Check out the Urban Media episode featuring my homey Young Sim! There’s a brief cameo by yours truly. Mad love and respect to the Urban Media Show and Young Sim and the whole Feel Good Music Coalition! Be sure and subscribe to Urban Media on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/UrbanMediaShow
Here is a really interesting article about electronic artist Kaskade in the NY Times. It’s interesting to me because he’s LDS like me, and he went to BYU, like me. It’s also very interesting he felt very out of place at BYU, like me. And he left BYU in part for that reason, like me (I moved to Arizona and went to ASU). Now that I’m back in Utah, I think BYU has changed a bit. There’s quite a few electronic and hip hop heads at BYU now. But because we’re both old cats and attended BYU back in the day, urban music was pretty wacky stuff for the folks here in the mountains of Utah back then. It’s very interesting because he has survived in a drug-filled industry while still maintaining his morals. Now that to me is AWESOME. Myself and other LDS artists like Shawn Phillips have always tried to walk that line of maintaining our values, while at the same time thriving in an urban music culture that promotes behaviors that conflict with our values. That is just amazing and I give mad props to Kaskade for maintaining his moral standards, regardless of the nay-sayers on both sides of the fence. That’s mad inspiring.
Perhaps the most fascinating part is that he attributes his success to the general rise of electronic music, which is in part because of “hip hop fatigue”. I have lamented here on my blog before about how “Hip Hop is Boring Me” and “Has the Demise of Hip Hop Actually Arrived” but this is fascinating because it seems to be a nation-wide epidemic. Hip hop is played out. I have talked to several friends in the past month who used to produce or MC and all of them have fallen out of love with hip hop. I dunno what it is– there’s just nothing new that really gets you excited anymore with hip hop. And it’s true with me too. I listen to more electronic music now than hip hop! What is it?? What’s wrong with hip hop??? Anyone?? Anyone?? Bueller?? Bueller??
America has some serious problems that have affected, and will continue to affect the entire world. We all are going to have to make a choice. We largely agree on the problems. But we are being presented 2 different choices to solve these problems. Do we want to completely alter our entire system of government to solve these problems? Or do we want to return to the principles that founded our current system of government to solve these problems? History has shown us the results of each choice, yet that choice still remains before us to make. In the upcoming months and years, you will be forced to make a decision as to what side you’re on. I’ve already made my decision.
This track talks about how music, and especially the genre of hip hop, has become such a cesspool of filth through degenerative behavior and language that it becomes barely tolerant. Especially because the filth and negativity is so widely consumed by children and young people. It has a detrimental effect on our society, and the societies of other countries as well, for generations. Somebody has to take a stand and go against the current, and try to re-direct the ship from going over the waterfall. That somebody has to be me and you. Listen and download below. Please share.
The concept behind this track is that liberal ideologies were born out of the idea that oppression is institutionalized into our American society. Well, since these ideologies have become so widespread, the reverse has actually happened. Liberalism is now embedded into every facet of American society that every institution bares the framework of a liberal ideology. Even to the point that radicals who were determined to overthrow America’s constitutional framework 40 years ago now hold key positions in the US government. How did this happen? The media. So in the 2nd verse, you will hear my take on the media and its role in shaping our society, even down to the effects it has within the walls of our own homes.
So I took a sample from a book on radicalism and applied it to radicalism. Now conservatives have taken the role of being the underdog and the oppressed. But the difference is that history and human nature side with conservatives. Socialism and communism have failed every time, and will continue to fail. They are at direct odds with human nature. Hence the title “Subversion.”
Oh yeah- and the best part is… THIS IS A FREE DOWNLOAD!!!!
Well, after a short-lived website re-design, I’ve resurrected my blog. I just have too much to say to be silent. Plus frequent blog posts make me look like I’m an active artist doing tons of things (which I’m…. kind of…. not…. sometimes… maybe). So anyways- hope to hear your comments on some of the upcoming posts I have planned! Warning: there will be a lot of political content on here!
