So I posted this about a month ago on the Coachella message board.
Yeah I’m cheatin’ on you, get over it, rah did.
But like any good pusher, I kept somethin’ special for my best customers, and no matter how hard I’m gunna try to keep K’naan an underground sensation he’s about to blow, and homie deserves it. So before the US band wagon forms, get educated.
K’naan [K’naan Warsame)- The Somalan Born rapper has been on a pilgrimage to both; break into the Hip Hop world while staying true to his roots, and tell of the plight of those in Somalia. I first came across K’naan 2 years ago, and mid-last year was reminded of him thans to this Freestyle that appeared on BET 2008 Hip Hop Awards The Cypher … http://hiphopst.blogspot.com/2008/10…8-cyphers.html… K’naan has been performing since 1999, when the Canadian based producer Sol Guy booked him a spoken word performance at the UN. He is now looking to break into the US Hip Hop scene with his sophomore album, Troubadour, this February. Troubadour was mainly recorded in Jamaica at Bob Marley’s home studio, after an invite from his son Damian. Troubadour will feature artist like Damian Marley, Mos Def, and Chubb Rock, all artists that brought K’naan along on tour.
K’naan might not rep the traditional hip hop “hood”, but according to him “If you want to be like, `I’m from the hood. We got it rough. We got gats,’ I think you should know the alternative exists. I’m speaking in the same language of hip-hop which decidedly speaks about rough neighborhoods. So if there is a place for rough neighborhoods, then here comes the Mother of Rough Neighborhoods.”
Peep his myspace here.. http://www.myspace.com/knaanmusic
now my special gift for those who believe in OSH.
K’naan Troubadour Sampler, found this in an African mask shop in Philly.
Hater – (n.) One who either verbally and/or physically inhibits another individual’s game or mode of operation primarily due to jealousy, envy, animosity, bitterness, resentment, and contempt. A hater will exibit either one or all of the aforementioned traits. A hater will usually smile in your face and hate behind your back. We encounter “haters” everyday and dodging those who rain Hateraid can just get tiring. “Haters” thrive when they are able to pull you down to their level, and instead of succeeding themselves relish more in the failure of others. Through the years, I’ve encountered haters from every walk of life, from the jealous drunk dude at the bar, to the ultraconservative still talking about voting for Palin and I found the best way to deal with haters is to follow the lead of our 44th President and just “Smile and Wave.” With that in mind OSH, that’s right Olde School Honour, is dropping our inaugural T-Shirt from our upcoming fashion line. And what better spokes man to show all the haters out there what’s up than our newly inaugurated president. This limited edition 100% Cotton T, was developed, designed and printed on-site in San Diego . With a small press run of 50 shirts as a precursor to the rest of the OSH Line, you may not only be the only person on your block with one of these but you could be the only man in the state with it.
$30 includes your shirt and shipping to the continental US. Sizes are Medium, Large, and Xtra-Larger. Sizes are limited.
So coming up I had alot of nicknames, and alot stemmed from hip-hop Johnny Blaze, John Blaze, John john the Phenomenon, San Diego John and sporadically in the late 90’s and early 00’s, John Forte was a standard too. Until that fateful afternoon in 2001 when the Refugee Allstar himself was just too “Hot” for even his own good. Forte was about to release his follow up to the 1997 debut album Poly Sci, but before the Forte could even get back to The Camp, in Orange, NJ he was stopped and detained at the Newark International Airport. Forte was set to serve fourteen years for possession with intent to distribute about thirty-one pounds of liquid cocaine, worth $1.5 million.
7 years later, and maybe just to prove Kanye wrong, Bush pardoned Forte and reduced his sentence from 14 to 7 years. Forte is set to drop back onto the street on December 22, 2008 just in time for Christmas with the fam. So to get you back up on John before he hits the street I’m back to hit you with a taste of Poly Sci.
But if you forget how Hot Forte was before he fell off, Neglectedsounds has a little post you may wanna check out too.
A’ight its back to the basement to kick it with Santa and Rah, I’m not gunna make ya’ll wait that long again though. So keep checkin’ back for a throwback and the new Freshness in ‘09.
and I hate to say it but it might be alittle scarce for the next few days too.
You see rah and I both are mid finals and though we voe to bring you the freshest, its truly gotta be dope for us to break the schedule and pay it any mind.
that being said this is the crack… http://betamaxmas.com/… you have to check out this site. Just when I thought it was impossible to get into the holiday spirit when its 70 out I found this site.
and if you need alittle more help getting that Christmas spirit just sit back and remember the Olde School.
Yeah so I know its been a minute and I know I O all ya’ll some FIRE. And I know this cat brings it, his last 5 have been fo real so sit back and close your eyes. Rah, you got this earlier today, everyone else dig in…
Ok so in the last 24 hours I SHOULD have posted here like 12 times, bc there’s some stank comin’ from the basement, but instead I’ve been workin (for the man), grindin’ (for myself), and cookin’ up some new OSH -ish about to drop. (more on that in the weeks to come)
But first… Y must Dick’s show there tips in public? Or better yet why did happy hour cause some lumberjack wannabe, baboon to show his ass last night? Unless you OWN an place of business… you ALWAYS end up lookin’ like an ASS when you act like a caveman.
and dude I look like a caveman.
ok sorry about the PSA
But for real, and its a good segue to our next topic.
Rap Ads
What happened when they start drinkin sprite?.
I was listenin’ to a Mixtape from BlindIUseToBeForTheKids and mid way through the track list I noticed a St. Ides freestyle, this would normally not be a thing but I thought of of of my boys back in college and his unnatural love for “flavored Crooked I” so I skipped to check out the old Wu St. Ides commercial freestyle. It was short, and the sound quality sucked; but They loved that product and the verse had some fire to it. It was a refreshing break from overly produced sprite and Impala commercials of today.
So I started to do some research and talked to Rah for a bit… I found out that back in the day rappers used to rap about products that they actually used, and kick it with people in commercials they may actually be seen with. Now I don’t know if Biggie or Meth ever did a Dutchie commercial or if Slick Rick ever gave props to the dude where he got his chains. and I know for a FACT Flavor Flav never did a Timex commercial and though Run DMC did more for Adidas in one song than any ad agency could in the entire life of the brand, somehow they didn’t even cross paths in the commercial sense until 2007, after the death of Jam Master Jay when the company paid only for stock footage and the use of a song. So why aren’t rappers really reppin’ in ads what they rap about in songs.
Well come to find out the St. Ides ads caused a stir among the community and ended up making rappers look more gangster and more like “hooligans” and this did not bode well for a new genre on the rise. So according to another blog Str8 Dope heres a more in depth histor y of the commercials and the controversy .
Amazing! I then proceeded to dig around Google and I found a small blurb from 2002 from a record store:
V/A DJ Drank’s Greatest Malt Liquor Hits cd-r 11.98VERY LIMITED. And we think the blurb on the back of the cd says it best, so we’ll just quote it:Before the appropriately named Alkaholiks DJ/producer E-Swift hooked up with King Tee and DJ Pooh to work on a series of 60-second St. Ides TV and radio commercial spots that they had been commissioned to do: complete with a budget that allowed them to bring in some of the best emcees of the day. These rap commercials were really really good (they sound better than most commercial rap crap today!) and were so immensely popular at the time (early 90’s when commercial radio didn’t play nearly as much rap as today, esp. West Coast artists) that they resulted in listeners jamming radio station request lines at stations like Wild 107, San Francisco just to hear Cube or the Geto Boys rap about their favorite high-octane malt liquor. Not surprisingly with lyrics like Cube’s “Get your girl in the mood quicker, get your jimmy thicker, with St. Ides malt liquor,” it wasn’t long before controversy soon overshadowed the advertising campaign. Outraged protests followed particularly in African-American and Hispanic communities where malt-liquor billboards and posters were defaced. Additionally the St. Ides commercials were publicly criticized by the U.S. Surgeon General and the New York State Consumer Protection Commission and drew fines from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, as well as the New York State Attorney General’s Office. Additionally Korean grocers boycotted St. Ides, but for a different reason, for their use of Ice Cube as their spokesperson. Their protest was based on Cube’s derogatory lyrical comments about Koreans in his album “Death Certificate.” (Note: McKenzie River, the San Francisco-based maker of St. Ides, consequently temporarily discontinued using Ice Cube.) But the biggest criticism of the St. Ides commercials was that it used hip hop/rap music, a genre most popular with teenagers at the time, to sell malt liquor directly to underage drinkers. This was further enforced when St. Ides blatantly marketed a nonalcoholic drink for kids, boldly using the St. Ides name/logo (check out the lyrics to Ice Cube’s “Crooked I For All Ages” track #30). Overall the reaction to the St. Ides ads was so intense that G. Heileman Co., the national brewer that had created the St. Ides label, disavowed any connection with St. Ides. And eventually the commercials were banned altogether and never heard/seen again.
Instead leaving us with crap like this,
But rest assured I’ve done the leg work and now I’m about to reopen the St. Ides vault…
(the quality is all over the place and I just have them in Alphabetical order but enjoy.)
2Pac & Snoop
Cypress Hill
DJ. Pooh
Dr. Dre
Ice Cube
Ice Cube & Geto Boys
King Tee
Mc Eiht
Meth & Red
Notorious BIG
Rakim’s radio commercia
The Wu
and finally the 8 minute mixtape, I’m lookin for an mp3 for ya’ll but just open a new tab and put this on in the back.
Red and (talkin’ about the WU) Meth have a show in San Diego on Nov. 13th. just know that.
