DJ marlboro and Hip Hop in Brazil

In a famous quote, Chuck D refers to rap as the black CNN. In many respects Rio or baile funk could be referred to as favela CNN. That is, it's used as a medium to convey how the people who live in the Brazilian favelas really feel using their own language, idioms and slang. baile funk is basically a strain of Miami Bass breakbeat, but much cruder and ruffer in it's production. There is a healthy anything-goes and fuck-fashion attitude to using samples, and classic late 80's Todd Terry can meet the riff from Doo Wah Diddy.

The scene is scorned upon by the Brazilian electronica scene-makers as well as the middle-class media. It's prole-like unpretentiousness and complete lack of "cool" makes it a scene apart from the rave and club scene dominated by São Paulo and the fashion conscious Paulistas. But ironically, baile Funk is the original Brazilian electronic dance music stemming from the incredibly popular Rio sound-systems of the 70's.

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Well this has been an extremely interesting week. Between preparing to return to the boondocks for another semester of ice cold weather and soothing tequila shots I ran into this surprise article about my colleges dark (pun intended) history.

On a personal note I did not know about this incident till i had invested a whole year in the school. Nor was I completely surprise that it happened up there. I know that the majority of the white students have little contact with their colored counterparts. To this day their is literally two worlds up there. and I have been personally harassed by the state police who work as campus security, based on some bullshit that was plotted by my RD who hated my friends and me cause we listened to rap music just as loud as the kids down the hall listened to their Alternative grunge shit and did not act friendly with our RA when she continued to only tell us to turn it down.

but put that all aside and yeah things have improved when i first went up there, their was less than 3% colored students enrolled at oneonta(that includes all races that was not white) now the school has got to its average of 12% enrolled (but the majority of these students fail out or just transfer)

The only silver lining in sight was i found the pictures of the incoming freshmen on facebook and the women are beautiful.

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As for the academic's I am in between two books at the moment the first one "Prophets of the Hood" written by Imani Perry and Black Skin, White Mask" by Frantz Fanon. Both book are extremely interesting.

The first is a modern critique of Hip Hop culture looking not only at subjects as identity and migsogany but it looks at Hip Hop as literature and tries to interpret the meanings to many popular (for avid Hip Hop Heads) lines. But what was probably the most refreshing part of the book was where she explained Hyper-masculinity not as much a problem as a reaction to environments where it is necessary to maintain a cold stoic mask towards life at the best of times and a vicious rage during the worse of times. The fact that she does not blame the victim is a sure sign that she is aware of positive light"Hip Hop reality"tm. Thoough i sometimes question this entire hypermasculine shit as childish most people leave that behind to get a job cause as AZ said on "Life's a Bitch"
Fuck whose the baddest/ a person's status/ depends on salary. and the older I become the more that rings true. Damn Capitalist .

The second book is considered by some circles to be a classic ( so far I agree with it to a point). I have only dealt with the first few chapters but i do see some real world parallels to his ideas about how colonized people are accultured to look down on their culture as inferior and buy into these beliefs at the first available chance.

As for his belief on interracial relationships that is something i can not give an umbiased opinion cause I have slept with white women and black and well it was fun with both........ maybe I am just a equal oppurtunity man whore but I did not feel more guilt or satisfaction from having sex with a white woman than I did when I slept with a black girl I was just happy for a a booty call that night.

But the question of identity and sexual politics is still relevent. A good friend of mine's grandmother constantly reminds him to only date light skinned girls which is a direct example of the sentiment show in these chapters. I wonder has anyone ever thought of putting Fanon and Du Bois in a book together to further promote the work of the academies ebony tower.

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As for music I heard this great song called the mask (or something similiar) that had MF Doom (the cerebral cam'ron) and Ghostface (the last great Wu tang samurai) together spitting that grimey shit that makes me home sick when I am suffering from frostbite in the mountains, I also heard this song that had AZ, Ghostface, and Raekwon spitting that New York blah blah that make you wonder when did New Yorks sound go so fucking wrong.

Talking about whats wrong with New York Hip Hop I Gotta mention the Whistle song by Juelz Santana. see I am not one of these internet Hipsters wannabe Dickriders who goes on and on about how good Dipset is. No, See I know lyrics when I hear it, and I know simply sick as fuck production and catchy hooks. And dammit the whistle song is so good when it comes to production and hooks I gotta overlook good lyrics and just think about all of asses that are gonna be gyrating in front of me to this tune in the not too distant future.

Damn Big Bundas and its ability to change my mind on all things I find important. But hey girl let me see you get low and you can basically do all the thinking from then on.

Academic standards

After much euridite (whoa big word there) thought upon the subject i decided i am going to continue my education and become a college professor in the field of sociology. Luckily for me I am a bit of a bookworm and after researching all the other soul-eating careers out there this seems the best for me

In Breaking Bread Cornell West writes that the "central task of postmodern Black intellectuals is to stimulate, hasten, and enable alternative perceptions and practices by dislodging prevailing discourses and powers. This can be done only by intense intellectual work and engaged insurgent praxis." Which means in simpler terms pay no respect to either White supremacy or Black instituions that fail Du Bois talented tenth program.
Which seems more than ok with me since both of them fail my community of the underclass by willful neglect and evil design.

So from this point forth The Blackout shall stand not only for a place where decendant of the original Asiatic African (be they in Africa or the diaspora) culture and music is examined. Now the blackout will be a place where i try my best to express the academic knowledge I recieve.