The question is, whodunit? And why?
To backtrack, I came up with the question while taking some survey. The questionnaire asked "How many hours a week do you spend watching television?" and gave a list of answers, like "15 to 20 hours", et cetera. At any rate, my answer was well short of that; as of the fall, with the NFL season in full swing, I watch a game or two on sunday, and that's pretty much it, so my answer was 6 to 8 hours. That may not sound like much, but this is arguably the time of year that I watch the most... I'm into football the most out of all sports, as you don't have to search around for the games, and you don't have to have cable to get them; (for the most part) you can just turn to Fox every Sunday afternoon, order some food, and the next seven or so hours of your life are set. Good times.
But when it comes to any other time of the year, I normally don't even bother. I'll watch the sunday afternoon basketball game on NBC in the winter and early spring, but that will be it. Baseball season is even worse, I get my fill of baseball in an hour of SportCenter a week. I'll also throw in the occasional episode of Family Guy every now and then. In the past (years ago) I would have been keeping up to date with music via MTV or BET, but those networks don't even show music videos; 106 and Park doesn't count, as I just...refuse to watch it anymore. I'm not one of those "I'm too busy to watch TV" type of people (or else I probably wouldn't do this blog), or the "I'm too cool for normal entertainment" type either. In fact, I get plenty of entertainment, whether it's watching the news, a music video, an episode of The Office, a trailer for a movie to come out, or celebrity breakdown caught on tape. Only I do it through the Internet, free of commercial breaks* and home to all the porn I could ever need.
So I suppose that answers the first question at hand; the Internet killed the video star, that's for sure. But now for the "why?" In my opinion, television died with it's eyes open, because it definitely deserved that isht. There are striking parallels between the decline in music (especially hip-hop) and the decline in quality television. It all stems from some corporate executive guy (or woman; Ask a Robot is an equal opportunity site) that decided that they can get people to accept anything, provided they shove it down the viewers/listeners throats. And that's what happened; just as skilled rappers and singers slowly lost their relevance to people with tawdry affairs, perfect features and media circus lifestyles instead of talent, TV shows with substance and quality writing lost their footing in the tidal wave of reality television shows. As descendants of the Real World, all of these shows adopt mantra; force people with contrasting lifestyles (there's always one gay guy or lesbian) and backgrounds (there's always one Black or Hispanic person) to be together in front of a camera, and just let the sparks fly. I remember hearing, I believe in 9th or 10th grade, that there would be one hundred reality shows on at any given time in the next 5 years. That was actually seven or six years ago, but it totally came true; do me a favor, and scroll through the channels at any given point in the day; you'll find at least fifteen RS's. This flooding of the market with reality shows with little to no actual depth (see: Amish in the City) was quite successful for a while, and the best thing about it? No need to pay actors every week; granted, there's always some $100,000 prize at the end for someone, which seems like a lot of money to your regular Joe (or Jane) Schmo, but in comparison to what they would have to pay ANY normal actor? A small sacrifice (The entire cast of Friends, in their last season, made $1,000,000 per episode. [I know it was an iconic show, and had longevity and all that, but even shows that have only proven to be a hit for one season have to jack up the salaries of the main players]). No need to hire writers to create dialogue; just let them have at it in front of the camera. The best part is, that "grand prize" only has to go to one person; the rest of the people, no matter how entertaining, don't get anything. A brilliant money making scheme, but there was only one problem; people started to get sick of it.
I have done absolutely no research on this subject, but I estimate that television viewing is at an all time low. Its like that era in pop music, like the late 90s, early 2000s, when people no one had ever heard of mysteriously went triple platinum off the strength of one or two singles. That also worked for a while, until the whole P2P file sharing thing came about. Then you could really decide what kind of music you want, without having to shell out 17 bones to have the one song you actually liked and another hour worth of music you never listen to again. Now, if you're an artist, you're lucky to go platinum at all; and don't come with any BS, lest you pull a MIMS. The point is, the internet puts the control back with the viewer; I don't have to find shows to occupy my boring Friday night in, I can just look at archival episodes of shows on hulu or dailymotion; or watch another internets celebrity making an ass out of themselves (for free!) in a viral video. And, seriously, all the porn I could ever need. It's ridiculous, the sheer amount of porn available. Just when I thought the state of TV couldn't get any worse, apparently the government is forcing people to buy brand new digital televisions, as if we aren't in a recession, or people have actually seen digital TV. I figure to hell with that, I'll just stick with my 17-inch (nhjic); after all, I do have TrueColor. Like I said, TV is dead. Or at least brain dead.
*The asterisk is for those annoying banner ads you can't close out that make a crapload of noise, like the smileys that say "Hello?!?!" or the one woman who, for whatever reason, sounds like she's talking via the drive-thru window at Burger King to tell you you've won something. God I hate those.
Television is Dead.
R. Kelly Speaks
First of all, it's good to be back. I would have posted sooner, but stupid Blogger kept saying autosave while I was writing a post; come to find out, nothing was saved, and I lost inspiration, as I had a really good post in mind. It's a moot point now, and I'm sure I'll end up writing about it later. But now for the story at hand.
R. Kelly, in his first (and apparently only) interview about his child pornography case, finally "addressed" the sex tape from 2002. I use the term very loosely, as it didn't seem to answer any of the questions I really wanted answers to. To be honest, back when I heard about the tape in 10th grade, I didn't really believe in his innocence; I mean, this is a guy that married Aaliyah, his old protege, when she was 15 years old...I found it kind of surprising that there was no kind of prosecution then. Granted, it was annulled soon after, as Aaliyah lied about her age in order to get married, but R. Kelly knew for a fact that she wasn't 18, because he had known her for three years prior. Another thing; he honestly expected us to believe that someone who looked like him, made this sex tape, and said he was R. Kelly in order to frame him or whatever happened. I suppose the only thing worse is that people (i.e. the jury) actually did believe him. I mean, celebrities have all sorts of fake porn, where it's just a look alike, but they use a celeb's name to hook people into watching it like Paris Hilton- oh, right. Well, what about Kim Kard-...damnit this isn't helping my case. The point is, fake crap like this happens literally all the time, but this is the first time it's become so famous. Strange coincidence. Another strange coincidence is that the girl who served as Robert's urinal just happens to be the niece of Sparkle. Sparkle, an R&B singer, was yet another protege of Kells, who I'm convinced he piped while she was a teenager. The part of the interview that stuck out to me is when Toure brings up that R. Kelly's brother Kerry, and his manager both expressed concern that the Pied Piper (who ironically is also the weirdo of lore who left town with a bunch of kids) was into really young girls:
Toure - …but your brother Kerry...was not.. fired, he’s still your brother.
Kells - Yeah, he was fired.
Toure - Yeah..um, but he’s still your brother.
Kells - Doesn’t matter. He still my brother, but if he was still my brother why did he get fired?
First off, smh at R. Kelly being too stupid to understand what Toure was talking about. But it brings up an interesting point; if my brother fired me or whatever, I might call him a snake, but I sure as hell am not gonna call him a child molester just because I'm upset...gonna be hard to ask him to pass the peas at Thanksgiving after something like that. But then again, R. Kelly already tried to throw Carey under the bus by implicating that he was the guy from the tape, so I'm assuming all bridges are burned by now. At another point, Toure explicitly asks whether or not R. Kelly is into teenagers, and he couldn't say no. I'm not going to convince anyone that R. Kelly is innocent or guilty (HE didn't even say whether or not he's innocent or guilty) but I think we can all agree that he deserves to be in jail, if for nothing else, at least for those 22 chapters of Trapped in the Closet. You can watch the interview here, courtesy of RealTalkNY.
Maintenance
I want to take this time to address those damn ads on the site. I know in general people get paid to provide advertising on websites or in television programs, but I haven't seen a cent. Granted, I did get to use the template for free; but I know this Mukka Mu person isn't in cahoots(sp?) with Lasik eye surgery, or whatever widget bucks means, and neither is Blogger.com, since my friend has a site with no commercial breaks. And yes, I'm aware that the three or four people who actually even read this blog aren't going to get Lasik, especially not through this website. But I'm entitled to some money, damnit! If not, I'm getting rid of the ads permanently...now if anyone actually knows how to do that, I'm all ears, because I have no clue.
Fear and Loathing in South Miami
Fear is the path to the dark side.
Yoda's quote never rang more true for me than two years ago in South Miami. One day I was walking (admittedly at a time and place that's less than desirable) from the metro rail to my friend's apartment. At any rate, there's this guy in front of me, also walking in this poorly lit area. We're heading in the same direction, but he has a brisk pace, as I am, because like I mentioned this is not the time and place for a leisurely stroll. All of a sudden, he kind of slows up, not something I paid much attention to, but I keep up my pace. As I'm about to pass him on the sidewalk, he spins around all of a sudden and pulls a knife on me. I don't really have time to react other than putting my hands up. Just as quickly, he lets out a sigh of relief, and says "I thought you were someone else." Not exactly wanting to ask this nutjob why he was just randomly carrying a knife, or wait for whoever I was "supposed" to be to show up, I just walked ahead of him and got the hell out of there. By the next day, I pretty much forgot all about it.
The reason I thought about this now is another event, this one happened the other day. It's late at night, and I'm in need of a taxi. I didn't really feel like calling one and waiting forever, so when I saw a taxi just randomly driving, I sort of run after it. The taxi picks up speed for a little while, which pissed me off. The taxi finally slows down, and rolls down the window a crack. The driver (a woman) just starts grilling me, and I'm there sort of like, "Are you gonna give me a ride or what?" She explained afterward how she doesn't usually pick up people at that time of night in this specific part of town.
Fear is the most dangerous emotion. It makes people do things they would never normally do, out of desperation. It puts you on the verge of stabbing some random pedestrian, or driving off on someone who needs your help. It's why cops shoot at a guy for holding a cell phone, or eating a pear. I had considered getting a burner myself, for "protection." As it turns out, what I really wanted the gun for was my own fear. People claim that they aren't afraid of anything, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Everyone has something to lose, and if not, you probably don't need a gun. We all are also afraid of encountering something we don't understand. Imagine if I actually had a gun that night, walking in South Miami; it would have been a much scarier situation for the both of us. And for no reason other than fear, one man with a gun and another with a knife, who both just wanted to get home, would have been thrust into a life or death situation they weren't anticipating. I don't relish the thought of possibly shooting someone for no reason, and would take less pleasure in getting stabbed when I'm just trying to go to sleep. The track "Thieves in the Night" by Blackstar sort of threw things into perspective for me. Although I consider Kweli and Mos two of the best MCs right now, I admit that I haven't bought any of their albums. They are known for dropping gems though, and this track spoke to me, particularly Dante's. I've long since the knife incident decided not to get the gun; I suppose the money would be better used supporting people who make music like this.
Currently listening to:
"Thieves in the Night" from
Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star
Black Star
I want to be famous! So I went on YouTube!!!
...This is NOT me.
I wanted to make that crystal clear, before the Grand Ole Party comes a-gunnin' for me.
This guy Kevin (aka Draft Pick), who is wise not to mention his last name, went on YouTube approximately five days ago, claiming to be the father of Bristol Palin's unborn child. If you listen to the video, there's more loopholes in his story than songs on his Myspace page, which he conveniently shouts out repeatedly in the video. What's really surprising is how many people are just eating up this story. As a matter of fact, I pointed out one of many inconsistencies, and someone went as far as to say "Clean your wax infested ears and listen again, carefully." Ouch. It just goes to show how much people believe in this. I mean, any jackass can make a video on YouTube, take this for example. And people lie on the internet via the Tube all the time; the lonelygirl15 chronicles come to mind right now, or this Zelda movie that is (not) coming out. But I digress. The only reason for this is clearly so this guy can spread the word about his questionable music, and it's working so far (150,000+ YouTube views). But for his sake, he'd better know more about the law than he does music; I'm no law student, but I believe this could qualify as slander, as he is essentially calling Sarah Palin a liar and a racist. I hope that he blows up before this story does. To show my support for DP, I'm posting a link to his Myspace myself... three times. OK, four.
Remember, Remember, the Month of September...
Yes, I completely changed the rhyme about the Gunpowder Treason (what?) and Guy Fawkes (who?) for my own selfish purposes. Big whoop, wanna fight about it? Anyway, I came up with a plan of highlighting important points in hip-hop music history. I started off on a whim, but it is surprising how much happened this month. I may end up doing this every month, but we'll see if i feel like doing this much research in October.
Eazy-E debuts with Eazy-Duz-It on September 16, 1988, helping put the West Coast's gangsta rap in the mainstream, along with N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton, which was released a month prior.
-Big Daddy Kane releases It's a Big Daddy Thing, his most critically and commercially well-received album on September 15, 1989. Coincidentally, Big Daddy Kane and partner Kool G Rap from the Juice Crew were main influences on Jay-Z.
-Fellow Five Percenters of A Tribe Called Quest release Low End Theory on September 24th 1991, which ranks among the most highly praised rap albums of the early 1990s. Incidentally, Nirvana's Nevermind and Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik are also released on same day.
-Lawrence Parker, also known as KRS-One, releases his first solo album, Return of the Boom Bap, on September 28, 1993. KRS worked heavily with DJ Premier on the album, which is best-known for "Sound of Da Police."
-Ready to Die, the Notorious B.I.G.'s first album, is released September 13, 1994. The album is one of the first East Coast rap CDs to achieve pop status through hardcore rap, and signified the return of the crown to New York. Ready to Die sold over four million copies. Two years, to the day after this album was released...
-Tupac dies. After being shot five times in his chest, hand, and leg, Tupac was in critical condition for nearly five-and-a-half days. He ultimately died in the University Medical Center in Las Vegas on September 13, 1996. Suge Knight is sentenced to nine years for his involvement in a fight earlier that evening that led to the shooting, effectively ending Death Row Records.
-OutKast takes Atlanta-based music to a new level with their critically acclaimed Aquemini album, released September 29, 1998. The album uses a variety of different elements, such as spoken word, reggae-influenced horns, rock 'n roll guitar, and George Clinton-inspired funk.
-Jay-Z, who released The Blueprint on September 11, 2001; this is arguably Jay-Z's best commercial and critically successful album. The original release date was apparently supposed to be the 18th, but Hov decided to push it up to prevent advanced leaking. The terrorist attacks ended up heavily overshadowing Blueprint, but it still ended up multi-platinum.
-Speakerboxx/The Love Below, a double disc album from OutKast, hits stores on September 23rd, 2003. The album dispelled rumors of the groups break-up, and experimented with different musical genres to great success, selling over 11 million units (5.5 million double discs), making it one of three rap albums to do so... the other two are Life After Death and... Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em. It pains me to say it.
-Kanye West drops his Graduation album on September 11, 2007. 50 Cent's Curtis does the same, and the two have a contest to see which of them will sell the most albums in the first week. I'm not sure if it's the fact that people just didn't want Fiddy to win, or if they finally figured out that Get Rich or Die Tryin' was a one time thing; either way, Kanye wins by a landslide.
There are a few "Honorable Mention" events, like the murder of Scott La Rock (August 27, 1987), Snoop's arrest for murder (August 25, 1993), and Aaliyah's death (August 25, 2001), which occurred at the end of August. But they're important, and I hadn't thought to do this in August, so I'll mention them anyway.
The Best Video Ever
Today I'm going to take a break from the politics, despite there being so much i could have written about from this weekend. I personally get sick of everyone always having something to say about it, so instead I'm going to focus on what really matters; YouTube videos. Enjoy!