God's Own Crunk

Instapundit just posted this (yes, I blame a middle-aged law prof for providing this vidya to you, said reader):

Beatles fans and Prodigy fans unite – this is where the sauce is made.

FWIW – I was in my final year in college when “Smack My Bitch Up” came out, and MTV – yes, MTV – wouldn’t show it until after … 10 PM or so? Whatever. The vidya was awesome then and this mashup is awesome now.

Not much context here – just a kid at Duncanville (TX) HS reminding his teacher that there’s more to it than “packets.” Good on him.

Also – clearly, metal ain’t dead.

Again, good on him.

I didn’t know Chanel West Coast was a rapper, til I did. Over on MTV, there’s a show called something to the effect of “Rob Drydek’s Ridiculouness” and spending as much time in hotel rooms as I do, I’ve watched a great deal of said show. It’s a clip show focused on “extreme” sports that revolves around skateboarders rearranging the alignment of their tailbones. Drydek stands in front of a big screen introducing these clips and then there’s a couch – and on that couch sits Chanel, who has a weird, Lolita-esque voice and infectious giggle and … that’s all you need to know.

Oh, and she’s a rapper (I said that, right?). As a man who love whitegirlhipsterrap, I love me some Chanel, so … enjoy!

A short, but interesting piece:

When Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks said on stage in London days before the Iraq War began in 2003  that she was ashamed to be from the same state as President Bush, it caused a firestorm of protest among country music fans. But among the liberal media, they became the hottest property going. Their tour continued, they were naked on the cover of Entertainment Weekly to mark the protest and starred in a Lipton Iced Tea commercial spinning off the controversy.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2013/05/04/npr-exaggerates-how-dixie-chicks-were-effectively-blacklisted-under-bush#ixzz2SMLekTea

Tim Graham only scratches the surface of the demise of The Dixie Chicks after Natalie Maines made her once-infamous comment on foreign soil. Forgotten in the wreckage of the band’s album and career was the fact that Home, the album they were touring to support, was arguably the best country album of the so-called aughts. Other than Johnny Cash IV, I can’t think of an album that came anywhere near the power of Home, which included covers of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide’ and Bruce Robison’s ‘Travelin’ Soldier’, as well as a littany of great songs, all done with minimalistic production.

Read the rest of this entry »

I like ‘em, but they’re not my favorite band. That said, this is DMB and Zac Brown Band hooking up, and I say this as a redonk fan of both: ZBB is the future, and the future is good. Zac Brown Band is doing it and doing it well.

Here’s another clip to whet your taste.

Dude – srsly?

ZBB’s been around in the popular imagination for two years, and they have enough for a greatest hits tossoff – hmmmmmmm…

Heh.

This rocks – ZBB doing “Colder Weather.”

Stereogum’s evolved into my favorite place to read about music, so I say this with love: How is “Juicy,” considered the diamond standard of narrative rap – to say nothing of the best modern cut period – not even good enough to make the top 10 of the man’s own work? Someone’s trying to hard. I was never a huge fan of “Hypnotize,” but like “Juicy,” excluding it is the reason that people hate hipsters, including hipsters. Whatevz – all good baby baby…

A lot of Biggie’s classics, however, like “Juicy” and “Hypnotize,” did not. Both are crucial to his career, but that doesn’t make them the best. “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems” does not have a place in the top ten, either. It was undeniable hit, but in Bad Boy’s era of shiny suits and glossy Hype Williams videos, it was turned into Ma$e and Puffy’s song with a Big verse at the end. Puffy knew how to draw the masses to Biggie, for sure, and while it was a smart single, it’s one of the sparing tracks that is racked with superfluous lyrics from Big.

via The 10 Best The Notorious B.I.G. Songs – Stereogum.

A couple of readers here at z’GOC are Americana music lovers of a sort – this will treat them well:

The A-side of Covingtons 1928 record was “Adam and Eve and the Garden.” The B-side had the even more evocative title “I Heard the Voice of the Pork Chop.”Like the Robert Johnson 78, it was in impossibly good condition. In fact, it had never been played as far as Willie could tell. It also was on the rare Paramount label, making it one of the most collectable records in the world, sight unseen.After consulting Dixon and Godrichs “Blues and Gospel Records 1902-1942,” Jerry and Willie contacted Jerry Zolten, a Penn State University music historian and rare record collector who frequented the store. Mr. Zolten, a McKeesport native, was stunned by their discovery.”Paramount didnt use the best shellac mix,” Mr. Zolten said, explaining the recordings fragility and rarity. “Jerry and Willie managed to find a copy that looked like it just came out of the store.”Mr. Zolten suggested to the Webers what they already had been thinking: The reclusive underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, who last visited Jerrys Records during the 2004 Carnegie International, probably would jump at the opportunity to own a rare Bogus Ben Covington record.

via Rare 78 spins into trade with Jerrys Records for drawing by R. Crumb – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Medal of Honor citation for one Thomas A. Baker – needlessly, I’ve bolded the part that awes me more than everything else Sgt. Baker did that awes me:

*BAKER, THOMAS A.

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 105th Infantry, 27th Infantry Division. Place and date: Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944. Entered service at: Troy, N.Y. Birth: Troy, N.Y. G.O. No.: 35, 9 May 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty at Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944. When his entire company was held up by fire from automatic weapons and small-arms fire from strongly fortified enemy positions that commanded the view of the company, Sgt. (then Pvt.) Baker voluntarily took a bazooka and dashed alone to within 100 yards of the enemy. Through heavy rifle and machinegun fire that was directed at him by the enemy, he knocked out the strong point, enabling his company to assault the ridge. Some days later while his company advanced across the open field flanked with obstructions and places of concealment for the enemy, Sgt. Baker again voluntarily took up a position in the rear to protect the company against surprise attack and came upon 2 heavily fortified enemy pockets manned by 2 officers and 10 enlisted men which had been bypassed. Without regard for such superior numbers, he unhesitatingly attacked and killed all of them. Five hundred yards farther, he discovered 6 men of the enemy who had concealed themselves behind our lines and destroyed all of them. On 7 July 1944, the perimeter of which Sgt. Baker was a part was attacked from 3 sides by from 3,000 to 5,000 Japanese. During the early stages of this attack, Sgt. Baker was seriously wounded but he insisted on remaining in the line and fired at the enemy at ranges sometimes as close as 5 yards until his ammunition ran out. Without ammunition and with his own weapon battered to uselessness from hand-to-hand combat, he was carried about 50 yards to the rear by a comrade, who was then himself wounded. At this point Sgt. Baker refused to be moved any farther stating that he preferred to be left to die rather than risk the lives of any more of his friends. A short time later, at his request, he was placed in a sitting position against a small tree . Another comrade, withdrawing, offered assistance. Sgt. Baker refused, insisting that he be left alone and be given a soldier’s pistol with its remaining 8 rounds of ammunition. When last seen alive, Sgt. Baker was propped against a tree, pistol in hand, calmly facing the foe. Later Sgt. Baker’s body was found in the same position, gun empty, with 8 Japanese lying dead before him. His deeds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.