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airadam · 2 years

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Episode 156 : Remain Original

"...'cos it's the right thing to do."

- Sensei Of Soul

With no particular theme I wanted to integrate this month, there were all kinds of directions available to go in! I've gone with a selection that has some stellar remakes, one or two old and overlooked gems, and an overall pacing that starts you off storming the barricades and ends at deep concentration.

As mentioned at the end of the show - I know it's seriously a hard time for a lot of people with the rising cost of living, but if you're one of those doing better, I can't see the point of having money in your pocket instead of going to see Rakim!

Twitter : @airadam13

Twitch : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Public Enemy ft. Nas, Black Thought, Rapsody, YG, Jahi, and Questlove : Fight The Power 2020

Now that is a serious guest lineup! Everyone invited had to be incredibly honoured to get the nod from Public Enemy to appear on the remix of their classic 1989 protest anthem. Sadly, it's as relevant as ever, and the new verses include the names of more victims of white supremacy - let's hope that we're not here for another version in 2051.

[Kut Masta Kurt] PMD : Straight From Da Heart (Instrumental)

Simultaneously angular and a straight-ahead groove as so many of Kurt's beats are, this was a great backing for Parrish Smith of EPMD on this single from the "The Awakening" solo LP, during the period in which EPMD was disbanded.

Robert Glasper ft. Yasiin Bey : Black Radio

If you like "Umi Says" Mos Def, then this vocal performance will likely be right up your street. This was the title track of the first Robert Glasper Experiment LP "Black Radio" (Glasper's fifth overall), where he mixes his jazz foundation with Hip-Hop and a lot besides. With the third edition released this year, do yourself a favour and listen to the complete set!

Tiombe Lockhart : O'Bloody Days, O'Starry Nights On The Bowery

Of all the tracks on Waajeed's "The War LP", this may not be the one that grabs you instantly, but after repeated listens the quality will draw you in. The Detroit electronic sound and humanised drum timing are in full effect on a dense, sweeping piece of production, while Lockhart's vocals are haunting.

De La Soul : The Return of DST

A short but excellent track which I first heard on "unkut.com presents: The 40 Oz." It channels a vibe just straddling the end of the old skool and the start of the new (for those that don't know, RUN DMC's revolutionary debut is arguably the dividing line), and pays homage to Grandmixer DXT, who was originally known as D.St, and famously was the featured artist on "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock.

Starship Connection : Heartbreaker

I think I first heard this on Twitch, where the sheer number of quality DJs you can view on any given day really makes you want to stay on top of your game! Made up of B.Bravo out of Los Angeles and San Fran's Teeko, Starship Connection fly the flag for the classic electro-funk sound, and this single is a sterling example. Bravo takes command of the talkbox and Teeko on production as the duo cover the classic Zapp track "Heartbreaker". The rhythm is, in modern style, a bit more on the edge, and they punctuate the tracks with extra breakdowns and flourishes compared to the original. This was a brave one to take on, but they do it proud!

Jan Hammer : Transformers

Jan Hammer will always be one of my favourite musicians, and this track from the 1992 soundtrack to the surreal, computer-generated film "Beyond The Mind's Eye" could just have easily slotted into the "Miami Vice" or "Cocaine Cowboys" scores. He's known for being able to do some amazing things with pure synths, including soaring guitar lines like the one we have here - he could much more easily call in a guitarist, but that wouldn't be as much fun!

Maro Music, Raekwon, and Ghostface Killah : Throwback Boogie

Of all the combinations of Wu MCs, Rae and Ghost is almost certainly the most iconic and influential, so the producer Maro Music pulled a blinder getting them both to take the mic over his beat on this new single. The beat is just raw crunching thump, and the bars are criminology - exactly how we like it.

Meyhem Lauren : Hate

Somehow I'd forgotten all about this one from the "Piatto D'Oro" album, but was reminded when the video popped up in my Youtube recommendations! This one just grinds sonically, with Icerocks bringing pure ruggedness on the production. Meyhem has fun with it, not going crazy complex but still with some wordplay gems, and the whole attitude is just defiant flossing.

Mega Ran ft. Del Tha Funky Homosapien : Box and One

As DJ A-Up and Bedos might have said, this is that NouGold! Mega Ran's star has deservedly continued to ascend, and to hear him connect with one of the great MCs I remember debuting in the 90s is wonderful. All-star pen game all over this DJ DN3-produced track, which is titled after a basketball defensive technique sometimes used to stifle one dominant offensive player, and seen as a mark of respect for/fear of their skills. The "Live 95" LP is definitely one worth your time, and one that explores possibly the crossover of my interests growing up - Hip-Hop, basketball, and video games!

Herma Puma ft. Sensei Of Soul : Disposable Rappers (BusCrates Remix)

Heavy futuristic-tinged business here with Pittsburgh's Buscrates crafting a remix of this Herma Puma track reminiscent of DJ Spinna, and Sensei of Soul encouraging us to clean house - not in a sniffy purist, "you may only sound like this" way, but in the sense of quality control and the welfare of the art as a whole. Sometimes a reminder is needed that declining standards don't have to be accepted! This track escaped my full notice for a while, but it's available on 2011's "Two Syllables Volume Six" for a bargain sum :)

Le$ : Do You Feel Me? (Instrumental)

While Le$ might have had some of his most memorable on-mic moments on the production of guys like DJ Mr. Rogers and Tavaras Jordan, he can get busy on the boards himself. This beat from "Original Player Sounds" takes a nice 80s sample and just puts a little extra on it.

Dwele ft. Slum Village : Keep On

This is that blend where R&B/neo-soul brings Hip-Hop into the mix, and this time it's all in the family. Detroit's Dwele is part of the extended Slum Village family (you may know him from tracks like Slum's "Tainted"), and here he borrows a taste from Soulquarian Common's Dilla-produced "Dooinit" to sidle up to an unnamed lady. With J Dilla on production again here, and Slum Village appearing as guests on the mic, it's all love.

Snoop ft. October London : Touch Away

Another 80s soul sample re-animated here on this new Snoop single - not from the recently-released "BODR" album, but apparently from an upcoming release "Death Row Summer". This isn't the first time this groove has appeared on a Hip-Hop track, and it's not even disguised - not too much cut on it, as it were. Some accenting bass and drums is all it takes to give it that 2022 wash and wax. Top-down music all the way with October London providing a little soulful accent.

DJ Spinna ft. Apani B & Jean Grae : Hold

I had to flick back into the archives because I was absolutely convinced that I'd already played you this one, but somehow it seems to have escaped the monthly selections! Jean Grae and Apani B are raw on the mic, a perfect combination on top of the production of DJ Spinna. This particular cut is from "Here To There", Spinna's first contribution to BBE's "Beat Generation" series, where a number of top producers were given free reign to turn in any kind of album they liked. Spinna showed his versatility throughout, but this is just straight-ahead Hip-Hop, interpolating a famous soul bassline, building around that, and letting the MCs loose!

Method Man, Jadakiss, Eddie I, 5th PXWER : Switch Sides

The lead two artists will be known to most, but the latter two probably less so. Eddie I was someone I struggled to find info on (no Google, I don't mean Eddie Izzard), but 5th PXWER is the now-emerging son of Method Man. He's got a long way to go to compete with his famous father, but then so do most MCs. P.Version crafts a rugged instrumental, and this track from "Meth Lab Season 3 : The Rehab" speaks to a universal truth - you can't trust a turncoat.

Pete Rock : Time For Learning

A beat that grabbed me from the very first listen, this is my clear favourite from the new "Petestrumentals 4" collection from Mount Vernon's finest. With only two years since the third edition, the pace between releases seems to be quickening - which is great for us :) Don't sleep on the expanding catalogue of1 one of the greatest ever to touch a drum sampler!

Eric B & Rakim : As The Rhyme Goes On

With the prospect of Rakim making his long-awaited return to Manchester, I decided to end the episode with a track from "Paid In Full" that isn't necessarily the most played from the Eric B & Rakim canon. Replaying a classic soul number for the bassline, it kicks off with the drumline audio being reversed (remember kids, no digital editing yet!) before it switches to the normal direction after Rakim's opening four bars. This has a deep meditation vibe, broken up only by the "pump it up homeboy" samples, which are kind of all over the place timing-wise - I'd have preferred less, but who am I to argue with legends?

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

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fireeaglespirit · 5 years

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beyond-far-horizons

This is awesome and because *hangs head in shame* I dont play the games (i'm a noob with no money and my parents never let me have video games so I just like the story okay?) I have never seen this bit.

I ADORE multiverse/underworld stuff as you know or perhaps you don't as I don't know how far I got explaining Aeq and Midnight Palace but it is FULL of that stuff. I love the symbolism and it is very Jungian (I am the Priest of Jung okay, welcome to the New Testament of Jess!) But I need to sleep rn so we can get to it later.

Thank you for showing me because then I can reference it if I have time but I have so many other things going on right now and dunno I love fanfic and these stories but then I get down because I get virtually no response and I need that interaction to continue. It is my luck to always like dead fandoms with minor prequel characters I guess...still I do feel the fanfic has improved my writing and vice versa

I was thinking alot about hell and demons and what 'heaven' would be as I had a very detailed review on FF.net asking me all this questions, like why Sparda would long for the light if he is a demon and dunno, it always comes back to my pet theories of light and dark and the union of opposites. Sparda is so interesting because I feel he came to 'justice' on his own but probably also cemented by this mysterious priestess who he had to sacrifice. At least that is the way

the way I would go if I was developing the lore or a prequel game. It seems the most juicy option. Anyways this 'light' ties into my feelings about the transcendent, this higher power/reality urging all to grow and develop. I guess I would see demons as base and vicious aspects of reality and sources of wild and violent energy - very much as both Jung and early cultures saw them or primal gods or 'titans'.

It's also why I have a headcanon Sparda a)is fascinated by humans - they have the same struggles as him and b)he has a huge library on religions of the world, history, philosophy and science because he is still trying to discover the nature of reality just like Eva and this is what really brings them together. I wrote this line last night when Eva looks at all the books 'So you devour our souls metaphorically instead of physically now?'

I debated on making Sparda saintly, like he has already has his struggle and is now secure in himself but that isn't interesting to me plus you know our shared love of fighting with the feral nature to ultimately make the person better. Plus I kinda like the romantic angst that way like with MadaMito hehe

Okay I need to go to bed now.

Ok, prepare for huge contrived reply incoming...

First of all. What??

I hate when parents do this. I’m so sorry, I never knew about it... I really hate this.

Video games are just another media, I never understood why people would pick on that and forbid their child from having some fun. FFS.

If you want to play something some day I’ll always be there to help you installing, finding them, etc.. whatever you might need. Or even just finding anything related to games, etc.. I don’t play much these days as you know the multiple reasons but it was such an important part of my life I can barely imagine being cut out from this, even thought we always had old consoles this was very important.

About Sparda and the fic. I need to be sincere and say I’m taking so long to reply for two reasons. First because I LOVE the way you wrote Sparda but I was afraid of being too simplistic with my reply so I delved a lot on things...

But... tah-dah : I lost the huge reply I had wrote before. My note has 0 battery so its glued to the wall and it just turns off sometimes suddenly and I’m dumb and don’t save things so yeah. I kinda lost myself and got angry about that.

Anyway, I understand what you said here, especially your feelings about the fic, in many ways I can see how my fandom views reflect in the original world I’m making, and the inverse is contrary. There are many parallels. It really helps and fandom work is as worthy as original, imo, I’ve been thinking about this. Our obsession with prequels and obscure characters has a reason and that is exactly because we want to explore what is hidden behind the veil... exploring the possibilities.

Sometimes it comes to shipping speculation, and this too has a reason.

Thinking about your views on Sparda and Eva, I thought a lot on what it truly means to write or develop an obscure ship and why we are so interested in that (think about that, many of our common favorite characters from prequels, etc..)

I came to the conclusion that in Eva/Sparda just like in many of our other ships, has the common theme of the heroin facing her ‘dark reflection’, her ‘animus’ as Jung would say (OH BOY I’m entering that with you), and she, at first rejects it like she reflects her own darker aspects, her unconscious… its abhorrent for her so she seeks to destroy it as rapidly as possible as seen by Eva’s renewed determination after learning Sparda’s true nature in chapter 1. The animus represents her doubts and unconscious... However what we see in your story is much more interesting.

Most stories of this kind focus solely in the female aspect changing from her interactions with the male, who is already developed, but here we have Eva being able to re-awaken some viciousness in Sparda when it seems he has been quite restrained from quite some time (centuries) but also, something that is much more interesting.. it calls to his own determination and his own personal story and sacrifice, for some reason his ‘lust’ and brush with the dark side makes it all more important and more powerful than if he simply had been saintly at that point, like you said. It makes he revisit it all and ponder.

I love how you added lines of ‘temptation’ from Mundus, part of Sparda seeks to surrender to his ‘nature’ as its just so easy, like slip in a pair of old shoes... while the priestess memory, albeit silently, fights it and reminds him of his struggle and his ideals and ultimately her sacrifice which was also his own sacrifice (of his old ways). I think his darker side has been neglected and I think you will use this to develop Sparda into greater heights. Its great we get to see this in the actual story and he is not perfect, but he certainly is incredible.

Also, just as a side-note I loved how you described his hunger as mostly non-carnal as he glimpses her spirit and its light... when we see Sparda’s POV we get reminded every time of his non-human nature and his non-human perception of things which is clearly different. A demon’s prey is not flesh but spirit and this makes a lot of sense and a lot of potential.

To sum it up, you snatched the best of both worlds and is about to develop both characters under a relationship, as they have a lot to learn and gain from each other. I think this is the way your narrative is going, more or less.

These developments are unique aspects which I find extremely interesting and you are doing this in such a genial way and I can see already by the end of the latest chapter the strings of the themes I mentioned are pulled and ready to be followed.

So yeah, they’re in for a journey of development together. Neither of them starts the story as a ‘perfect’ entity either way... This was shown in a very nice way as you pointed out misconceptions regarding both sides involving the duo of protagonists.

“I was thinking alot about hell and demons and what 'heaven' would be as I had a very detailed review on FF.net asking me all this questions, like why Sparda would long for the light if he is a demon and dunno, it always comes back to my pet theories of light and dark and the union of opposites. Sparda is so interesting because I feel he came to 'justice' on his own but probably also cemented by this mysterious priestess who he had to sacrifice. At least that is the way I would go if I was developing the lore or a prequel game. It seems the most juicy option. Anyways this 'light' ties into my feelings about the transcendent, this higher power/reality urging all to grow and develop. I guess I would see demons as base and vicious aspects of reality and sources of wild and violent energy - very much as both Jung and early cultures saw them or primal gods or 'titans'.”

I abstained a bit from the conversation earlier as I feared my careless/godless (lmao) perception was too disturbing for you or anyone but I also pondered on concepts such as heaven and hell, salvation, damnation, etc.. when considering Sparda’s tale. I know DMC isn't Christianity but its imagery is somewhat based on Abrahamic religion/mythos so I’m bound to take in consideration some of my ideas regarding biblical mythology, as in...

When I started reading the bible so long ago it always puzzled me to imagine what exactly were angels/demons. I mean, are they even able to think in the same way as us?? Or are them more like ‘robots’, AI following orders (especially angels sometimes strikes me as that) and perhaps demons are those ‘robots’ that rebelled against their determined function, idk.

Something I wondered more than a decade ago was if demons in the bible are truly lost in every way so I started thinking within the dmc setting. I’m interested in that all and those things I mentioned. The interesting part is that I once asked that to my catechist if demons could be redeemed (lmao I was crazy, I know, but bored above all). She was at first very mad with me (she was always) but she reluctantly told me that demons had known god up close and felt his power so their sin in not following him is much bigger than a human’s, something of the sorts. So it sounded like they are also able to choose their way and I sort of apply this to dmc, lol. I’m weird, I know...

Are they capable or ‘worthy’ of forgiveness, because demons in dmc clearly have free will and thought like us, or at least similar to us. Some of them, like Sparda have clearly a lot of intellect, but like you said... others are very ‘primal’. Perhaps this is the key. The ‘evolved’ demon develops intellect and power... perhaps you are in the right track and it goes hand in hand? Does this make any sense?? The more powerful and developed they are, the more they develop ‘higher brain functions’ and star resembling a human more, idk because the lower demons in dmc are clearly more animal-like and primal while Sparda has a human-like shape and intellect.

I think I know where we are going and this looks like both angels and demons are actually a ‘reflection’ of human psyche. So, demons are the primal ancient aspects of the brain are somehow walking around hell just like that, while heaven and its inhabitants are mysterious. I really like the way you described hell and its inhabitants, it makes a lot of sense to imagine it as a part of human psyche embodied, in a way. I imagine Heaven as the exact inverse of Hell so it has its own creatures and they’re born from ‘order’ instead of chaos as stated above.

We have Bayonetta as a source of inspiration and I think its very valid to use that in order to understand Sparda. Heaven isn’t exactly good there, is it? In fact it appears like a very controlling environment.

Hell: Primal, violent, survival of the fittest anyone? Hell inhabitants embodied the most basic aspects of the brain, as you said.

Heaven: It might stem from higher planes of thinking and represent the more ‘sublime’ or ‘newer’ aspects of the evolving mammal brain.

It might make an easy choice for heaven but also such tight atmosphere is bound to become stagnant, it is no longer permitting flaws and strong emotions (thus angels look apathetic af in Bayonetta).

It might seem at first glance that heaven is good, hell is bad, however I think, if you delve into heaven you might realize the beings born there might be too ‘disembodied’ as they represent exactly those parts of human psyche which are the most sublime. Let me explain, I always felt like too much spirituality tends to make people leave behind the reality of things, it might make them lack empathy for living beings who have to commit difficult decisions on a living basis, basic survival, starvation, the struggle for life, etc..

Think about enlightenment and Bodhisattva, also the rituals of mortification which are legit scary and reminds me of this concept as only those who leave behind all that is ‘mortal’ and are detached to an extreme, can reach Nirvana. I know this has not much to do with Christianity but even in this religion we find analogous associations regarding detachment as divine and saintly. Its also harmful in a way, or am I reaching? While too much focus on the primal/carnal leads to obvious horrible things: vice and chaos; too much detachment leads to apathy.

I do think some level of detachment is necessary to reach happiness but too much of it makes people forget the reality of life and makes them not able to relate anymore to the ones around them, as the focus becomes solely spiritual it kind of deafens them to the ‘real world’ and ignore it.

This is all about reaching a balance as its is our favorite theme, too much light is bad, too much darkness is bad, etc.. or else the story would fall into itself as the reality of the three settings (heaven, hell, earth) would be rigid.

So here we have a darker aspect of heaven, imo, to balance things out.

Heaven is clearly ‘order’ and hell is ‘chaos’ so we might as well find a balance... our favorite theme as always. The fact that one being like Sparda, born amidst ultimate chaos would gaze upward in delight and desire something else doesn't surprise me. The fact is he could be bitter about it, you even gave away the line on your fic where Sparda mentions he has been denied ‘light’. I wonder what exactly that means and this is one of my favorite aspects of your Sparda is that he is aware of his condition and even thought he worked against it its still lingering to him.. like his own flickering appearance.

But he hasn’t made his way up to heaven, huh?

So its not a far reach to believe in it (that he desired ‘light’, whatever it is) but my personal belief is that too much ‘light’ is not good either and Sparda realized the beauty in flawed humanity, which sits right in the middle of light and darkness, order and chaos... that’s why he became enamored by the concept of humanity and all the struggle our own condition imposes upon us.

For me this is an archetypal theme.

Just food for thought.

The matter is... how? What exactly awakened him to justice?

This makes stuff much more interesting. This was a huge ramble, I know but I needed to develop this and see if it works,

So yeah, about a) I’m totally with you and I can see why Sparda would empathize with humans, as I talked earlier and I think my explanation on why Sparda would be fascinated by humans instead of ‘angels’ is made up above and I hope this doesn't sound too weird, just my line of thought.

As a demon, he’s born from a very ‘imperfect’ reality. He knows how shitty things can be... Now I really wonder how his life was before he ‘awakened to justice’ he must have witnessed some remarkably horrible things in his life..

Under the setting I mentioned, it would be I think its kinda easier for a demon to do this since angels would be too stuck up in their haven, idk so this is how Sparda, the unlikely hero is the first of these beings to take arms and defend humanity. Sparda is so special as he was the one to side with humans by his own decision and free will. What a guy!

I’m glad you didn't! This is probably a gradual process even thought they say he ‘awakened to justice’ which makes it seem like he suddenly just did so I believe he had brewing feelings from his life as a demon in hell...

He must have been such an unique individual to perceive truths his peers where not ready to learn and truly, an act of rebellion against the system itself coming from someone who is ‘supposed’ to do only harm is really something we want to see on screen and I’m so glad you didn't simplify it as being a single event in his life.

I’m really in love with this theme because it shows these beings are able to change their own destinies, even someone with such dark origins.

#beyond-far-horizons #dmc #sparda #eva

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sarahmoroz · 4 years

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cutsliceddiced · 4 years

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New top story from Time: We Watched Every New Show on Quibi. Here’s What to Watch—and What to Skip

Like it or not, Quibi is here. The new streaming platform, launching April 6, offers short-form content—”quick bites,” hence the portmanteau, that run 10 minutes or less. These shows are designed to be watched exclusively on your phone, whether you’re on the subway heading to work or sitting in the waiting room at the dentist’s office—places, in other words, that most people won’t be able to go for some time yet in the era of social distancing. But despite the fact that very few people are, for the moment, on the go, Quibi has held fast to its planned debut, launching, by our count, 50 scripted series, documentaries, reality shows and news programs on April 6 with plans to roll out 175 shows over the course of the year.

Quibi is casting a wide net to court various types of viewers: there are soothing cooking shows designed for the boomer crowd, while celebrity-studded reality series aim to lure Gen Z off of TikTok. Television critics have been busy debating whether the Quibi model signals the end of quality television or the wave of the future. But it’s clear the platform is hoping sheer star power alone will entice some quarantined television lovers to download the app. Jennifer Lopez, Idris Elba, Lebron James, Chance the Rapper and Chrissy Teigen are among the celebrities set to star in Quibi content, and filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Catherine Hardwicke, Paul Feig, and Guillermo del Toro have content on the upcoming slate.

The streaming service, which also features proprietary new technology that allows viewers to switch seamlessly from landscape to portrait viewing, will cost $4.99 per month with ads and $7.99 without ads, though a 90-day free trial is available if you sign up in April.

Quibi gave journalists a glimpse at some of their content launching on April 6. We watched everything available to screen in advance (in most cases, around three chapters; “Daily Essentials” like news shows were not available in advance as they will cover news as it breaks). If you’re thinking of subscribing, here’s what you should watch and what you should skip.

What to Watch

Gayme Show! (unscripted)

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Gayme Show! has a deceptively simple premise: it’s a gay game show. That’s it! Hosted with with aplomb by comedians Matt Rogers and Dave Mizzoni, each episode features two straight contestants competing in gay-themed challenges in an effort to be crowned “Queen of the Straights.” The jokes are plentiful, and if you’re not well-versed in gay Twitter—references to Dua Lipa, Laura Dern’s salmon button-down from Jurassic Park and Cynthia Nixon’s wife whiz by—you might have to Google to catch up. But even if you don’t get every joke, it’s hard not to let out a guffaw watching contestants like Demi Adejuyigbe prance around the stage in a unitard during a game called “notice me father”—actually a bespectacled Rogers softly weeping. The conceit is goofy, silly and exactly what you want it to be—and that’s a great thing. —Kelly Conniff

Nightgowns (documentary)

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Lately it seems like everyone who’s ever come within 10 feet of RuPaul’s stage is getting their own show, but don’t hold the deluge of drag content against Sasha Velour, a Drag Race winner who stands out even from that talented pack. While her gender-fluid performances can be transgressive, Velour, who takes a big-tent approach to drag, has a heart of gold. As she adapts her Brooklyn-born revue NightGowns for a bigger stage, this docuseries profiles the queen and an inclusive troupe that features performers with a wide range of identities and styles. Each episode of the show—the only Quibi title I screened that feels particularly suited to the medium—ends with a beautifully shot production number that does Velour proud. —Judy Berman

Prodigy (documentary)

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You don’t have to be a sports fan to appreciate this docuseries, which covers a different young elite athlete in each episode. With artful cinematography and well-paced storytelling—especially compared to the frenetic quality of many of the platform’s other shows—Prodigy is less concerned with the specific athletic achievements of its subjects (no. 1 ranked high school basketball player in the U.S., five-time national junior boxing champion) and more focused on the sacrifice and singular dedication of these athletes’ family members. If you cried during that Procter & Gamble Olympics commercial thanking the moms who drove carpools and gave pep talks so that their children could get a shot at the podium, this one is probably for you. —Eliza Berman

Punk’d (unscripted)

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This third revival of MTV’s prank show has been winningly updated for millennial and Gen Z sensibilities: it’s slightly more absurdist, slightly less cruel and involves way more animals. YouTuber Liza Koshy ruins a bat mitzvah; rapper Megan Thee Stallion gets attacked by a gorilla. Chance the Rapper—who in the wake of Netflix’s Rhythm & Flow, has rebranded his once-innocent persona to include a mean streak—brings a mischievous energy to hosting duties, and his laugh is infectious. —Andrew R. Chow

The Sauce (unscripted)

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Dance—particularly street dance—doesn’t get enough mainstream respect. The Sauce has something to say about that. Each episode pits two dance groups against each other, judged by talented dance duo Ayo and Teo, with the lure of a $25,000 cash prize. The lack of polish is endearing, as is the raw skill on display; you’ll wish you could spend more time just watching these young athletes move their bodies in ways that have no respect for the laws of physics. Kudos to executive producer Usher and the hosts for making sure to explain regional dance styles, as it’s high time these art forms got their due. Constant camera cuts and stylized editing seem best suited for the TikTok generation, but it’s a joy to watch these dancers in motion in any format. —Raisa Bruner

Shape of Pasta (documentary)

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Now this is my sort of short content. I’m a devoted Bon Appetit Test Kitchen subscriber, Alison Roman Instagram story watcher and Anthony Bourdain worshipper. So, yes, a show about a chef traveling across tiny towns in Italy to discover forgotten pasta shapes is my jam. I can’t get my head around the tone of this show—it’s extremely self-serious, so much so that it’s maybe supposed to be making fun of other food shows? Or perhaps it’s just one of them. No matter. The show has many nonnas teaching Felix Trattoria chef Even Funke how to make pasta in shapes you’ve never thought of but are centuries-old traditions in picturesque Italian towns. It’s delightful! —Eliana Dockterman

You Ain’t Got These (documentary)

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Lena Waithe takes viewers on a thoughtful, well-researched and star-studded tour of the world of sneakers. As the show conveys, sneaker culture is about much more than style. “Your footwear is your ID now in the black community,” Carmelo Anthony tells her; Nas, Run DMC, Hasan Minhaj and a cultural historian reflect on the legacy of icons like Michael Jordan and the relationship between hip-hop and commerce. Questions about branding, exploitation and value are tackled head-on. For sneakerheads it might be mostly recap, but it’s still fun to hear Rev Run reminisce about securing his Adidas deal—and for everyone else, it works as a solid introduction to a foundational part of contemporary American culture. —Raisa Bruner

What to Try

Chrissy’s Court (unscripted)

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In this ode to Judge Judy, Chrissy Teigen rules over petty cases brought by local randos. Each episode is extremely dependent on the personalities of the plaintiff and defendant. Most of the “contestants” are actively awkward (or actually mad, which is bizarre given the TV show’s unserious premise), and Chrissy and her mother Vilailuck Teigen (as bailiff) have to work double-time to counteract their discomfort. The humor often feels forced. Chrissy’s Instagram is more entertaining—at least there, she has total control over the cast of characters, namely her husband John Legend and their two kids, all of whom are way more natural in front of the camera. That said, if you like Teigen and are already churning through her Instagram stories every day, this is a fine way to get some more. —Eliana Dockterman

Fierce Queens (documentary)

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Reese Witherspoon narrates mini wildlife documentaries made with BBC Studios Natural History Unit, each focused on the female members of a species. Some of the lines veer into cheesy girl-power territory: “Getting that belief in yourself and gaining confidence: that’s what growing up is all about. These big cats totally nailed it. Walk tall, fierce queens!” she sings out after a surface-level episode about adolescent cheetah sisters. But thanks to truly beautiful footage and surprising subject choices—unless you already know all about the life cycle of the ruthless, cannibalistic queen honeypot ant?—viewers who want a quick hit of nature and some new fun facts about animals will be satisfied. —Raisa Bruner

Flipped (scripted)

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After one episode, this one looked like it would fall squarely in the “skip” bucket: two incredibly annoying self-anointed visionaries, a married theater director (Will Forte) and Home Depot-esque associate (Kaitlin Olson), are both deservedly fired from their jobs for asserting their own artistic purity over things like appropriate subject matter for tween thespians (in his case) and customer service (in hers). (Think the kind of kooky, self-serious characters you’d find in a Christopher Guest movie, minus the great ensemble to balance them out.) But a hastily paced sequence of events—they decide to try to be house flippers, buy a foreclosed-upon property and find stacks of cash in its walls, which turn out to belong to a drug cartel—leads to the introduction of Broad City‘s Arturo Castro as an organic-apple-eating overlord, which might just elevate this bonkers ordeal from grating to promising. —Eliza Berman

Gone Mental with Lior (unscripted)

The mentalist Lior Suchard lacks the theatricality or scale of other famous magicians like David Blaine or Criss Angel, making him perhaps the perfect match for a low-stakes platform like Quibi. It’s agreeable enough to watch him catch basketballs while blindfolded or exactly guess the number of coins in Ludacris’ hands, but his tricks won’t haunt your dreams, either. —Andrew R. Chow

I Promise (documentary)

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By all accounts, LeBron James’ I Promise School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, has been a resounding success: Its students, who were picked to attend after underachieving in the city’s public school system, are testing better and seem to be thriving in their new environment. This show, however, comes off as a surface-level feel-good advertisement for the school. —Andrew R. Chow

Run This City (documentary)

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Jaseil Correia grew up with the dream of becoming the mayor of his hometown, Fall River, Mass.—a city of around 90,000 most famous as the home of Lizzie Borden. At the remarkably young age of 23, he achieved it. But what sounds at first like an uplifting story of millennial striving turns dissonant when Correia is indicted on fraud and extortion charges. It’s an intriguing story that could have made for a fascinating hourlong documentary. Unfortunately, the Quibi format requires director Brent Hodge (I Am Chris Farley) to chop the saga into equal-sized, eight-minute “bites” that drag in the middle before ramping up to exaggerated cliffhangers. The result is a micro-docuseries whose rhythm always feels a bit off. —Judy Berman

Singled Out (unscripted)

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I like host Keke Palmer. I like Joel Kim Booster, who serves as the Jenny McCarthy to her Chris Hardwick. I like that all three episodes I watched had queer contestants but didn’t feel as though they were pandering to an LGBTQ audience. The best one featured a fully decked-out, super-charismatic drag queen looking for a man who could handle her at her most femme. But the best thing about the original MTV show was the unscripted banter, both between the hosts and among the competitors. And there just isn’t room for that in an already-rushed seven-minute show. —Judy Berman

Thanks A Million (unscripted)

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There’s not much here that you can’t already get from watching YouTube clips of Ellen DeGeneres giving out life-sized checks on behalf of name-that-corporation, or soldiers coming home to reunite with their spouses/children/dogs. But if you’re going to subscribe anyway and want a cathartic cry in two-minutes flat, watching celebs like Jennifer Lopez, Kevin Hart and Nick Jonas give deserving people $100,000, then watching the recipient give half of it to another deserving person, and so on, should do the trick. If you think too hard about it, the magic starts to fade—how much of this will get eaten up in gift taxes, and how many phone calls is this person going to get asking for a loan after receiving such a large sum on, well, if not national TV, whatever Quibi is? Yet seeing an apparently kind, hard-working person get the chance to pay for infertility treatments, or a house, or more resources for their therapy dog program, is far from the worst way to spend six minutes. —Eliza Berman

What to Skip

&Music (documentary)

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With its sweeping landscape shots, ambient background score and pseudo-philosophical ramblings, &Music seems to want to be the Chef’s Table for the random-dudes-connected-to-the-music-industry set. The show spends each episode with a behind-the-scenes collaborator of a star: there’s Ariana Grande’s choreographers and Martin Garrix’s light guy. But while there are one or two poignant and revealing moments, the show is mostly slick, overproduced and vacuous. There are plenty of music documentaries that are far more worth your time—and that you can watch on a big screen with proper speakers. —Andrew R. Chow

Dishmantled (unscripted)

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Dishmantled is a cooking show, minus the main ingredients that make cooking shows so satisfying: interesting and empathetic contestants to root for and, much more fatal to the whole endeavor, the cooking itself. Hosted by Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt‘s Tituss Burgess, the show invites two blindfolded chefs into a small chamber where a mystery dish is blasted into their faces; they have to taste the exploded shrapnel, figure out what it might be, and make a dish replicating what they think they’ve eaten, to be judged on both taste and accuracy by celebrity judges like Dan Levy, Antoni Porowski and Jane Krakowski. But the quick format makes this far from a nutritious meal; viewers don’t have time to get to know or get invested in the contestants, and the cooking itself sails by without any attention to technique or ingredients. The most drama you’ll get here are lines like: “This all comes down to…is this a zoodle or is this a noodle?” —Eliza Berman

Memory Hole (unscripted)

Will Arnett makes fun of terrible pop culture moments from history that nobody remembers for a reason (like that time Alan Thicke appeared in a corny tribute at the opening of a Canadian superdome). It’s unclear who this show is for or why it exists. The references are so obscure that even people who lived through them will have forgotten and the quips feel like something you’d hear at a high school open mic. I spent the entire time watching this show thinking about another, much better show, BoJack Horseman. In that Netflix animated series, Arnett voiced a washed-up ’90s sitcom star struggling to stay relevant in Hollywood. Memory Hole feels like a project that an investor in Quibi would have blackmailed BoJack into doing after BoJack accidentally threw up on him during a bender at a wedding. —Eliana Dockterman

Most Dangerous Game (scripted)

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This show is so obvious, it’s almost funny. These are the exact roles SNL would cast Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz in for a skit—cancer-ridden former athlete with a pregnant wife and an evil billionaire who wants to pay said former athlete to be hunted by rich people. Since each episode is seven minutes, these are not character revelations that slowly come out over time. They are blatantly spoken by the actors to one another in every scene. Don’t come to Most Dangerous Game expecting The Game-esque twists or any subtle dialogue. What you expect is exactly what you will get. Unless you expect fun. You won’t get that. —Eliana Dockterman

Murder House Flip (unscripted)

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Despite the name, there’s nothing original about Murder House Flip. The series is essentially two types of reality shows unceremoniously jammed together: one part home redesign show hosted by two perky designers with a surfeit of canned jokes; one part true crime docuseries filled with the requisite pan and scan over vintage photos and newspaper clippings. This uneasy juxtaposition results in awkward episodes that often feel like a Saturday Night Live parody, especially when one of the hosts brightly announces: “Our goal was to take this murder house and turn it into a happy home.” And a focus on the grisly nature of the crimes reflects the worst parts of a genre that too often obscures victims. Is there a world in which this show could have managed to strike the right tone? Possibly. But as it stands, Murder House Flip is too flip. —Kelly Conniff

Nikki Fre$h (unscripted)

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“Wellness has a new voice. A black voice,” Nicole Richie’s rapper alter ego says in the first episode of Nikki Fre$h (and then immediately clarifies that she’s referring to herself). The resulting show is part poker-faced satire of the goop lifestyle and part honest assessment of organic produce and artisanal honey. Her attempts to draw attention to food waste and the plight of bees are well-intentioned, but cameos from the likes of Bill Nye can’t save the show from falling flat; Richie helped pioneer awkward reality TV on The Simple Life with Paris Hilton, but Nikki Fre$h lacks that show’s schadenfreude appeal. —Raisa Bruner

Skrrt with Offset (unscripted)

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If you like looking at nice cars, you might get a kick out of Skrrt with Offset. Otherwise, there’s not much point. The show has a thin premise (the Migos rapper Offset does stuff with cars) and is executed with even less imagination. When his wife Cardi B shows up for an episode, overflowing with sass and charisma, you wonder why they didn’t just give the whole show to her. —Andrew R. Chow

Survive (scripted)

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Before watching the first five episodes of this thriller about a disturbed young woman preparing to kill herself on the flight home from a mental institution, I might have said something like, “I’d watch Sophie Turner do anything.” Well, Turner is great in Survive—but neither her performance nor the impressive production values manage to redeem a story that, whether intentionally or not, revels in the bloody, nihilistic aesthetics of suicide. A twist (one that’s “spoiled” in the trailer) that has the plane crashing and Turner’s character teaming up with an obvious love interest (Corey Hawkins) to, yes, survive only heightens the absurdity and introduces plot holes. —Judy Berman

When the Streetlights Go On (scripted)

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It’s the summer of 1995—a stiflingly hot one—when things start going wrong in sleepy Colfax, Ill. That fall, a beautiful high-school mean girl (Kristine Froseth) and the teacher she’s been sleeping with (Mark Duplass) get carjacked, forced to strip and gunned down by their masked assailant. The weirdo sister (Sophie Thatcher) she used to bully wanders around unmoored. A jock sometimes-boyfriend (Sam Strike) is brought in for questioning. Narrating this murder mystery is the student journalist (Chosen Jacobs) who found the bodies. Period signifiers like Nirvana and ck one abound. Every once in a while a show formed entirely out of genre tropes and nostalgia for the recent past is executed well enough to exceed the sum of its parts (see: the first season of Stranger Things). But after three trite, predictable episodes, I’m not holding out much hope for this one. —Judy Berman

Other Shows Headed to Quibi

The titles below are Quibi’s “daily essentials,” more information-oriented programming covering news, sports, weather and entertainment. Screeners were not provided in advance for these series:

Around the World by BBC News Weather Today by The Weather Channel Morning Report by NBC News Evening Report by NBC News Saturday Report by NBC News Sunday Report by NBC News The Replay by ESPN NewsDay by CTV NewsNight by CTV Sports AM by TSN Pulso News by Telemundo For the Cultura by Telemundo Close Up by E! News Fresh Daily by Rotten Tomatoes Speedrun by Polygon Pop5 by iHeartRadio No Filter by TMZ: AM No Filter by TMZ PM Last Night’s Late Night All The Feels by The Dodo The Daily Chill The Rachel Hollis Show Sexology by Shan Boodram The Nod with Brittany & Eric Trailers by Fandango

via https://cutslicedanddiced.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/how-to-prevent-food-from-going-to-waste

#Time #top stories #IFTTT #news

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tune-collective · 7 years

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A History of Hip-Hop's Complicated Relationship With the Grammys

Boycotts, protests and milestones have highlighted nearly 30 years of an up-and-down relationship.

The long, storied history of the Grammy Awards includes many iconic moments and honors spread across its 58 previous editions, particularly among artists in its longest-running mainstream genres — pop, rock, R&B and country. But a fifth mainstream genre, rap, has had a contentious history with the Recording Academy’s annual honors over the years, with boycotts and backlashes mixed in with generation-defining performances and unforgettable events, coloring an up-and-down relationship.

Since first acknowledging the nascent art form in 1989 with the inaugural Best Rap Performance category (which went to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince for “Parents Just Don’t Understand”), the genre has expanded to three additional categories: Best Rap Album, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Rap Song. (Gendered solo performances and duo/group awards have since been combined or discontinued).

But when it’s come to the four major categories — Album, Song and Record of the Year, as well as Best New Artist — hip-hop has often felt overlooked. Only two albums, Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999 (though that was technically categorized as R&B by the Recording Academy) and OutKast’s Speakerboxx/The Love Below in 2004 have ever won Album of the Year; just three hip-hop artists — Arrested Development in 1993, Hill in 1999 and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in 2014 — have won Best New Artist; and no rapper has ever won for Song or Record of the Year. (In February, prior to this year’s nominations, the Washington Post broke down how stark the disparity has been.)

And many of the genre’s heavyweights over the years have been shut out, for one reason or another; 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, A Tribe Called Quest, MC Lyte, N.W.A, Run-DMC and Public Enemy, among many others, are some of the hip-hop legends who have never tasted Grammy glory, while high-profile stars like Jay Z, Kanye West and 50 Cent have all spoken out against the awards at various times.

This year, hip-hop is well represented in the main categories. Chance the Rapper and Anderson .Paak are both nominated for Best New Artist, Swae Lee from Rae Sremmurd picked up a nod for Song of the Year for co-writing Beyoncé’s “Formation” and Drake was nominated for Album of the Year for Views (and, thanks to a feature on Rihanna’s “Work,” also lands secondarily in the Record of the Year category). As the 59th annual awards prepare to get underway on Sunday (Feb. 12), Billboard looks back at the complicated relationship between the hip-hop community and the Grammy Awards.

1989: The Grammys Embrace Rap; Rap Boycotts the Grammys

As stated above, the 1989 Grammys marked the first time that rap claimed a category of its own, though the rappers themselves rejected it. Will Smith, who as the Fresh Prince won the first-ever Best Rap Performance alongside DJ Jazzy Jeff for “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” alongside fellow nominees Salt-N-Pepa and LL Cool J and others like Slick Rick and Public Enemy, participated in a boycott of the Grammys led by Def Jam’s Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen after being informed that the award would not be televised. (The Grammys, for their part, blamed the snub on time restrictions.)

Kool Moe Dee, a nominee and presenter that evening, did show up, however, and shouted out his fellow MCs with a rhyme before presenting Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. The category would be televised the following year, and a rap category would make the main broadcast for each of the next 25 years until the streak was broken during the 2015 telecast. Boycotts would become a recurring theme.

1991: MC Hammer Scores First Big Noms, Public Enemy Sits Out

MC Hammer’s breakout album Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em spawned a series of firsts for the genre, most notably for these purposes as the first rap album ever nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys, with hit single “U Can’t Touch This” doubling up as the first rap song nominated for Record of the Year as well. Hammer lost both mainstream categories, though he did take home Best Rap Solo Performance for the single. But Public Enemy, nominated for Best Rap Performance by a Duo/Group for “Fear of a Black Planet,” would boycott the awards again, protesting that their category was not televised that year, with label boss Simmons calling the Grammys’ decision “the same old broken-record snub of inner-city contributions to the music industry.”

1993: Hip-Hop Breaks Through With Major Category Win

Off the strength of their critically lauded debut album, 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of…, Atlanta-based hip-hop group Arrested Development became the first hip-hop artist to win a major category, taking home Best New Artist and beating rap duo Kriss Kross for the honor (in 1990, Tone-Loc became the first rapper nominated in the category, losing to Milli Vanilli, who later vacated the award). Lauryn Hill (again, considered an R&B artist by the committee) and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis would be the only other hip-hop artists to ever take home that particular award, while stars that were nominated but missed out over the years include Puff Daddy (1998, to Paula Cole), 50 Cent (2004, to Evanescence), Kanye West (2005, to Maroon 5), Drake (2011, to Esperanza Spalding), J. Cole and Nicki Minaj (both 2012, to Bon Iver), and Kendrick Lamar (2014, to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis).

1999: Lauryn Hill Sweeps Five Awards

Two years prior, Hill took home Best Rap Album as part of the Fugees for their LP The Score, but her first solo venture — despite, as previously mentioned, being classified as R&B by the Grammys — would blow that honor out of the water. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill won the MC five awards, including Album of the Year (hip-hop’s first, according to most) and Best New Artist, setting a new record for female artists along the way. However, the same year Jay Z began boycotting the awards (he would continue through the next few years), saying he “didn’t think they gave the rightful respect to hip-hop,” ostensibly because DMX’s album It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot wasn’t nominated — and despite the fact that Jay’s Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life won Best Rap Album anyway.

2001: Eminem Stands Up to Critics Alongside Elton John

By the time the 2001 Grammy Awards rolled around Eminem was on top of the rap world, and his sophomore album, The Marshall Mathers LP, had become just the third rap album (at least by the Recording Academy’s estimation) to be nominated for the prestigious Album of the Year award. But the Detroit MC was also beset by backlash over the content of his lyrics, with many condemning Em’s songs as homophobic and misogynistic as protesters gathered outside the door of the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Eminem’s response came through his performance on the Grammy stage alongside none other than Elton John, with the two duetting on Em’s “Stan” and sharing a hug afterward, in one of the biggest moments in the Awards show’s history. MMLP lost Album of the Year (to Steely Dan’s Two Against Nature) but swept the rap categories, while he and Sir Elton became such close friends that Em credits the British icon for helping him recover from a serious drug addiction that plagued him through the 2000s.

2004: OutKast Reigns Supreme

If Lauryn Hill was technically R&B, then OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was finally, officially, the first rap full-length (and it was a double LP!) to take home Album of the Year (Big Boi told Billboard about that night in an interview three years ago). That was one of three honors the ATL duo picked up that night — Best Rap Album and Best Urban/R&B Performance for “Hey Ya!” being the others — and remains the only rap album to take home the Grammys’ highest honor.

But the night wasn’t without its hip-hop tensions; despite his debut Get Rich or Die Tryin’ becoming the top album of 2003 on Billboard‘s Year-End Charts, 50 Cent lost out to Evanescence for Best New Artist, and interrupted their acceptance by briefly walking on stage behind them as they stepped to the microphone. It wasn’t quite Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Wu-Tang is for the children!” from 1998, but it was 50’s not-so-subtle way of letting his distaste be known.

2005: Kanye, Kanye, Kanye

It was all set up to be the coronation of Kanye West: 10 nominations (including Album and Song of the Year and Best New Artist), a high-powered performance slot, and the anticipation that came with his already-outsized personality — and the antics, for which he already had a bit of a reputation, that followed. His performance of “Jesus Walks,” which culminated in West emerging from a circle of gospel singers with angel wings on his back, was an easy highlight of the show, as was his triumphant, gleeful acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for his debut LP College Dropout. (He also won Best Rap Song for “Jesus Walks” and Best R&B Song as a writer on Alicia Keys’ “You Don’t Know My Name.”)

But he was shut out of all three major categories — Ray Charles (Album), John Mayer (Song) and Maroon 5 (Best New Artist) all won over West — which stoked a festering resentment that has erupted several more times over the years. (In 2013: “So when the Grammys nominations come out, and Yeezus… only gets two nominations… What are they trying to say? Do they think that I wouldn’t notice? Do they think that, someway, that I don’t have the power to completely diminish all of their credibility at this moment?”) Incredibly, despite his 21 Grammys, West has never won in the big four categories — either as an artist or producer — going 0-11 overall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJHWFXP3fe4

2012: Amid Backlash, LL Cool J Hosts

After Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs unexpectedly won album of the year (and the band performed twice) at the previous year’s awards, hip-hop mogul Steve Stoute dropped $40,000 on a full-page ad in the New York Times that called out the Grammys’ “series of hypocrisies and contradictions” in failing to honor the likes of Eminem, Kanye West and Drake in the major categories. Related or not, the Grammys extended an olive branch in 2012, ending seven years without a host by naming LL Cool J as the evening’s MC — 23 years after he was involved in the 1989 boycott alongside Will Smith and others (Queen Latifah had previously hosted in 2005).

Still, there were several flash points and issues; Nicki Minaj arrived on the red carpet with “The Pope” and exorcised some demons during her controversial performance; in the only other rap-related performance, Lil Wayne was head-scratchingly lumped in with Deadmau5, David Guetta and the Foo Fighters; Kanye West’s career-defining My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy wasn’t even nominated for Album of the Year (though he surely would have lost to Adele anyway); and J. Cole and Nicki Minaj lost to Bon Iver for Best New Artist.

2014: Macklemore Shuts Out Kendrick Lamar

Ah, the text message heard — and ridiculed — around the world. After Kendrick Lamar released one of the most criticall lauded debut rap albums of all time in good kid, m.A.A.d city, many thought the rap categories — and even Best New Artist — belonged to the Compton MC. But Grammy voters clearly felt differently, and the pop-rap sensation of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ The Heist and its single “Thrift Shop” swept three of the four rap categories (Jay Z and Justin Timberlake’s “Holy Grail” won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration) and delivered the duo Best New Artist, much to the chagrin of hip-hop heads and sparking a debate about race and appropriation within the rap world. (Lamar, despite seven nominations, was shut out completely.)

But what made it worse came just after the ceremony ended, when Macklemore took to Instagram to post a text message he had sent to Lamar apologizing for “robbing” him of the Best Rap Album honor, a move which almost everyone saw as pandering and bizarre, and sparked an avalanche of think pieces. Kendrick, for his part, was diplomatic about the entire situation.

2016: Kendrick Returns For the Crown

After receiving his first two Grammys in absentia the year before (which many saw as an apologetic gesture for the total snub of 2014), Lamar and his sophomore album To Pimp a Butterfly earned 11 nominations, the most ever for a rapper, and the second-most for any artist behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller-fueled 1984. Lamar, despite not winning either of his two major nominations, swept all four rap categories on the evening — declaring his Best Rap Album victory “a win for hip-hop” — on his way to a 2016-high five wins, but it wasn’t his deserved honors that stole the headlines so much as his jaw-dropping performance.

Leading dancers on to the stage in chains and with his band performing in jail cells behind him, Lamar ripped into a careening “The Blacker the Berry” before shifting to a second stage for a fiery (literally) “Alright” and rounding things out with a previously-unheard freestyle that addressed Black Lives Matter and the high-profile protests against police brutality that were dominating headlines across the nation. In terms of using a platform to deliver a message, it was powerfully, and expertly, executed.

Source: Billboard

http://tunecollective.com/2017/02/08/a-history-of-hip-hops-complicated-relationship-with-the-grammys/

#complicated #Grammys #hiphops #history #relationship

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crimescrimson · 1 year

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Trish & Dante in Devil May Cry 5

DMC1 DMC4 DMC5

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crimescrimson · 1 year

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Welcome to my gifset blog! Here is my one and only rule from my previous post:

First and final warning guys! Don't tag my stuff with any type of Cleon tags please! Someone just did and the ship makes me very uncomfortable! I don't like blocking people because of this kind of thing but I have and will do so if you refuse to listen to me. It's the one and only boundary I have for now when it comes to my gifs, please respect that!

Gifset Masterlist Tag: #Red's Gifset Masterlists

Below is my tag masterlist! Happy viewing!

|| = RE || = TEW || = DMC

|| = SR || = TWAU

Basic Tags:

Crimson's Gifs: Resident Evil

Crimson's Gifs: Devil May Cry

Crimson's Gifs: The Evil Within

Crimson's Gifs: The Wolf Among Us

Crimson's Gifs: Saints Row

Relationship Tags:

Pairing: Encantado - Romantic Pairing of Ashley Graham & Luis Serra

Pairing: Keeping Score - Romantic Pairing of Leon S. Kennedy & Ada Wong

Pairing: Billy Coen Is Dead - Romantic Pairing of Rebecca Chambers & Billy Coen

Pairing: I've Got You Super Cop - Romantic Pairing of Jill Valentine & Carlos Oliveira

Pairing: Come On Supergirl - Romantic Pairing of Jake Muller & Sherry Birkin

Pairing: See You Around... Wolf - Romantic Pairing of Bigby Wolf & Faith

Pairing: Is This What You Want? - Romantic Pairing of Nero and Kyrie

Pairing: From My Gunsmithin' Days - Romantic Pairing of Lady and Nico

Pairing: I Need My Partner Here - Romantic Pairing Of Joseph Oda and Sebastian Castellanos

Partnership: Fill Your Soul With Light! - The Dynamic Duo that is Trish & Dante

BroTP: Ashley and Leon - Platonic/Siblingly Pairing of Ashley Graham & Leon S. Kennedy

BroTP: Claire and Sherry - Platonic/Siblingly Pairing of Claire Redfield & Sherry Birkin

BroTP: Devil May|Never Cry - Platonic Pairing of Lady, Trish & Dante

BroTP: I Had A Hunch Myself - Platonic/Familial Pairing of Nero and Trish

♡♡♡

Relationship Type Tags:

Theme: DMC Ships - Red's Preferred Devil May Cry Pairings

Theme: Red's RE Ships - Red's Preferred Resident Evil Pairings

Theme: Minor Pairings - Any pairing between secondary characters in a game

Theme: Pairings With History - Pairings that obviously have had previous history off-screen

Theme: Sparks In Dystopia - Romantic Relationships that grew further in apocalyptic settings

Theme: The One That Got Away - Romantic Pairings that end up losing one another or one party assumingly passes away

Theme: LGBT Pairings - All sets with LGBT relationships

Theme: Pride 2023 - All sets related or made for Pride Month 2023

Theme: Like Father Like Daughter - Father-Daughter relationships or Parallels in sets

Theme: Soulmates - Platonic or Romantic Pairings that have so much dynamic chemistry that they cannot be separated and come as a set

Theme: Saviour And The Saved - Sets featuring somebody saving someone else and the dynamic of that!

Theme: Power Pairings - Platonic or Romantic Duos that kick ass together

Theme: Iconic Duos - Famous character Duos in sets!

Theme: DMC Power Duos - Powerful two-person team-ups in DMC

Theme: DMC Power Teams - Powerful team-ups in DMC

Theme: DMC Interesting Dynamics - Sets studying dynamics between characters in DMC

Theme: DMC Mentor/Student - Sets studying the relationship between a person setting an example for someone else in Devil May Cry

Theme: DMC Platonic Relationships - Sets exploring platonic or familial relationships in Devil May Cry

♡♡♡

Misc Tags:

Theme: Dedicated To Friends - Sets I've made for my friends

Theme: PTSD - Sets exploring canon depictions of PTSD in games

Theme: Grief - Sets exploring canon depictions of grief in games

Theme: Insanity - Sets exploring imagery or games where the characters lose their minds

Theme: Introductions Aside - Sets that introduce characters

Theme: RE Parallels - Sets that compare Resident Evil scenes

Theme: RE Set Pieces - Sets featuring Resident Evil Scenery

Theme: Classic RE - Sets featuring Resident Evil 1, 2, 3, CVX, RE0 or RE1R

Theme: RE Romantic Parallels - Resident Evil Romantic Parallels between multiple couples

Theme: Jill Valentine's Fashion Sense - Sets involving Jill Valentine's Outfits

Theme: Umbrella's Legacy - Sets depicting Resident Evil Characters affiliated with the Umbrella Corporation

Theme: RE Dream Cast - Red's Preferred cast for a new Resident Evil game

Theme: Pieces On The Board - Resident Evil Sets depicting each faction or Affiliation within the games

Theme: Hidden Gems - Relatively unknown or unpopular games I've made sets of

Theme: Character Death - Sets featuring the death of characters

Theme: Faked Character Death - Sets featuring the false death of characters

Theme: The Heroes - Sets featuring main characters or heroic characters

Theme: Supporting Cast - Sets featuring NPCs or side characters

Theme: City Of Ruin - Raccoon City Tag

Theme: Blood and Gore - Game typical Gore tag, can range from horror game typical to mortal kombat typical

Theme: Infection Spreading - Sets that involve zombie/zombie-adjacent behaviour or infection

Theme: Morally Grey - sets that feature Morally Grey characters

Theme: Morally Sound - sets that feature Morally Sound characters

Theme: Take My Breath Away - Scenes that are very attractive or aesthetically pleasing

Theme: Women Of My Dreams - Red's Favourite Female Characters Of All Time general tag

Theme: Favourite Female Characters Of All Time - dedicated tag to this set series

Theme: Feminine Power - female empowerment! Typically found on female-only sets or sets that display women at their best!

Theme: Masculine Strength - male empowerment! Typically found on male-only sets or sets that display women at their best!

Theme: Character Development: found on character sets displaying a change in behaviour or a comparison to the past and present!

Theme: Red and Redder - Characters affiliated with the colour red for my namesake

Theme: Colour Palette Blues - Sets with Blue tones

Theme: Colour Palettes - Rainbow - Sets with multicoloured tones

Theme: Resident's Fashion - Resident Evil outfits tag

Theme: Game Interface - Depicting game title screens, menus etc.

Theme: Dream Cast - Red's Dream Casts for any game

Theme: Truth and Lies - Depicting paralleled scenes where a lie is told and a truth is revealed

Theme: SR Parallels - Saints Row Parallel Sets where scenes are compared

Theme: TWAU Pairings - Pairings I prefer from Telltales: The Wolf Among Us

Theme: TWAU Set Pieces - Scenery from TWAU

Theme: Dream Dream Dream - Sets that feature dream, nightmare or hallucination sequences

Theme: Red's Favourite DMC girls - Devil May Cry Women I adore in gifs

Theme: DMC Alternative Costumes - Ex Colors and Alternative Costumes in Devil May Cry

Theme: DMC Parallels - Scenes in Devil May Cry compared

Theme: DMC Iconic Moments - Famous Moments in Devil May Cry

Theme: DMC Hilarious Moments - Funny Moments in Devil May Cry

Theme: Domesticity of DMC - Domestic Bliss in Devil May Cry

Theme: Favourite Male Characters Of All Time - Favourite Male Characters Tag!

Theme: Favourite Characters Of All Time - My Favourite Game Characters

Theme: Best DLC Of All Time - My personal favourite DLCs in games that are the best of the best

Theme: Aesthetically Pleasing - Gifs based around the beauty of what's featured in the set

Theme: TEW Set Pieces - Set Pieces from The Evil Within

Theme: Gothic Horror - Gothic Horror in video games

Theme: Goth - Gothic elements in video games

Theme: Demons and Devils - Demonic related content in video games

♡♡♡

Personal Tags:

Theme: Red's Personal Preference - Anything to do with my own interests, basically a get to know me tag!

Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks for reading!

#Crimson's Announcements #Crimson's Masterlist #Crimson's Pinned

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