Let's Expand Things a Bit, Shall We?

A Message by The Foreign Films - 4,000 Photographs from Citizen A on Vimeo.

So here's the thing...
I receive, get tipped on, come across, search out a TON of music every day, right?  But alot of it doesn't necessarily "fit" with what I'm doing here, even if it's still great.  This Foreign Films joint is a good example.  I like to keep the blog pretty upbeat and energetic.  Heavy beats, lively shit, bright colors, energy energy energy, blah blah fart.  You get it.

SO...instead of not sharing all the goodness with my peoples (y'all), I'm gonna start direct linking to more stuff on Twitter.  Makes sense, right?  So in addition to being my spot to bombard your timeline with my personal rambles about totally inconsequential shit, it'll also be "extra footage" of sorts for music/videos/whatever I may find and want to spread (ha).

ALSO...don't forget, I do alot of Major League Soccer jabbering on them Twitters, so feel free to hit me up so I can tell you exactly why your favorite team is shit, and your season ticket isn't worth the paper its printed on.

DENMARK!!!

A few months ago, I thought it was a fluke, but Denmark is still my biggest national "audience" outside the USA.  By a huge margin, too.  At #2, views from Denmark on this site are more than #3-10 COMBINED!  How is that possible. and why do I find it so funny?  Between this phenomena, and the choice for Miss Denmark in 2008...I think we all just learned something about Denmark.

...and shout out to the random surge of Hungarian viewers in the last month.
The world is a strange place.

The season is here, y'all.!
I feel like talking shit.  Hit me on Twitter. 
Things get alot more soccerish over there.

HEY, RAPPERS / PRODUCERS!!!

Listen...
I know a handful of you are reading this right now.

I have no talent whatsoever, but I know a potentially amazing song when I hear one.
If the right combination of producer and emcee got together and sampled "Rope of Sand" by Jamie Lidell, I am 100% certain that it would be a classic.  Can't you just hear a Joe Budden Mood Muzik type song coming out of this?  The melodies, the strings, the vocal samples you could pull from it...all of it.

   Jamie Lidell - Rope Of Sand by SoulDeep
Someone PLEASE sample this song and make it happen.
I need to hear it.  The world needs to hear it.

Faux Fur & Soccer Shirts: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning of the Beginning

Hopefully you've noticed, but I've been pretty slack with the posting around here in the last few weeks.  There's a reason:  I'm conserving by blogger chi.  Saving up "energy" for some (Xenu willing) big changes in 2011.  I don't want to unwittingly release the proverbial legumes, as it were, just yet.  BUT, some movement is set to take place in the near future and I haven't decided what to do with this page.

To be honest, I love this blog.  It's like yelling loudly in a room that only has 8 people in it, but the 8 people that do listen are unexpectedly important.  Coming soon, I'll be with my friends in a new house, with bigger rooms, and even more people to scream at.  Good stuff.  In plain English:  You should be hearing more from me soon.  But in the new realm, I'll be doing bigger and better stuff . . .assuming catastrophe doesn't strike and I somehow mess it all up.

Soooo, yeah.  I'm still here.  Hopefully some news is coming.

E.M. Theories, you ready?!

Brit RoXmas 2010!!!

The gauntlet has been thrown!!
Is that what's done with a gauntlet?  Throwing?
Give me a minute...
::wiki search::
YES...it has been thrown!  Specifically in a downward motion, as per the custom.

In the name of Holiday Festiveness, Blogspot egotism, counter-racial interests, and being easily amused . . .I am declaring Christmas 2010 to be Brit-RoXmas!

Thaaaat's right.  It's figgy puddings and roast goose for everyone!

DENMARK!!!

This will come as a shock to no one, but I am easily the least techno-savvy blogger in North America.  Hands down.  No question.

There hasn't been much to post about music today, so I randomly went into my Blogger site statistics so see what was up. I barely understand that shit.  Very interesting stuff, some of which I knew.  For example, most of y'all arrive here via the homie SF at The Offside Rules.  No surprises there.

But here's what I didn't know . . .FF&SS is fuckin' ROCKIN on the streets of Denmark right now!!!
The best part is...I have absolutely no idea why!  No joke, Denmark is my #1 audience for November.  They make up 45% of November's page views.  WHAT?!

Danes, help me out.  What on earth have I been talking about that you guys are reading?  This is fascinating.  As I type this, there are 19 Danes looking at the site.  This is a magical source of bizarre comedy for me, and I thank you all.

Wait . . .did you all see a Dane Richards post and get excited by accident?!
If so...I will lose my mind and drop dead in this office of laughter.  DEAD.

FUN FACT:  As a man partly of US Virgin Islands extraction, I am 1/8th Danish on my mother's side.  I'm almost certain that with the new FIFA rules, I can qualify for you All-Blogger National Team.

Embrace me, Denmark!!  I am you!  You are me!  We is us!

I Have a Blogspot Account, Thus Validating My Opinions...

Random rant...

There are 2 trends in young Hip-Hop than need to die immediately
1)  Weed Rap:  There are a good half-dozen rappers taking up incredible amounts on bandwidth on the internet that have nothing to talk about other than the contents of their [whatever kids smoke out of].  Who cares?  Honestly.  It was OK/cool/interesting when there were just a few Devin the Dude's in the world, or emcees would have a track every-other album dedicated to their favorite herbal recreation, but shit...now we've got kids like Wiz Kalifah, Curren$y and Freddie Gibbs who can't go more than 8 bars without using the words "smoke" or "green", and yet they're considered some of the genre's best new artists.


2)  Making songs about the downside of fame before you're famous:  Or as I call it, the CuDi Complex.  It seems that the success of CuDi, Drake and B.o.B has lead to a rash of pseudo-emotional young rappers who somehow claim to be jaded towards "the game" before anyone really even knows who they are.  It's cookie-cutter shit at its worst, and borderline emo.  Obviously, I'm not the kind of dude who only has jams M.O.P. and street shit.  I enjoy and appreciate REAL emotion and sentiment on a record, but how is it that you can write and record a song about hard hard it is to please fans, or how lonely it is to be a star, or how "the haters" are trying to keep you down on your first single?  Or worse yet, on a mixtape track before you've ever even been signed or so much as gone on opened for someone else's tour?

Today is "Diddy Day"

For no reason at all, other than being kinda bored, a bit of a jerk, and this coming up on my iPhone...I am declaring today Diddy Day.

I think you should join me in my celebration.

To mark the occasion, I plan to sneak in as many Diddy ad-libs into a conversation with my boss as possible.  For example:

Boss: Working hard, I see!
Me:  Can't stop.  Won't stop.

Boss: Heading out to lunch early?
Me:  Uh-huh...yeah.

Boss:  Can I get that finished TPS report on my desk?
Me:  Take dat, take dat, take dat.

...and so forth.  I'll stop short of referring to him as "playboy", but you get the general idea.

I Am Back. All Up In Your Internets.

Yyyyyyyyyyyeah!  I'm back home, and full of more coffee than the FDA recommends.
72% more refreshed.
86% less financially stable.
Still a victory.

Anyway...hopefully I can get back into the swing of things today with the jams and whatnot.
Speaking of which, I bet you'd never guess the two most common songs I heard coming out of people's cars/radios in Aruba...

Shakira's World Cup thing:

 ...and Gucci Mane's "Lemonade":


Yeah.  I still don't even know how to process that as reality.
BUT.  I'm back now.  After barely even sniffing the internet or mass media at all for the past 10 days, I'm sure this week will be full of retrospective WTFs, "how did I miss this", and week old rants about something everyone else has already gotten over.  Good times.

VACATION!!!

I'm gonna keep it extra real, because you're my people...
There's some jams and videos that came out yesterday and this morning that I should probably post.  Not to mention some work at my actual job that I should be doing...but I'm feeling somewhere between Marshall and Kanye's sentiments right now.

Why?  Because for the first time since my Vegas Extravaganza III in Aug '08, my ass is going on vacation.  Right there to that picture above.  Oranjestad, Aruba and Palm Beach where I will be drinking rum like there was no tomorrow and passing out in the sun at such length that I am sure to return home a shade of mahogany not dissimilar to that of the 57th passenger.

SO...I will "see" you fine again when I return next weekend.
PEACE!!!!

::sniff sniff::
You smell that?

That's the intoxicatingly sexy aroma of ideas cookin'.
That the smell of roses.  Next Level roses.

Assuming these jerks don't spoil my whole friggin' year...I'm rampin' up the illegitimate MLS foolishness.
"Big tings a g'wan" next week, and I need YOU* to jump in and make it work.  Stay tuned...

* and your all-reading, all-linking, no commenting selves

DMCA Claim Deez Nuts, Muh'fukkah

Shout out to all the smaller bands, "local" emcees, and starving artists who are SMART enough to appreciate the value of FREE and FAVORABLE internet publicity in 2010.

This shit should really be common sense right now.
The artists I jam around here ain't exactly platinum sellers, yet some have the balls to get pissed when this (or any other blog) share their shit?  Are y'all retarded??  REALLY?!  How many radio spins you projecting to get this week?  How's your MTV rotation looking?  Not so hot?

Where the hell do you think ALL your buzz, and future earning potential comes from, stupid?
Tiny, insignificant blogs like this one.
We spark the machine.  The machine feeds the masses.
Its simple.

It's one thing if I was a full on "snark blog" and posted a link to your shit with the express purpose of telling people how terrible it is.  That's not how I do things here.  If I post your shit, it's because I like it.  Real easy stuff, here.  Maybe you fools should read what you're having deleted before you get your Urban Outfitters panties in a twist.

Middle fingers.

Anyway, I will continue to do what I love doing the most in my free time:  Directing friends and random strangers to good music, and shining a little light on artists that don't otherwise get the glow they deserve.

Shout out to the artists, labels, promoters, publicists and internet street teams smart enough to understand the NEW game and send music to small bloggers like me.  I guess there's a real reason why the music industry is in the fuckin' toilet:  no common sense.

Generic Young Rap

Neako - Three Fingers To The Sun from NEAKO BAILEY on Vimeo.

WHY DOES EVERY RAPPER UNDER 25 USE THE SAME FLOW?
And why are they all doing that Lil' Wayne/Drake (same writer) thing where they finish off a metaphor with a pause (instead of "like" or "like a") then the punchline.

Dammit!

And if MC Young Dude wants to sound "different", he'll go sample Phoenix, so he can play the "you ain't up on that" card and lord himself over anyone who doesn't recognize it, or because he knows the indie/backpack/hipster jackasses like me run to this shit like catnip.

And here I am...perpetuating the whole damn thing.  Gah.

And the whispering/deep breathing at the start of the song?  Cut that shit out!
I don't care about your Gucci belt or whatever the fuck.  I don't care if you have De la Soul on wax.  I don't care what "streetwear" clothing label sponsored your mixtape.  I don't care!  None of that shit covers the fact that the music is as predictable as a calendar.

Hip-Hop has hit a similar point that rock did in the 90's, where everyone's primary focus was on being different, yet there were 50 bands with the exact same definition and execution of this different-ness.  Avoiding clichés by becoming a different cliché.

I'm ranting...

Ski Bike, FTMFW!

(Shazoo!!)

I.  Hate.  Winter.
Let me make that as clear as possible.
I feel like an asshole this time of year for living in New Jersey.

HOWEVER...I am in search of some sort of athletic outlet now that I'm in shape for the first time since about '01, and wifey LOVES her some snow and whatnot, so I find myself compromising and attempting shit on the odd white stuff people call "snow".  Really I do it just so I have an excuse to buy obnoxiously bright snow gear.

I've tried skiis...they're an illogical snoozefest.  The physics just don't make sense to me.  I've snowboarded a couple of times...much more fun, but when that shit goes wrong, it goes really wrong, and I think I still have spine fragments in one of them orange safety fences someplace.  My girl rocks these shits called ski boards (I think she made them in her garage because no one else has ever heard of them).  They're very short, super wide skiis.  I'm gonna try those on Saturday, so if there's no new jams posted here by Monday afternoon, it's because I am The Dead.

But did you see that video?  That's what I'm screamin'.  I need a ski bike!  It's like winter BMX, only 5 times as stupid and unsafe.  I can't image how that thing stops without my ass providing the main source of friction.  Fantastic.  If I can find a place to rent one of them bad boys, I will be sure to do it and kill myself in the process.  Good times.

UPDATE / RANT: The Fake Justice Jam

No, it still isn't really Justice...
But let this serve as a lesson on how ridiculous the internet, music fans and people in general really are.

FACT:  This song is 6 kinds of dope.
FACT #2:  Had this actually been a Justice song, it would absolutely be the world's favorite song within the next 24hrs.

Now that we know it's a "fake", suddenly no one likes it.  WORD??
Has music gotten to be like clothing, where something is only as good as the name brand attached to it?*  Good grief.  Any Justice fan claiming they don't/won't/wouldn't bang the hell out of this is lying to themselves.

Alternate theory:  Music snobs are so embarrassed that A) One of their favorite artists is so easily duplicated, and B)  Their "expertise" wasn't enough for them to sniff out the deception, that they have no choice but to slam/ignore an obviously good song.  Sad. 

JAM THAT SHIT!!!

* And yes, the inverse occurs where we trick ourselves into liking whack shit based on the name brand (see: Jay-Z's last 3 albums)

OLD SCHOOL: Midnight Star - I'm Curious

This is here for 2 reasons:
1.  I have an unhealthy obsession with 80's R&B
2.  There's a mega whack jam out today that sampled this, and it's stuck in my head now.

"Loooove is gamble...I wanna taaaaaaaaake with yoouuuuuuu!"

Y'all don't know nothin' about that right there.

Remember when Mic Geronimo sampled this for a jam?
Remember when he did a song with Puffy and it came out that Puff was paying Hot 97 to play it?
Yup...I'm down to 2 people with any clue what I'm talking about.

Some RBNY Geek At The Draft On MLS Insider

SuperDraft 2010: What NY Wants from mlsinsider on Vimeo.


I posted this earlier today and deleted it by accident.
Seeing one's self in HD for the first time is . . .jarring.
Especially when you're me, a man who gets creeped out just by having his picture taken.

But for real...draft picks?  Yawn.
I don't know how many times I yelled "Dave van den Bergh" during the course of the afternoon.  Unfortunately, I'm not a journalist, so I have no idea if RBNY made any efforts to make my (and any NY fan with a pulse) dream come true.  But all season long, I'll wonder what could have been.

1/12: Where the Playas Dwell

(Photo does not depict actual happenings)

FYI, tomorrow is my lovely girlfriend's birthday, so the odds of me being anywhere near a computer in the next 36hrs are slim to none.  I shall "see" you folks on Wednesday morning.

Peace out!!

FF&SS vs. Twitter

I've been getting e-mails this week about folks wanting to follow me on Twitter...
I don't know how that's happening...
I do not have a Twitter account, nor do I intend to start one.  Not sure what suddenly changed that made folks think otherwise, and I'm not Twitter savvy enough to find out.

Fact is, between this here blog, and my Facebook page (I acknowledge the ridiculousness of my own status updates), I run my internet mouth MORE than enough.
God only knows the nonsense I'd spew on Twitter...so no thank you.

So, in a more cohesive summary:
 - I am NOT on Twitter, nor do I intend to be.
 - I AM on the Book of Faces where my personal nonsense factor goes even beyond this site.

NOW...lunch break.
In the words of Al Gore, "Peace out y'all"!!