Jason Toney

speakeasy: big-ups to big-up

Note that Jaime Pressly said that “Ugly Betty” was “big-upping the ugly fat girl,” not that the show was “bigging up the ugly fat girl” (or “bigging the ugly fat girl up“). So we find that big-up is being treated as a single entity that can be inflected with verb endings, rather than as the verb big plus the particle up.

- "Big-Up" on the Rise by Ben Zimmer, OUPblog, 01.24.08

I'm sure my first awareness of "Big-Up" was Biggie Smalls giving "Big-Ups to Brooklyn". Given his Caribbean roots that all makes sense.

one line: burial

Untrue is dystopian-soul music, the sound of love-starved dreamers reaching out into the darkness.

(h/t: Mr. Kelly)

song for sunday: the magic of your love

The Magic Of Your Love

The Majestic Arrows

Eccentric Soul: The Bandit Label takes a look at the underside of Chicago soul through twenty tracks of blistering R&B, sweet soul, and discofied funk. Hundreds of hours were spent researching, interviewing, re-mastering, and compiling the history of Bandit and the life of Arrow Brown. Unearthed in the process were two cassette tapes worth of acappella rehearsals that we\'ve done our best to preserve in their lo-fi, in-the-red state. Numero 003 might be the deepest we\'ll ever dig. No map, no shovel, just a stack of 45\'s and a city of three million people.

- Numero Group

This space, in which I usually talk about my week, my head, my heart, my future, intentionally left blank. This week, this is my private life.

Now, on with the show.

The Show

Talib Kweli & Madlib

votd: i feel it all

Feist - "I Feel It All" OFFICIAL Music Video

This might be my favorite song off of "The Reminder."

last.fm says...

Throw Some Ds

Parson

Do you dubstep? Last week, amongst a lot of old favorites (Death Cab for Cutie, N*E*R*D) was a cavalcade of dubstep artists in my weekly recommendations so I spent most of my eMusic dollars getting familiar. Amazon had been heavily recommending 200 and 10 Tons Heavy ever since I lost my mind over Burial and they were both available on the E, so this is where we are. Much like my affair with UK Garage in the early part of this century, it's an instant attraction. I may not be down with British films but I dig me some London club bangers.

Top Artists for the Week:

▲ 6	1		Jazzanova	37
▲	2		wale	34
▲	3		N*E*R*D	27
▲	4		Notorious B.I.G.	25
▲ 32	5		MF DOOM	22
▲	6		Nina Simone	19
▲ 3	7		Feist	11
▲ 39	7		Death Cab for Cutie	11
▲ 6	9		De La Soul	10
▼ 6	10		Björk	9

Top track of the week was Jazzanova's Theme from Belle et Fou - "The Bows" but I've already posted from that album so I'll give you Ten Cent Blues by Eisley. Eisley's sophomore full-length, Combinations, underwhelmed in 2007 but this track is nice.

Ten Cent Blues

Eisley

speakeasy: more than you ever wanted to know about facebook

I despise Facebook. This enormously successful American business describes itself as "a social utility that connects you with the people around you". But hang on. Why on God's earth would I need a computer to connect with the people around me? Why should my relationships be mediated through the imagination of a bunch of supergeeks in California? What was wrong with the pub?

-With friends like these... by Tom Hodgkinson, The Guardian, 01.14.08

I was back on facebook briefly yesterday, with good reason, and then jumped right back off. In the 2 weeks I'd been gone, my deactivated account had received Oregon Trail invitations (what?) and more stupid "Fun Wall" posts than I care to think about.

Let's just go get a drink.

Current music: Blanche – A Year From Now

to self: don't forget this song

I woke up from my nap today with this sound bite in my head, "When you get it up and move out in faith that shows God your faith is alive" and I knew it came from a song but I couldn't immediately place it. At first, I was convinced it was a Talib Kweli or De La Soul sample but knew I know all those old audio pulls natively. Not being able to place one of those would be like forgetting my own name. Then, I thought, it's Dead President's Wolves!!

No, it isn't.

So, I went to dinner at my folks' house and watched the end of the debate and talked politics and religion and money and all the things a family talks about around food on a quiet evening and then I got in my car and it finally popped into my head...

The Beginning

Critical Point

This is the equivalent of tying a ribbon around my finger so I won't forget again.

"Get your instructions from God and then do what God tells you to do."

Current music: Waiwan – Feelin Me Feelin You (Featuring Loretta Heywood)

video: mlk & jay

Ten OTHER Things Martin Luther King Said

I had grand plans to accomplish a lot with today but the gray skies has already sapped my motivations. So, outside of some web surfing, lunch with the fam and a call to the gram, I think I will curl up with Nina Simone's words and sounds and consider that a good way to celebrate Dr. King.

I Put a Spell on You: The Autobiography of Nina Simone

Nina Simone

Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)

Nina Simone

saturday dance party: w.a.l.e. d.a.n.c.e.

Wale* is killing it for me today (and, ooh wee, I was going to open with something else but this go-go track is bom**)...

Breakdown (prod. by HitterQuitter Boyz)

Wale

Go-go music is still alive y'all! Let your back bone slip. Now, get your hipster dance party on

W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.

Wale

We're not done. Take your hip-hop to the next level

Nike Boots

Wale

Tired yet? No? Hit rewind and bring those beats back.

*Not this Wale.

**This is my new slang (well, slang I'm aping from my sister and, really, it's old slang spelled differently) that I'll explain later.

one line: remembering what we forget about mlk, jr

We forget that in his final years, he faced not only a rising "white backlash" — the media term for white obduracy in the suburbs and working-class neighborhoods, North as well as South — but resentment from establishment liberals who thought he had executed too radical a turn by opposing a Democratic president and the Vietnam War.