Streets is watchin', Wayne. Just thought you oughta know. There's other southern hip hop heads out there who like Nirvana and alt hip hop too, not just you. :) Production even sounds very close to the original, even though the two tracks are credited to two different producers. (Dan the Automator and Swizz Beatz, respectively, so this could get really interesting.)
END POST (Just adding this because this stupid code keeps putting "continue reading" at the end of every post, whether I want it to or not.)
I can't say enough about Deon Cole. Mark my words, this guy is going to be HUGE in the future. Just like way back when, when I was watching Dave Chappelle and thinking, "This guy's funny as hell; he's going to be a big star someday," I can see that Deon Cole is going to be huge.
There's a certain genius in his bits too. Let's be honest, a lot of times really intelligent black comedians have a very hard time getting over with black audiences. Unless you're telling booty jokes or talking about somebody's momma's nappy hair, a lot of times black audiences will give you the cold shoulder. ("Black Thai." Haha!!!) So the way he uses his notebook to denote the jokes that aren't working is a way to use intelligent humor for those who get it, and still poke fun at it for those who don't.
His delivery brings to mind alternative comics like Steven Wright and Mitch Hedburg. (R.I.P.-- I was waiting for Mitch to become "The Future", but he died first. Too soon, too soon. He was destined for great things. A true genius.)
Plus, really smart black comedy is just a breath of fresh air, you know. I'm tired of comedians pandering to the basest instincts. I don't knock them for it, because i've seen what happens when black comedians try intelligent humor. (They get slaughtered on The Apollo. Comedians in general get slaughtered there, but intelligent comics get massacred.) Which is ironic considering this's the place that exposed us to people like Redd Foxx and Paul Mooney, but that's a whole 'nother blog post.
Whew, Sai's at it again, venting further about his troubles with Atlantic Records. In a recent MySpace blog post, he complains about being all but ignored by the label.
Some choice quotes:
"I put out 2 songs on Atlantic Records, the first one was called 'Pain in my Life' feat Trey Songz. This song recieved GREAT reviews, massive press and was to set the tone as to who I am and the type of artist I am.. Atlantic Records felt I needed a party song, or a sexual song or something like the other artist they have up there. On one side of the token they're telling me they need to market me to the youth yet they want me to use adult content... They wanted me to tell 12 and 13 year old kids that its cool to be strippers and gangbangers... I live in these communities so I see the power and the effects this music has on our children.. We disagreed and I guess their way of saying fuck me was, they NEVER worked the record at radio.."
"We give them 'Come on Baby' feat Swizz Beatz... And once again, NO radio staff is working it, NO promo tours, not even a fuckin poster or an online banner.. NOTHING.. When it came time to do the video, they gave me 28K.. LOL... 10K more than the measley 18K they gave me for Pain in my Life.. Thats 2 videos for under 50K and this is supposed to break a new artist???... They gave me less than 50K for 2 videos... If you go up to the Atlantic offices their are pictures on the wall of artist you NEVER, EVER, EVER heard of in ya life.. and probably never will... I like to tell myself that the money they were supposed to spend on my project just went to T.I's legal team and court fees...Then I feel they did something good with the money..Haha"
Sometimes I fear for Young Sai's career, because to a certain extent, one has to play politics when dealing with major labels or "The Powers That Be" in general. Sai seems to be unwilling to play the label games. The comments he makes here about the label directly targeting young, (mostly) black kids is a very explosive comment, when you think about it. I hope he knows that many of these label execs have huge rolodexes and maintain contact with one another. (The old "You'll never work in this town again." saw still applies in many cases.) So I hope none of this affects his relationship with the new label.
Which brings us to the good news: He's no longer with Atlantic Records and says he still plans to release "The Greatest Story Never Told" this year, under a new mystery label that will "surprise" everyone.
If I had to guess-- and don't quote me on this-- say hello to the newest member of Def Jam Records (or maybe Jay-Z's rumored new record label), Saigon. No real evidence to back this up, but just a hunch I have.
Give this tennis pro a proper porn-themed name. Here, i'll start you all off. Anna Hornyhova. Think you can do better? Let's hear it. Top entries will be published here.
I'ma eat my words on that one. Plies' "Real Testament" to date, has NOT gone platinum. (Hey, these are predictions, not actual science. I can be wrong here.) He did, however, go Gold, which in today's market is an achievement in and of itself. I failed to factor in the average Plies fan, or at the very least his targeted fanbase. I think Tru Life said it best: "Make songs for the [women], that'll get you on top. Do songs for the thugs, bootleggin' won't stop." Plies' fanbase, so-called "d-boys", "thugs", "goons" or what have you, are a lot more likely to buy a bootleg of his album than the actual item itself. I'm inclined to say his followup will either match or best The Real Testament's success, but i'm not betting on the spending power of "goons" again.
Know I haven't blogged here in quite awhile, but i'm just writing this to let everybody know that MIBS is officially back in business. See, long story short the reason I haven't been blogging much is because I didn't have a dependable online connection. Dial-up was just a pain. And in the between time, my laptop conked out on me. I've since upgraded to Hi-Speed, and fixed my laptop (bought a new motherboard and installed it myself, so yeah, i'm da man!) so now you can expect to see me updating the place more regularly now and into the near future.
