How I Spent my Summer (Jam) Vacation...

So it's a bit late, but here's my rundown of Hot 97's 2007 Summer Jam. We rolled into Giants Stadium around 1:30, thinking that the pre-show started at 2 and the main show started at 3. Turns out the main stage wasn't scheduled to kick off until 6:30, so we ended up skipping the pre-show altogether (Does part of me regret that I still haven't seen "Lip Gloss" performed live? Maybe.) and boozed in the parking lot until it was time to head inside.

The chronology of my synopsis might be a little out of wack, given the schaefer, pbr, and nutcrackers that flowed through my bloodstream, but I do know that Mims jumped out on stage to open the show almost immediately after we made our way to the floor. I have a theory about Mims. I'm convinced that his career is one big inside joke that he's playing on the public, an Andy Kaufman-esque joke.

For a while I just thought Mims was the worst rapper of all time and nothing more. Then I noticed the line "This is why I'm hot, I don't gotta rap, I can make a mil sayin' nothin on a track." So Mims is knowingly churning out garbage, laughing himself all the way to the bank as the public eats it up. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit as an evil genius, but I think I'm right. All that being said however, I still had no interest in sitting through a whole set of him, so I could not have been more happy with what happened. He came out to his hit "This is why I'm hot" and then immediately afterwards closed the set with "This is why I'm hot (reggae remix)". Baby Cham and Junior Reid came out for the remix, which I loved, plus Mims was on stage for probably under 10 minutes. It was perfect.

Then we had T-Pain, who can ACTUALLY SING. I always assumed that since he had all those heavy vocal effects on his songs, it meant he was completely devoid of talent. Not the case, however, since he performed completely sans effects.

Ciara was pretty awesome, dancing on big white letters that spelled out her name. It kind of reminded me of something that the wonders would have appeared on TV with.

Swizz Beatz was rocking a pretty ferocious set, but I'd be a liar if I said I didn't wig out like a 12 year old girl when Kanye West walked out so they could have a "songs I've produced that are awesome" battle. The DJ spun "Takeover" first for Kanye and I don't think I would've been able to count the number of dynasty signs that got thrown up on the floor alone. Plus Lil' Wayne came out later in the set for the first of several cameos before his own set.

wheelchair rocking, like murderball

Ne-Yo was awesome, although a bit disappointing. Maybe it's just me being a Ghostface fanboy, but when Fabolous turned out to be Ne-Yo's surprise guest I was kinda let down. Fab still rocked everything rightly though, so all's well that ends well. The Ne-Yo set gradually morphed into a Fab set, then a Young Jeezy set, then a Ludacris set. All of them were enjoyable, but Ludacris really out shined the rest. I had heard from people who'd seen him in the past that he was a lackluster performer, but none of that showed last Sunday. I've never seen someone have such a strong hold on a crowd that large and Luda literally had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

Then came Chris Brown. I've always grouped "Excuse Me Miss" and "Run It" as guilty pleasures, so I was looking forward to his set, but I definitely wasn't expecting him to put on half as good a show as he ended up giving. He performed with a full live band and sang and danced his fucking balls off. I read somewhere that Ne-Yo is supposedly working on the new Michael Jackson album, so there had been some jokes about Ne-Yo maybe bringing out Michael Jackson. Well when Brown threw on his red jacket and single rhinestone glove, then did "Rock with You" and some other Jackson tunes, it might have been better than the real thing. I mean, I'll take young Michael or black Michael any day, but an appearance from current Michael probably would've just been creepy.

Chris Brown's set ended with the emergence of my personal favorite dip, Juelz (A!), and the re-emergence of Lil' Wayne for the "poppin'" remix, then things went into Weezy's set. As much fun as the show was, there was a monsoon going on, and we were not prepared for the weather. It was starting to get to the point where the dance time/shivering time ratio was shifting in a negative direction, so we headed out right as "Stuntin' Like My Daddy" started. Apparently I missed seeing T.I., which is a bit of a bummer, but I'm really okay with not seeing Diddy, Akon, or Rich Boy. I actually assumed Rich Boy didn't show up, until someone told me yesterday that he closed the show. I really wouldn't have expected that Rich Boy was the headliner. I can't wait for next year.

"Buy You a Drank" remix feat. Kanye West & UGK by T-Pain

"Promise" by Ciara

"Get Down Like That" remix featuring Ghostface by Ne-Yo

"Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" by Chris Brown

"Black Republicans" Remix feat. Juelz Santana by Lil' Wayne

"Stuntin' Like My Daddy" by Birdman & Lil' Wayne

guess who's back

So I'm back. It's been a while. I missed all you people. Most of you are thinking, " damn, where is that new Green Hornet post," and yes, the hornet does rock the blog scene. He get interviews, made a sweet new banner for the site, and the ladies love the green mask.

But in the past weeks I have been listening to some cool stuff. Which has made posting difficult. But I finally have it figured out, who I wanna post about. She might be old news to you, but I've fallen in love with a British girl.



Lily Allen is sexy, from the UK, and born in the same year as me. These are good things. Her music is great, too.

Smile - Lily Allen
This is her hit, but not her best song. It's a nice little tune though. Her lyrics are very Streets-like in a conversational kind of way on all of her songs. On this one she just sits back on the beat, and it makes for one of the best driving-in-the-summer songs ever.

Everything's Just Wonderful - Lily Allen
My recent addiction song. Just something about a British girl saying the words "spaghetti bolognese" really gets me happy. Lyrically it's great, too. More of the straight on stuff, but her sarcastic "everything just wonderful" take towards her issues with womanhood, and government not giving her a flat are really enjoyable.

One more thing before I go, I got the new Jeezy track. It's nice.
I Love It - Young jeezy

One more thing...

Today's toothpastefordinner sums up most of my high school experience (not all).

we're back

How great it is that we are back. I'm know you're excited. So I am gonna give my own little list of songs from the summer. I meant to just put up my favorite songs from the summer regardless of when they came out, but it ended up being all songs from the summer.



1. Pull Shapes - Pipettes
This song will lift your spirits no matter what. Happiness in musical form. What's it about? Loving music and how it makes you dance. Speaking of dancing, try listening to this song when you are in a car alone, YOU WILL DANCE. It is involuntary. You can't help it. If you think I'm lieing, wait until the singer asks: "is that a drum beat?" The ensuing drum part is a one way ticket to dance city.



2. In The Morning - Junior Boys
One of my first posts on this blog was about this song. It's off the new album that comes out today, and it should be a good one. This song needs to be heard on a dance floor (maybe I just love to dance by myself in a car) and that synth line at the 3 minute mark still has my ears ejaculating.



3. Watermelon vs. The Pineapple - Xiu Xiu
This song is also from an album that comes out today. Usually Jamie Stewart's voice is really intense and creepy. Here it's barely less intense, and maybe more creepy. But as far as artsy indie shit that your Young Jeezy lovin' roommate would hate goes, this is fantastic. Underneath it all, this song can be both beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.



4. A Public Affair - Jessica Simpson
I'm on some cheesy radio shit right here, but man I love this song. I really am not a Jessica Simpson fan (TV shows, music, and her looks included), but I just can't help but enjoy this song.



5. Another Sunny Day - Belle and Sebastian
I didn't put this list in any order, but this song is an unofficial number one. My favorite song from my favorite album of the summer right here. Murdoch's voice builds a little intensity with every line of the song and by the time he gets to the last verse he just melts your heart. This whole album was so good it really could have taken up all 5 songs on this list.


So that's the list. Left off were about 20 different songs by The Knife, new TV on the Radio, along with new Mountain Goats songs, and looking back over it I can't believe I left off Voxtrot, but that's the list. Oh, and this summer I also decided WWE wrestling isn't good anymore.

BTW, I am totally into Young Jeezy, too. (definitely watch this clip, maybe not the best made-for-youtube clip ever, but worth it to see Michelangelo dancing in a club)