24
I'm now as close to 30 as I am to 18. Yikes. Technically, I'm still in my early 20s, but frankly it's more like mid-20s- and there's not much tolerance for not having my life all sown together. Still, I'm getting there.
I've mentioned this pretty much everywhere- but I have now been alive longer than Ian Curtis. Even though I think Joy Division are a bit overrated (then again, sometimes I change my mind on bands- see The Cure, The Postal Service and Shai Hulud among others that I was foolish enough not to initially like...)- I still can appreciate the fact that "Love will tear us apart" and "Ceremony" (although the latter was actually recorded by New Order) are pheonomonal songs and even more impressive considering they were written by a guy who was dead by age 23.
Speaking of which, I can't think of any good song lyrics about being 24. There are two great songs I can think of for age 23- both of which in some way applied to me:
"Uninspired and growing tired, why am I always so attracted to drama? So here I am grown up at 23, will someone tell me what it takes to be happy."- The Ataris "Giving up on love"
"When youre 16, you dont know what forever means.
When you are 23, you couldnt be more sorry to say
that after all this growing up together
all the good has gone away."
- Modern Life is War, "I'm not ready"
Tonight, I'm going out to Hackney's (733 S. Dearbon) with various people around 5:45-6ish for after work drinks and probably dinner. One of them could even be you.
Last night, I went to see Psalm One and Ang13 perform at HotHouse as part of Columbia College's second Annual Women in Hip-hop program. Afterwards there was a panel discussion. It's my experience that these things tend to be pretty well-meaning, but preaching to the choir- in this instance, though, it seemed different. (More behind the cut)
Psalm is both a college-educated former chemist and was born and raised in Englewood (currently the most notorious neighborhood in Chicago for violent crime) and I think her album (Death of Frequent Flyer) was actually everything Rhymefest's album was SUPPOSED to be. It attracted a refreshingly diverse crowd and Psalm and Ang had a lot of great things to say about being women in hip-hop struggling against all the bullshit that comes with that. It got me thinking again about that fine line between sexual empowerment and freedom and sexual exploitation and where it should be drawn. I think something Unmuvoba (one of Ang13's cohorts) said about a woman should have the right to make that choice rather than be forced to sexualize herself to succeed is probably the best way to look at it.
Ang13 and Unmovuba are starting the Wonda Women Project with the goal of showing that women don't need to sell their sexuality to sell records and that the gender of the MC shouldn't matter and the same rules should apply. It's a long overdue thing in hip-hop (or frankly music in general) I think.
I think the fact that PsalmOne can hold her own at a panel discussion, as well hold her own on a huge indie label filled with men (Rhymesayers) and tour the world with Del Tha Funkee Homosapien along with her talent as an MC which doesn't know gender boundaries makes me think she's got a shot at being at least as big as Lupe Fiasco and Rhymefest are- and she deserves it. She stays true to her roots, but writes about Englewood in a way that can make it understandable to someone who never knew that type of upbringing. She writes silly dance party tracks, but still fills a notepad with socially conscious songs and poignantly personal songs. I'm not trying to claim solidarity- I'm not from a poor neighborhood, I'm not black, I'm not a woman and I was not raised on hip-hop culture- but I dig her message. I was thinking about making this all a bit more coherent and sending her a MySpace message. Because I ran into her briefly and pretty much just got out a "Thank you, keep doing what you're doing".
As far as just the music went- it was great to see her in such a small, intimate setting (I was about an arm's length from the stage dancing)- unfortunately her set got cut short- but she ended with "Rapper girls" which seemed to embody the themes of the night and also what she's about so it was a fitting ending.
I don't want to paint myself as a feminist, I agree with a fair amount of the stuff they're about- but I think I'm too flawed to fit in. I think it's kind of disingenious to pretend that I'm more than just a straight male with a sex drive who happens to respect women and thinks they should be equal but isn't ready to feel guilty constantly (I tried that already) or convince myself that I'm "a nice guy" (tried that, too). I could obviously elaborate on this, but I think I've said too much already.
As usual, I've been up to various shit- more than I can write about while tired on a week night. Now I shall go to bed so I can stay awake for my birthday.
I've mentioned this pretty much everywhere- but I have now been alive longer than Ian Curtis. Even though I think Joy Division are a bit overrated (then again, sometimes I change my mind on bands- see The Cure, The Postal Service and Shai Hulud among others that I was foolish enough not to initially like...)- I still can appreciate the fact that "Love will tear us apart" and "Ceremony" (although the latter was actually recorded by New Order) are pheonomonal songs and even more impressive considering they were written by a guy who was dead by age 23.
Speaking of which, I can't think of any good song lyrics about being 24. There are two great songs I can think of for age 23- both of which in some way applied to me:
"Uninspired and growing tired, why am I always so attracted to drama? So here I am grown up at 23, will someone tell me what it takes to be happy."- The Ataris "Giving up on love"
"When youre 16, you dont know what forever means.
When you are 23, you couldnt be more sorry to say
that after all this growing up together
all the good has gone away."
- Modern Life is War, "I'm not ready"
Tonight, I'm going out to Hackney's (733 S. Dearbon) with various people around 5:45-6ish for after work drinks and probably dinner. One of them could even be you.
Last night, I went to see Psalm One and Ang13 perform at HotHouse as part of Columbia College's second Annual Women in Hip-hop program. Afterwards there was a panel discussion. It's my experience that these things tend to be pretty well-meaning, but preaching to the choir- in this instance, though, it seemed different. (More behind the cut)
Psalm is both a college-educated former chemist and was born and raised in Englewood (currently the most notorious neighborhood in Chicago for violent crime) and I think her album (Death of Frequent Flyer) was actually everything Rhymefest's album was SUPPOSED to be. It attracted a refreshingly diverse crowd and Psalm and Ang had a lot of great things to say about being women in hip-hop struggling against all the bullshit that comes with that. It got me thinking again about that fine line between sexual empowerment and freedom and sexual exploitation and where it should be drawn. I think something Unmuvoba (one of Ang13's cohorts) said about a woman should have the right to make that choice rather than be forced to sexualize herself to succeed is probably the best way to look at it.
Ang13 and Unmovuba are starting the Wonda Women Project with the goal of showing that women don't need to sell their sexuality to sell records and that the gender of the MC shouldn't matter and the same rules should apply. It's a long overdue thing in hip-hop (or frankly music in general) I think.
I think the fact that PsalmOne can hold her own at a panel discussion, as well hold her own on a huge indie label filled with men (Rhymesayers) and tour the world with Del Tha Funkee Homosapien along with her talent as an MC which doesn't know gender boundaries makes me think she's got a shot at being at least as big as Lupe Fiasco and Rhymefest are- and she deserves it. She stays true to her roots, but writes about Englewood in a way that can make it understandable to someone who never knew that type of upbringing. She writes silly dance party tracks, but still fills a notepad with socially conscious songs and poignantly personal songs. I'm not trying to claim solidarity- I'm not from a poor neighborhood, I'm not black, I'm not a woman and I was not raised on hip-hop culture- but I dig her message. I was thinking about making this all a bit more coherent and sending her a MySpace message. Because I ran into her briefly and pretty much just got out a "Thank you, keep doing what you're doing".
As far as just the music went- it was great to see her in such a small, intimate setting (I was about an arm's length from the stage dancing)- unfortunately her set got cut short- but she ended with "Rapper girls" which seemed to embody the themes of the night and also what she's about so it was a fitting ending.
I don't want to paint myself as a feminist, I agree with a fair amount of the stuff they're about- but I think I'm too flawed to fit in. I think it's kind of disingenious to pretend that I'm more than just a straight male with a sex drive who happens to respect women and thinks they should be equal but isn't ready to feel guilty constantly (I tried that already) or convince myself that I'm "a nice guy" (tried that, too). I could obviously elaborate on this, but I think I've said too much already.
As usual, I've been up to various shit- more than I can write about while tired on a week night. Now I shall go to bed so I can stay awake for my birthday.