1550, from L. ridiculosus "laughable," from ridiculus "that which excites laughter," from ridere "to laugh." In modern senses, ridicule (n.) is attested from 1690; verb is from 1700.
| Immortal Technique Needs A Hug: Artists to Check Out pt.1 |
| Written by Johnny | |||||||||||||
| Friday, 18 April 2008 23:31 | |||||||||||||
|
Friends, let me tell you a bit about myself. I enjoy golfing, snowboarding, and fishing. I live in a quiet suburb, and I wear tight-fitting trousers. My shoe collection consists of nothing but Vans slip-ons and Sperry Top Siders. I'm a huge fan of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and I'm your stereotypical indie-rock junkie. My favorite movies include The Big Lebowski, Garden State, Donnie Darko, and I Heart Huckabees. I'm a terrible athlete and the only real, intense sport that I regularly partake in is pocket pool. I can count my number of sexual acquaintances on one hand, and the size of "little Johnny" is certainly nothing to write home about. Yes friends, the point I'm trying to convey here, is that I am in fact, a honkey. I am the epitome of "average white boy." In fact, if you were to look up "cracker-ass bitch" in a dictionary, you'd surely find my name and picture. Because of my aforementioned whiteness, it should come as no surprise that I'm not really a fan of hip hop, R&B, or similar sub-genres (I'm even less of a fan of white people who are interested in this music). I'm not overly interested in bitches, hoes, chrome, or bling of any kind. Truth be told, up until a short time ago I thought "skeet-skeet" was referring to a character from The Doug Funnie Show. Boy, was I ever embarrassed to find out that the term is much more fitting of Pattie Mayonaise...
(For those of you who didn't pick up on my clever personification, "skeet skeeting," I'm told, refers to the release of a gentleman's love juices. I know, who'd have thunk it?)
Yes, it seems that I am forever doomed to a life of staunch Caucasianism. In spite of all that nonsense, I must admit that I do like me some Immortal Technique. It's not that I wish any harm to, as Mr. Technique would lovingly call, " them fake-ass bubblegum rappin' niggas," or fans of them, but I do believe they are ruining music as we know it. John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Elliott Smith, and Sid Vicious must be rolling in their graves knowing that modern music stars can achieve equal or even greater notoriety by simply bellowing "yayuhhh!" and "okayyyy!" over, and over, and over, and over again. Immortal Technique is not one of them "bubblegum niggas." He's literate, incredibly talented, and super fucking pissed off about everything. Instead of rapping about getting drunk and ejaculating on women, this man's material is actually deep (way too deep sometimes), and incredibly meaningful (at least to him). He's had a rough life, he's been fucked over, and he's sick of all the bullshit. Not that I agree with very many of the dude's views (or would even be able to comprehend them, for that matter), but I have to give someone with that kind of talent, and such a steadfast adherence to his beliefs, his due respect. When the cat has something to say, he fucking says it. Honest to god, he's like the fucking Billy Mays of the rap world. As Andy already covered so elegantly, Billy Mays doesn't know the meaning of the words "quiet," "whisper," or "calm." By running around assaulting viewer's ear drums with his violent yelling, Mays scares his victims into buying shitty home improvement products. Immortal Technique is the same way, sort of. Only instead of Oxiclean and Orange Glo, this man sells his opinions, and you are forced to phone in (he doesn't offer buy-one-get-one specials like Mays though). Although the product is different, the same "terror-inducing-shouting," type of speech is used beautifully by both men. You have to listen to them, because you don't want to know what terrible things they'd do to you if you don't. Just as, as Andy put it, "Billy Mays could sell a Menorah to a family of Muslims," Immortal Technique could convince a white dude to join the Black Panthers. Obviously, aside from the tone of speech, Immortal Technique and Billy Mays don't have a goddamn thing in common though. The man is Afro-Peruvian, and grew up on the streets of Harlem (I don't know where Billy grew up, but I'd bet a buffalo nickel it wasn't Harlem). He lived the life of a gang-banger, drug dealer, and criminal, before finally stepping back and putting his aggression into his words. This clip is a fairly visible example of this aggression. After you watch this, you'll be incredibly thankful that this crazy mother fucker chose music as a pastime instead of hunting or something. It's a little rough to listen to at first, but it gets better towards the end, I promise:
My word, someone get that poor man a hug and a valium.
Uh... yeah, It's like, how do you respond to something like that? Does this man NOT wish death upon anyone? How could other "gangster rappers" ever walk onto a stage trying to compete with this cat? It ain't gonna happen, homie.... Mr. Technique makes Snoop look like Barry Manillo.
Like I said, I really don't agree with many of Immortal Tech's views, and I won't pretend to even begin to "know the struggle," but I truly believe that he is what rap and hip-hop were actually created to be. If you're looking for one of those albums that just blows you a-fucking-way, check out his Revolutionary Vol. 2. For 45 minutes or so, it's non-stop, balls out, sonic bedlam. Once it's over, the only semi-rational thought you'll be able to form will be something along the lines of "holy. fucking. shit." In spite of me being as big of a fan of rock music as you'll ever meet, I'd definitely place this album in my top ten of all time. If you thought Dylan, the Sex Pistols, or Rage Against the Machine were good at telling society to kindly go fuck itself, they have nothing on this guy. Honest to god, I usually can't stand rappers the least bit, but this man's lyrical talent and raw emotion, is nothing short of amazing. Key tracks would be Industrial Revolution, Harlem Streets, and Peruvian Cocaine. At the very least, you should download them illegally. Watch out though, he may be watching you.
Only registered users can write comments!
Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.21
3.21 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved." |
