Fracking Links

Pretty soon, the North Carolina legislature will be making some pretty big decisions on if and where to allow hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state. Here are six websites to visit to get some background info on the issue.

Here's an editorial piece about the benefits of fracking:
http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/5159158



This article describes a study which showed that the negative consequences of fracking may be exaggerated:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/20/frackings-effects-on-groundwater-may-be-overblown-study-shows/



Here's a story about a township's residents trying to prevent fracking from coming to their homes:
http://www.salemnews.net/page/content.detail/id/551189/Residents-looking-to-ban-fracking.html?nav=5007



The Bureau of Land Management is trying to make companies that frack make public what chemicals they pump into the ground:
http://www.propublica.org/article/federal-rules-to-disclose-fracking-chemicals-could-come-with-exceptions


This story talks about the government having to provide fresh water to a town that had its water suplly contaminated by fracking:
http://www.propublica.org/article/years-after-evidence-of-fracking-contamination-epa-to-supply-drinking-water


Finally, this article discusses the pros and cons of fracking in Oklahoma:
http://www.newson6.com/story/16972746/oklahoma-impact-team-is-fracking-really-putting-oklahomans-at-risk

"Starships"

Oh Nicki. Here's the thing: I love you. It's true. I really do. I think your rapping is far and beyond 95% of the MCs out there. You have a deadly flow, your rhymes are clever, and a good portion of your lyrics require a second listen to understand.

The problem is, you want to be a pop star. That's understandable. When you grew up, people weren't worshipping rapstresses; they were worshipping Madonna and other pop idols. So now, you've finally made it and what do you want to do? Become the next big pop star.

I love good pop music. I'll vibe to Lady Gaga's first album. And I really really like Super Bass. That was an impeccable mix of pop and rap.

Then you dropped "Starships." I would like for the whole rap community to now participate in a communal sigh and head shake.

I just don't get it. Maybe because I don't have a radio on campus, I haven't been able to keep up with pop music these days. All I know is that one day, I turned on the radio and all I heard was dubstep/techno. It was really confusing. I also didn't like it. All of the synthesizers and junk reminds me of where hip hop was a few years ago, during the crunk movement. It's like pop took all of our concepts and overdid them.

And those lyrics? Not up to your typical standards. It's like you threw together some stereotypical lines about partying and living it up and decided that was enough. It's so sad.

All I want to know is...why'd you go pop?

Oh, The Grammys

I think the Grammys are a love-hate situation for any person who listens to music. When the voters get it right, you love them. Everyone rejoices. Angels from heaven sing.

When the voters get it wrong, you can't help but want to kick stray cats and rip a room apart. This is why the Grammys were so hard on me this year. For example, why were Rihanna's and Bruno Mars' albums nominated for best of the year? I appreciate that both of these had some pretty big singles. But was either of these the album of the year? No way.

One could argue for a lot of the categories, the other nominees didn't matter because of a little-known artist named Adele. Somehow, this woman was able to bridge the gap between top 40 listeners and music snobs.

Adele totally deserved the six awards she received. She really did define 2011 with her stripped down production and soulful voice.

Now, this is a rap blog so I would be remiss not to mention the hip-hop elements of the Grammy awards. Kanye West dominated it. He ended up with Best Rap Performance, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap Album.

Much like Adele, Mr. West revitalized the rap scene after Taylorgate with his mix of high class art and old school samples. It's hard to argue with his wins, considering that he had not one, but TWO albums nominated, both of which went platinum. Unfortunately, this also bit him in the butt, because he didn't even receive an Album of the Year nomination, which was more than likely due to voters being split between My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Watch the Throne.

I do have a qualm with Best New Artist. In my eyes, it is difficult to effectively compare Bon Iver to J. Cole or Nicki Minaj. So why use one category for all new people? It doesn't really make sense. I'm sure all of the Bon Iver fans are happy, but that leaves the hip-hop and dubstep fans pissed.

I think the Academy does need to do something to fix this. It would make sense for them to create best artist categories for each genre. But will that happen? Doubtful. For now, I will just be happy with Adele and Kanye getting the credit they deserve.

The Pit Spit

Well, that was interesting. Going to the Pit Spit, I had no idea what I was in for. Sure, unlike a good portion of the people there, I knew what a cypher was and its significance. However, I do go to UNC Chapel Hill. Rap isn't exactly a big part of our culture here.

I get there at 6:00 and of course, they're still setting up. I think that there is some unwritten code in hip hop that a live performance can't start on time. 6:20, and they finally decide to start. It took a good amount of coaxing from one of the guys to get the crowd off of the steps and to the middle of the Pit, which is where the rapping would take place.

From the top, I'm just going to go ahead and say that I was not a fan of their beat choices. Hip Hop Nation, the club that ran the Pit Spit, is a primarily white group. I personally feel like this was reflected in the beat choices, because I could hear how a good portion of them sounded like they were made for Eminem...which is who a lot of the performers thought they were. They kept jacking his flow and even his voice, but yet in a way that just wasn't as good.

There was one guy who completely embarrassed himself. It was this country bumpkin-looking dude, who had a terrible drawl and a hat with a bent brim. He'd get up on the mic and make the crowd groan. His flow can best be described as a rock slide. The worst part is that he kept going up. I had to leave the Pit Spit at 7. During that time period, he went on five separate occasions. Everyone else had gone at most three times. At one point, I got frustrated and yelled for him to pass the mic. Sadly, he didn't.

There were some good rappers. I was impressed by this one dude's Snoop Dogg flow. Those are hard to pull off. Two white boys also had a nice little rap battle, which left the crowd wanting more. There were two rappers who the crowd always seemed to be really feeling, myself included. Unfortunately, I did not get either of their names. However, their flows were solid and their lyrics impressive.

My one caveat about the Pit Spit was that due to Union regulations, they could only turn up the volume to a certain level. This wouldn't be as bad, but when you have a wall of bodies around the speakers, what's being said gets muffled and it gets difficult to hear the lyrics. In any case, the Pit Spit was a successful cypher. I hope that Hip Hop Nation puts on more, perhaps even one during lunchtime on a weekday.

The Cypher

So the other day, I was down my hall and I saw a flier that caught my eye. This Thursday, there is going to be a cypher in Chapel Hill called "The Pit Spit." Being the die-hard rap fan I am, I know that I'm going to be there.

You may be asking yourself "What is a cypher?" It makes sense. The only time rap fans hear about cyphers these days are during the BET Awards.

This is from 2010's BET Awards, which is actually what introduced me to the concept of a cypher. Just in case you didn't know, a cypher is a freestyle battle that relies on "passing the mic," where it moves from rapper to rapper from right to left. If a rapper steps up too early, he is "breaking the cypher."

This is just as much an essential, historic part of hip hop as break dancing and DJ-ing. Cyphers are what rappers like Jay-Z and Biggie Smalls came up on. Freestyling is so organic at its core. You have a beat and you just have to go in over it. No excuses.

So when I saw that I finally had the chance to do a cypher, I knew I had to. Granted, I have no freaking clue how it's going to turn out. I haven't given freestyling a shot in months so I only have four days of preparation in all. Better believe that I'm going to be rhyming over every beat I hear until then. I'll give you the rundown on what happened this weekend.

Hugo (and Why I'm Angry About It)

Straight off of the bat, I'm going to go ahead and say that I love Martin Scorsese. The man is a film genius. Goodfellas, Casino, and The Departed are three of my favorite movies.

Now onto Hugo, the cute, young tale of an orphan boy who takes a wild adventure through Paris and the golden age of film. I saw it in 3D with my parents. It was just precious.

It was not worthy of a nomination for Best Picture.

I'm not going to argue about all of the other awards it's honored for because frankly, that is much more technical than I feel the need to be. Let's just look at the Best Picture field for a sec:

The Artist (2011): Thomas Langmann

The Descendants (2011): Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011): Scott Rudin

The Help (2011): Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan

Hugo (2011/II): Graham King, Martin Scorsese

Midnight in Paris (2011): Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

Moneyball (2011): Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt

The Tree of Life (2011): Nominees to be determined

War Horse (2011): Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy

As you can tell, there are some questionable choices (cough cough War Horse cough cough Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close cough cough). So maybe in this field, Hugo isn't such a stretch.

But at the same time...why? What does Hugo achieve to make it better than all of the other films this year?

It appeals to older voters. It is a retrospective of the golden age of film. And when you think that these older voters grew up on the films Hugo references, you can see why it got a nomination. Same with The Artist (which I haven't seen, but it is a black and white silent film about sound coming into the industry).

Hugo, aside from this, is nothing spectacular. The plot is extremely ehh. No major moral inquisitions or themes. Just old movies. It's probably the reason neither 50/50, Shame, nor Drive  got a nomination.

It's a sad day, indeed.

Tightrope (featuring B.o.B and Lupe Fiasco)

I have no idea how I missed this song. This is amazing. Granted, it did come out almost two years ago and B.o.B was still getting big at this time. But...This beat. It reminds me of much older blues. Maybe if Adele stopped being mad at the world, her music would get the happy vibe this song has. Just listen to this. Revel in its beautiful simplicity.