Thoughts Of The Week (September 28th)

Yo everyone. What's good, back again for another TOTW post.

Sometimes in life, you might feel that some hurdles are too high to jump over (f*ck off with the short jokes). You might feel the solution to all your problems as well as your hopes and dreams are locked in a safe somewhere. A safe where you need 10 separate combinations to gain access.



Don't give up, Don't lose hope. Stay focused, Check the above picture and Anthony Martial all your doubters.



Anyways let's commence. Here are my thoughts of the week

HIP HOP

An album of unreleased material from legendary Detroit producer J Dilla is scheduled to be released on October 30th. There is set to be over 40 instrumentals and is titled Dillatronic. J Dilla (known for his raw, soul-drenched production) is one of my favourite producers of all time so I look forward to hearing it.

We all know that Drake emerged victorious in his battle against Meek Mill. The rivalry could be compared with Man Utd vs Arsenal in 2011 or Brazil vs Germany at the 2014 World Cup. One question that remains is can the MMG rapper recover from such a humiliating defeat? Well, the hip-hop world will soon receive an answer as he prepares Dreamchasers 4. I'm not expecting any amazing diss responses and most people don't care at this point. Meek Mill's gonna have to put out his best mixtape yet with end-to-end bangers to restore his pre-beef status.

Some prospective good news for fans of that 'real hip-hop'. Royce Da 5'9 has declared that he's ready to work on the sequel to PRhyme (A critically-acclaimed collaborative album with DJ Premier) and he has reached out specifically to his mentor Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Game. He also said that he wants everyone that features to bring their A-game so if everything goes according to plan then PRhyme 2 should be fire. He's already released Tetsuo & Youth and Pharoah Heights this year but the industrious Lupe Fiasco has revealed that he is working on The Cool 2. He has however asked fans to 'be patient... it's gonna be a while.' The Cool is my favourite LP from the Chi-town MC so I expect this to be dope.



Partly staying with Lupe Fiasco, he along with Brooklyn lyricist Talib Kweli got into a war of tweets with a Complex magazine writer. It started over an article which criticised fans of that 'real hip hop'. The article also spoke about the rappers in a disrespectful manner. I said in the last post I don't care for WATTBA. I'm not a fan of Future or Drake and generally, trap rap is simply not for me. I don't feel I'm better than anyone for wanting to hear what I feel is that real hip hop and people can listen to what they want. As long as people are being disrepectful towards each other though, there will be conflict. I have a question though, How would you define real hip-hop?


FOOTBALL

TOP OF THE TABLE! Feels good writing that, haven't been able to do that in years. Memphis Depay and Wayne Rooney finally get their first premiership goals while Anthony Martial continues to impress me by grabbing an assist. Man Utd have a challenging month ahead having to face Arsenal and Man City in October. So come November, we will have a clearer idea of where this team is at.

Brendan Rodgers stint as Liverpool manager looks to be nearing it's end. Most, if not all, Liverpool fans have lost patience after he fielded a near full-strength team for a Capital One Cup tie against League Two side Carlisle Utd. In spite of this, they struggled and had to rely on penalty shootouts to go through. One could argue that they showed great character while I and many others would say you need far better results to manage one of the biggest teams in the history of English football.

Brendan Rodgers right now

Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski set a record by coming on as a sub and scoring 5 goals in 9 minutes. One of which was a terrific bicycle kick. Where does he rank with the other top strikers in Europe? Could he ever achieve that in the Premiership? Dortmund aside, is the Bundesliga too easy for a team like Bayern Munich?

As a Man Utd fan, I was haps to see Brazil forward Andreas Pereira impress against Ipswich Town in the Capital One Cup. Memphis Depay's goal could be the kickstart that the Dutch winger needs. Adnan Januzaj got an assist this weekend and I've spoken enough about Martial. Could be a madness if they all fulfil their potential.

   


LIFE

There was a trending topic on Twitter called #MasculinitySoFragile. I thought it was a bit stupid. As a man, I value my masculinity. If not wanting to wear skinny jeans or ugg boots makes my masculinity fragile then that's fine by me. Least my nuts have breathing space.

October is round the corner which can only mean one thing. No not Halloween, I'm talking black history month. As a proud black man, I do like to study black history as well as black present, I believe every black person should. If you do plan on celebrating black history month, remember there's way more to it than the slave trade. Do some research and you'll discover that we descend from true greatness. Knowledge of self is very important. Make no mistake of that.

And that concludes this week's TOTW. What are yours? Feel free to comment but please keep it civilised.

Peace Out!

Thoughts Of The Week (September 21st)

I'm gonna be real with you my readers. I can't be f*cked with an intro this week... like a chick with an chastity belt. *pure fire emoji's*

Anyway let's commence. Here are my thoughts of the week

HIP HOP

North London lyricist Little Simz dropped her anticipated debut album A Curious Tale Of Trials + Persons on September 18th. Make sure you go check that out and cop that. She also released a short film which gives fans a glimpse of her life. See video below.

Staying with UK-based artists, Well done to south London grime MC Stormzy who achieved his first ever top 40 hit with WickedSkengMan 4. It is also the first freestyle to make the top 40 so it seems that the MOBO award winner is a Guinness world record holder as well. See freestyle video below.

Drake and Future have released a surprise mixtape titled What A Time To Be Alive. To be real, I don't really care as I'm not particularly crazy about either artist. This is clearly a stab at Meek Mill who spoke about wanting to do a mixtape with Future. Meek also said that Future was his current favourite artist. With Drake still going at the Philadelphia rapper, it leads me to suspect that there's more to their conflict than that infamous tweet. Also, why does the cover look so similar to Watch The Throne? Is that a shot at Jigga or is he paying homage to the Brooklyn legend? 

If there was ever a collaborative album/mixtape I'd love to hear, it would be Nas and AZ. Two super lyricists spitting that fire over production from predominantly Pete Rock and DJ Premier. With one or two beats by Dre (not the headphones). Would've been a mad ting!

  

If you asked the average rap fan which biographical film of a rapper they'd wanna see the most, it's almost certain that they would answer with Tupac Shakur. Well the hip-hop icon is set to have his life story shown on the big screen. The movie is scheduled to be released in 2016. Let's hope the prospective movie is more Straight Outta Compton than Aaliyah: The Princess Of R&B.

FOOTBALL

Good news- The Champion's League has returned.

Bad news- Every PL team but Chelsea lost SMH.

Even worse news if you're a Man Utd fan because Luke Shaw suffered a double leg break and is likely to be out for the rest of the season. What makes this more annoying is that in the form he was in, the young left-back was on course to making the PFA Team Of The Year. I can only hope that he comes back stronger. Get well soon.

Gotta give a shout out to West Ham. The Hammers had three tricky away fixtures in their opening six. Many would have expected them to lose at The Emirates, Anfield and The Etihad but they left with the W's and are sitting third in the table. Fair play.

As a Man Utd fan, I'm happy they are currently second in the table. I've had to hear Liverpool fans, Chelsea fans, Arsenal fans and envious pseudo-journalists talk rubbish but look where you are you mugs! Big up Anthony Martial. Fast, strong, ice-cool, three goals in two. He's making it look so easy.

Martial with a message to the haters

Chelsea striker Diego Costa has been charged by the FA for violent conduct against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. The Brazilian-born Spain international was a nuisance all the way up until his substitution but managed to escape being sent off. Costa is being charged specifically for his altercation with defender Laurent Koscielny. The 26 year old (I think he's significantly older) certainly does deserve to be suspended in my opinion. Gabriel is also being charged by the FA.

LIFE

So word has it that the British Prime Minister David Cameron has been doing Kermit The Frog and linking pigs. It's probably untrue but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true to be honest. These politicians are always up to some nonsense. Actually, hearing that reminded me of this scene from Ali G IndaHouse

Most of us already know about Ahmed Mohamed.The 14 year old boy who's clock (which he made himself) was mistaken for a bomb. Now let's be real, if that was a white boy chances are he would be congratulated for his creativity and intelligence. Ahmed, on the other hand, was arrested. Why? Because he was a Muslim. If people are going to stereotype a young Muslim for making a clock, are we going to stereotype every white person that walks into a cinema or school? Painting everyone with the same brush will always lead to these types of problems.

US actress Viola Davis made history by winning an Emmy award for 'Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series'. She's the first African-American woman to achieve the feat for her role as Annalise Keating in How To Get Away With Murder and her acceptance speech has gone viral.

'The only thing that separates women of colour from everyone else is opportunity.'

As true as this is, this will not convince the heads of the entertainment industry to start giving black people the opportunities they deserve. As long as you're in a house which is owned by people that view you as different, lack of opportunities will be a perpetual problem. I believe one solution would be to build your own Hollywood. With that being said, I commend Viola Davis for pointing this out.

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerburg has revealed that a long-requested dislike button will soon be introduced. My opinions are pretty anti-mainstream so when I decide to bless the timeline (or curse depending on who sees it) with a status, I'm pretty sure I will see a good couple dislikes. Especially from the Drake hive. F*ck them though, man don't care!

And that concludes this weeks 'Thoughts Of The Week'. What are yours?

Feel free to comment but please keep it civilised.

Peace Out!

Thoughts Of The Week (September 7th)

Wagwhan everyone. I'm back like I never left. Back like I never left because I'm always right. #PunchlinesForDays. *A barrage of fire emoji's*




But I'm not a blogger though. Anyways, I can't be asked with the intro so let's just get into it.
Thoughts of the week...

HIP-HOP
With the legendary West Coast group NWA's biographical film Straight Outta Compton achieving commercial and critical success, numerous rap fan's have called for more biopics of hip-hop legends. One that's been frequently mentioned is the iconic NY collective, Wu-Tang Clan.

Ghostface Killah, a member who's also had a successful solo career,  said in an interview with XXL 'We’ve been talking about that years ago... So I don’t know if the brothers might get inspired from what they have seen. But we’ve talked about that before we even heard about N.W.A was doing a movie. But you know how it goes. It’s timing, and you know, a lot of other stuff behind it.'

 

Personally, I would love to see a Wu-Tang movie much like any other hip-hop head. As a Londoner, it would also be great to see a So Solid Crew film. Then again with a crew that boasts around 30 members, it might be a bit peak for the casting director still... I'm not gonna make any 21 second jokes.

 

Controversial and outspoken rapper/producer Tyler, The Creator has been banned from entering the UK for 3-5 years due to his lyrical content. The Odd Future leader is notorious for his horror-core rap lyrics and chill-deficient tweets/comments. It is odd that Eminem, one of his biggest influences, isn't banned from the UK yet Tyler is.

Speaking of Eminem... and people banned from entering the UK, the Detroit MC was pictured with Minister Louis Farrakhan. The picture was posted on The Nation Of Islam leader's instagram page where he revealed that they met up for a 'beautiful dialogue'. I am definitely curious to know what they discussed.   





Chi-Town super-lyricist Lupe Fiasco dropped an EP from out the blue titled Pharoah Height. Early in the year, his 5th studio album Tetsuo & Youth was released to critical acclaim. I like to give a body of work a good couple of listens before giving a definitive opinion. J Cole ain't the only guy that dislikes one listen reviews. From what I've heard though, I'm loving the chilled and soulful production. It also sounds like Lupe bought that lyrical heat. I intend to check out Rap Genius so I don't miss any esoteric punchlines.   

FOOTBALL

I hate international week for f*ck's sake. I didn't even watch the England match as I knew it was gonna be hot garbage. If the England national team was a cartoon character, it would be Buzz Killington. I heard that they beat San Marino 6-0 but giving that their team consists of a bunch of admin assistants, who really cares? 

Transfer window finally closed last Tuesday. I hate the summer transfer window sometimes, I can't be the only person that wants to see into September so we know who's gonna get signed and who isn't. Some of these 'sports journalists' are an embarassment to the profession with their transparent envy of Man Utd and articles that could easily have been ghostwritten by Jay Cartwright. Benzema to Arsenal? Neymar to Man United? De Gea to Real Madrid? Haha. I dedicate this to you.

Man Utd manager Louis Van Gaal pretty much put his job on the line by spending £36m on a relatively obscure French forward named Anthony Martial. No, I don't know how to pronounce his surname either. I'm not going to judge the youngster as I've never seen him play but LVG clearly has the maximum amount of faith both in himself and the France international to make such a decision. As a Man Utd fan, I am anxious to see him in action. We might just have a future Ballon D'or winner on our hands, who knows?

 
You won't see a group of fans more disappointed than the Gooners in the Premier League. Although Arsenal fans have been moaning for years about the need for a striker, Arsene Wenger decided not to sign a single outfield player. It does make me wonder if the Frenchman will be at the Emirates next season.

Seeing David De Gea's move to Real Madrid break down was hilarious and undoubtedly the highlight of a disappointing transfer deadline day. There's two sides to every story but I believe Madrid are at fault for the transfer not happening. What I would like to see is De Gea sign a new contract with Utd. After that, they can either slap a £40m price tag on him or use him in a deal to bring Gareth Bale to Old Trafford should De Gea still want to play in Spain.

Premiership predictions
1. Man City
2. Man Utd
3. Chelsea
4. Arsenal

LIFE (Everything Else Basically)
I'm not gonna go into too much detail but in regards to people migrating to Britain, I think London being a multi-cultural city is something to be proud of.

Idris Elba was tipped to become the next James Bond however author Anthony Horowitz has claimed that he is 'too street' to play the secret agent. Let's be real, too street is just a 'PC' way of saying he's black. I'd rather see the British actor known for starring in shows such as The Wire and Luther as the next Shaft than the next Bond to be honest.

 

And that concludes this week's post. What are your thoughts of the week? Feel free to comment but please keep it civilised.

Peace Out.