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The nation of Libya recently overthrew the regime of leader Muammar Gaddafi. In a joyous celebration the transitional government has declared the country officially “liberated.” It’s a beautiful day for the Libyan people. As well, it is a solemn time of remembrance for the lives sacrificed in attaining that freedom.

The one thing I disagree with in the entirety of the coup, the rebellion, and the liberation is the celebration of the execution of Gaddafi. Granted, there is nothing redeeming about any leader who doesn’t take care of his people. However, does no one find the way people rejoiced at the news of his execution disturbing? I can understand being relieved. I could understand the satisfaction of vengeance. I can understand rejoicing at the new found freedom. However, fist-pumping, high-fiving, “and I hope they burn in hell” style celebration because you killed a guy makes me question your judgment. Morally, how is that justified? You can do better. Shouldn’t you want to be better person?

I can understand the Libyans rejoicing at the death of Gaddafi, but people over in the United States are truly elated. Granted, Gaddafi committed many crimes and I mean no solace in that but really?! Keep your composure. A man was executed. It seems antithetical to be so uncivilized when promoting the virtues of democracy. If not antithetical, then merely hypocritical.

Back to the original point of this article – I believe now is the era of the black video mixtape. Distribute to your homies!

First up is The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, a web series about an intelligent, witty, passive aggressive and self-described awkward girl that speaks my truth from the opening credits.

The series comedically articulates the inner monologue of a woman who is agonizingly meandering her way through her 20s, one painfully self-conscious moment after another. The show follows lead character, “J”, played by writer and director Issa Rae, as she endures some of the most fundamental aspects of any young adult’s lackluster life post-college. [SPOILER ALERT] My favorite episode is the fifth one, “The Dance,” where J attends the party of her at-work crush. The episode starts with her “bestie” at work needing to talk her into going to the party, and it ends with her crush kissing her at-work nemesis.

Now, I recognize the description may make the show seem cliché circa John Hughes, but what makes the series so good are J’s accurate internal observations. From her recognition of the competition among women layered into any party to her awkward grasps at interacting with people that she doesn’t know, this web-series is a comedy, but considering how accurately her insights zing home, it feels autobiographical (though I believe the biography is my own). The cinematography and production design is pretty basic, but from what I gather on her website, her work seems to be independent of any outside sponsors or donors. Also, as an independent comedy series on the web, the purpose of this show really isn’t about special effects or high-value visuals. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl is about the thoughtful and frequently hilarious representation of a young black woman in the world… if you like that sort of thing. And if you don’t, check out the first episode when J writes violent rap lyrics to help her get over a break-up with an ex-boyfriend; that was just good TV.

There is a new episode every month. Check it out and let me know what you think.

*To all of our readers, please note that I make reference to both A.O. Scott and Manhola Dargis, the two chief movie critics for the New York Times, as if we were friends. I have never met either, but I know I will eventually and they will be damn pleased.

SHORT VERSION:
Sadly, Lupe’s mainstream crossover will succeed mainly because anything promoted at a certain level will; e.g. Rebecca Black. On top of that he is actually talented, so the flash-in-the-pan pitfalls should be beyond his team’s concerns. Additionally, he has a legion of fans who essentially have liitle-to-no other choice; not a lot of emcees of his caliber for this generation. So though Atlantic Records is bafflingly horrible at business; Lasers will not usher in a new movement of commercial appeal AND talent. Atlantic’s turn at the helm did not fail. In fact, even if it had tanked, the label would blame Lupe. Fortunately for them, short of complete career suicide, nothing he did on/after this release would have caused its demise. Evident in the fact that he, hereto, has been highly antagonistic of the album and the process through which it came to be, yet Lasers continues to succeed.
The opposition makes sense though, successful corporations don’t take a brand that built itself on quality and spend more money to cheapen that quality. Fail. Unfortunately, Atlantic won’t suffer the capitalist punishment of losing the return on a bad investment because all of Lupe and his team’s work from the previous albums and self-promotion leading up to the album that Lasers was originally intended to be is finally paying off. Nothing that can be done about that now; Lupe already kicked and pushed so now he’s just going to coast.

“If The Cool was a success, I was supposed to get a bump in the budget for my next record,” Fiasco said. “When I went in to cash in on that, I was told The Cool wasn’t a success. I said, ‘Well, how do you gauge that? Even if you leave off the multiple Grammys, the accolades up the ass, the platinum singles, take out the subjective stuff. How many records actually sold?’ They said it wasn’t a success and we’re changing the game, we don’t go by that anymore. So I said, ‘Let’s not have any more meetings until we figure out what rules we’re playing by.”

“I was specifically told” — Fiasco chuckled — “‘Don’t rap too deep on this record.’” He laughed some more. “That was a specific order from the top. ‘You’re rapping too fast or too slow, or it’s too complex.’ … There are consequences and combat that comes from that process and the eventual compromise. With me, though, I’m not writing about someone else. I’m writing about me. This is my life. It’s very personal for me. So for somebody to kind of put their fingers in that and play with that, it becomes more damaging. I am a hostage. I gave them what they wanted. If I didn’t, at the end of the day, the album wasn’t coming out.”

Tell ‘Em Why You Mad

I wish I could say that I was thrilled that Lasers debuted at #1. I am a huge fan of Lupe Fiasco (something I rarely say about other artists). I have always wanted an album of his to achieve this type of success for a long time. In fact, I wanted Lasers to have this success, until I dug a little deeper. I picked it up expecting the same quality Lupe of which I have become a fan over the past two albums, only to find… a distinct difference.

This album was noticeably… underwhelming; seemingly intentionally so. Aside from “All Black Everything” there were no memorable tracks. Seriously, I can’t remember the name of any other track from the album that I would say “you need to hear this” or even “you should check this track out.” These are the things a champion of good music emphatically pressures on to his peers as adolescents would a misdeed. It seemed as if the “I flatly refused, I ain’t dumb down nothing” Lupe of The Cool abandoned his stance. When the emcee previously known as Lupe Fiasco was taking it easy, he still gave you “Paris, Tokyo”. When he phoned it in, you still jammed to “Gold Watch”. So listening (as in, actually paying attention) to Lasers, a fan couldn’t help but ask “what gives?”

The word going around is that Atlantic Records strong-armed Lupe into making Lasers vastly more commercial. Our friends at ICantBeFamous.com asked, “Under what circumstance would Lupe ever do a song with Trey Songz?” Specifically, a song in which Trey could ever utter the disgustingly cookie-cutter “girl, I want you to [blank]” phrase. You may not see a problem with that, but keep mind that Lupe is the cat that built millions of followers on the foundation that he is NOT the mainstream cut-and-paste artist. He is the outsider with major support. He was (and when Atlantic stops meddling will again be) great. We finally had an inside man. A representative that could bring our ideals and culture to the table with the intellect, finesse and wordplay befitting a master emcee. Remember, this guy shot to fame for a song about a skateboarder. Then won a Grammy on the same album for a song about a robot project building. A ROBOT PROJECT BUILDING!! And Atlantic thought it was a good business move to alienate his audience and go commercial.

To reiterate, what really sucks about this album debuting at #1 is that the success it’s achieving is actually the result of Lupe’s (team’s) grind and all the credibility he (with his team) has built up over the last two albums, promotions, interviews and overall artistry.

I mean I COULD argue that he could have put out anything and it would have gone to #1 but unfortunately Atlantic DID just that. Lasers sounds like an amalgamation of “anything Lupe” or, even worse, their idea of what he should be doing. So now the executives there can say “See, we were right. Don’t question us again,” when, in theory, he could have released something more uniquely Lupe (“Shining Down” and “I’m Beamin’” included) for the same result.

Granted, it is likely Atlantic wouldn’t have released the album but a convenient leak would still bless the fans. Who knows? Maybe Lupe is planning on doing what many do; put out the real content on mixtapes and just acquiesce to label demands on the official releases. That’s what all these mixtapes are, right? That’s why so many exist, correct? They aren’t just a hustle to siphon every last dollar from their fans hungry for artistic sustanance, or am I wrong? Else what is the actual meaning?

Alas, the success of Lasers was inevitable. I’m just mad that the two songs I listen to most from the album… didn’t make the album. Atlantic Fail.

Mexico made a drug bust of 134 tons of marijuana with an estimated street value of roughly $340 million USD and their bright idea was to… burn it. ::sigh::

Mexico. MEXICO!! Ugh, go sit in the corner ’til you learn some foresight.

If you don’t see the problem with this, let me break it down. Mexico gained something worth $340 million and burned it. Sooo Mexico essentially just burned $340 million. Clearly they must be balling since they don’t need what equates to 4.2 billion pesos. Calderon must be in the club making it rain with Arab money while icing. Stunting so hard we should go indict them. They think they’re Big Meech, Larry Hoover, Burning Work… (screeeech) Fail!

AfroThought presents a special edition of “Tell ‘em Why You Mad“:

Lessons From a Super Power…

From here we will explore options Mexico could have taken to not only make better use of this 134 TONS of MARIJUANA but also increase their status internationally.

Option I: Show it!
Announce to your citizens only that you have made a huge drug bust to maybe curb crime by letting them know you actually care about marijuana use and will arrest them. However, don’t intentionally tell the world because then you let the world know just how huge the organized crime is in your nation. I mean 135 tons?! And that’s just your bust. Imagine how much is actually in circulation into and out from your borders. The story will break regardless though, so just try to spin it positively and promote tourism and trade.

Option II: Sell it!! (Secretly of course.)
We know you will do Option I but now that you have it, what do you do with it? Well, this is up to $340 million dollars you stand to gain thanks to organized crime. Not only did you catch a handful of drug traffickers, you made money in the process; approximately 4.2 billion pesos, which I’m sure could be a nice slice into any non-superpower’s account balance.

Option II: Section A
Sell it, albeit covertly to the U.S. marijuana companies. I mean all the production costs for this haul were paid by the drug lords, so now it just needs to be sold. The U.S. companies were going to sell marijuana anyway. Might as well let them inspect it and place bids on it. Again, it’s product that they didn’t have to grow and possibly of higher quality than their current stock. Granted you would work out some agreement with the U.S. government for a cut of the profits. All of this under the table, of course.

Option II: Section B
Sell the haul back to the cartels. Some might be gullible (or high) enough to attempt to buy it back from you. Arrest them. Dumb*sses.

Option II: Section C
Use your best narcotics insiders to sell the drugs back into circulation. That is roughly 4.2 billion pesos ($340 million) that your government could use. You make street value on it while building up enough evidence/capital to eventually launch a huge sting operation and possibly catch the drug lords making this weed and not a handful of product because 134 tons is only approximately 5% of what you catch annually and again that’s only what you catch. So then not only did you make a historic drug bust but then you worked that into substantial drug arrests.

Option III: Flip it
C’mon now, Mexico. Of all the ways to dispose of 134 tons of marijuana… burning?! Really? Aside from the environmental impact, did you not realize the irony?

Apparently weeds make good mulch. Gardeners love mulch.

Maybe you could make a sort of feed for beneficial insects (e.g., silk worms) or other things we don’t eat.

Bury it in unused land whose water table won’t affect the population. Also, arrest anyone who comes and tries to dig it up. Dumb*sses.

IF YOU MUST BURN IT:
Supposedly you can make a high-octane gas out of it.
Or you could have used it as fire fuel in places that we use flames as a power source anyway. There are plenty of places where fire is useful. You couldn’t make small enough quantities to be burned legitimately by various users? Any feelings of levity resulting from said fire would be dismissed as purely coincidental.

Sources:
Mexico makes huge drug bust
What does 134 tons of marijuana on fire look like?
Adios to Mexico’s marijuana haul

“You know you done f*cked up, right?” When you can’t even get a cameo in a farce, you know you’ve gone too far. That means you’ve officially fallen off of the movie level. Oh, sure you have some straight-to-DVD drops coming in the next year or more, but you have definitely maxed out your A-list credit. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

We can’t even say you are a habitual line stepper, that would mean we grew accustomed to your outlandish behavior. From here, you might as well club baby seals, go whaling, become the Simon Cowell of a reality show, etc. Your comeback ante has just been upped to a daunting degree. Granted, I await what PR miracle your team cooks up for you to meander your way back into celebrity’s good graces but still you have major penance to make.

Maybe it was the gradual decline starting with Apocalypto. Maybe it was the anti-Semetic remarks. Maybe it was the male chauvinism. Maybe it was when you went Chris Brown on your jump off. Honestly, I’m not sure what the tipping point was, but you’re star-power needs some Viagra.

Actually, that might not be a bad idea. Be one of those middle-aged guys on the medical ads. Perhaps you should start smaller, take a cue from David Hasselhoff and make a YouTube video that is just embarrassingly lovable enough that America gives you a pass. Trust me, there is a LOT that we will let slide if you entertain us. Ask Kanye West fans.

Sincerely,

Misses Pre Crazy Mel

Source: Mel Gibson dropped from The Hangover sequel

Dear Rappers,

1. How am I supposed to believe you are as rich as you say you are when you can’t afford a singer. Do-it-yourself projects never scream affluence. In fact the wealthiest people show off by doing as little for themselves as possible. Think Hakeem in Zamunda from Coming to America.

2. Auto-tune came and went so if u couldn’t do it then, what delusion are you espousing now? Why are you making that $3000 microphone sound like a drive thru order box? Hopefully you have the gift of gab because melody definitely illuded you.

3. There’s nothing gangster about singing. It directly contradicts the machismo rap boasts. Not only that, since you can’t actually hold a note you just sound even more emasculated. You might as well attempt your own back up dancing in your videos. Singing is a talent and a fine art. It requires the same finesse and care that a skilled lover would have but when you attempt to hold a note it seems, as Bruce Leroy would say, you ‘don’t even own a paintbrush.’

4. R&B is already a dying genre. So much so that I can’t even find a proper link to point to helping to define the style i’m talking about. Add on to that the rappers and weaker vocalists autotuning themselves and there is no room for a great voice. Essentially vocalists like Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, even Tank, Javier and Carl Thomas are regretfully a thing of the past. There are possibly two cats with the capacity to pull off a viable ballad and/or respectable vocal runs still heard in heavy rotation on the radio. (I’m stretching, it seems Trey Songz is the only cat even trying to carry the R&B flag still. Though some of us give him the Prince look at times.) Fortunately the soul singers don’t give much of a care about the spotlight, hence their promotion tactics (or lack thereof), so they’ll continue to mark their little niche. A small oasis for those who get tired of the mainstream to go hang out. As I’ve said before, Nas may have claimed Hip-Hop is dead, but really R&B kicked the bucket.

That said, aside from that lonely island of soul and the ever-increasing gentrification of R&B to manifest as pop music. There aren’t many places left for a R&B singer to do his/her thing. Maybe they should turn to rock music; the results could be interesting. I think I will go listen to some Jimi Hendrix and I feel a blues binge coming on.

Now, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (International Federation of Association Football) set this World Cup in South Africa. Clearly FIFA has been slipping on their location scouting. They should be familiar with South Africa’s vuvuzela, also known as the “lepatata”. Not only that, given all the things that could be going down at this World Cup, vuvuzelas are the least of their worries. It’s like getting upset about a gnat when you’ve heard wild pachyderm roam the area.

Granted, the vuvuzelas are potentially dangerous. 127 decibels is literally deafeningly loud; think jet engine. However a ban on vuvuzelas would have been excessive, petty and slightly insulting.

For starters, it’s a stadium full of cheering, shouting, singing football fanatics. The average football stadium reaches 117 decibels. Record highs rival the vuvuzelas. Hearing damage occurs over 85 decibels especially in prolonged exposure. So the increased volume is not vastly offensive. People destroy their hearing everyday regardless so the vuvuzelas are only aiding the inevitable for the most part. Perhaps the only downside is that the drone drowns out the other magnificent sounds of a stadium. The chants, cheers, etc are lost and that is a shame.

However, the vuvuzelas bring a different joyful dynamic that also capture the location. Deep down that is the point of moving the host location of the games; capturing a piece of the local culture and bringing that into the festivities as well as bringing the world to meet this location.

The passion of the spectators is part of what makes the game so great. It’s impressive that these fans can collectively maintain nearly incessant drone. Also, the sound the vuvuzela makes is kinda cool. It’s like extremely macho bees suffering roid rage. Very musically savvy bees holding a B-flat (Bb3). But the ominous tone makes the events unfolding on the field seem more badass than they do otherwise.

Alternatives to an outright ban would be to create vuvuzela free sections. Stadiums could even charge slightly more for the tickets to those seats. Besides, it’s only one World Cup. Four years from now it will be somewhere else with it’s own unique benefits and detriments.

In summation, get some earplugs and enjoy the game.

With all the buzz going on about the latest smartphones to transcend being mere rumors, we’d like to present this comparison chart. We know which ones are our favorites, but we are sure there will be contention among the office soon. New phones pop up faster than you can say “Droid X?!”. ::gasp::

(Source: Android Central & The iPhone Blog)