I Don't Know How I Feel About This

Not to go all "Dawson's Creek" all over your asses, but I really don't know how I feel about this cover.  I've been going back and forth since I heard it on Thursday.

So, I guess I'll go with the pros first.

1.  She doesn't drop an N-Bomb.  At least that I could tell.  There was one spot early where the sound was dropped, so I'm not 100% sure.

2.  She swears.  I honestly didn't think she would.  I love swearing, so that's a positive for me.

3.  She has some flow.

The cons:

1.  The Yankees hat.  It's not because I am a Red Sox fan, that sh!t is just played out unless you are actually a fan or at least from NYC.

2.  A few cringe-worthy moments, like throwing up the Jay-Z Roc symbol.  I wasn't feelign that.  Also, throwing the Fish Filet line to the audience and they didn't say anything.  Tough.

3.  Her guitar player.

Overall, I give her credit for giving it a shot, but I won't be downloading her version.



-Big Ran

Stuck In My Head

Say what you want about Kanye being a mega douche or Jay Z owning exactly one percent more of the New Jersey Nets than I do and naming his daughter Blue Ivy or some sh!t, but this CD they have out is straight fire.  No matter what though, don't forget that my man Fisticuff owns the streets.

Chappelles Show
Fisticuff
www.comedycentral.com
Buy Chappelle's Show DVDs Black Comedy True Hollywood Story

-Big Ran

Lunchtime Look-A-Like

I'm posting this tonight because I've been slacking on the blog for weeks due to my 'real' job taking over my life. I didn't want to make our adoring public wait any longer, and I'm feeling guilty that Big Ran's had to pull all the weight lately.

I'm a reality TV junkie (to a point!), and one of my favorites is "Braxton Family Values"--which chronicles Toni Braxton, her sisters, mother and all of their baggage. They regularly meet with their family therapist, "Dr. Sherry". I think she MIGHT be Jay-Z in women's clothing- but the verdict is still out on that. You be the judge:

HOV

Dr. Sherry

It's times like this that the phrase,  "handsome woman" would be appropriate- because she surely isn't pretty, and I'm trying to look on the bright side. And, like Jay-Z, she's got 99 problems (but unlike Jay, the Braxton sisters ARE some!).....

-KC Jones

Stuck In My Head - Otis Edition

Yo, happy b-day shout out to my dog, Otis.  For real, my dog, he's three today.

-Big Ran

He's Got 99 Problems....Healthcode Violations Being Some!

Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club was shut down for a slew of health-code violations just a day after its celebrity-drenched $10 million relaunch -- and now it faces a dreaded “C” grade, The Post has learned.

An inspector found perishable food at dangerously warm temperatures inside the walk-in refrigerator and discovered “hot” food left out on the counter on Thursday, Health Department sources said.

A worker was also seen mixing salsa with his bare hands.

The refrigerator was at a rancid 60 degrees instead of 41 -- jeopardizing the safety of 50 pounds of raw chicken wings, 5 pounds of raw shrimp and 100 turkey burgers, the sources said.

Five pounds of cooked mashed potatoes, meanwhile, were left out at a temperature of 89 degrees, while 10 pounds of cooked rice and 50 turkey burgers were kept at 67 degrees.

All the hot foods should be at least 140 degrees, the sources said.

The club’s restaurant was immediately closed, and new patrons were barred from entering. Those already inside were allowed to remain.

“If you have a walk-in place with food like this, you put a hell of a lot of people at risk,” said the source. “A night of dinner and dancing should not include the risk of contracting food-borne illness.”

The nightspot corrected the problem and was cleared for business last night.

Click for more on this story from the New York Post

Ummmm...just some comments and questions:

Why was someone mixing salsa with their hands? Bare hands or not, I tend to think mixing with utensils would be the better and easier option. Gross.  Also, good thing I wasn't planning on going to the 40/40 Club -- I've spent my entire life without food poisoning, and I'd love to keep it that way.  The Takeover would like to advise Jigga to stick with rapping and Rocawear. HOV!

-KC Jones

Stuck In My Head - Thirsty Thursday Edition

I woke up with this one in my head.  Great jam and as you can tell, I kind of like The Black Keys.  Plus, when you have Todd Bridges in your video saying things like "I'm pretty sure God would consider it a sin not to glorify THAT ASS," you can't lose.  As a side note, the term "that ass" has to be one of the most important in hip hop/rap.  I love fitting "that ass" into as many normal conversations as possible.



This is played at the same exact time every day on my commute and there are so many NBA references, I figured KC would have to love it.



This one came up in a meeting yesterday.  I don't remember what prompted it, but three of us ended up singing it before the meeting started.

-Big Ran

Hoyas for Hova!

So, this is probably the most awesome news ever for the students at Georgetown....I can't wait until they introduce courses about Kanye, Nas, & DMX. I can see the resumes of future G-town graduates now: Major: Management, Minor: Hip Hop. I am beyond jealous. I'm thinking of going back to get my Graduate Degree in Tupac at one of these institutions of higher learning.

 

Washington –  Michael Eric Dyson parses Jay-Z's lyrics as if analyzing fine literature. The rapper's riffs on luxury cars and tailored clothes and boasts of being the "Mike Jordan of recording" may make for catchy rhymes, but to Dyson, they also reflect incisive social commentary.

Dyson, a professor, author, radio host and television personality, has offered at Georgetown University this semester a popular -- if unusual -- class dedicated to Jay-Z and his career. The course, "Sociology of Hip Hop: Jay-Z," may seem an unlikely offering at a Jesuit, majority-white school that counts former President Bill Clinton among its alumni. But Dyson insists that his class confronts topics present in any sociology course: racial and gender identity, sexuality, capitalism and economic inequality.

"It just happens to have an interesting object of engagement in Jay-Z -- and what better way to meet people where they are?" Dyson said. "It's like Jesus talking to the woman at the well. You ask for a drink of water, then you get into some theological discussions."

Classes centered on pop culture superstars like Bruce Springsteen have sprouted on college campuses in recent years; Dyson himself says he's previously taught classes on Tupac Shakur and Marvin Gaye at the University of Pennsylvania. He says Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, is a worthy subject because of his diversity of business interests -- a clothing entrepreneur, he's also a part owner of the NBA's New Jersey Nets (soon to move to his native New York borough of Brooklyn) -- as well as his immense cross-cultural appeal and "lyrical prowess" in articulating contemporary black culture and his place in it.

"I think he's an icon of American excellence," Dyson said.

Though hardly as rigorous as organic chemistry, the course does have midterm and final examinations and required readings, including from Jay-Z's book, "Decoded." The 75-minute classes -- the final one is Wednesday -- focus more on African-American culture and business than on the particulars of the rapper's biography, which include millions in record sales, Grammy Awards, a marriage to Beyonce with a baby on the way and tours with Kanye West and Eminem.

One recent lecture centered on how popular black artists reflect their culture and race to the public at large, with Dyson name-dropping LL Cool J, Diahann Carroll and Bill Cosby. The professor and one student went back and forth on whether the rapper's lyrical depictions of his extravagant lifestyle -- "Used to rock a throwback, balling on the corner/Now I rock a Teller suit, looking like an owner" is one of many examples -- amounted to bragging and rubbing his taste for fine living in the faces of his listeners.

The student took the position that Jay-Z appears overly boastful, but Dyson countered that the rapper, who grew up in a Brooklyn housing project but has since become a multimillionaire, has never lost his ability to relate to the struggles of everyday people and has continued giving voice to their concerns. Though Jay-Z raps about Saint-Tropez and expensive cigars, he also talks about being nurtured by Brooklyn. And in one song, "99 Problems," he attacks racial profiling with a stark depiction of a racially motivated traffic stop: "Son, do you know why I'm stopping you for?" the officer asks. Jay-Z replies: "`Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low."

The chairman of Georgetown's sociology department, Timothy Wickham-Crowley, says he supports Dyson's course for trying to show how Jay-Z's music fits into American society, and Steve Stoute, an author and marketing executive who has done business with Jay-Z and has spoken to the class, said the course has practical value for students interested in business.

But others have concerns.

Kevin Powell, who writes about hip-hop and has run unsuccessfully for Congress in Brooklyn, said any discussion of Jay-Z should account for what Powell says are the rapper's derogatory lyrics toward women and his expressions of excessive materialism. Kris Marsh, an assistant sociology professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in the black middle class, said that while she appreciated Jay-Z's cultural significance, she was wary of structuring an entire course around him and using his narrative alone to reflect black America. Though hip-hop artists can focus a lens on urban life, she said, "sometimes these artists use poetic license" and blend fact and fiction to an audience that is often suburban and white.

"We're not sure if it's fiction or real life. It can be almost indistinguishable sometimes in hip-hop," she said.

In an opinion piece published in the student newspaper, The Hoya, junior Stephen Wu dismissed as "poppycock" Dyson's belief that Jay-Z could be compared to Homer or Shakespeare.

"It speaks volumes that we engage in the beat of Carter's pseudo-music while we scrounge to find serious academic offerings on Beethoven and Liszt. We dissect the lyrics of "Big Pimpin'," but we don't read Spenser or Sophocles closely," Wu wrote.

Danielle Bailey, a senior international business and marketing major who is taking the class, said she was a Jay-Z fan before enrolling but now has greater appreciation for his business acumen.

"I know a lot of people are upset, but I think the point of college is to think outside the box. I rarely have classes that allow me to look at things differently," she said, adding, "It's not always about Mozart and Homer."

Dyson makes no apologies, saying the course is a conduit for studying the "major themes of American life" and that hip-hop artists at their best deserve to be classified alongside literary luminaries.

Jay-Z was on tour and not available for an interview, his representative said. But Dyson, who considers himself a friend of the rapper, says Jay-Z has told him he appreciates the course. And Bailey said she heard Jay-Z give a "shout-out" to the class at a recent concert of his she attended.

"You're doing the class there," Dyson says Jay-Z told him. "I'm doing kind of the master class while I'm in concert."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/03/georgetown-university-offers-college-course-on-jay-z/#ixzz1fcwUSXmn

-KC Jones

13 Biggest Hip Hop Conspiracies

As we make our way to the 15th anniversary of Tupac's death, TruTV lists some of the top conspiracy theories surrounding hip hop.  Obviously, Pac is alive, he's been spotted a bunch of times.  My other favorite was Jay-Z being part of the Illuminati.  Dan Brown's next book is actually about HOV.   

BIGGEST HIP HOP CONSPIRACIES

-Big Ran