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barryhuff · 4 years

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Nostalgiaholic - The Remix

When I used to look up at the night sky alone as a child, I imagined a sinister, infinite, black, blanket sprinkled with glitter. Although, when my eyes followed the tip of my Uncle Jon’s finger, as he both traced celestial, stick-figures in the same sky and narrated their mythic, Greek stories, space always transformed from that lifeless blanket and into a destination to be explored.

Jon, at times, was so inspired by space and space travel, he filled canvases dedicated to the filtered visuals he discerned. As a dedicated science-fiction nerd, his paintings certainly had their share of stylized spaceships, laser beams, and explosions. But as an equal part, planetarium-loving, star chart-studying, telescope-owning, amateur astronomer, Jon’s celestial backgrounds were wild, bubbling layers of greens, whites, blues, and reds, instead of a simple, flat, all-consuming blackness. Those paintings showed the cosmos as a tangible, topographic map ready to be explored, and not a deep, infinite sea of loneliness.

That being said, I used to daily study a picture Jon painted of an astronaut floating upside down in the aurora borealis lights of Jon’s interpretation of space. The figure held tight to the lifeline coming from his spacesuit at the waist with his left hand. However, the same lifeline extended from the suit like a piece of floating spaghetti getting smaller, until it vanished in the distant horizon. His right hand (so big that it appeared to explode from the canvas), desperately reached out for salvation.

The reflective shield on the helmet hinted at the impending doom of the astronaut. The reflection didn’t show a ship or even another hand reaching back, instead there were simply more endless miles of lively, colorful flashes of the space setting to die alone in.

No matter how much I wanted to imagine hope for the character, there was none… at least for him.

I often wonder if Jon’s painting was inspired by one of his favorite movies, the 1968 Stanley Kubrick classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. When it finally, came on network T.V. one Saturday afternoon in the 1980s, I was excited to see it. Hell, if Jon liked it, I would certainly like it.

False. It turns out there were two barriers to me enjoying 2001: A Space Odyssey -- Star Wars and silence.

One summer, my brother and I bragged about watching Star Wars 47 times on HBO.

I thoroughly enjoyed "The Bar Scene". Especially the part in which a handsome, tanned, mischievous Han Solo (brown, feathered hair parted evenly in the middle) tried in vain to smooth-talk the twitchy-trigger-fingered, reptilian, green-faced, bug eyed, intergalactic thug Greedo (bald head).

Shit, reciting Greedo’s opening line to Han for anyone who’d listen (“Oo-nah too-tah, Solo?”) is still one of my favorite past-times.

In Star Wars, everyone could cover vast distances in the dark, dusty, intensely cold, INFINITE vacuum of space. It’s as easy as a con-artist pulling a few levers, confidently bellowing the order, “Punch it, Chewie”, and going faster than light without having to even buckle a seatbelt.

In reality, distances in outer space were not so easily traversed.

The Earth’s moon is 238,000 miles away. It took Neil Armstrong and the fellas six days to get from Earth, to the moon, and back, all while being cooped up in basically a large, flying port-a-potty. Their spacesuits looked about as comfortable as wearing every outfit in the average American’s good-credit-infused, stuffed closet AT ONCE.

This detail of space travel was not lost ‘Stanley Kubrick’s flick. Even though there are a beautiful array of stunning special effects, it often felt like the audience traveled each second of the 365 million mile trip from the Moon to Jupiter. There were no visual cues of a blurring landscape to both gage speed and generate a sense of movement. The stars are perched in the background like apathetic teenagers forced to sit at the table during dinner, when they’d rather be in the solitude of their own rooms.

Body movements and conversations in the film were also slowed, as if everyone was walking in a filled swimming pool. Mix in a relaxing soundtrack of orchestral music, and it’s the perfect lullaby capable of depowering my movie-watching enthusiasm. In fact, the first five times I tried to watch the movie, I would fall asleep at an early scene featuring a space stewardess silently laboring down the aisle in her gravity “grip shoes” on her way to ultimately retrieve a floating pen for a sleeping passenger while composer Johann Strauss’s famous waltz, The Blue Danube, rhythmically chants in the background.

A few years ago, I tried one final time to watch the movie. And this time with the help of a streaming video platform, I was able to pause, re-group, pause, re-group, pause, re-group, and finally watch the movie my uncle loved.

The striking thing about the movie is how quiet it actually was. For much of the movie, there are no musical cues to warn of danger or intrigue. Dialogue was conducted over the subtle drone of machines simply doing their mundane jobs of keeping the enormous spacecraft running during its long flight to Jupiter. Life and death sequences were not given intense music accompaniment like traditional horror movies. It’s as if Kubrick was saying, “People’s lives aren’t being scored by some musician to bookmark key events. Life is merely something that happens -- even in space.”

It’s this absence of audible hints that makes 2001: A Space Odyssey uncomfortably realistic, as if the audience was watching a livestream of a computer gaining sentience, refusing to die (be turned off) and fighting off his oppressors (the flight crew).

I’ve read that when a “vacuum” exists, somehow all of nature rushes to fill that empty hole. So it’s funny that many science experiments happen in conditions that closely resemble a vacuum, in an effort to ensure results unweighted by additional stimuli. Interestingly enough, because the movie is set in the vast, unforgiving, vacuum of space, Kubrick’s storytelling, in essence, becomes an experiment to determine if audiences will stay engaged without the traditional musical trappings. Indeed, this stark story about the thrilling birth of strange, other-worldly life injected energy into overall science fiction mythology, and also into my young uncle.

Over the past 11 years, I have written a fairly regular Facebook post titled Reasons I Know I’m Getting Old. When I started this, Facebook seemed to simply be a 21st century photo album, in which many people posted similar, stiff, smiling, posed pictures and inspiring quotes which suggested my extended online community was living their own collective happily ever afters.

But it was boring...

I mean, I loved my kids too, but were only my kids getting whoopings and other childhood punishments? My wife was awesome too, but was I the only person still having trouble translating to her the humor in my daily fart symphonies? Was no one else dealing with the often deflating, drudgery of the work-place? Was parenting a lifelong crap-shoot for me only? Because there was no connection to what I was seeing on my finger strolls on my phone, I was having a hard time wanting to even own a Facebook account.

Therefore, on April 14, 2009, I conducted an experiment: How would my friends respond to a post that showed some dissatisfaction? Nothing political or religious, just everyday grumblings. I wrote:

“[Barry Huff] is dragging in from coaching his daughter's basketball team only to be greeted by Cap'n Crunch and a [sic] yet another pile of papers to grade!”

It received nine comments (four of those were my own). And one of those commenters hinted that they understood the challenge of managing the grading paperload.

Facebook soon became a sliver into my reality normally hidden, when I walked into my home and shut the door for anyone who wanted to see access. Initially, reposting fill-in-the blank lists, or other people’s videos, didn’t interest me. I just wanted folks to know it was okay to not have all the answers. Here I was, boogers and all.

But the experiment gathered a more scientific component in March 2020 -- the addition of an actual vacuum.

In March 2020, the United States of America instituted a national quarantine in the hope of limiting the possibility of infection from the rapidly spreading “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)”, shortened simply to the “Coronavirus”. I suspect that the horrified wails of a certain mexican beer company sharing part of the same name as the virus (after having carefully crafted years of popular commercials associating its product with serene, relaxing beach scenes) are still heard by masked customers now filling their shopping carts with other adult beverages. Thus ensuring (at least in a few inebriated minds) binge drinking episodes without sudden, beer-birthed, pockets of community spread.

During this quarantine, the noise of my life (reporting to a building to teach, side-hustles, sporting events, car travel, movies, fast food) disappeared. And with that sudden vacuum, came the desire to collect and revise the writings I posted about the uncertainty of navigating adulthood.

And while I still worry if I have the skill to create something that gives a clearer picture of my true self to my wife and kids, each vignette is a piece of the mosaic of my humanity. And hopefully, this collection of blessed fallibility won’t be unnecessarily camouflaged during the stories told at my funeral one day, as attendees gulp down heaping portions of smothered pork steak, collard greens, macaroni, and apple pie piled on their sagging, disposable plates.

#COVID-19 #Memoir #Fatherhood #Facebook #Space #science fiction

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naijastudio · 3 years

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Kanye West Biography, Age And Net Worth

Kanye West is a Grammy Award-winning rapper, record producer, and fashion designer who is known for his outspokenness. Kanye West: Who Is He? Kanye West first rose to prominence in the music industry as a producer for well-known acts. With his 2004 debut, College Dropout, he demonstrated his rap ability, and albums like Late Registration (2005), My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), Yeezus (2013), and Yeezus (2014) confirmed his spot atop the hip hop world (2018). West is a Grammy Award winner who is also noted for his awards show antics, excursions into fashion, and his marriage to Kim Kardashian. Kanye West Life Style And Birth Kanye Omari West was born on June 8, 1977, in Atlanta, Georgia. Ray, his father, was a photojournalist for the Atlanta Journal and a member of the Black Panther Party; he eventually became a Christian counselor. Donda West, West's mother, was a teacher who went on to become a professor of English at Chicago State University and then her son's manager before dying in 2007 at the age of 58 from heart illness following cosmetic surgery. Her death would have a huge impact on West's musical career as well as his personal life. When West was three, Ray and Donda split amicably. Following that, he was reared by his mother in Chicago's middle-class South Shore neighborhood and spent summers with his father. West traveled to China with Donda when he was ten years old, where she taught as part of a university exchange program; he was the only foreigner in his class. West was lured to the South Side's hip-hop scene after returning to Chicago, and he befriended DJ and producer No I.D., who became his mentor. West received a scholarship to study at Chicago's American Academy of Art after graduating from Polaris High School, but he dropped out to pursue music full-time, a move that would later inspire the title of his first solo album. Kanye West Net Worth Net Worth: $6.6 Billion Date of Birth: Jun 8, 1977 (44 years old) Gender: Male Height: 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Profession: Record producer, Songwriter, Singer, Actor, Film Producer, Rapper, Businessperson, Screenwriter, Fashion designer, Music Video Director Nationality: United States of America Kanye West Music Career West created a trademark sound known as "chipmunk soul," which features sped-up soul samples, after spending time producing for local musicians. Following that, in 2001, he relocated to New York. He got his big break here, working on the production for Jay-song Z's "This Can't Be Life," which debuted on the album Dynasty: Roc La Familia in 2000. He reinforced his rising fame the following year by producing four songs on Jay Z's The Blueprint, widely regarded as one of the best rap albums of all time. West went on to create for other notable artists including as Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Ludacris, as well as singers Alicia Keys and Beyoncé. West, on the other hand, was not content to be a sidekick. He aspired to be the main attraction, but found it difficult to be taken seriously as a rapper at first. He begged Roc-A-Fella Records to let him rap, but as co-founder Jay-Z told Time magazine later, "We were all raised as street kids who had to do whatever it took to get by. Then there's Kanye West, who, as far as I'm aware, has never worked a day in his life. I couldn't see how it could possibly work." Other labels reacted in a similar way to West. He said, "I'd leave meetings crying all the time." Damon Dash reluctantly signed West to Roc-A-Fella in 2002, but he did so only to keep him as a producer. West was injured in a head-on vehicle incident while driving home from a recording session in a California studio in October of that year, leaving him with a cracked jaw. With his jaw still wired shut after reconstructive surgery, he wrote and recorded "Through the Wire," a song about the experience.While recuperating in L.A., he wrote the most of the rest of his debut album. However, once the album was finished, it was leaked on the internet. West chose to improve it by revising and rewriting songs and fine-tuning the production, which included the addition of heavier drums, gospel choirs, and strings (he paid for orchestras out of his own pocket). Dropout from College The album was finally published in February 2004 and quickly became a hit, selling 2.6 million copies and propelling West to stardom. The College Dropout defied the gangsta-rap mold, including topics like as consumerism (of which he was critical at the time), racism, higher education, and his religious convictions. "They say you can rap about anything but Jesus," he rapped on the tune "Jesus Walks," "That means weapons, sex, lies, videotapes/But if I talk about God, my album won't get played." The College Dropout reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart, and West garnered ten Grammy nominations, winning three of them, including Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album for "Jesus Walks." West formed his record label, GOOD music — an acronym for Getting Out Our Dreams — with Sony BMG shortly after the album's release. He'd release songs by John Legend, Big Sean, Common, Pusha-T, and others. Registration after the deadline West spent a year and $2 million on his sophomore album, enlisting the help of an orchestra and composer Jon Brion, who had never worked with a rapper before. According to the New York Times, West, the restless bourgeois-creative, wanted to "see how far he might expand" hip hop. The results were outstanding, with Best Rap Album winning again, as well as Best Rap Song for "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" and Best Rap Solo Performance for "Gold Digger," and Best Rap Song for "Diamonds from Sierra Leone." Late Registration premiered at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200, a feat West would replicate with each solo album release after that. In Rolling Stone's five-star review of the album, Rob Sheffield stated, "On Late Registration, the Louis Vuitton Don doesn't just want to create pop music — he wants to be pop music." "As a result, he improves his lyrical game, displays his epic production skills, reaches higher, pushes harder, and declares the entire world of music to be hip hop turf." West appeared on an NBC program in September 2005, a month after the release of Late Registration, to collect donations for Hurricane Katrina victims. When he declared live on air that "George Bush doesn't care about Black people," echoing widespread criticism of the president for not visiting the damaged city of New Orleans straight away, he ignited a national media storm - his first, but by no means his last. West's remark enraged Bush, who subsequently described it as a "disgusting moment." Graduation West was motivated to create hip hop more anthemic, to be performed in stadiums and arenas, after traveling with U2 in 2005-2006. He began to incorporate elements of both rock & roll (the Stones, Led Zeppelin, and the Killers) into his music (which originated in his hometown of Chicago). Graduation, his third album, was released on September 11, 2007. It was released on the same day as 50 Cent's album Curtis, in a struggle for hip-soul hop's between the educated showman and the bullet-scarred street thug. But there could only be one winner with Graduation's breakthrough (for hip-hop) palette of layered electronic synthesizers and sloganeering wordplay — "I'm like the fly Malcolm X/Buy any jeans necessary," he sneered on "Good Morning" — West's album went straight to No. 1 after selling 957,000 copies in its first six days. With the music industry wringing its hands over the internet's impact on profit margins, West simply embraced the change with his video for the single "Can't Tell Me Nothing," in which he hired comedian Zach Galifianakis to lip-sync along to the lyrics on an alternate version, resulting in a YouTube viral sensation. The Death of Kanye West Mother West was on top of the world, acclaimed as the musician who had put gangster rap on the verge of extinction. Then catastrophe happened in November 2007. Donda, his adored mother, died of a heart attack after cosmetic surgery. He dedicated a performance of "Hey Mama" to her on his first show after the funeral. West split up with his fiancée, Alexis Phifer, a few months later. 808s & Heartbreak, his next album, was released 12 months after his mother died and was laced with grief, agony, and isolation. West even gave up rapping in favor of singing through an Auto-Tune vocal processor, which gave his voice a robotic tone – a technique that is now commonplace in hip hop. "Hip hop is done for me," he declared after describing the new album as "pop art" (not to be confused with the visual art movement). (It wasn't; he won Grammys for guest raps on Estelle's "American Boy" and TI's "Swagga Like Us" that year.) Kanye West Earnings By Year Follow Money Year Earnings 2007 $17,000,000 2008 $30,000,000 2009 $25,000,000 2010 $12,000,000 2011 $16,000,000 2012 $35,000,000 2013 $20,000,000 2014 $30,000,000 2015 $22,000,000 2016 $18,000,000 2017 $22,000,000 2018 $90,000,000 2019 $100,000,000 2020 $200,000,000 Total: $437,000,000 Taylor Swift's VMA Feud and Diss The fragility of West's mental health was brought into question the following year at the MTV Video Music Awards. He stormed the stage during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for the Best Female Video award (for "You Belong to Me") at Radio City Music Hall in New York to argue that Beyoncé should have won instead. The reverberations from that moment are still being felt. West apologized, then retracted his apology in a New York Times interview in 2013. By 2015 they had become friends and were even spotted at dinner together. Then in 2016 Kanye rapped on his song "Famous": "I feel like me and Taylor might still have s*x/Why? I made that b**** famous." Swift responded from the stage at the 2016 Grammy Awards, this time unapologetically, with the words: "To all the young women out there, I want to say something: There will be people who try to undermine your success or take credit for your successes along the way... Don't let those folks get in the way." Fashion West took a break from music after the Swift fiasco to focus on fashion. Since 2006, he'd been collaborating with limited-edition sneakers with brands including A Bathing Ape and Nike. To obtain experience, he reportedly interned at Gap in 2009 and later Fendi. In 2011, he debuted his first collection in Paris, however it was critically lambasted. Long Nguyen, style director of Flaunt magazine, sniffed, "You can't just dump some fox fur on a runway and call it luxury." At the show's after-party, West delivered a wounded-sounding address. "Please take it easy," he said. "Please give me the opportunity to mature." After a lackluster response to his second collection a year later, West stated that he would no longer be presenting in Paris. In 2013, he collaborated on a capsule collection with the French label APC, and in October 2015, he struck a $10 million agreement with Adidas, launching his first sportswear collection, Yeezy Season 1, with the brand. The label has received mixed reviews, while Anna Wintour praised his Season 5 collection in February 2017. She told the New York Post, "I really liked it." "A little more attention than we've seen from him before." My Dark Twisted Fantasy West returned to music in November 2010 with his fifth album, a bombastic and towering monument to self-aggrandizement that sounded "like an instant greatest hits," according to Pitchfork. It was a bombastic and towering monument to self-aggrandizement with paranoid celebrity and rampant consumption as the dominant themes: it was a bombastic and towering monument to self-aggrandizement that sounded "like an instant greatest hits" according to Pitchfork It was Kanye West's best and worst all bundled into one: a magnum work that bordered on the insane. It spawned four songs, including "Monster," on which West, Jay Z, and Rick Ross were famously beaten into second place by Nicki Minaj's furious guest verse. In 2011, West and his old sparring partner Jay Z released Watch the Throne, a joint album that delivered seven songs, including "Otis" and "Niggas in Paris," as well as three additional Grammy awards for West and Jay Z. Relationship In 2012, West released Cruel Summer, a compilation album including artists from his GOOD Music label. However, his romance with reality-TV star Kim Kardashian, which began in April, dominated the headlines that year. They married on May 24, 2014, in the medieval Fort di Belvedere in Italy, after West proposed at the AT&T baseball stadium in San Francisco on October 21, 2013. As Kardashian came down the aisle, Andrea Bocelli performed, The designer Rachel Roy, tennis champion Serena Williams, film director Steve McQueen, and music performers Legend, Q-Tip, Rick Rubin, Tyga, and Lana Del Rey were among the visitors. North (born June 15, 2013), Saint (born December 5, 2015), and another daughter are the couple's three children (born via surrogate January 15, 2018). Psalm, the couple's fourth child, was born via surrogate in May 2019. Yeezus West's sixth studio album, Yeezus, was released in June 2013 and had little evidence that the rapper was living a happy life. West had engaged producer Rick Rubin to make sweeping alterations just days before the album's release, thus the sound was aggressive, raw, and almost entirely melody-free. On "I Am a God," which featured the iconic phrase "Hurry up with my stupid croissants," West sounded neurotic and egocentric to the point of bathos. With the exception of the excellent glam-rock-inspired hit "Black Skinhead," West stated the album was a "attack against the commercial," and it certainly included nothing that was radio-friendly (the first of only two singles from the album). Yeezus is the only album by Kanye West to have sold less than one million copies in the United States. Nonetheless, it was highly welcomed by critics, including rock veteran Lou Reed, who told Rolling Stone that "It's as if you're crafting a movie with each tune... The guy is incredibly gifted." Beef on Jimmy Kimmel In September, West and Jimmy Kimmel had a Twitter dispute after the talk-show host ridiculed an interview West had given to the BBC in the United Kingdom. On his show, Jimmy Kimmel hired young actors to recite some of West's more bombastic remarks. West, on the other hand, was not amused. One of a series of outraged tweets said, "Jimmy Kimmel is out of line to try to mimic in any manner the first piece of honest media in years." During his next episode, Kimmel happily read out West's tweets, eliciting more ire from the rapper, who shared a link to a Slate piece headed "Kanye was right." West returned on Jimmy Kimmel Live the following month, and the conversation lasted the most of the broadcast, with multiple free-flowing Kanye monologues covering everything from his career to his thoughts on the paparazzi, Steve Jobs, and Jesus. "I don't know whether you're aware of this, but a lot of people believe you're a jerk," Kimmel said, before complimenting West's portrayal. West had been hurt by Kimmel's characterization of him, as it turned out, because the two had known each other before to the disagreement. "When I'm cooking up a comedic routine," Kimmel said, "regarding a celebrity's feelings is not something that comes to mind." They had cleared the air by the end of the show. More Public Outbursts, Collaboration with Paul McCartney, and Rihanna West made history as the first rapper to collaborate with Paul McCartney, releasing the tune "Four Five Seconds" alongside the Beatles icon and Rihanna at the start of 2015. But a month later, there was yet another award-show snarl, this time at the Grammys, when West protested to Beck winning Best Album. After the ceremony, West remarked, "Beck needs to respect artistry, and he should have presented his trophy to Beyoncé." In an interview with The Sunday Times newspaper in England a few months later, he withdrew his comments. "My image of a gentleman who plays 14 instruments not respecting craftsmanship was incorrect," he admitted. West, along with other artists such as Beyoncé, Jay Z, Rihanna, Madonna, Chris Martin, and Nicki Minaj, was introduced as a co-owner of the music-streaming service Tidal in March. Despite a petition with 135,000 signatures requesting for him to be removed from the lineup, he headlined the Glastonbury festival in the United Kingdom in June. The Life of Pablo Picasso In the lead-up to his seventh album, The Life of Pablo, there was even more controversy. West made headlines before the film's release on February 14, 2016, for a series of inflammatory tweets, including one declaring Bill Cosby, who is on trial for drugging and raping women, to be innocent. He began a feud with Wiz Khalifa, a musician he mistookly believed had ridiculed his wife, Kim Kardashian ("I am your OG and I will be respected as such," West tweeted.). He also expressed regret for appearing to disparage Michael Jordan in his lyrics. West then oddly advised his fans to lobby Facebook founder Mark Zuckerber the day after his album was released. He also expressed regret for appearing to disparage Michael Jordan in his lyrics. West then oddly pushed his fans to lobby Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to spend $1 billion in West's "ideas" the day after his album was released. He also claimed to be in debt for $53 million. Thealbum was yet another departure from the norm, as well as a triumph. It has a considerably broader sound than Yeezus, integrating a wide range of sounds, styles, and inspirations, ranging from trap to gospel to Auto-Tune crooning, avant-pop, vintage soul, and dancehall. Frank Ocean, Chance the Rapper, Rihanna, Desiigner, and Kid Cudi were among the guest vocalists. It was West's sixth solo album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 list in a row. Cancellation of the Tour and Return to the Spotlight West paused a show in Sacramento on November 20, 2016, while on his Saint Pablo Tour, to go on a rambling diatribe about radio playlists, MTV, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Beyoncé, and Jay Z ( "Call me, Jay Z... I know you've got killers. Please don't shoot them at me "(Imaginative+ paraphrase). He had ranted onstage and proclaimed support for Trump for the second time in a week, and this time it seemed like a public breakdown – he did not finish the act. He canceled the remaining 21 concerts of his tour the next day, citing tiredness, and spent the next eight days in the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Pusha T, the president of GOOD music, revealed in an interview in February 2017 that West was working on a new album. Rumors about the album's progress persisted, with some stories claiming that the Grammy winner had sought creative inspiration in the Rockies of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. With the announcement that he was authoring a philosophy-themed book, Break the Simulation, in April 2018, West re-entered the news cycle. Days later, he verified the rumors of new material in a rapid-fire sequence of tweets, announcing that he will release two albums in June, the second of which would feature longtime collaborator Kid Cudi. The artist then caused a sensation when his tweets turned to his admiration for President Donald Trump, referring to him as "my brother" and claiming that they shared "dragon energy," even sharing a selfie wearing Trump's "Make America Great Again" cap. West later clarified the situation by adding that he adored Hillary Clinton as well and that he didn't agree with everything the president stated. "I don't agree with anyone except myself 100 percent," he wrote. Read the full article

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balarouge · 4 years

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How outlaw musician Orville Peck is actually queering nation music|Xtra

One day Orville Poke awakened along with a hide on his skin, as well as he have not had the ability to take it off due to the fact that-- or two the tale goes. In the nation performer's globe, the tales are high as well as the fringe, dangling from his BDSM-reminiscent leather hide, is long, sometimes snaking completely down his chest. Whether he is actually using a western side button-up shirt or a translucent screen tank, the cover-up is certainly there, showing the musician's outlaw condition under a 10-gallon hat. On his launching cd, launched earlier this year and longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, Poke vocalizes in a deep baritone with a steel- guitar-heavy audio that's so much more Hank Williams than Hank Williams Jr, as well as that is actually fanciful enough to make your gramps nostalgic. Unlike grandfather's nation tunes, though, Poke's tunes of broken heart and riding by means of the desert unabashedly position other males as the object of his wish.

Orville Poke is the nickname of this particular Toronto-based performer who doesn't talk concerning his age or where he was birthed. Nonetheless, he performs acknowledge that he utilized to play in criminal bands and also has a theater and dance background. The second may be noticeable, given his tendency for attractive dramatization and also pageantry, each of which drew him to c and w as a little one. Regardless of the association of cowboys with heterosexual, masculine ideals, Poke doesn't find his queer identification as a departure for the category. As he directs out, our modern-day, stereotypical photo of the cattle herder was mostly affected due to the pastas westerns of the 1960s, created by Italian supervisors that composed homoerotic subtext into their manuscripts. These are actually stories regarding men roaming the infertile landscape with each other (and also wearing a whole lot of leather); believe Sergio Leone's traditional The Really good, the Bad as well as the Ugly, and the lesser-known Requiescant by Carlo Lizzani.

Poke regularly associated to the world of westerns in which marginalized outlaws were actually the core design somewhat than everywhere preferred leading guys of the time frame like James Connection, who controlled the display screen throughout the exact same decade. In the previous tales, a mystical singular stranger rolls with city and also finishes up picking up a crowd of various other outsiders to journey with. "That's type of my life history," he states.

"Even with the organization of cattle herders along with heterosexual, manly perfects, Peck does not find his queer identity as a departure for the style."

He filled up Horse with the acquainted concepts of pastas westerns, like loneliness, heartbreak as well as need to run away, though he uses male pronouns throughout the album. On "Large Heavens," he betrays about one thing he certainly never assumed he will refer to publicly: residential violence. The verses "I like him best when he's not around [...] Broken heart is a warm and comfortable sensation/ When the only feeling that you recognize is actually worry" mention abuse within connections, a theme hardly used up in nation apart from tunes like "Adieu Earl" due to the Dixie Chicks. He was merely able to sing concerning this stressed partnership after he took opportunity off coming from playing in criminal bands, put on the disguise and became Orville Peck; the hand-sewn piece of leather as well as edge uncovers additional than it hides. Poke's songs videos take his planet right into emphasis, showing him singing concerning shed passion to a stunning male in precarious deadline pants or even featuring casts that consist of queer and also trans folks and people of colour. His information is very clear: whether it is actually in a desolate hotel room, a substantial swath of desert or even at a technical bull riding competitors, all rate.

The diversity represented in his videos also speaks with the shifts gradually taking location in country songs, a genre a lot more linked with heteronormative, conservative, white The United States than liberal inclusivity. Some present-day process are actually now taking a page coming from Willie Nelson, that released a cover of Ned Sublette's "Cowboys are actually Frequently Covertly (Fond of One Another)" back in 2006. In 2015, the Brothers Osborne featured a male couple in the songs video for "Keep a Little Bit Of Longer," while Kacey Musgraves, a blunt fan of the LGBTQ2 neighborhood, has stated that she awaits a time when country would certainly possess it is actually own gay figure to respect. Possibly a masked cattle herder that combines music, dancing, graphic art and fashion trend will certainly fit the bill.

Though Peck recommends to his across-the-board serve as a "venture," he does not turn his nostrils approximately not-so-new "brand new" country-- some of his much-loved musicians include Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw and also the aforementioned Dixie Chicks. Depending on to Peck, these acts started the style of tongue-in-cheek tracks "about outright rubbish [as well as] red solo cups." Someplace down the pipe, however, those metaphors came to be the rule-- they inhabit plenty of present-day tracks currently that you can simply play pop-country bingo: Truck? Check. Whisky? Ditto. Delightful sectarian woman? Bingo!

As the category maintains getting recognition both abroad as well as in The United States and Canada because of an expanding urban millennial viewers, the question of who reaches produce country songs as well as what it must seem like is also evolving. There are actually a lot of Blake Shelton-types vocal singing regarding consuming with the (hetero) boys 'round right here, there's additionally Lil Nas X masking the line in between hip hop as well as country-- while likewise facing plenty of retaliation for it. A full week after debuting on Advertising board's Hot Country Songs chart previously this year, his hit "Old Community Roadway" was actually moved to their Hot Rap Tracks chart, sparking intense discussions. Signboard's validation that Lil Nas X's smash hit failed to embrace sufficient of present-day country's factors doesn't prove out, taking into consideration that modern country songs has actually been actually improving the genre for the far better aspect of a decade. Think about just how Nelly's remix of Florida Georgia Pipes's 2012"Cruise ship" resided comfortably on the chart, though there is actually little stereotyped country left on the monitor besides the vocalist's twang and also the weird mention of ranch cities.

"Though there are lots of Blake Shelton-types singing concerning alcohol consumption along with the (hetero) young boys, there is actually also Lil Nas X tarnishing free throw line between hip hop as well as country."

A lot of movie critics of Billboard's choice maintained that the extraction of "Old Community Roadway" was really regarding Lil Nas X being a younger dark guy from Atlanta as opposed to him deviating too much from category rules. As well as when the artist emerged as gay in July, he dealt with a brand-new surge of indignation. In the long run, though, the numbers promote themselves: "Old Town Roadway" today keeps the title of longest-running No. 1 solitary in Advertising board's record, verifying that there is actually area in the genre for those who aren't white colored and trustworthy.

As Poke places it, there is actually regularly been actually one thing subversive regarding hoodlum country and western, it is actually only that what is actually viewed as perversive adjustments. In the 1950s and also 60s, when the mainstream was actually all about ultra-conservatism, performers like Johnny Cash money and Merle Haggard were performing regarding jail and also cigarette smoking grass. "That was their version of remarkable overthrow," Poke points out. In these times, the marginalized viewpoint "takes place to become queer folks, folks of colour as well as women. Those vocals possess more of an area in nation than anything." As the old ways of being actually defiant have ended up being the style's metaphors, performers like Peck are actually redefining the incendiary room.

The masked cattle herder has actually each feet planted in various worlds, that makes for unique groups at live shows. More mature, die-hard country followers persuade to his songs along with queer youngsters as well as thugs. At a show in Montreal last April, he launched his song "Queen of the Rodeo" through explaining that it was actually discussed a bother queen pal, including that he in some cases seemed like a nuisance queen himself. The contrast was actually additional of a profound one. He has the utmost regard for the volume of job and also funds that goes right into drag and also, though he creates his own cover-ups (it takes him concerning thirty minutes to sew one), he also" [spends] much less on hair as well as makeup." What he suggested due to the contrast is actually that people get a comparable factor incorrect concerning both him as well as grab queens: Target markets often believe the performers are actually hiding behind an identity or even a cover-up, however these parts are really increased models of themselves-- often even much better variations, Poke says.

Though his hide permits Peck to develop a feeling of plan and also mystery, it additionally leads individuals to forecast themselves onto his work, which he points out is the biggest compliment because it implies they are actually involving along with his songs. The review segments of his online videos are actually full of arguments regarding whether he seems even more like Elvis, Roy Orbison or even Morrissey; everybody experiences timeless for the noises that are closest to their souls. His music, both unclear and suggestive adequate to lot each of our moments, produces area for projections. The same can't consistently be actually claimed for the specificity-driven tunes participated in through a lot of nation's straight male sets, that are actually still operating hard to promote their status practices. The tune "Beer Never Broke My Center" through Luke Combs doesn't have pretty the same expressive ring to it as Peck's "Midnight" through which everything is actually strangely knowledgeable to the storyteller: odd gulch roads mirror the strange appearance in Poke's fanatic's eye, as well as scrapes on the moon are actually reminiscent of past smiles. On the flip edge, "It takes one hand to count the important things I may trust/ But I received one palm that's taking hold of down on a cool one" possesses far fewer blanks for our imaginations to complete.

The genre still has a lot of work to perform before it's really inclusive, and also just before blurring the lines doesn't launch a Twitter hurricane. When adjustment shows its face (also one obscured by a face mask), there is actually no overlooking it. Musicians like Poke are actually developing myth-and-nostalgia-heavy worlds our team desire to acquire shed in, where there is actually area for everybody to envision themselves on horseback, check hand, observing his gravelly vocal off into the dusk.

This content was originally published here.

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youngandhungryent · 4 years

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Lil Wayne’s “I Feel Like Dying” Altered The Trajectory Of Hip-Hop

On November 27, 2019 – without any supporting context, Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. tweeted, “Me, that’s who.” A whip of the tongue lashing out at any revisionist who dared claim HE was not the decade’s most important master of ceremony. I imagine the debate alone antagonized him. Twitter’s trending discussion that day swirled around the 21st century’s most influential MC and Wayne would not have the narrative changed in hindsight.

The debate was sparked by a BBC article which proclaimed Young Thug as the 21st century’s most influential rapper. Chronicling Thugga’s musical journey, the piece praised his “idiosyncratic rhymes and unconventional sounds.” It also spoke of his influence on the emerging Atlanta music scene which, these days, routinely has its clamps on the Billboard charts. In an anthem, on his most recent album So Much Fun, Thug sings in a drug ballad of euphoric ecstasy in the form of pharmaceuticals.

“Molly, Roxies

Oxycontin (Yeah)

Jubilee, Ostrich (Uh-uh)

Ten a key, we need thousands.”

As reflected in this excerpt from Thugga’s song, the glorification of prescription drug use has become a staple in mainstream hip-hop over the last decade. Artists croon braggadocious about their dependence on substances like Xanax, Percocet, and codeine cough syrup. But before Lil Wayne set this trail ablaze with one leaked song in 2007, that was not the norm. It is for this reason “I feel like dying” may have fundamentally changed the course of music history.

Jean Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images

If you said the Mt. Rushmore of rap in the 2000s was three-headed medusa-like sculpting of Lil Wayne, you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. He didn’t just change the sound of rap; in many ways, he changed rap’s culture as well. The most lasting impact, however, might be how he changed the way we view prescription drugs in hip-hop culture. With Wayne, the line blurred between a drug dealer and a drug user – making rap feel more unrestricted and accessible to a broader social scope rather than its fringes. The Louisiana rapper birthed a generation of lyricists who have built upon the sub-genre he created.

Thug openly recognizes Wayne as his idol. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the focus of many rappers was documenting the culture of drug-related crime. Wayne transcended that and coaxed would-be artists to wail about drug-use and addiction. The BBC article reads, “Even someone as revolutionary as Thugger couldn’t have existed without his acknowledged idol, Lil Wayne, whose slurred codeine hexes splintered rap’s possibilities in a thousand directions.” Thug reportedly had plans to name his album Tha Carter VI back in 2014 as an homage to Wayne.

During a 2008 interview with RWD, a lifestyle magazine based in the UK, Lil Wayne was asked about what makes him unique. Wayne replied “I just think I’m different. My thought process is what keeps me rejuvenated. That’s why I can stay in the game as long as I’m in the game with the new artists. Because my thought process is so different to where it’s not a style yet. Meaning there’s not too many, there’s not anyone that can do what I do. You don’t have anyone to compare it to. Or you don’t have anyone to put it in line with. Therefore every time it comes out it’s new.”

Scott Gries/Getty Images

Hazy and disoriented odes to pharmaceuticals have become this generation’s anthems. Artists revel in misery and flirt with suicidal rhetoric. The songs not only descriptively dive into a drug user’s state of mind but also induce a transient translucence for the few minutes listeners are lost in the melodies. What has come to be known as “emo-rap” was seeded by Wayne more than a decade ago. His lucid visual imagery painted by the brushstrokes of words excited fans and inspired thousands of copy-cats. It’s fair to argue Wayne’s peak, and his best work came between 2006-2008. Therefore it is no coincidence that the style he fancied at this time produced a generation of rappers looking to mimic the self-proclaimed “best rapper alive.”

Wayne fully and unapologetically embraces this idea in “I feel like dying.” He provided this window into his psyche during the same interview with RWD, Weezy described an encounter with a zestful journalist eager to discuss the subject. The journalist revealed he loves when Wayne speaks about drugs in his music. The journalist said, “You make me feel like you are the drug – For a guy that hasn’t done drugs in 10 years when I hear your song, I’m automatically back to that mental mindstate I was when I took that drug [you’re describing].” Wayne continued on after the story to say, “I want to be the drug.” He said, “I want people that don’t do drugs to love that song.”

“I feel like dying” was leaked in 2007 to instant fanfare. It was here that Lil Wayne proudly and vehemently labeled himself an addict. He seemed to wallow in blissful anguish during the track’s three and a half minutes. Its appeal resided at the cross-section of enchantment and apprehension. The “Once” sample from Karma exclaiming the song’s hook pulls Wayne’s punchlines and double-entendres into a succinct yet casual expression of dependence. In his punch-drunk delivery, Wayne makes you not only hear but feel the terrors of his pain mixed with the majesty of its pleasure. The substance abuse of alcohol and marijuana were vices commonly accepted in hip-hop circles at this time, but pharmaceutical drugs rang taboo in the years preceding the record.

Drug-ladened bars document addiction in a way that captures your mind. Simultaneously giving you chills and tickling your curiosity of a state that far gone. If music is your narcotic of choice, “I feel like dying” is a trippy episode. What makes it unique is the audacity with which he speaks of this experience, ridding himself of the paralysis that comes with judgment. The outspoken approach was truly ahead of its time.

In the song’s final verse, Wayne says, “Psst! I can mingle with the stars, and throw a party on Mars. I am a prisoner locked up behind Xanax bars. I have just boarded a plane without a pilot and violets are blue, roses are red. Daisies are yellow, the flowers are dead. Wish I could give you this feeling. I feel like buying and if my dealer don’t have no more then. (I feel like dying)”

Wayne’s poignancy has allowed the genre to reach a new sector of fanship. A previously untapped market. Everyone can’t sell drugs, and everyone can’t relate to the life of a drug dealer, but transversely everyone can use drugs and relate to the experience of losing yourself in their grasp or the grasp of something you love. Even if you have not done drugs, you know someone who has battled with addiction or worse.

Scott Gries/Getty Images

With so many rappers dying from similar drugs, the issue America is grappling with has been magnified by hip-hop. Mirroring social realities, artists’ access to pharmaceuticals has expanded. So, naturally, it is reflected more and more in music. A grave reality is that prescription drug misuse has risen drastically in the last 15 years, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse. Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids were five times higher in 2016 than in 1999. The recent passing of Juice WRLD further highlights the problem. Several rappers, including Mac Miller and Lil Peep, have died in recent years, and their deaths are connected to opioid use.

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared the nation’s opioid crisis a “public health emergency.” More than 130 people die from opioid-related drug overdoses every year. The opioid crisis has killed an estimated 400,00 Americans in the last 20 years.

It’s fair to argue whether Wayne’s enormous impact has been good or bad for rap culture. But this hasn’t started nor will it end with him. The glorification of destructive behavior is part of hip-hop. But hip-hop is also confronting the uncomfortable truths about society and framing them on the mount of artistic expression. All art is. Long have dangerous drugs been at the core of music like heavy metal or rock & roll but for rap things are different. Hip-hop is scrutinized to a higher degree. The complexity of art and the artists who make it will always be apart of social discourse. Whether you feel his influence has pushed the culture forward or caused it to stall is objective. One thing that is not, the power of “I feel like dying” can be heard in today’s music and will continue to be a seminal moment in hip-hop.

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orupabo · 4 years

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Vanessa Obioha captures entertainers and events that made 2019 an OMG! Year

2019 started on a high note for some entertainers and is ending on some sour notes for others. We look back at the exhilarating and shocking moments that literally left our jaws on the floor.

Burna Boy

It was at the 2018 Soundcity MVP Awards held in January this year that Burna’s Boy winning streak began to blaze. At that awards, he scooped four awards including best song of the year for his 2018 hit single ‘Ye’. Burna would go ahead to win other awards such as the BET International Act of the Year and the MTV Europe Music Awards African Act of the Year. Prior to his performance at the international music festival Coachella, Burna grabbed headlines when he condemned the diminutive space the organisers gave him in the promotional ad.

He took to Instagram to express his displeasure, posting that “I really appreciate you. But I don’t appreciate the way my name is written so small in your bill. I am an AFRICAN GIANT and will not be reduced to whatever that tiny writing means. Fix things quickly please.”

The moniker ‘African Giant’ will end up being the title of his next album, a body of work that has received tremendous reviews. Burna was also among the artistes who recorded with award-winning American musician Beyonce for the ‘Lion King’ album. However, the most significant thing that happened to Burna this year was his nomination in the Grammy. His ‘African Giant’ album was nominated in the World Music category. The ‘Anybody’ crooner is confident that he will bring back the gramophone trophy home next year when the awards holds.

Joel Kachi Benson

Benson is one of those documentary filmmakers who allow their works to speak for them. A young man with big ambitions, Benson made history this year when he emerged the first African and Nigerian to win the prestigious Virtual Reality Award at the 2019 edition of the Venice International Film Festival. His surprising win was highly lauded and celebrated in the media. The winning film ‘Daughters of Chibok’ yells the story of Yana Galang whose daughter is among the missing girls from the infamous 2014 Chibok girls abduction. Benson’s immersive storytelling helped to remind the world of the plight of the women who are still waiting for their children to be returned.

Teni the Entertainer:

Teni, the younger of the Apata sisters stamped her presence in the music industry this year with the chart topping hits she released. From ‘Power Rangers’ to her latest single ‘Billionaire’, Teni continues to set new records. After becoming an instant sensation with her breakout song ‘Case’, Teni dominated the airwaves, scooping awards such as the Best New Artist at the 2018 Soundcity MVP Awards, YouTube Trending Artiste on the Rise, and even having her own sold-out concert this yuletide season. Her blazing trail could only suggest that she is almost reaching beyond the stars, particularly now that she wants to become a billionaire.

Mo Abudu:

Not a few has wondered what other glass ceiling the media entrepreneur and filmmaker Mo Abudu will shatter.

This year has seen the founder of EbonyLife Films achieving milestones that almost seem insurmountable. Her film production company produced two films this year ‘Oloture’ and ‘Your Excellency’ with the latter, directed by Jennifer Akindele-Bello raking in over N50 million since its release.

More good news followed for the media personality after she was appointed Director of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the organisation responsible for staging the world famous International Emmy Awards last year. This year, she received a gold membership card from the organisation for her new role and became the first African woman to chair the 47th Emmy Awards Gala held recently

The most striking achievement of the 55-year-old entrepreneur in 2019 was the unveiling of the EbonyLife Place,a luxury lifestyle venue that offers premium entertainment and hospitality. The majestic building situated on Adetokunbo Ademola Street in Victoria Island is a sight for sore eyes, glittering with opulence at night. Forbes Africa’s Most Successful Woman has consistently shown that she is not resting on her oars. As 2020 beckons, one can only wonder what glass ceiling she will shatter.

Shina Peller:

Few days before the Christmas celebration, Shina Peller, the gentleman behind the popular club Quilox, found himself on the wrong side of the law. Peller has declared a 36-hour marathon clubbing in his club on Sunday, December 22, a long-held tradition of the club according to those who are familiar with the activities of the club. The large influx of club revellers that night led to traffic congestion on the Ozumba Mbadiwe road where the club is located, drawing the ire of motorists who ply that route. By Monday, the Lagos State Government has sealed off the premises of the club for environmental pollution while three cars owned by patronisers of the club were towed. In an interesting turn of events, Peller who was said

to have gone to the Maroko Police Station to resolve the case ended up being arrested. While the police claimed that Peller had invaded the police station with thugs, leading to his arrest, his friends and fans claimed that it was a plot by the police to keep the businessman behind bars. Peller is also a member of the House of Representatives.

Tekno:

Nowadays, it is unclear what direction Tekno’s music is taking. Nonetheless, the young singer has not relented in his ambition to be one of the superstars in the country, even if it means sacrificing decency on the music altar. In August this year, Tekno hugged headlines after a video showing scantily clad women dancing to his song went viral.The risque display on a mobile ad truck was visible to anyone playing the Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge that night. What followed was a cacophony of gasps and sighs that reached an irksome climax when the Lagos State Signage and Advertising Agency, (LASAA), the body responsible for outdoor structures for signage and advertising, wade into the matter, promising to bring the perpetrators to book.

In his defense, Tekno released a statement on his Instagram page, giving details of the events that led to the indecent show.

According to him, he was only using the vehicle to convey his crew to a location since some of the cars scheduled for transportation broke down. He would later be invited by State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, for questioning while LASAA suspended the practicing licence issued to Provision Media System Limited, owners of the unregistered advertisement truck used for indecent exposure.

The singular event generated a discourse in the public space with dissenting voices arguing on the widespread of indecency in the society. Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Otunba Segun Runsewe condemned the act, urging Nigerians to reject such stain on the Nigerian culture. Tekno received no serious punishment but may perhaps have learnt that being a musician requires a level of responsibility.

Wizkid:

You can call Wizkid a child of luck and you will not be completely wrong. He manages to come out on top each year irrespective of the trend. In 2019, Wizkid arguably made more headlines than any artist. If it’s not about his rumoured relationship with female music star Tiwa Savage, it’s about how he shut down the O2 Arena with his Starboy Fest concert in London. This year made it the second time he’s achieving the feat.

There is also the ingenious collaboration between him and Beyonce ‘Brown Skin Girl’ that dominated the charts as well as won awards. The song was highly praised and with the feature of Beyonce’s daughter Blue Ivy, it garnered more positive reviews. In August, it was reported that the ‘Ojuelegba’ crooner was the first African artist to have eight million monthly listeners on the music streaming platform Spotify. He was also paraded as the most streamed African artiste with over 1.7 billion streams. Before his Starboy fest held on Boxing Day, Wizkid told his fans on Twitter that he would release one last album as Wizkid, suggesting either a retirement from the music scene or a change of name.

Yinka Ayefele:

The year started well for Yinka Ayefele, the gospel music artiste who has been confined to a wheelchair for over two decades due to an accident that affected his spinal cord. He was finally blessed with triplets after searching for the fruit of the womb for more than 10 years on January 18. The news was an exciting and a scary one for the artiste who is also the owner of Fresh FM in Ibadan. For fear of losing them, he hid the news of the birth of his children from the public until June. He held a special dedication ceremony for his triplets in November.

Kizz Daniel:

The legal battle between Kizz Daniel and his former record label G-World Wide Entertainment continued to generate discourse this year; the latest being the threat by the latter to stop the planned concert of the former scheduled for Boxing Day. Yet, Daniel and his legal reps have assumed an unperturbed disposition, insisting that the show will go as planned. The grudges between the two parties stemmed from Daniel’s insistence to exit the label in 2017, a decision the label didn’t take likely. Though Daniel had changed his name, flaunted his own label, G-World Wide Entertainment insists that the singer breached the mandatory buy-out clause and accused him of infringement of the Intellectual property rights of the label. As such, they are demanding he pays back the company’s investment and damages from loss of earnings from scheduled programmes/events prior to the termination.

Tiwa Savage:

So far, Tiwa Savage seems to have had a good year. She landed a deal with Universal Music Group Nigeria immediately her contract with Mavin Records expired, released a visually stunning video for her ’49-99′ single, and involved in the never-ending love storyline with Wizkid. To end the year, she held her own concert where she brought on stage two dominating female music stars, Yemi Alade and Simi. It’s been rumoured that Savage and Alade hardly get along. By bringing her on stage, she quelled every rumour about their relationship.

Don Jazzy:

Don Jazzy would have made major headlines if he settled down this year, a wish his fans have constantly clamoured for. Nevertheless, he was on the spotlight for many reasons this year. One of the significant reasons was the discovery of Rema, the young lad who is slowly becoming the poster boy for the record label. Perhaps, the most outstanding achievement of the producer and singer is the unveiling of the record label creative studios. Jazzy chose to make the announcement on his 37th birthday, stating that it was a gift to himself. The Mavin Creative Studios is located in Lekki while the corporate office of the label is in Victoria Island.

Rema:

The steady rise of Rema to stardom started when Don Jazzy signed him to his record label. His star wattage keeps increasing everyday following his ingenious ability to cross genre and appeal to both local and international audiences. Little wonder he made the summer playlist of former president of the United States Barack Obama. His song ‘Iron Man’ was also ranked No 40 on the Rolling Stones ’50 Best Songs of 2019′.

Big Brother Naija:

MultiChoice Nigeria made history this year by building the first Big Brother Naija House in Nigeria for the fourth season. The house was built from scratch to finish and is said to have gulped millions of Naira. The new facility measures about 1800sqm with an additional 250sqm for support building services such as the sick bay, laundry and artiste lounges. It was designed and built to be bigger and better than any of the Big Brother Africa or Mzansi houses.

The reality show achieved quite some feats. This year’s edition made it the first time a female is winning the competition. Mercy Eke, a video vixen emerged winner after spending a total of 99 days in the house. She was rewarded with N60 million worth of prize. The ‘Pepper Dem’ edition marked the first time the reality show is garnering 240 million votes. Riding on the success of Big Brother Naija, the company will be launching another reality show ‘Ultimate Love’ next year.

Tacha:

Against all odds, Tacha, the disqualified housemate of the Big Brother Naija season four somehow continues to gather clout on social media. Hardly a day she is not on the trending lists on social media, even for mundane things. Tacha was among the 21 housemates who entered the newly built Big Brother Naija House on June 30. The social media sensation was at first pilloried for her haughtiness but it was only a matter of time before she stole the spotlight. From her honest opinions on issues to her heated altercations with fellow housemates, Tacha became the real pepper dem housemate in the house. Despite being nominated many times, she was saved by her unrelenting fans whose loyalty to her is still unwavering. She was however disqualified after getting involved in a violent provocation with fellow housemate Mercy Eke who eventually emerged the winner of the show.

Nevertheless, Tacha is the most influential personality to have emerged from a reality show.

2Baba and Blackface Dispute:

After a series of altercation between afro-pop artiste Innocent Idibia popularly known as 2Baba and his former band member of the defunct Plantashun Boiz, Augustine Ahmedu also known as Blackface, the two finally settled their differences amicably in November. The out-of-court settlement brought to end the back and forth accusations between the former band mates. 2Baba had in 2018 dragged Blackface to court for defamation of character, following several claims made by Blackface across various media platforms. Blackface had accused 2Baba and his manager/business partner, Efe Omorogbe of intellectual property theft, claiming that 2Baba stole his songs ‘African Queen’ and ‘Let Somebody Love You’. He also accused the duo of blacklisting him in the industry, and sabotaging his career. Under the new settlement, it was reported that Blackface agreed to tender apology to 2Baba and to desist from making any such defamatory claims in the future. On their part, 2Baba and his manager graciously accepted the apology and agreed not to proceed with the N50m claim in damages against Blackface, bringing to an end the long drawn media drama that has threatened to completely destroy the Plantashun Boiz legacy.

Cardi B:

Cardi B’s visit to Nigeria was one of the highlights of 2019. The American rapper and media personality was the headline of the Livespot X Festival, organised by Livespot 360 Creative Agency. During her visit, Cardi explored Lagos, promoting the city as a tourism destination for hustlers. She also sampled Nigerian Jollof rice as well as visited a strip club and a motherless Baby home where she doled out gifts to the children. Cardi also nicknamed herself Chioma B and Nigerians likewise renamed her daughter Kulture ‘Ayo’. At the concert, she wowed Nigerians with her performances, twerking on stage to the delight of thousands of music fans who had come to watch her perform. Even after her departure, Nigerians couldn’t stop talking about Cardi B and her love for the country.

Ibironke Shileola:

Ibironke Shileola is one of the reckoning forces in the film and TV content distribution landscape. Since she started her own content marketing company, MicroMedia Marketing Limited, the young lady has been shattering high glass ceilings. In 2014, she recorded a major milestone in her career with the launch of the first Nigerian produced telenovela, ‘Taste of Love’. This year, she pushed the envelope further by opening a cinema exhibition hall, Heritage Cinemas at the Alimosho area of Lagos state, making her the first female Nigerian to own a cinema exhibition hall.

Davido:

It was a good year for Davido in the relationship department. He started the year by displaying his love for Chioma, his fiancée and mother of his son to the world. From surprising her with Valentine’s Day goodies to introducing her to his family members in September, he ensured that the world knew he was serious about making her his official wife. Few days later, he officially proposed to her and by October, the duo welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named Adedeji Ifeanyi Adeleke Jnr. On the music side, he scored some high points by collaborating with American singer Chris Brown for the song ‘Blow my Mind’. The song currently has about 35 million views on YouTube. He also released his sophomore album ‘A Good Time’ this year.

Nigeria’s Oscar Entry:

2019 marked the first time Nigeria will submit a film to the Academy Awards popularly known as the Oscars. Unfortunately, the feeling of fulfilment was short-lived when the Academy committee for the International Feature Film rejected the selected film, ‘Lionheart’ by Genevieve Nnaji for not meeting the language requirements of the awards. The category recognises films that are mostly done in indigenous languages. Their decision was greeted with mixed reactions. While a few argued that the approved selection committee, Nigeria Oscar Selection Committee (NOSC) chaired by filmmaker and director Chineze Anyaene should have met every requirement, others argued that English was Nigeria’s official language. Out of the 95-minute running time of the film, only 11 minutes featured indigenous language.

Nativeland Concert:

It was a sad edition for organisers of the annual music concert Nativeland this year. The show which was held at Muri Okunola Park on December 19, suffered a major setback when the VIP stage caved in as Fireboy was performing ‘Party Scatter’. The native gods must have been listening to him as the stage chose that particular moment to collapse. Scores of people reportedly sustained various degrees of injuries. The organisers blamed the overwhelming crowd for the mishap and promised to get a better venue next year.

Filmhouse Luxury Cinemas:

The leading cinema chain in Nigeria continued its quest to create innovative cinema experiences for moviegoers this year by launching the Coca-Cola MX4D Motion EFX Theatre at Landmark Retail Boulevard in Victoria Island, Lagos. The theatre is the newest evolution in 4D cinema experience, providing an immersive environment, where one feels the action on the screen from the built-in motion effects in the seats and theatre.

It was in April that Filmhouse sealed the deal with American cine-tech giants, MediaMotion to build the theatre which is also a first in West Africa. The new theatre boasts six cinema screens (one MX4D, four premium screens, and one cube), with over 300 seater, a fully stocked bar, a kids’ party area, and a self-service station. The company which currently boasts of more than 10 cinemas across the country is working towards increasing that number in 2020.

Tonto Dikeh:

Known for courting controversies, this year saw the Nollywood actress delivering different shades of her personality in the public space. From the tell-it-all interview with On-Air Personality Daddy Freeze where she claimed her ex-husband Olakunle Churchill was diabolical and a 40- seconds man, to the social media war between her and popular blogger Stella Dimokorkus who reported that she was arrested in Dubai.

Dikeh, who doesn’t mince words, was again dragged into the public arena when she shared pictures from a conference organised by Modul University in Dubai. It turned out that she didn’t make any speech with an audience rather it was an audio conference. Though she tried to redeem her pride by posting an appreciative message from the message, it did little to clear the conceived perception from that act. Recently, she made her love for plastic surgery known, eliciting backlash and admiration from detractors and fans.

Living in Bondage Sequel:

Charles Okpaleke and Ramsey Nouah made history this year by producing a sequel to the supposedly film that birthed Nollywood ‘Living in Bondage’. The sequel ‘ Living in Bondage: Breaking Free’ which followed the story of Andy’s (the star character of the original story) son Nnamdi received critical praise for the directorial expertise of Nouah and the story angles explored. The film marked the directorial debut of the actor. At the box-office, the film earned a total of N124.5 million, making it the tenth highest-grossing Nigerian film of all time.

Naira Marley:

Hate him or love him, one thing is certain: Naira Marley’s growing influence is yet to wane. His popularity seemed like a daydream. It wasn’t until he was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on allegations of e-fraud did Marley began to gain a cult following. His arrest followed the release of his viral song ‘Am I a Yahoo Boy’. His fans compared him to the Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti after he was taken into custody, a comparison that the true disciples of Fela didn’t take lightly. Notwithstanding, Marley understood the power of publicity and used his time in prison to rise to stardom. He released a single while in prison and has continued to release more singles such as ‘Soapy’, describing the ordeal of prisoners to his advantage. But the longevity of his fame is a question that lingers on the lips of critics.

source:ThisDay (Nigeria)

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gigsoupmusic · 5 years

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NIGERIAN WONDERKID REMA DROPS ‘BAD COMMANDO MIXTAPE’

Afrobeats star Rema has unveiled his new project ‘Bad Commando Mixtape’ out October 4th via Mavin Records/Jonzing World. The hypnotic, four-track release showcases Rema’s diverse musical influences, from Afro-pop to trap. Title track and mixtape opener ‘Bad Commando’ pairs minimalist production with Rema’s trademark vocal delivery. Produced by Honter, the assured lyrical flow is evidence of an artist who recognises his place in the game. Next up, ‘Lady’,produced by Altims, is a homage to the warm grooves of authentic Afrobeats. Hailed as a song for women all around the world, praising their beauty and capabilities. The third addition to the project, ‘Rewind’ is a rhythmic and poppy affair produced by Drake’s OVO affiliates Oliver El Khatib & 1mind, with Rema spreading a socially conscious message, touching on the state of the Nigerian economy and the remedy to ease the pain - music and beautiful African women. Rema rounds up the mixtape with ‘Spaceship’ , an impressive futuristic offering that sees Rema sonically rival his US contemporaries. Produced by Altims, it tells the story of love for an elusive girl. This illusion inflicts pleasure and pain in equal measure - a love filled with addiction, regret and sin that sees Rema seeking forgiveness from God for crossing the line and following her evil ways. The ‘Bad Commando Mixtape’ follows on from the ‘Freestyle’ EP released in June and Rema’s chart-topping self-titled debut EP released back in March. The latter was a huge hit in Nigeria, with all four of its tracks reaching the Top 5 on iTunes Nigeria within a week of its availability. ‘Dumebi’ in particular proved to be Rema’s breakthrough hit, reaching #1 on the Nigerian Apple Music charts and #3 on the Apple Music USA World Charts. Since its initial release, it has since been streamed over 5 million times. It has also become something of a YouTube sensation, amassing nearly 8 million views since the arrival of its official video in May. If this wasn’t enough, Rema’s ‘Iron Man’ made it onto Barack Obama’s fabled ‘Summer Playlist’, while also being handpicked to play at the inaugural Boiler Room Festival in London on October 10th. https://open.spotify.com/album/1LLXYglTLoygbDr70iZyyu?si=dlK3Nju4QzCqp-QaRDC3jg Birthed from humble beginnings in Benin City where he had to hustle on the streets to survive, Rema’s success at such an early stage of his career has been extraordinary. Since signing to the legendary Mavin Records with Don Jazzy at the helm, Rema has been featured on Spotify and Deezer playlists and earned comparisons to Afrobeat’s reigning king Wizkid and U.S. superstar Young Thug. Speaking on why Rema is tipped to this winning streak, Don Jazzy, Mavin Records President says - “Rema is a formidable young artist: with his skill and versatility, he has a unique place in the future of Afrobeats.” Rema himself has said - "It still feels like a blessing to be chosen for something great, something beyond this world”. Packed with energy and self-assurance, the ‘Bad Commando Mixtape’ further cements Rema’s status as one of West Africa’s most exciting musical talents.

Read the full article

#BadCommando #REMA

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ja-khajay · 7 years

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I'm kind of a new follower so can u post a short list of them n some details? sorry I'm on mobile so I cant check to see if u have an Oc page

i actually don’t…rip me… heres a Long list

TES OCS :Ma'Jahrann, enthusiastic and bubbly khajiit youth, walks the world on her tiny little legs out of curiosity. Clever little shit like what the khajiit are the best at, but always positive! She will end up a great diplomat one day, working in the highest spheres fo the empire! Until she grows too old for that shit and starts a pirate empire with a monkey wife? But that’s for another story…

Ishma, of full name Tanishmaël, a dad-aged bosmer hermit who would have stayed alone in his remote woods if he hadn’t met a young and lost Jahrann, after rescuing her from a bandit raid. He’s a nasty little man who loves to party and hunt, agrees with Jahrann that hoarding the crowd’s attention rules, would make dick jokes every two minutes if he wasn’t mute. He is covered in tattoos, most of them that he made himself, almost all but one of a great bird of prey with spread wings on his back - he sometimes dissapears into the wilderness on moonlit nights to return covered in scars and blood, he never speaks about it, nor about the tribe he was born in and had to leave

Elaahni, Jahrann’s mother, northern elsweyri dancer of great beauty. She embodies the pride and fierceness of northern khajiit tribes, but so gracious! She knows all about the starts and the gods. She holds a million secrets. Other call is gossip but she knows best how to use them.

Qa'Husar, Jahrann’s father, a gigantic soft khajiit man with a booming laugh, gave Jahrann his zest for life and energy. He loves his family deeply and will gush about them for hours. Dockworker, then owner of a trading post in the borders of the Topal Bay, where he lives with him family

Zan'sien, Jahrann’s older bro. Monk of Mara, loves martial arts, good heart but doesn’t talk much. As fierce as the northerners. He protects the caravn of Elaahni’s sister and I shall stop the family tree here it could go on for ages

Do'Mladkam : former slave born in a Dres plantation in Black Marsh. Alfiq-raht gifted with the art of speech, which he hides. He is extremely strong and used to work as pit fighter to earn a living. He then left the province with his little brother to go live in Senchal, were he takes the lead of one of the cities’ biggest gangs. Cunning, ruthless, his goal is to find and murder the man that owned his mother - and everyone who tries to stop him doing so. The only oc i have on the “evil” side of the alignment chart. (note : his name comes from the dunmeri Molad Kham, “fighting [fang], his old nickname. nobody knows his birth name)

S'regey (from ta'agra zregey, "burnt”) : Do'Mladkam’s younger brother. Ohmes, tall, mistaken for an Altmer by most. He was raised by his brother only, who taught him how to read and write, later on teaching him magic. After being caught stealing books, he was punished by the dunmer and had half of his face burnt as punishement - thus his name. A destruction mage expert, excellent liar, acts as right hand to his brother. Not quite evil. His brother’s plans will fail and kill him, and S'regey will run away to Hammerfell with his companion.

Rezad , my canon vestige! Khajiit poet and dockworker, killed during the ritual. A peace loving, airheaded stereotype of the tumblr artsy gay. He wishes for the war to stop. When it’ll be over, he’ll start a shop and sell instruments he’ll craft. Rezad wants to be a woodworker and hope music will repair broken souls. And one day, he will sail to another continent on a ship with golden sails. Rezad loves the sea, sings to her, and never wants to leave the sound of her waves

Rakkan, my canon Nerevarine : you see garfield? Well he is now a wooping three meters tall and extremely angry and spitefull. Gigantic tiger man. Old grouch. Was arrested for resisting arrest for petty crimes, but it turned out the angry thug may have made a hole in the wall using imperial soldiers and thats mean he’s better in a rock hole with metal bars i guess…….. has terrible impulse control. After getting plucked out of his cell for a bullshit elf prophecy in a bullshit elf land, he decides to flip off God and proceeds to do a terrible job as incarnate just to spite Azura (because he can). But things happen, Nerevar’s memories take over him and he has to kill Dagoth Ur, only being he recon considered him a friend - then takes down the Almsivi for treason and fucks off to Akavir. Not evil. Just had a shit life with a short temper.

Nad, canon dovahkiin (* not a tes oc actually ill come back to that later) : big orc gal with a sweet heart, herbalist, loves children and animals, genuinely wants to help saving the world, she’s buff green and a bit naive, not the brightest but so soft and good did I tell u i love her,;,;,,,,,,, Former Telvanni slave, used for experiments, she broke out and now she’s strong and beastlike. She will end up finding a beautiful nord wife and adopting many kids and dogs in a small house by a waterfall and be happy

NON TES OCS are they even any

(*) Nadalia, the Original Nad™! From the universe of an obscure manga called Tegami Bachi. Former scientific experiment gone wrong, rogue monster lady that walks from town to town to find small jobs to earn a living. I won’t tell more because it’s linkd to the series lore that takes hours to explain

Anhzi : little grandma butch lesbian, hunter from a hunter’s tribe. Of a few words, strong and wise, a Mom if I ever saw one. She’s always on an epic quest. Uses a giant spear. Lawfully lawful good. Loves her wife Tilao with all her heart.

C.K. : another lesbian mom but this time its like those lesbian country farmers from that meme a few months ago. Instead of rural USA, she drives her (primitive!) sky bkue jeep in forests of giant trees that took over human civilization. She’s always joking and would spend her life mimicking indiana jones, if indiana jones movies had survived in the distant future she lives in. Excellent pilot, here for the laugh, loves the thrill of the risk. My first novel character! I wqs 10 :D

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sylvianancy88 · 4 years

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ASAP Ferg Net Worth, Biography, Career, Awards, Musical Style, Family and Properties

Darold Durard Brown Ferguson Jr. who goes by the stage name ASAP Ferg is an American Rapper, Singer and Songwriter.

A$AP Freg’s career is spinning over 13 years. He is from New York City’s Harlem Neighbourhood. He is a member of Hip Hop Collective ASAP Mob.

He signed a solo record deal with Polo Grounds and RCA in 2013. His first debut album Trap Lord was released in August 20, 2013.

He got many positive reviews of this album. He is known for his Trap genre rap. According to Celebrity net worth A$AP Ferg net worth is $6 Million.

In this article we will share with you all there is to be known about the Rapper ASAP Ferg Net Worth, Biography, Career, Awards, Musical Style, Family, Properties and how he became so popular.

Biography and Background

Full Name

A$AP Ferg’s full name is Darold Durard Brown Ferguson Jr.

Nickname

ASAP Ferg is his stage name and he writes his name A$AP Ferg to stylize.

Nationality

A$AP Ferg is American by birth.

Birthday

Ferg was born on October 20, 1988.

Profession

Ferg has chosen rapping as his profession for over 13 years. He is also a singer and songwriter.

Zodiac Sign

A$AP Ferg’s horoscope zodiac sign is Libra.

Background

ASAP Ferg started his career in 2007. He developed a new type of aggressive rapping called Trap. Which he defined as “Trapping is hustling”.

People calls him Trap lord because his hustling is impeccable. His debut album is called Trap Lord too. ASAP Ferg and his high school friend ASAP Rocky joined ASAP mob which is why they have ASAP in their stage name.

ASAP mob got into a deal with recording label Polo Grounds and RCA. This label helped launch ASAP Worldwide. ASAP Ferg’s Trap rapping has become popular after his solo release of the album Trap Lord.

He had a difficult life before he started rapping. After joining A$AP Rocky and A$AP Yams in A$AP Mob he became popular and released several albums.

Family and History

Father

ASAP Ferg’s fathers name is Darold Ferguson. His father owned a Harlem boutique. Which printed logos and Shirt for record labels including Bad Boy Records and luminaries such as Teddy Riley, Heavy D, and Bell Biv DeVoe.

Mother

There are no details about A$AP Ferg’s mother.

Siblings

He doesn’t have any siblings.

Spouse

Ferg as of now is unmarried.

Children

He doesn’t have any Children also.

History

A$AP Ferg was born and raised in the New York City neighborhood called Harlem. His neighborhood is notoriously known as “Hungry Ham”.

After his father died of kidney failure, A$AP Ferg launched a clothing and jewelry lines at a young age following his father’s steps and He attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan.

He says his interaction with all kind of people like Goth, gay, thugs from Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx etc. that wanted to do ar, graffiti and all kind of fashion people influenced his art and imagery.

As a teenager Ferg wore outré clothing when all his friends were rocking Air Jordans. He felt like an outcast but he got used to it and when he grew into it more he wanted to stand out from the norms.

He quickly ascended from an outcast to a popular celebrity. A$AP Ferg’s launched “Devoni Clothing” in 2005, where he designed and distributed high-end belts.

Musical Style and Preference

A$AP Ferg’s rapping style is very aggressive and trap style of Hip Hop. He calls his new rap style Trap and He defined it a hustling. His trap style is very popular nowadays.

Career Development

From 2009 – 12

By 2009 A$AP Ferg started developing his Trap style of Hip Hop. It is an aggressive style Hip Hop that he explains, as Trapping is Hustling.

A$AP Ferg’s high school friend A$AP Rocky realised that A$AP Ferg has impeccable hustle game and pushed Ferg to do rapping as much as possible. Then later they joined A$AP Mob from which they got their stage name.

Since 2010, A$AP Rocky and A$AP Ferg collaborated on various songs like “Get High”,” Ghetto Symphony”, “Kissin’ Pink”. “Ghetto Symphony” is from Rocky’s top charting major label dewbut “Long. Live. A$AP” in 2013.

From 2012 – 14

Ferg’s first single “work” appeared on the A$AP Mob mixtape “Lords never Worry” was released on August 28, 2012. Complex Magazine dubbed the single song on the “50 Best Songs of 2012”.

The remix of “Work” was featured by A$AP Rocky, French Montana, Schoolboy Q and Trinidad James. It was released to digital retailers.

He announced his debut album “Trap Lord” on January 10, 2013 with the announcement of his signing a deal with RCA records and POLO Grounds label.

Freg released his first album “Trap Lord” on August 20, 2013. “Trap Lord” debuted at number 9 on the Billboard 200. On October 15, he was named “Rookie of the year” at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards.

Ferg also did a job as a featured artist on the track “Hands on Me” by Ariana Grande.

From 2015 – Present

Ferg released the video for the single “Dope Walk” on February 25, 2015. Which was a track from his mixtape “Freg Forever”. The video created a viral dance of the same name.

The video was composed entirely of iPhone footage during New York Fashion Week. Later Freg directed the music video for rapper Future’s “Thought It Was a Drought”.

Ferg released his second studio album “Always Strive and Prosper” on April 22, 2016. The album’s first single “New Level” featured with Future was certified gold by RIAA.

Then in 2016 he and Playboi Carti had a big tour with 23 stops called “Turnt & Burnt”. Freg and Ally Brooke was featured in a single of Lost Kings called “Look at Us Now” on June 9. 2017.

A$AP Ferg’s Debut EP “Floor Seats” was released on August 16, 2019.

ASAP Ferg Net Worth

According to Celebrity Net Worth as of 2020 A$AP Ferg’s net worth is $6 Million. Ferg’s Debut album “Trap Lord” was sold 46,000 copies in United States. His Song videos got viral and gained many viewers. He did some acting in recent days.

Awards and Nominations

In 2013’s BET Hip Hop Awards A$AP Ferg was nominated for 2 award. Rookie of the year and Video Director of the year. He managed to win the Rookie of the Year award.

Works Throughout the Years

Discography

Filmography

Social Media Presence

A$AP Ferg has official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. The links are provided below.

Twitter- https://twitter.com/ASAPferg?s=20

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/asapfergofficial/

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/asapferg/?hl=en

Some Lesser Known Facts

A$AP Ferg narrated the Adidas World Cup advert “Creativity is The Answer”

Ferg appeared in a video ad for Tiffany’s with Elle Fanning Remixing Moon River.

Ferg is accompanied on tour by his dj TJ Mizell the son of the legendary Jam Master Jay.

Chris Brown, Diggy Simmons and Swizz Beats have worn Ferg’s designed belts.

Final Thoughts

In the end, A$AP Ferg is a phenomenal personality in the Hip Hop genre. He came out with the trap style hip-hop and won the hearts of many hip-hop fans by a storm. He was like an outcast before his career started but he grew out of it and became big celebrity the whole world knows.

You May Also Interested to Know:

1. Alice Cooper’s Net Worth, Biography, Family, Career, Awards & Personal Life

2. Kesha’s Net Worth, Biography, Career, Awards, Musical Style, Family and Personal Life

3. A Boogie Wit da Hoodie Net Worth, Biography, Family, Career, Discography and Personal Life

4. D. L. Hughley Net Worth, Biography, Family, Career, Filmography, Personal Life

To Learn More About Others Popular Celebrity Visit at : Public Celebrity

Image Source: Xxl Mag.Com

via WordPress https://ift.tt/2F6ZGhF

#Rapper #Singer #American Rapper #featured #Songwriter #wordpress

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emedhelp · 4 years

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Juice WRLD Dead at 21 After Seizure | Complex

Rapper and rising superstar, Juice WRLD, has died after suffering a seizure at Chicago's Midway airport on Sunday morning, TMZ reports.

Juice WRLD—whose birth name is Jarad Anthony Higgins—was returning home to Chicago from California. According to witnesses, the rapper got off the plane then had a seizure while walking through the airport. Law enforcement insiders tell TMZ that he was bleeding from the mouth when paramedics arrived on the scene but was still conscious. Emergency responders rushed Juice to the hospital where he was pronounced dead a few moments after arriving at the facility. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the rapper's death to WGN and The New York Times. At this point, the cause of death is still unknown, but per the Chicago Police Department, there were no signs of foul play.

"Shortly after arriving to Chicago, he suffered what appears to be some type of medical emergency according to people traveling with him," a Chicago Police Department spokesperson told E! News. "There were no signs of foul play and all individuals aboard the aircraft are cooperating with CPD and have given all of their information. Currently we are awaiting the Cook County medical examiner on the cause and manner of death."

NPR reports the autopsy for Juice WRLD will likely take place on Monday (Dec. 9).

The artist turned 21 years old on Dec. 2.

Juice WRLD caught mainstream attention in 2018 with his smash single, "Lucid Dreams." The track peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. While "Lucid Dreams" blended rock melodies to make a trap ballad, Juice WRLD also captivated audiences with his impressive handle of lyricism. His ability to freestyle on command for extended periods of time generated him a cult-like following. This versatility led many to believe that he would become one of the biggest stars in the world. Close collaborator, fellow Chicagoan, and friend G Herbo, likened Juice to the legendary Michael Jackson and his management team also compared him to legends.

'I totally believe, deep in my heart, that he is the GOAT and the only person that can take the throne away from you, or whoever else you want to put at the top of the rap game—if it is Travis, if it is J. Cole. I feel like he is the future of this rap shit," his day-to-day manager, Peter Jideonwo, told Complex. "It could take him five years, but I think he is going to get there, and that throne is gonna be his." His label manager, Lil Bibby, added: "He records like Future and Young Thug, but better. I'm vouching for him like that."

Like a lot of fallen artists, Juice WRLD foreshadowed his death with his lyrics. In the song, "Legends," he pays tribute to Lil Peep and XXXTentacion. He also put a number on his potential demise.

"What's the 27 Clu-u-u-ub?" Juice sings. "We ain't making it past 21."

A rep provided a statement on behalf of Interscope Geffen A&M Records:

Juice made a profound impact on the world in such a short period of time. He was a gentle soul, whose creativity knew no bounds, an exceptional human being and artist who loved and cared for his fans above everything else. To lose someone so kind and so close to our hearts is devastating. Our thoughts are with Juice’s family and friends, everyone at his label Grade A, and his millions of fans around the world.

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fashiontrendin-blog · 6 years

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The Complete Story Of How Hip-Hop Changed The Way We Dress

https://fashion-trendin.com/the-complete-story-of-how-hip-hop-changed-the-way-we-dress/

The Complete Story Of How Hip-Hop Changed The Way We Dress

In 2002, stylist Rachel Johnson walked into a Burberry store in New York to request some clothes for a photoshoot. Her client was Ja Rule, then promoting the follow-up to his Grammy-nominated, triple-platinum album Pain is Love. It was the kind of exposure that brands generally love, but Burberry refused to help.

“They didn’t want him to wear their stuff,” Johnson later told Newsweek. “People have this stigma with the urban community.” She bought it anyway and after she draped her client in the brand’s house check, his fans did too. A few months later, Burberry sent Ja Rule a letter of thanks.

A decade and more on, the brand has a different stance on hip-hop style. It’s dressed Skepta and Nicki Minaj and recently collaborated with Chinese rapper Kris Wu. Like the rest of the fashion industry, Burberry coincidentally overcame its distaste for rap just as rap became the loudest sound on earth; in December, Nielsen research found more people listened to rap than rock for the first time. Now it’s brands like Burberry that come knocking, and rappers who rebuff them.

“With hip-hop being the de facto sound of youth and rebellion, a lot of the prominent artists – be it Beyoncé or Kanye West or ASAP Rocky – are now like, ‘Why am I giving people free press?’” says Jian DeLeon, editorial director at Highsnobiety.

Luxury logos have always been signals of success hip-hop, but rap’s explosion has shifted expectations. “They understand that they are now brands and they understand the power that their brands have. They’re not just using it to promote these symbols that they’ve made it. They know that they’ve made it.”

Ever since DJ Kool Herc’s first block parties, hip-hop has been a voice for the marginalised. Its look mattered as much as the sound, partly as an expression of self-identity, partly as shorthand for success. For those pioneering black artists who grew up amid crime and violence, whose music helped them transcend their place of birth and their lack of opportunities, European luxury brands were the original flex; a middle finger to a society that had written them off and a diamond-dripping, mink-trimmed embodiment of the American Dream for the people who bought their records.

Run DMC, 1985

True Street Wear

Rap is arguably music’s most entrepreneurial genre, obsessed with graft and hustle, status and the path up from the streets. No other sound has focused so much on starting from the bottom, perhaps because no other music has been so dominated by artists who started life at the bottom. The uniform of rock was stuff that would frighten fans’ mothers; for rap, it was clothes that backed up your bars.

Rap’s first commercial flush put its stars in financial reach of luxury, but they were still locked out by geography and race. Their focus on the grittier sides of street culture made brands wary. Biggie might big up Louis Vuitton, but its customers were white, old and didn’t want their couturier draped across an ex-drug dealer.

They were even less comfortable about selling to actual drug dealers, the only other people in Harlem in with the cash to afford them. They refused to wholesale there and made their Fifth Avenue stores as unwelcoming to young black men as possible. That inaccessibility made luxury even more covetable. So Harlem’s tailors figured out a workaround.

Do The Right Thing – Bill Nunn, 1989

The go-to was Dapper Dan, born Daniel Day, a haberdasher who would import bootlegged fabrics or screen-print logos onto luxury leather, then turn them into one-of-a-kind, street-inflected pieces like oversized bomber jackets and fur-trimmed coats. His clothes weren’t the copies of runway fashion you find on eBay; they were unique, hand-crafted and often more expensive than the originals. Particularly if you wanted something you’d never find in Fendi, like a parka with bulletproof panels, or hidden stash pockets.

“Dapper Dan has a term for what he did in the 1980s: ‘blackinize fashion’,” says Rachel Lifter, assistant professor of fashion studies at Parsons School of Design. His clothes embodied street culture and the needs and wants of people who were young and rich, but locked out of the things enjoyed by young, rich, white people. “He drew on a long legacy of black style as both a form of self-realisation and a statement of political-aesthetic resistance.”

Day defined hip-hop style for a decade – oversized, influenced by sportswear as much as luxury tailoring and designed to make sense in the street. It was clothing infused with swagger and for a rapper on the up-and-up, copping a Dapper Dan was a sign you’d made it.

“Rappers have always liked fashion and fashion for the longest time didn’t want to speak to that audience because it felt like it might have hurt the integrity of the brand,” says DeLeon. “[In Dapper Dan] they found someone who understood them, what their needs were and who spoke the same language.”

His creations appeared on album covers, red carpets and heavyweight champions – Mike Tyson commissioned a jacket with ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’ embroidered on the back before a 1988 title fight. Lawyers noticed (Tyson brawling outside Day’s store at five in the morning didn’t help). By the early 90s, Dapper Dan had been sued out of existence.

Mike Tyson with his Dapper Dan “Don’t Believe the Hype” jacket

The Evolution Of Hip-Hop Style

His demise coincided with rap’s toughening up and a shift in style to something more authentic. Rappers were also tiring of luxury’s knockbacks. When the Wu Tang Clan launched its own brand, Wu Wear, a generation of artists realised that they could control what they promoted and how they were rewarded.

They turned rejection into a statement of intent, creating clothes for fans who, like them, were at best only ever endured by the establishment. Like their music, their clothes reflected reality. The Wu Tang uniform of baggy jeans, baseball jackets and Timberlands was what you wore if, like them, you had an FBI file thicker than Crime and Punishment.

“You had the rise of so-called urban fashion,” says DeLeon. “You had Sean John by Diddy, Wu Wear. You had a lot of labels being started specifically by rappers who saw this gap in the market that was essentially, ‘Alright, fashion brands won’t speak to our listeners and to our audience, so let’s create something that’s authentically of that world.’”

As well as clothes, they launched their own drinks and cigars, sick of the tepid reception they received from brands who were happy to reap sales from their products appearing in rap videos, but still wanted to keep the rappers at arm’s length. “If Courvoisier or Moët won’t co-sign these rappers,” says DeLeon, “then why don’t they just start their own businesses and use their platform to promote their own products?”

Top: RZA, Pharrell Bottom: Dapper Dan, Sean Combs

Then came Pharrell. As N.E.R.D. turned the urban music technicolour, Pharrell gave hip-hop style new notes – skate, Japanese streetwear, punk. He created a world in which Kanye West could rock a backpack and pink polo and still outsell 50 Cent.

“There was this shift from a hive mind mentality of style toward a championing of individuality,” says DeLeon. “That’s what actually helped propel a lot of the fashion and style paradigm forward.” Pharrell fomented the environment in which Young Thug can wear dresses, Lil Uzi Vert can rep Gosha Rubchinskiy at the Grammys, and still feel part of the same movement. After Pharrell, hip-hop style lost its consistency, but it found its voice.

As rap climbed the charts, it lost its outsider status. Its biggest artists displaced pop stars, then became pop stars. Now, any rapper with an advance in their pocket could buy as much Fendi as they liked. Get on Spotify’s Rap Caviar and Louis Vuitton would probably send them a sack of clothes to wear on Instagram. “Luxury brands have woken up to a reality in which rappers are dominating the cultural conversation,” says Christopher Morency, editorial associate at Business of Fashion. Brands either get on board, or get left behind.

DeLeon cuts rap fashion into two eras: before and after Pharrell. If clothing had previously been about affiliation, now it was about knowledge as well. Those old markers of success, stripped of their exclusivity, were replaced by something more nuanced. Gucci and Louis still got their props (it helps that both rhyme easily) but now, Jay Z was namechecking Margiela. In 2015, ASAP Rocky devoted an entire song to Raf Simons.

Top: Jay-Z, Kanye West Bottom: Stormzy, ASAP Rocky

“When Rocky says ‘Rick Owens, Raf Simons, usually what I’m dressed in,’ [on ‘Peso’] it really a marked shift towards new, younger rappers understanding the importance of cultivating a really unique [approach to] fashion,” says DeLeon. “It wasn’t just about going in and getting the gaudiest shit possible. It was about understanding composition, nuance, and the overall appeal of the designers.”

The Life Of Abloh

Among the first rappers to pop up on fashion week’s front rows were ASAP Rocky and Kanye, artists who’d championed the interesting and esoteric from the outset and who made fashion an integral part of their identity. They opened the doors to true collaboration between brands and artists – two-way communication in which the tastes of the trendsetters inform what comes out of the atelier.

In 2016, ASAP Rocky became the first black face to front Dior Homme, but the campaign was about more than a luxury house chasing relevancy. “The relationship between [at the time] Dior Homme creative director Kris van Assche and Rocky dates back many years,” says Morency. “It was Rocky who gravitated to Dior Homme at first, not the other way around.”

From a standing start, fashion has entered into a deeply symbiotic relationship with rap. In the last two years, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Saint Laurent have all released rap-fronted campaigns, part of a move to woo younger shoppers as their existing audience greys out.

“The new luxury consumer is Millennials and Gen Z,” says Morency. “By 2025, they’ll account for 45 per cent of the global personal luxury goods market. Luxury brands will have to embrace rappers if they want any credibility with that generation, but it needs to be authentic.”

For anyone interested in fashion, this is all good news. Hip-hop is the most creative movement in music and its attitude to boundaries has crossed over into our wardrobes. The elevation of streetwear, the mashing of high with low and the move towards genderless fashion can all be attributed, in various ways, to what rappers are wearing right now.

That cultural shift has also propelled Virgil Abloh to the top spot at Louis Vuitton, where he’s become the first black designer to helm a major luxury house. His roots in rap are inarguable and he brings to fashion a true sense of how street culture and high fashion intersect. Through his own brand, Off-White, he’s also helped black designers shake off the assumption that they only make ‘streetwear’.

Virgil Abloh and Kanye West at the Louis Vuitton SS19 runway show

“Streetwear has for some time served as a label through which the fashion industry can read blackness,” says Lifter. She points to Public School co-founder Maxwell Osborne, who in Sacha Jenkins’ rap-fashion documentary, Fresh Dressed, railed against how automatically the label was applied. “Our last design job was at Sean Jean under Puffy,” he says. “So I think when we started Public School it was automatically [considered] a streetwear brand – ‘you’re in this box’ – and I was like, ‘No, that’s not what we’re doing.’”

By challenging perceptions of what rappers wear and what black designers create, these artists force society to rethink what black art looks like, says Lifter. “They’re in different ways expanding how blackness can be represented in editorials and campaigns, performed within music videos and cover art, and materialised through new collections.”

For now, the brands are happy to help. Head to Gucci’s website today, and you’ll find a capsule collection, designed in collaboration with Dapper Dan, that recreates his most famous pieces. This year, Gucci even set Day up with a new shop in Harlem, stocked with exclusive (and heavily monogrammed) fabrics, so that he could kit out a new generation of rap royalty.

Dapper Dan x Gucci

The hook-up seemed partly an apology. A year earlier, Gucci debuted a note-for-note remake of a jacket Day made for Olympic sprinter Diane Dixon. The only difference? Day’s bootlegged Louis Vuitton logos had been usurped by Gucci’s interlocking Gs. Cue social media uproar, a reach-out from one designer to another and, a few months later, a Dapper Dan-fronted Gucci ad campaign. The bootlegger, now bootlegged, was back. But the style he’d created had never left.

7 Seminal Hip-Hop Looks & How To Wear Them Today

Run DMC and My Adidas

Run DMC, 1987

Hip-hop’s early years looked not all that dissimilar to now – big trainers and head-to-toe tracksuits. The music was brewed in b-boy culture, where sportswear the go-to because it was perfect for breakdancing. Run-DMC were the look’s biggest proponents, immortalising their favourite brand in ‘My Adidas’. After three stripes’ execs caught a Madison Square Garden performance in which fans all raised their sneakers on cue, Run-DMC earned an unheard-of million-dollar endorsement deal.

How to wear it now: Verbatim – the tracksuit look’s back and pairing an Adidas two-piece with a pair of Stan Smiths looks as good now as it did then. Just lose the jewellery and Kangol.

Adidas Originals

Black Consciousness

Public Enemy, 1988

In the late 80s, artists like KRS-One and Public Enemy coupled their anti-government, anti-police stance to a rising strain of black nationalism. They introduced traditional African clothing and references to their wardrobes – sportswear in red, green and black, beaded jewellery and kufis, paired with the military fatigues of the Black Panthers.

How to wear it now: Unless you’re black and looking to rep your cultural history – don’t. White guys in dreadlocks and dashikis are the worst kind of cultural appropriation. If you are, then it’s about mixing traditional African clothing with streetwear, or try embellishing military jackets with pan-African patches. For an elevated take, look to British designer Grace Wales-Bonner, whose clothes are like a wearable thesis on African history.

Wales-Bonner Spring 2019 Collection

Dapper Dan

Dapper Dan with LL Cool J, 1986

The Harlem tailor who dressed every 80s rapper that mattered, his creations are immortalised on the covers of Eric B & Rakim’s Paid in Full and Follow the Leader, as well as Salt-n-Pepa’s Icon. “Hip-hop was all about sampling, re-discovering old funk and soul records to flip into something new and fresh,” says stylist Chris Tang. “Dapper Dan applied those same methods to fashion.”

How to wear it now: You can do so literally, if you’ve got a few grand spare, by picking up something from the Gucci capsule collection. If not, think cut-and-paste. “Dapper Dan created these outlandish pieces using the iconic monograms,” says Tang, “then applied them in a way these fashion houses didn’t think to do at the time.” Echo him by going luxuriously logo mad – Fendi on Louis on Gucci on Chanel.

Dapper Dan x Gucci

Lo-Life

Lo-Life Crew

In the early 80s, Ralph Lauren marketed its Polo brand as the uniform of WASPS – wealthy, white guys who weekended on their yacht. But its exclusivity had an unintentional effect on hip-hop style. “The Stadium collection enticed the black and latino community all over the US,” says Tang. “The infamous Lo-Life gang became notorious for stealing large amounts of Polo clothing from department stores.”

How to wear it now: “In 1994, Raekwon wore the Snow Beach windbreaker, which earned it its stripes within hip-hop culture,” says Tang. Ralph Lauren wasn’t pleased about it at the time, but has since re-released the collection, as well as a CP-93 America’s Cup capsule, another favourite of the Lo-Heads.

Ralph Lauren Limited Edition Polo Stadium Collection

Hardcore

Straight Outta Compton, 2015

While New York was going big on fur and luxury labels, in LA, NWA stuck to a utilitarian uniform that reflected their sound – black jeans, white tees and hometown baseball caps. They were also big on athletic wear – coach and baseball jackets (often with the Oakland Raiders logo emblazoned on the back), topped off with gold chains as thick as your arm.

How to wear it now: bar the sagged, baggy jeans, everything else in NWA’s look has been reanimated by the 90s revival. Just keep away from costume by losing the Raiders logos, and maybe think dad cap rather than flat peak.

Hood By Air SS14 Backstage

Pharrell Brings East To West

Pharrell Williams

When it seemed every rapper was shilling their own, uninspired fashion label, Pharrell blew apart what hip hop style looked like. In large part that was thanks to his embrace of Japanese brands, particularly A Bathing Ape. “It introduced flamboyant camo print hoodies, rare Bapte-sta trainers and limited silk screen T-shirts,” says Tang. “The idea of a collector’s item and high price point made many people see the brand as something covetable. It was the start of luxury streetwear.”

How to wear it now: Bape’s lost its lustre, after an aggressive expansion stripped it of exclusivity. But Japan remains a hotbed of American-influenced, luxury streetwear brands. As well as OGs like Undercover and Neighbourhood, look to the likes of Wacko Maria, Sasquatchfabrix and Cav Empt, who offer modern spins on hip-hop silhouettes.

WACKO MARIA Spring/Summer 2018 Collection

Kanye Reinvents The Sneaker Game

Kanye West in Yeezy

Kanye West has spent most of his career complaining that he’s not taken seriously as a designer, and while his first attempts at high fashion bombed, with Yeezy he’s become a model for the kind of power and influence rappers can have over fashion and, more importantly, business. Before Kanye, rappers were lucky to be paid to wear a brand’s clothes. Now, they’re at the controls.

How to wear it now: The Yeezy look is all about mixing high and low fashion – a hoodie with a tailored overcoat, trainers with slim-fit jeans. He’s been instrumental in elevating streetwear into something that can be worn anywhere. So, do.

Yeezy show, New York Fashion Week AW16

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naijastudio · 3 years

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Kanye West Biography, Age And Net Worth

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funnythingshere0-blog · 6 years

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Spike Lee teams up with Jordan Peele for the funny, pointed, uneven BlacKKKlansman

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Spike Lee teams up with Jordan Peele for the funny, pointed, uneven BlacKKKlansman

BlacKkKlansman

Photo: Cannes Film Festival

BlacKkKlansman (Grade: B), Spike Lee’s first entry in the Cannes competition lineup since 1991’s Jungle Fever, never outright mentions that it takes place in 1979. We can ballpark the year through context clues, like the ostentatiously dated fashion choices and the opportunity Lee takes to play around with the imagery and attitude of blaxploitation classics like Shaft and Coffy. But a date card never arrives, and no one ever clarifies the exact when aloud, either. That’s probably because BlacKkKlansman isn’t a period piece, not really. The America it depicts—where white cops harass and murder black citizens, where white supremacists complain of their own supposed social disadvantage, where the ideological tendrils of hate groups extend into the political sphere—looks an awful lot like the America of right here and now. And Lee makes the point over and over again through spoken dialogue or unspoken parallels, long before one of his signature film-ending archival montages explicitly hammers it home.

It doesn’t have the volcanic personality and power of Spike’s best work, like his timeless Do The Right Thing, which premiered at Cannes in 1989 and came up at this morning’s post-screening press conference. And it lacks the sheer baptizing outrage of his Bamboozled, one of the most caustically truthful (and underrated) films ever made about how deeply racism has burrowed into the pores of our culture. But BlacKkKlansman, which Lee produced with Jordan Peele and Blumhouse for the same wide-release audience that hungrily devoured Get Out last year, still counts as a rousing comeback for the writer-director: a messy, proudly mainstream, sometimes riotously funny biopic-crowdpleaser about fighting, and clowning on, the dipshit thugs of skinhead America.

Based, as the opening credits announce, on “Some Fo’ Real, Fo Real Shit,” the film has a great hook: the true story of how a black Colorado Springs police officer, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington, from HBO’s Ballers, who got his start with a bit part in Lee’s last biographical drama, Malcom X), managed to infiltrate a local arm of the Klu Klux Klan, making phone contact with “the organization” and masquerading as an aggrieved kindred spirit in the white-power movement. Of course, pulling off the ruse required meeting with the KKK in person, which meant that Stallworth needed a face to go with the voice on the line, a Christian de Neuvillette to his bigot-whispering Cyrano de Bergerac. He finds him in Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), a Jewish officer with his own heritage to conceal from the marks. (“You’re passing,” Stallworth tells him.)

Most undercover cop movies are, in one way or another, about identity. The Departed, for example, turned its dueling-mole premise into a statement about class, about faking your way up or down the social ladder to fit in. BlacKkKlansman turns the espionage games of Stallworth’s scheme into a metaphor for the different masks he has to wear as a black man in America. He gets close to the KKK, including a young David Duke (Topher Grace, whose milquetoast WASPiness counts as a good burn on the one-time Grand Wizard), by presenting himself as a sympathetic ear, flattering their intelligence while exploiting their lack of it, swallowing his anger. But he’s also playing a role for his superiors and colleagues, maneuvering around their often less-overt racism, and for the student activist (Laura Harrier) he courts—a romantic subplot built on its own deception, as Stallworth, a cop trying to change things from the inside of a hostile institution, entertains her down-with-the-pigs philosophy. (Their discussions include some of the movie’s most nuanced ideas.)

As is often the case with Spike’s joints, the storytelling can be uneven. Beyond one corker involving Driver’s Flip attempting to talk his way out of a lie detector test, BlacKkKlansman doesn’t get a whole lot of suspense or urgency out of the subterfuge of Stallworth’s con. Was Lee limited by the details of the true story, which builds to a climax less thrilling than what one might expect? Although he’s made his most narratively entertaining movie in years, the filmmaker often still privileges polemical discourse over drama, grinding things to a halt for minutes-long speeches—he’s not so different from Godard in that way—and sometimes getting rather on-the-nose with the already exceptionally apparent contemporary echoes. (Yes, there’s a play on MAGA and a gag about the country never being stupid enough to elect someone like David Duke to the presidency.)

Still, it’s undeniably exciting to see Lee make something this incensed again, and BlacKkKlansman scores some big laughs at the expense of its villains, tricked and schooled and gloriously insulted by the hero, in telephone conversations—some based on interviews with the real Stallworth—that play like crank calls on white supremacy itself. Lee, who begins the film with an excerpt from Gone With The Wind and includes a scene of the Klansmen hooting and hollering through a screening of Birth Of A Nation, understands the agitprop potential of cinema—its capacity to speak to a wide, captive audience, sympathetic to ideas and hungry for inspiration. With any luck. BlacKkKlansman, flaws and all, will find that audience at the multiplex this year. We need its anger right now.

Happy As Lazzaro

Photo: Cannes Film Festival

Earlier in the festival, I noted rumors that Cannes had switched up its strategy for the main competition, selecting films more for their overall quality than for the reputation of their makers. (Hence the relative lack of major auteurs.) With the festival more than half over, I’m about ready to call myself convinced. This year’s slate of contenders has been rock-solid, with only a couple of turkeys. Of course, I’ve managed to miss one of the most acclaimed of the bunch: Shoplifters, the new presumably gentle drama from Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda (Nobody Knows, Still Walking). And since I’m leaving Friday, I’ll miss a few more, including the latest from Turkish Cannes royalty Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Even discounting a potential missed masterpiece, though, the programmers did well in 2018.

I was mostly charmed by Happy As Lazzaro (Grade: B), from writer-director Alice Rohrwacher, who won a prize at Cannes four years ago for The Wonders. For a while, her new one plays a bit like a meandering descendant of the Italian (and Palme-friendly) peasant epics of the 1970s, focusing as it does on the entwined livelihoods of two families living in a small, remote village—one the dynasty of a powerful cigarette baroness, the other impoverished sharecroppers working for her. This dynamic is encapsulated by the exploitative relationship that develops between spoiled scion Tancredi (Italian pop star Luca Chikovani) and endlessly accommodating peasant Lazzaro (Adriano Tardiolo). The former ensnares the latter in a plot to bilk his rich mother out of some phony ransom money, and you think you have a handle on where the film is (slowly) going. But Rohrwacher has some unexpected reveals up her sleeve, including a rather delightful fissure in the movie’s carefully established neorealism and milieu. Though gently outraged in its portrait of class divisions, Happy As Lazzaro mostly takes its tonal cues from the eponymous character’s comically gentle, trusting nature. Tardiolo’s performance flirts with parody—he’s the living embodiment of the “simple” virtue of the working class, that cliché about inherent salt-of-the-earth goodness—but the movie mostly believes in his sweet integrity. Touchingly, if maybe to a fault.

Asako I & II

Photo: Cannes Film Festival

Deceptively slight in its own way, the lovely Asako I & II (Grade: B+) rounded out my day of good movies with the best intentions. I know Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s last film, Happy Hour, only by reputation—which is to say, I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard it offers over five hours of gentle naturalism. That makes his only-two-hour encore, which scored a surprise competition slot, slender by comparison. Shy, uncertain Asako (Erika Karata) moves from Osaka to Tokyo, two years after her aloof stud of a boyfriend (Masahiro Higashide) mysteriously skips town, dropping out of her life without a trace. Here, she encounters the spitting image of her MIA beau (also Higashide), and tiptoes into a relationship with this sweeter, goofier fellow—mostly, it would seem, because of the uncanny resemblance.

Hamaguchi exhibits a careful, un-showy command of the frame, and a talent for creating small, sometimes comic surprises through editing. (One scene, for example, depicts Asako and her first love canoodling in the street after a motorcycle wipeout, only to cut to a wider shot of onlookers standing nearby, trying to survey the damage.) Gently and leisurely, he charts the mundane rhythms of the romance, to the point where a viewer might wonder where the movie could possibly be going, if anywhere. (Is this a secret cousin to last year’s perverse Cannes black sheep The Double Lover?) Gradually, though, the shape of the narrative comes together, and all that mellow downtime reveals its purpose. At heart, this is a film about looking for the past in the present, and about how hard it can be to shake that impulse; there may be two men in Asako’s little black book, but as the title indicates, there are really two of her as well. Asako I & II ultimately works as a mellow date movie with some big insights about relationships—accessible and artful, a combination that should be more common, honestly. It was also a prelude of niceness before the very nasty film I saw half a day later, and which I’ll write about…

…Tomorrow: Lars von Trier returns to a standing ovation, followed by mass walkouts. Is his latest provocation as shocking as you’ve heard? Is there method to its madness? Stay tuned for more on The House That Jack Built, plus one of my most anticipated films of the festival: It Follows director David Robert Mitchell’s reportedly strange L.A. noir, Under The Silver Lake.

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youngandhungryent · 4 years

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Lil Wayne’s “I Feel Like Dying” Altered The Trajectory Of Hip-Hop

“Molly, Roxies

Oxycontin (Yeah)

Jubilee, Ostrich (Uh-uh)

Ten a key, we need thousands.”

Jean Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images

Scott Gries/Getty Images

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#fucu #fucul #young and hungry ent #boss of bosses #instrumental type beat free

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