New Blog Address

Yo,

This blog is now housed at http://www.straightgangsterism.com.

Summertime...

So I am spending another summer in Bloomington and I don't know how I feel about it. Last summer here was hell because of the personal shit [breakup] that the typical "person in their early twenties" deals with. I am now past all of that and am attempting to embrace this break that I had been asking for since last September. Its still early, but I need to find something to do with myself before summer ends and another wack-ass fall semester begins. I have yet to find something, but in the mean time I've been listening to a ton of GREAT music...

Atmosphere When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint that Shit Gold.

-So I am a fan of emo-hop and Atmosphere is the king of it. This album is especially dope when I'm walking around Bryan Park at night with nothing to do and no where to go. Slug is in his prime as he spits ish that we all often feel, but can rarely verbalize. Check the brilliant track "Yesterday."

Count Bass D Dwight Spitz and Act Your Waist Size

-Count Bass D is an extremely talented producer, a talented rapper, and he makes amazing music. Besides this, I don't know shit about him. I don't know how to describe his music so you should just listen to it. Check the song "Sanctuary" from Dwight Spitz. It samples The Doors "The Soft Parade," which makes me very happy.

Marvin Gaye Here, My Dear

-If you don't know the story, a broke Marvin Gaye recorded this album as part of his divorce settlement. His ex-wife, Anna Gordy, received all the profits from this, at the time, critically and commercially unsuccessful release. This is probably his most personal album as it basically chronicles the downfall of his marriage. It also offers insight into the troubles that plagued him throughout his life. The music is extremely somber, at times depressing, but super dope.

S.L.A.B. (Slow Loud and Bangin) Seven Years and Runnin'

-Can't forget about the gangsta ish I love! S.L.A.B. is the Southside/Southwest Houston collective featuring Trae, Z-Ro and a bunch of other dope artists. This is kind of their greatest hits as it compiles some of their best mixtape work. Check out "In the Hood." I'm impatiently waiting for Trae & Z-Ro (Assholes By Nature) It Is What It Is to drop sometime this summer.

Peace,

Langston

NEW K-RINO!!!

"Blast On Em"
"What You Gonna Do?"
"Wreck Time"

Cop the new K-Rino album, Triple Darkness Vol. 1. K-Rino has been holding Houston down for over 20 years. One of the best artists you probably never heard of. Get this album, his old albums, and anything else the South Park Coalition has touched.

Peace

Trae & Z-Ro

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IFCY1RIZ-WA (Trae "Swang")
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZhH5FL9ZrCI&feature=related (Z-Ro "Mo City Don" Live)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=jRQ3cE-pRwU (Z-Ro f/Trae "I Found Me")
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ye9JGy4JAZ8 (Trae f/Z-Ro "No Help")
http://youtube.com/watch?v=leEbL_kdZnM (Z-Ro & Trae "Who's the Man")

Cousins Z-Ro and Trae currently represent at least 65% of my music consumption. Representing Houston's Southwest side, Z-Ro and Trae have been dropping heaters for about a decade. While this may sound corny, Trae and Z-Ro's music can be labled as Gangsta-soul as they deliver gangsta raps in rugged, but smooth style. Z-Ro & Trae put out real music that can appeal to anyway dealing with the problems of young adulthood (especially if you are Black). I can't say enough about their contributions to hip hop. Peep the links. Peace.

P.S. "Swang" is one of the greatest songs to ever come out of Houston.

Geto Boys - Crooked Officer

One of the best hip hop responses to police brutality. It's defintely on par if not better than NWA's "Fuck the Police." Although lyrically sanitized for play on mainstream video stations, the splicing in of actual brutality adds solid visuals to the Geto Boys articulate charge against police brutality. Taken from their 1993 album, Til Death Do Us Part.

My Top Ten Hip Hop Groups Ever (A response to Mtv's List)

Mtv's hip hop braintrust recently developed a list of the top 10 hip hop groups of all time. According to Mtv, a group consists of two or more mc's. The list goes as follows:

10. UGK

9. Fugees

8. Salt 'N Pepa

7. EPMD

6. A Tribe Called Quest

5. Wu-Tang Clan

4. Outkast

3. Public Enemy

2. N.W.A

1. Run-DMC

• There was some debate over whether the Beastie Boys are a hip hop group or not. The naysayers won, and they were replaced by UGK. I totally disagree with this as i feel that the Beastie Boys are definitely a hip hop group and one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time.
• The Fugees should not be on this list. Their first release was only ok. The Score was a classic most definitely. After that, Lauryn Hill dropped a masterpiece, but I never will consider it a hip hop album. She later dropped a double Mtv unplugged album which help bring on one of the best naps I have ever had in my life. Wyclef's first solo was hot. I never peeped anything from him after that though. Collaborations with wrestlers didnt spark my interests too much. Pras is wack. So, 1 hot group album, 1 great solo, and 1 masterpiece non-rap album does not make top 10 material.
• Salt & Peppa are important, but should not be a top 10 rap group of all time. They were a creation of producer Herbie Azor who wrote and produced their first 3 albums. He was Salt & Pepa and the women simply looked moderately good, could dance a little, and recite rhymes. They were wack on the mike. Their music was cornball for the most part. They just don't deserve to be mentioned with the greats.
• MTV, as they have aknowledged, has left some important groups off the list. The Geto Boys are so so so important to southern hip hop, and hip hop in general. Their first three albums (Geto Boys, We Can't Be Stopped, and Til Death) are classics regardless of how slept on they are. They made to excellent combacks with Resurrection in 1996 and The Foundation in 2005. Scarface has released a significant amount of timeless music. Bushwick Bill has trancended hip hop and his size to carve out a spot for himself in pop culture. Willie D has become a cult hero. One time member Big Mike is one of the most underrated artist in hip hop history. The Geto Boys are one of the greatest hip hop groups of all time.
• De la Soul and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were also left off. I have nothing to say about this because its just bullcorn as my grandpa would say.

With all that being said, I have reformulated the list.

1. Public Enemy
2. RUN-DMC
3. NWA
4. Wu-Tang Clan
5. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5
6. Geto Boys
7. A Tribe Called Quest
8. Outkast
9. De La Soul
10. Beastie Boys

• I changed the top 3. Public Enemy is the greatest hip hop group of all time. Four classic albums filled with brilliant lyricism and equally brilliant production. Chuck D is one of the voices for our generation. The Bomb Squad laced Public Enemy with ill beats, but also laced Ice Cube's Amerikkkas Most Wanted as well as other stuff. Flavor Flav is Flavor Flav. Not to mention the S1Ws, their soundtrack work, quality rap/rock collabos and countless other things. This isn't to take away from RUN-DMC or NWA, but Public Enemy was too much of a force.
• Outkast slipped because either the groups ahead of them made better music and were stylistic innovators (Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest) or they were mort influential/important (Geto Boys, Furious 5).
• EPMD, Salt & Pepa, Fugees, and (begrudgingly) UGK were removed because there were groups more deserving of the position.

So, thats my list of the 10 Greatest Hip Hop Groups of all time.

Since I'm bored, I also created a list of the 10 Greatest Southern Hip Hop Groups of all time:

1. Geto Boys (Houston)
2. Outkast (Atlanta)
3. UGK (P.A./Houston)
4. Eightball & MJG (Memphis)
5. TRU (New Orleans)
6. Hot Boys (New Orleans)
7. Three 6 Mafia (Memphis)
8. 2 Live Crew (Florida)
9. Goodie Mob (Atlanta)
10. UNLV (New Orleans)

I also did West Coast Groups:

1. NWA
2. Digital Underground
3. Cypress Hill
4. Hieroglyphics
5. Dogg Pound
6. Pharcyde
7. Freestyle Fellowship
8. Above the Law
9. Alkaholiks
10. WC & the MAAD Circle


PEACE

30 Strong And A Gun To His Head�Pay Attention?

30 Strong And A Gun To His Head�Pay Attention?
By Aishah Shahidah Simmons


http://www.allhiphop.com/editorial/?ID=337

There have been and probably will be numerous articles on the January 16, 2007 RIAA raid of the Aphilliates Music Group studio and arrest of my brother Tyree "DJ Drama" Simmons and DJ Don Cannon. There have been and will be numerous articles on what the implications of this raid will not only have on the Aphilliates Music Group but on the entire mixtape business/game.

In the midst of those ongoing discussions, let's not forget the reality that racism and sexism are alive and well in Ameri-KKK-a.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007 marked the first day of my supporting a three day fast that Black Women in Durham, North Carolina organized to expel and heal from the ongoing collective trauma that many of us who are victim/survivors of rape and other forms of sexual assault have been experiencing ever since members of the predominantly White Duke LaCrosse team were publicly accused of raping a Black woman in Spring of 2006. Little did I know, that while I supported my Spirit Sister-Survivors in Durham, North Carolina, that another assault against a member of my Blood family was about to happen.

No one will ever be able to explain to me why the hell a SWAT Team of at least 30 strong went charging into the Aphilliates Music Group studio as if they were doing a major drug or an illegal arms bust? Why did they need to put my brother Tyree (DJ Drama) and his cohorts face down on the ground with guns to their heads? Did the agents need to ransack the studio, confiscate cd's featuring artist sanctioned original music not bootlegs, disc drives, computers, cars, ultimately stripping the studio of everything with the exception of furniture

Based on the January 16, 2007 Fox Atlanta News edition, when one of the agents said "Usually, we find other crimes during these types of busts." Clearly the agents expected ( possibly wanted) to find drugs and/or illegal arms. K-9 dogs whose noses are trained to sniff and find drugs, were ultimately board with nothing to do.

So the question for me and the rest of the Portnoy-Simmons-Thwaites family is was a SWAT team needed? Was this solely about mixtapes? Would this have happened if this wasn't a Black run company? One of the claims is that Tyree (DJ Drama) was racketeering. Well, this alleged racketeer is a legitimate businessman who played and continues to play a pivotal role in the careers of numerous known and unknown hiphop artists, which by direct extension helps the recording industry immensely. Tyree ( DJ Drama) is also a partner, a father, a brother, and a son.

When I think about all of the scandals in corporate Ameri-KKK-a (Enron and WorldCom to name a minute few)…I don't ever recall hearing about any SWAT enforced raids. I don't recall any images of Ken Lay or other top executives of corporations being forced to lay face down on the ground surrounded by SWAT agents with guns to their heads and K-9 dogs sniffing them. For a detailed expose on the evils that corporations all around the world do and get away with legally and illegally, check out the powerfully gripping documentaries "Enron: The Smartest Guys In the Room," and "The Corporation."

As Tyree's (DJ Drama's) sister and as a radical Black feminist lesbian social activist, I am beyond outraged at how the RIAA handled/orchestrated the raid. If he or anyone in the Aphilliates camp didn't follow the directions of the agents, asked the 'wrong' questions,'or made the 'wrong' move during the raid, he and/or his cohorts could've been murdered in a twinkling of an eye. And for what? Selling mixtapes, which feature artist sanctioned original music?

The RIAA should be held accountable for their actions. They need to know that their violent response to addressing their accusations of racketeering was unacceptable.

There was (and is) no covert operation going on with the business of the Aphilliates; and yet the Aphilliates were treated as if they were public enemy number one.

I am explicitly clear that the music entertainment power structure has a very serious problem with people of Color making profits, on their terms, off a multi-billon dollar international industry that they created. Hip-Hop.

I am also clear that since the founding of Ameri-KKK-a, this type of state sanctioned racist and sexist treatment towards men and women of Color happens every single minute of every single day. Unfounded police raids are nothing new to countless communities of Color across this country.

So while we debate and discuss the legalities of mixtapes and the long term impact of what the January 16, 2007 raid of the Aphiliates studio will mean, we must not ever forget that innocent people were terrorized and incarcerated in the name of protecting the Recording Industry Association of America.

Aishah Shahidah Simmons is a Black feminist lesbian documentary filmmaker and social activist who recently completed the award-winning documentary NO!, which unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence, and healing in African-American communities.

www.NOtheRapeDocumentary.org
www.myspace.com/afrolez