Holler if you hear me!
Sports Fans (no diss to my friends)
If you know a sports fanatic, you probably know their romantic life is dismal. Who needs a relationship when you have football in the fall, baseball in the summer, and basketball in the winter and early spring? There is really no time for companionship during the off-season either, with trades, training, and contract signing to keep up with and all.
I guess sports fans don’t need some of the “benefits” of a relationship when they get “release” and “catharsis” by someone else’s scoring on the field.
Well, it looks like the New Orleans Saint’s knew “the only thing” David J. LeBlanc Jr. was after. When they didn’t give it to him via losing to the Dallas Cowboys last winter, LeBlanc’s sexual frustration lead him to steal a baby calf from nearby Red Bluff dairy farm and beat it to death with a shovel.
Fortunately state Judge Martin Coady gave David J. LeBlanc Jr. a 5-year prison sentence because “Leblanc used a dangerous weapon to cause a painful death of a defenseless animal.”
Read full story here
What IP Law Does Not See
I am from Houston, Texas. Many people say Houston is boring because it is a city with sky-scrapers from the 1970’s and the rest of it is comprised of urban sprawl. While this is partially true, Houston has a very rich and unappreciated rap music culture.
With the inception of Rap-A-Lot Records, by J. Prince in 1986, Houston became part of the Hip Hop movement taking off on the east-coast. Rap-A-Lot had many influential artists including the Geto Boys, Ganksta N-I-P, Big Mike, and a childhood favorite Blac Monks. The Geto Boys, comprised of Bushwick Bill, Willie D, and Scarface put the south on the map with their song “My Mind Is Playing Tricks on Me,” a song which samples Isaac Hayes’ “Hung Up On My Baby.”
It is no secret that hip hop/rap artists sample other artist’s music. What I find interesting is the sampling taking place that only rap connoisseurs are able to notice, more specifically, rappers sampling other rapper’s lines, hooks, and melodies and subtly placing them in their own songs. To a music proletarian, whose iTunes playlist probably consists of Lady Gaga, The Dave Matthews Band, and Jay Z, a rapper sampling another’s work would sound like a lack of creativity and a dishonest way of earning money. Further, an intellectual property law expert may feel that the original work should remain the property of the original artist. Well, in the south we still feel like imitation is still the sincerest form of flattery.
Robert Earl Davis, Jr. also known as DJ Screw was a music pioneer from Houston, Texas and legendary founder of the Screwed Up Click. DJ Screw is known for chopping and screwing popular and underground rap songs and putting the songs on mix tapes. Chopping and screwing music consists of substantially slowing down the tempo of a song and scratching parts of the song (bringing back a good line a few times). Take this classic (please click hyperlink). Intellectual property experts and music critics would say DJ Screw was simply taking other artist’s music, altering it minimally, and then re-releasing it for a profit. These “experts” do not understand the “rap game.” Mix tapes are how rap artists promote their music. The punk rock world similarly has “compilations” and “splits.” Further, if DJ Screw screwed and chopped a song, it was the highest compliment a rapper could receive. Put another way, it would be as if I Tweeted a joke, Jerry Seinfeld read it, and then re-Tweeted it. DJ Screw has profoundly influenced mainstream rap culture in a variety of ways. He still gets respect in current mainstream songs (see time 1:24). Drake adopted DJ Screw’s chopped and screwed style in the November 18 song. T Pain and Ludacris even adopted a new meaning for chopped and screwed, with their song called Chopped N Screwed.
DJ Screw died November 16, 2000, but he still continues to influence the “rap game.” Many southern rappers have died, but they live through sampling of their music. Sampling exists to promote and give immortality to fellow rappers. In the song Top Notch, Z-RO sampled, the International Player’s Anthem, a song by the recently deceased Pimp C, of U.G.K (who sampled Willie Hutch’s I Choose You). In the song Swang, Trae sampled Houston rap legend, Fat Pat’s song Swang Down. In the recently released album Trill OG, Bun B sampled a Tupac verse, a Pimp C verse, and Bun B opened his verse with a Snoop Dog line in the song Right Now. In the song I Run, Slim Thug samples A Flock of Seagulls 80’s classic I Ran. In I Run, Slim Thug also references a Young Jeezy line from the song I Put On For My City. And, for the ultra-rap-connoisseur Z-RO has been sampling his older songs for material for his newer songs. Here, in the MO City Don Freestyle, he references his older song Crooked Officer.
Summer Interns (Guest Blog by Veritas)
WASHINGTON, DC – Our nation’s capital, and what many call the capital of the free world. It was hubris alone that allowed our forefathers to believe that they could build a beautiful city on top of a swamp. They succeeded. Washington, D.C. is truly unique city. It is not a state; we pay taxes but are not represented in Congress, are hours away from New York but not quite part of the East Coast, minutes from Virginia but not considered the South. Despite all that, the city thrives with it’s own culture, food, and even music (go-go anyone?) Even with so much success, D.C. remains under constant threat.
The greatest threat to our fair city [I apologize in advance to those who consider D.C. the nation’s city but I do continue to encourage citizens to visit] is not financial reform, health care, the budget, or terrorists. Rather it is the guests that invade Washington every year without fail – summer interns. There is a saying that says if you want beautiful people, go to L.A.; if you want the money, go to New York; but if you want the power, you need to be in D.C. Many people come to the city chasing power. I’ve lived here for about three years and think I can give an accurate list of those people chasing power. A breakdown of those people who come to the city chasing the almighty power is as follows. Ranked form those whose priority is from lowest to greatest:
- All the ‘other’ workers in D.C. (non-government related jobs)
- Government related jobs
- Government jobs
- Hill Staffers, White House Staffers, Think Tanks, etc,
- Members of Congress, White House, Department positions, etc
- Summer Interns
It may be helpful to explain what I mean when I say, ‘power.’ I mean, simply, those who want to say that they matter. D.C. is full of people who want to be relevant but simple rules of society state that not everyone can be important; it is just not possible. It is also important to point out that this only applies to those people who want to play this DC power game (because most who live here do not want to play it).
I have friends who fall in to all of these categories in their work: department heads at the Smithsonian, Hill staffers, associates at Booz Allen, librarians, production assistants at network news, sub-contractors for Homeland Security, and bartenders. The difference between these people and the rest is that they aren’t chasing this power. They do not exist in the fantasy world that has been created in D.C.
Summer interns come to this city not only to chase power, which they will never possess, but also to live the illusion of the city they have created. The evolution of an intern is a quick one:
- Prior to arriving in Washington they tell all their friends how great of an internship they have
- Week one: the intern arrives to their assigned office very timid. He/she resembles a puppy that has been abused and is weary of it’s new masters.
- Week two: the intern has bonded with other interns and their social network has been created. The group is now loud and wants to do more than “just file.”
- Week three and on: the intern now knows where to eat in order to see members of Congress (The Monocle), where the best bars are at (Adams Morgan), and the best rooftop bar scene (The W Washington), and the bar where all the other DC interns hang out (Tortilla Coast). Note: Readers of this blog, please avoid all these places.
- Post Internship: return home and tell everyone how you LOVE Washington and can’t wait to get back.
An intern now has the audacity to tell you where you should have been out last weekend and what restaurant you have to try. All these will undoubtedly be whatever they read in the Post yesterday. [A quick example: I was at a dinner yesterday with two interns tagging along. Intern A laughed at his counterpart for ordering beer at dinner like a child. Intern B, on the other hand, ordered whisky on the rocks because it is “what lawyers drink.”] And here is what the problem with the summer intern is. They come to a city they have no clue about and attempt to assume control of it. This is nothing less than phenomena. Does this happen in any other city? No. I wish I could offer an answer as to why this happens in the city I now live in but remain dumbfounded.
So to all visiting interns this season: please, walk left, stand right, stop being so loud, I don’t care where the best brunch is, and yes, I have been to the 9:30 club but didn’t get my tickets off of craigslist like you. Oh, and thanks for making those copies for me.
Enjoy your summer!
Moving
People who talk about gentrification are gentrifiers. Whats makes you think because you ride a shitty vintage bike and wear a fedora, that you can talk down on college kids moving into a neighborhood that you already fucked up.
You people should move into a less “hip” neighborhood and try to urbanize it a little.
In Class Blog Post
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-05-18-big-green-and-little-green-clash-over-the-american-power-act
Right now I’m in an externship class. Very EPA, DC-centric focused. Although I can’t really tell what side we are all on anymore. When talking about the Clean Water Act, a student did mention that his trout fishing trip was disrupted because the water turbidity was high. I guess that’s a reason to be concerned and talk about global warming a lot. But last I heard fish were a necessary part of ecosystems too.
What am not sure everyone understands is that the regulations all these kids want to help write and edit are the exact same regulations addressing their irresponsible lifestyles and daily habits. If everyone just did their part we wouldn’t have to do so much worthless macro planning and legislation. By the way I have never heard so many acronyms in 1 hour as I have heard here :EPA, CIRCLA,CWA, NUQUA, etc etc. I am going to add one: JDYP–> just do your part.
Please read the article I posted above and leave a comment. Not sure what the strategy should be.
