fun. Pacey was drunk because he was dancing and even he said he never dances. It was awesome having Emily, Laura, and Jenny come out and hang out with us and celebrate. It was a very pleasant surprise.

All I hear from people now is that we have to throw more parties at our house. So, we are prolly going to oblige and throw one in the next month or so. We are gonna give the people what they want.

I went home on Sunday for a family bday celebration not only for mine, but my two cousins who also have birthdays in September. It is very hard to get all of us in the same city on the same day. And now we were still missing one. My cousin Arin just moved away to go to UC Irvine and he wasnt able to make it back. Good for him. He needs to have fun in college and go home occassionaly. It seems like all my family will ever discuss is my sister's wedding. I am happy and excited about it, but the way it constantly dictates everything we talk about and do, it can get a little too much. But, that just means that it will be planned really well and be perfect. I cant imagine it now going well, because the prep and set up has been planned for a long time.

Hanging out with old friends

Last night I went over to Dennis' to hang out with Jeff (former roommate in college) who was in town for a week or so from Tahoe. It had been at least a year or so since I saw him. There wasnt anything major going on at Dennis' so it was nice to sit around and chat/reminisce. Jeff lived with me, Jay and Long at the Warren appts. sophomore year. That was probably my favorite year of college for many reasons, one being the people I lived with. Im glad to hear that he has been travelling and doing cool things since graduation. I wish I would have kept in touch better and with more of our college peepz that decided to not stay in san diego after graduation. I wonder how all the girls on our floor freshman year are doing. Is Ericka still in Alaska? How's married life/med school for Tristan? Dennis is really good at keeping it touch with people. I definitely wish I had his skills in that. I need to get out and meet different people. I was hoping that once I got a good job, I would be able to use it as a new avenue/network, but unfortunately it reall isnt. The majority of my co-workers are females who have settled down/married/kids and dont really fit. They are all realy cool and nice and I like working with them, but definitely do not have network possibilities. I think Dennis is the best way to go. I am always meeting new people around him. It seems that we hang out with the same people majority of the time. And when you hang out with the same people, you end up doing the same things every time. Peter is pretty good at branching out himself. Especially since hes got so much stuff going on with lifeguarding, grad school, and former college buddies living in the area. I am gonna make a concerted effort to "branch out" myself and see where it leads me. Who knows?

Songs I'm currently bumpin:
Kanye - Touch the Sky
Usher - Nice and Slow/U make me wanna (see earlier post)
AZ - The Come Up
Melle Mel - Beat Street Breakdown

Two blogs in one day!

Im back at it again. As you can tell, it's been a busy day at work. Signed up for Costco at the vendor booth onsite, talked to a couple claimants, signed some checks. All in all it was a good day.

I spent a lot of time today reading up on Armenian and Persian stuff. I have been meaning to start learning farsi again so if I find a hot persian lady like I am hoping, I can sweet talk her with my language. I think I might order a cd-rom/book on how to speak farsi. I have most of the pronounciation down because of hearing my parents and so many people speak it for so long. I just need to learn what means what and to put sentences together. If for some reason I do not end up being with/marrying an armenian girl, it would be because I was with a persian girl. I really think that persians are the most beautiful women of any race. Not just concerning boobs, butt, legs but the complete package. I think the skin color/facial complexion is what really does it for me. Everything else just falls into place as well. The number one reason why I considered moving back to LA after school and during my unemployment days was because that is where I would meet with a lot of Armenian/Perisans. And even now, I think about it as well. I dont really see myself finding someone down here. I have been here 6 years now, and I havent found anyone that I would want to be with. Maybe I am picky. Not to say that I dont look for females who arent Armenian/Persian here because I do, but they really have to wow me. It hasnt happened yet. I guess in a way that is wrong. But its something thats definitely been instilled in me since I was growing up that I would marry an Armenian. My family expects it. I expect it. I think that my family would be receptive to a Persian because we are so familiar with the culture and the area. But that would be the extent of it. Now dont get me wrong. My parents are not going to disown me or not show up to the wedding if i do decide to marry another race, but they would not be thrilled. Especially now that my sister is getting married and the wedding is such a big deal for my family. There's a lot of thoughts/ideas going through me that I have to think about. I guess thats what happens when you grow up. You have to deal with shit instead of pushing them to the side for a later date. Fuck. I just turned 24. It's not that old, but its about the time where every birthday is not something you look forward to like the first 20 plus years were.

I am going home this weekend to visit family and celebrate my and my two cousins birthday on sunday. During college years, I cant say I really looked forward to going home because I always felt like I was missing out on something down here during the weekend. Now, I cant wait to go back for many reasons. That is probably one of the reasons why I wouldnt mind moving back home. Maybe thats another sign of growing up and beginning to think beyond this moment and looking towards the future.

Monthly recap of events

I thought this would be a good time to recap my month of September since I am bored/hungover here at work. Let's see what I can remember.

My Bday party:
As always, it was a success. We had a good amount of people show up, but considerably less than the usual turnout. I think some people were at home for the summer or on vacation. It was the second party at the new house and both have turned out well even though we felt when we moved in that this would not be a good party house based on its layout. Peter had a lot of friends come by too and it was good to see them. They bring that Vanderbilt style of partyin with them. I need to start kickin' it with them more often instead of staying at home. Anyway, after considerable beer bongs/shots/my concocted mix drinks, I was gettin my groove on. Apparently from what I gathered from others, I was a "dancing machine" that night. The pictures from Alice's phone seem to prove it. I was full of energy. I was going strong. I ended the night with some Denny's with Spencer, Robbie and Theresa. I dont really remember what I ordered, but it was pretty delicious. I think.

Last night:
I am going out of chronological order because, well I can't think of everything right now. This is why I am hungover right now at work. John, Jay, and I started off with some mad dogs, leading to some shots of vodka/rum/151 which made for some craziness. Peter Mills finally showed up from class with his own mad dog and joined the festivities. Ian and Desi came by as well to partake. Thank god I downloaded those Usher songs the other day so that john and i could have a big karaoke to "Nice and Slow" and "U make me wanna" just like we did over at Alice's on campus party. Oh shit. That happened in September too. I'll get into that later. Anyway, i think i passed out on the couch. When I woke up this morning, my light/fan were on, my blinds were up, my window was open and my screen door was off, somewhere on the roof. I dont really know what the fuck happened to my screen door, but I am sure somebody can explain it to me when I get home today. I'll fill you guys in once I know. Im sure it will be good.

Alice's last on campus party:
I'll make this one brief. Alice wanted to get hammered one last time on campus and say fuck to the RSO's. Since I had my share of run-ins with them over earlier in decade, I thought it was a great idea. We got hammered, big surprise. We threw toilet paper all over the building and from building to building. Nobody was really around because everyone had moved out already. Finally, the RSO showed up when Gary was trying to put more TP on. He said he was trying to clean up and didnt know who did it. Since he's Asian, they believed him and came up to question us. He asked us if we were still in highschool for doing something like this, and we laughed in his face. It was pretty funny. Had to be there.

Coming-up: Tha Alkoholiks at Belly Up Tavern, Sept 29th. 21 and over
This will top off the month and I will post afterwards with all the details. If you wanna go to the show, let me know. They do not dissapoint.

New Album Roundup:
I have heard some new shit this month. All in all it has been a good month for hiphop. Kanye came out. Although its not as good as College Dropout, I am very impressed with Mr. West. Musically, it sounds very different and I definitely appreciate that aspect. I think he has somewhat stepped up his MC skills but it still isnt great. There are a lot of better MC's out there than Kanye, but he is one of the best artists in hiphop currently. AZ came out with a new album. Although I havent heard it as much as Kanye, I definitely am feeling the beats on this. AZ always brings the heat with his rhymes. He is very underappreciated. I am gonna try to get this cd out to more people because he is good. If you'd like a copy of his cd, let me know. I'll burn one.

Katrina

This is so much worse than 9/11. As devastating and despicable as 9/11 was, this hurricane is going to shatter that in a heartbeat. People have not only lost lives, but their homes, valuables, jobs, cities. This is not shit that is going to be recovered in a mere two months. This is lost forever to these people. I cannot even begin to know how all of them are feeling in this time because I have never gone through anything like this. And hopefully, I will not have to. I am a bit upset at myself because unfortunately in my financial situation, I can't really afford to send any money or help to them. Thank god there are people that have the ability and the finances to help. Warrick Dunn, RB for the Falcons who was named the NFL man of they year in 2004 for all the community stuff he has done has asked every NFL player to donate $5k to help fight the devastation. Deion Sanders asked every professional athlete to donate $1k. Now you might say they are just asking for others to do something. NO. Dunn has already done so much for his hometown in Louisiana sending all sorts of supplies and Deion along with a couple of his teammates sent the same as well. They can't do it alone, but they have the voice to stand up and to try to get their fellow players who also have the ability to do something.

In my previous post, I put up lyrics to a song Chuck D wrote yesterday in 45 min after a conversation with his dad. I thought it deserved its own post.

I have spent my entrie Saturday morning reading up and watching clips of Kanye West on the NBC telethon for relief. I did not watch any TV last night when i got home from work so I had no idea what had happened until I saw it on the internet. If you havent seen or heard it, here is one clip.


A lot of people are calling him selfish and only doing this to sell more albums, but if you really look at the video, you can tell he is really nervous and shook. All the media outlets have already written their articles saying that Kanye ruined the telethon and what he did was disgusting, but the man was speaking his mind and should be applauded for it. Now, what he said isn't revolutionary. Everyone should already know that Bush doesn't give one fuck about blacks or poor people. But, that he took his stance on such a big network and had the balls to be up there and say it, was pretty awesome. Fuck everybody who is going to trash him for being anti-American. Wait till Bill O'reilly starts talking about this. Fuck him too. You could tell Kanye was speaking from his heart because his explanation was not very polished and definitely did not sound rehearsed. Bush's lack of immediate response to this is unforgivable and could have prevented some of the lasting devastation.

What do youall think about this?

These are true words of wisdom

HELL NO, WE AINT ALLRIGHT


New Orleans in the morning, afternoon, and night
Hell NO, we Aint Allright



Now all these press conferences
breakin news alerts
this just in
while your government looks
for a war to win
flames from the blame game, names?
where do i begin?
walls closin in
get some help to my kin
Who cares?
while the rest of the bushnation stares
as the drama unfolds
as we the people under the stares
50% of this son of a bush nation
is like hatin on haiti
an settin up assasinations
ask Pat Robertson- quiz him.....
...smells like terrorism.
racism in the news
still one sided news
saying whites find food
prey for the national guard ready to shoot
cause them blacks loot

New Orleans in the morning, afternoon, and night
Hell NO, we Aint Allright





Fires , earthquakes, tsunamis
i dont mean to scare
wasnt this written somewhere?
disgraces all i see is black faces
moved out to all these places
emergency state
corpses, alligators and snakes
big difference
between this haze
and them diamonds on the VMAs
we better look
whats really important
under this sun
especially if you over 21
this aint no tv show
this aint no video
this is really real
beyond them same ol 'keep it real'
quotes from them Tv stars drivin big rim cars
'streets be floodin, 'b'
no matter where you at, no gas
driving is a luxury
urgency
state of emergency
shows somebodys government
is far from reality....

New Orleans in the morning, afternoon, and night
Hell NO, we Aint Allright


I see here we be the new faces of refugees
who aint even overseas but here on our knees
forget the plasma TV-aint no electricity
new worlds upside down-and out of order
shelter? food? wsssup, wheres the water?
no answers from disaster them masses hurtin
so who the fk we call?--Halliburton?
son of a bush, how you gonna trust that cat?
to fix sht
when help is stuck in Iraq?
makin war plans takin more stands
in Afganistan
2000 soldiers dyin in the sand
but thats over there, right?
now what's over here
is a noise so loud
that some cant hear
but on TV i can see
bunches of people
lookin just like me..


Chuck D/ Public Enemy September 2 2005

Vegas, Baby!

What up ya'll. Its been so long!

So much shit has happened since my last post. None of which is better than the annual summer Vegas bash. This years trip involved the biggest group of all. At one point, we were 18 people in 3 different rooms. Boy, Excalibur sure does love us. We left on Thursday morning and once we got there we had to start off with Ugly Sticks! And if you dont know what those are, you have never been to Vegas with me. The first night we headed to Studio 54, arguably the best club I have ever been to. We had a great time as always and topped off the night with Pancakes and Beer. YES.

The second night we went to Club Ice and we got smashed. That is when Long and Gary showed up and we all got hammered together. It felt like Freshman/Sophomore year again. Unfortunately, our ladies werent having as much fun as we were that night, but that didnt stop us. Too many Captain shots and Gary's bright idea to chase a shot of Captain with a Mind Eraser. That was classic! Somehow we got home that night and the next mornign found out that Long made a complete ass out of himself in front of some girls they were staying with and got he and Gary kicked out of their rooms. Typical Long. I can't realy say I am surprised.

The last night we headed over to Club Pure. It is a pretty amazing venue, especially the outdoor patio overlooking the srip and Shaq was there as well. John shook his hand and got a picture taken. I found out later that Shaq is co-owner of the club with my fellow Armenian Angre Agassi. For a brief moment that night, I was in awe and thought that Shaq was the man. Thank god I came to my senses and realized how much I dislike him. But, I have to admit. For a good hour, I was impressed.

That signaled the end of our trip pretty much. I would say that was the least I have drank for a 3 night trip to Vegas and besides the second night at Ice, I wouldnt say I really got hammered at any other point. I can't really explain the reason why, but thats just how things worked out. I still had a great time and definitely enjoyed the company of people I was with.

This post is dedicated to my boy John Deck, my #1 blog fan. He's been on my ass constantly to get this thing back and running. And I finally have. This is for you buddy. SURPRISE!

what a weekend!

This was by far the best weekend I have had for awhile. Friday was our first annual International Beer Festival. It was supposed to be a hang out and discuss the fine tastes of beer from around the world, but it actually turned into quite a party. It was fun seeing people we havent seen for months. I miss hanging out with the crowd. We spent so much time over the past few years hanging out and now it seems like everyone has gone there separate ways. Don't get me wrong. I love kickin it with my roommates all the time, but it seems like we don't really hang out with a bigger group anymore. We need to throw the net out and attract different people. Get a bigger network out there.

I think Dennis is really good at that. He has so many different groups/networks that he is with and it definitely makes for better variety and options of stuff to do. I joined myspace this week mainly because I heard about how many girls you can meet. Although I dont seem myself being as successful as the others, it should still be cool. We'll see what happens with that. If ya'll are on there, do a search for me and add me to your friends. I need more friends on there.

Saturday, we headed out to Fiesta Island and the Over the Line Tournament. That was amazing. We boozed it up even more and met all the beautiful ladies of San Diego. We will hopefully be participating next year becasue the game just seems perfect for us. We came back around 6ish and passed out for a few years, got up and John, Pacey and I got 22's and chilled with the hookah for the rest of the night. It was a great way to end the night.

Sunday, just when i thought the weekend was over, here comes John Deck from work energized and focused to keep the spirit alive with champagne and captain morgan. All in all, my body really hated me this weekend but I had an awesome time. That's what i gotta do during the weekends, because during the week i gotta get up so early.

This week is planning Vegas for Aug 18-21. If you would like to go, let me know and we can coordinate it. There will be lots of debaucherry and a lot of fun.

Peace.