Light Up the Night

Well, now I know what I'm doing this weekend. Just need 20 friends and a shitload of Roman candles.

Throwback Thursday: "Homecoming" -- Kanye West ft. Chris Martin

Dedicating this one to TJ, who's heading back to his hometown of Chicago with a mob of folks (including yours truly) for the Penguins/Blackhawks game this weekend.

Video: The Agenda -- "So Official"

Here's a cool new track and video from Chitown emcees The Agenda. I've got to give them a lot of credit for a creative (and relatively inexpensive) video concept.



TJ with the assist.

Verbal Assassins

*can't breathe*...




That "work for tips" line almost gave me a heart attack. Love to my girl Steph for the find.

Behind the Scenes of TF3 Birdman Scene

Nah, not that Birdman (thank god).

The trailers for this summer's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" have shown brief flashes of a military team of paratroopers wearing special "flying" suits. In this video they take a look at how those shots were captured, as an elite team of jumpers were called upon to fly around the skyscrapers of downtown Chicago.

From JSYK:

Director Michael Bay selected a group of precision skydivers to perform stunts in the film after seeing the extreme sportsmen on '60 Minutes' one night. The show featured footage of the skydivers jumping off mountains with the help of wingsuits, which allow the guys to essentially fly (don't worry, they have parachutes, too).

The director took the idea of the skydivers and their special suits and incorporated them into the film, which was shot in Chicago -- a far cry from the open air of the mountains.

This looks ridic. You'll want to click "full screen" for this one, trust me.

"You belong to the city... You belong to the night..."

My weekend has already started (hate me if you must). But for those of you still sitting in your offices at work, let this cool collection of timelapse videos ease you into your Friday Night Live mode.

From Gizmodo:

For almost a year, from late 2010 to 2011, photographer Dominic Boudreault trekked through Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Manhattan, and Chicago, shooting these incredibly vivid images of cityscapes at night: highways, buildings lit up in the dark, streetlife, people, rivers—all with perfect exposure, and sure to stir up some emotion in your cynical, deadened soul.

Timelapse - The City Limits from Dominic on Vimeo.

Politics as Usual

Chitown emcee Rhymefest (a.k.a. Che Smith) has decided to put words to action: The conscious rapper has decided to run for 20th Ward Alderman.

From The Huffington Post:

"The wheel doesn't have to be reinvented," Smith said, according to the Chicago Tribune. "It just has to be reinstated."

Promising to bring economic prosperity to the ward, which includes parts of Woodlawn, Englewood and Back of the Yards, Smith said he would use his hip-hop celebrity to encourage more development projects. He suggested that fellow Chicago rappers Common and Kanye West could be coaxed into helping the ward as well.

'Fest's opponent in the race, Willie B. Cochran, responded to the announcement with a statement that was cartoonishly condescending and insulting:

"You have an intelligent voting public, and if they want to replace an educated public administrator with a rapper who refers to women as hos and bitches in his videos, who uses his performances to promote the use of weapons and gang activity, then the voting public has changed a lot," Cochran said. "I don't see him as being a real threat at all."

Mr. Cochran seems wildly unfamiliar with Rhymefest and his music, which is typically socially responsible. The gangsta rapping stereotype with which Cochran lazily misrepresents 'Fest couldn't be further from the truth. Perhaps, if nothing else, he should look up 'Fest's Wikipedia page:

On October 19, 2006, Rhymefest met with the United Kingdom's Parliamentary Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron of the Conservative Party. They discussed the issue of violent rap lyrics which Cameron had highlighted as a problem and they both agreed that hip hop music should not be banned, but that rappers should portray the positive side of life in their music.

Not exactly the gold-toof'd, malt liquor drankin fool you were expecting, huh Willie?

Feeling Stressed?

Forbes has released a list of America's most stressful cities. There seems to be a deep irony, though, in that three of the top ten (Miami, Tampa, and Vegas) are places where people typically go to unwind and get away from the daily grind.

01. Las Vegas, NV
02. Los Angeles, CA
03. Houston, TX
04. Tampa, FL
05. Riverside, CA
06. Miami, FL
07. Dallas, TX
08. New York, NY
09. Chicago, IL
10. Detroit, MI

I have to say, this list resonates with me on a personal level. Regardless of what Forbes may think, Pittsburgh's stress levels are fairly high, too. And, at different times, I have thought of moving to Tampa, Las Vegas, Miami, NYC, and my homeland of L.A. as a means of escaping to a brighter future. I guess no matter what seat you're in, you're always under the gun.

Video of the Day: "Two Words"

"Ayo, two words: Chi-Town, South Side, worldwide
Cuz I, rep that, til I, f*ckin' die ..."

Those bars give me chills every time I hear them - every time. They're the opening lines to Kanye West's stanza of "Two Words," off his seminal debut album, "The College Dropout." Until now, the only time the song's been performed in a "video" format was on "Chappelle's Show," where Mos Def, Ye and Freeway performed as musical guests.

But today, Yeezy posted this to his blog, saying an actual music video of his got canned over creative control:

"This video never got played because I refused to remove the titles on it. They said people will think a TV show is going off and I said that's the whole point. Wow... even only 3 videos in to the game.... I refused to compromise my vision."

I dunno what took him so long to release it, but I'm hella glad he did. His portion of the video makes me homesick, and I'm sure my NY and Philly homies will feel the same about Def and Free's parts.