It's strange because Luda is a smart dude who by all accounts should know better. This is a guy who's articulate and thoughtful in interviews and has achieved some legitimate crossover success. Maybe this is directly correlated to why his albums are so inconsistent. (ex. Diamond in the Back --> P. Poppin?) He does not get an 'A' from Moe Dee for Sticking to Themes.
Also, like the bigger blip.tv player, but it condenses the video down to slightly-less-than-HQ.
I liked your comments re. Obama's relationship with Hip Hop. By the way, what's with the (rather frightful) zebra effect you get whenever you move your hands? Did you de-interlace your video?
Posted by: Elias Hiebert at August 4, 2008 11:08 AM
It's a non-issue though. Luda doesn't make hip-hop that should be political. He's not Immortal Technique, or even Nas. He's certainly no Kweli. He raps about chicken and beer. It was on a DJ Drama mixtape for crying out loud. Sure, Wayne killed Georgia...Bush but, Luda's no Wayne either. Yes, he should have known better but, he didn't. Most of his listeners don't either. Way I see it, Obama handled it well and, it's not fair to come down on Luda and give Jesse Jackson a free pass.
"Obama thinks I'm great, bitch!!" AHAHHAHAHA!!
Posted by: Mike at August 4, 2008 11:10 AM
I wouldn't worry too much about DMX, since he doesn't know who Obama is.
Yeah, I think alot of people are forgetting that this whole election has been like discovering a new planet with new forms of life. We have to tread carefully and watch out for dangerous predators and poisonous fruit. We have to watch where step in this new planet I designated FLBC(First Legitimate Black Canidate) and with so many still on the post Imus language crusade its more important we move carefully.
Posted by: brownhornet at August 4, 2008 12:28 PM
The relationship between a presidential candidate and a popular rapper could never exist. Both have to oblige constituencies to remain relevant. Ludacris has to make music about sex and violence to sell albums and expand his public profile. He's a smart guy and I'm pretty sure he knows this. He's to the point now that his commercial consistency allows flexibility in his content but he could never do a complete 180. The celebrity he is using to encourage people to support Obama is a direct result of him being controversial. The problem of course is the last thing a candidate wants is to be associated with a controversial person.
Ps. a small vid tech note. Jay if you have the option in your editing software, de-interlace your video when exporting it.
Oh yeah that's weird, doesn't happen on the original or the youtube version.. maybe something happened between tubemogul and blip, I'll try reuploading.
Posted by: Jay Smooth at August 4, 2008 3:50 PM
I agree 100 % Its not about Obama, its about Luda but as usual the pess tends to twist it to the point where poeple begin to act as if Obama bust the rap himself. I was laughing when I on the news that the reporters were arguing wheter or not Obama should delete Ludacris from his Ipod! WTF?
Blip.tv---ly way better quality....but keep going with the youtube...the only damn thing an iphone can recognize.
On the Ludacris/Obama, definitely the truth...if you talking the hip-hop generation, that whole "kerfluffle" down in FL, i think they try to phrase it as Obama vs. The Black Community. Something like that...peep how Obama stutters for about 20 seconds...takes a breath, then gets the whole crowd to play the man as if he was the dumb student of the class.
Posted by: Mr. Rogers at August 4, 2008 6:07 PM
Obama thinks I'm good, bitch! LOL!
Great points. I guess this applies to Bernie Mac also. But they are both trying to help and be involved which is great.
Posted by: mstearne at August 4, 2008 6:12 PM
Yeah Msteane that's the other problem, Orginizatons hire edgy comics or other entertainers because they're are popular but they don't want them, they want the diet coke version of that person. Then the real person comes to the event and people get offeneded. Go figure?
Posted by: brownhornet at August 4, 2008 7:30 PM
Jay, I agree with you somewhat but I also think you let the Obama campaign slide a bit on this. They could've handled it a lot better than attempting to distance themselves from him. They had a similar situation with Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground, who the campaign didn't say anything about and left it for Obama to say, "How am I responsible for the words and actions of people who aren't even affiliated with my campaign?" I think that could've easily been done with Luda, but instead they chose to fall into the trap of the right-wing media presenting Luda's lyrics as LITERAL, when we all know they aren't. By taking the right-wing read of Luda's lyrics as literal, the campaign became guilty of not respecting hip hop and taking it seriously. I doubt this would've happened with John Ashberry or another "serious" (whatever that means) poet.
PS. I'm a big fan of the vlog and I think you are the freakin' man for being one of the few left voices in hip hop. And you're on BAI with my man Bill DiFazio!
just a heads up. the blip player didn't want to load inside bloglines. which made me have to come to your blog to view it. which may be a good or a bad thing, depending on what you want.
Posted by: c at August 6, 2008 2:00 PM
You are the quintessential (good my spell check didn't go off) rational behind hip-hop... You keep me in the genre Jay. I hopped to Blues music in the mid 90's to discover some of the greatest musicians and every now and then I'll dip back into the hop to see if it has smoothed out... there are a few in that I pay attention to. And you my friend are an ambassador for me to keep up the love in the hip hop world. Thanks Jay
Do I know any of y'all?
Have I ever conversed with y'all?
Where that masterpiece-collection robot abusing megatron don at?
I'm tryna get some high top polo boots with the buckle.
Didn't you say you found some crispy jawns?
-Blitnack
(peace to the NE coast. these l.a. earthquakes fuck up your sense of reality and self worth)
Posted by: Black People at August 8, 2008 1:28 PM
Oh god, I needed a good laugh today, my brother! "Obama thinks I'm great, bitch!!" THANK YOU! You're the Cat.
I think David Remnick, Barry Blitt, and Ludacris need to all go have a beer together and discuss how to tighten up their respective takes on satire.
God, I would give every penny I have to be a fly on the wall for that.
Posted by: Susie at August 12, 2008 2:28 PM
Jay Smooth is a cutie.
Posted by: meowbaby at August 12, 2008 4:00 PM
Luda made no mistake ..
Funny you really think Obama is a saver .. but
he is a puppet like the other WAKE UP
Posted by: illersz1 at August 19, 2008 12:20 AM
"Obama thinks I'm good bitch!" That needs to be on a T-Shirt like yesterday. Anyway, you made a good point. I just think people need to know when to shut up. Didn't we learn from Mr. Wright? I guess not. I don't like to limit people's creativity or to shush the freedom of speech but if we want a Black man for president, sometimes we have to let go of our ego a bit and just follow the protocol. It's just the way American politics is.
