rant: what happened? hype and hiphop

i have turned my back on the hip hop community. some people dont get it anymore. i admit i have fallen to the whole sneaker thing, but i have since left that behind. though time and time again i see myself looking at sneakers- it has become tainted.

now im not just thinking about the sneaker community. im talking about the whole picture: the hip hop community. im very disappointed. it has become a part of commercialism. graffiti- no excuse me: street art has become more and more commercialized. look at the pieces of banksy, shephard fairey, london police, buff monster, etc. their pieces are friendly. they evoke emotions, yes- but what im saying is- they can sell. literally. shephard fairey sells clothing, and has had numerous collaborations with companies that sell products. a banksy piece has been auctioned off in recent times. what happened to the colorful, meaningful, illegible but much appreciated pieces?

the music sucks. i hate to break it to you, but if you think lollipop was a work of art- you are sadly mistaken. scratch that. youre a brain dead retard. sure its catchy. sure its has alot of bass and what not. but it has no meaning. "shorty want a thug, bottles in the club?" lil wayne rhymed "like mine" with "like mine" like it was skills. songs like this are only there to sell. it sells sex. dancing. drinking. and it makes no sense to me. the younger generation is listening to this shit. we have 5th graders who sing lollipop word for word. these kids will grow up believing it's real: they should drink, they should talk a certain way, they should be having sex, they should be a gang banger. its stupid.

however i do give it up to the songs that do keep it real.think about it, there are some that do show truth and are positive.

and i know im shooting myself in the foot here- but the dancing sucks too. i mean hello? there is not much difficulty in any of these choreographed dances. i mean i would understand if one had formal dancing experience- but if you can get into this "hip hop" dancing sh*t with no prior experience- its not really good. wheres the form? wheres the styles? and these people talk to much crap. some are so full of themselves- but they cant do a standard waltz, they dont understand form, they cant do standard stuff without making it look "cool". i challenge any hot headed hip hop dancer to try to learn how to dance any filipino folk dance without getting yelled at. OH and i hate how there is no discipline. its all fooling around. if one were really about dancing- shut up and do it.

now- im not talking about the breakdancers and poppers and lockers because there IS form in those dances: theres a right way to do a whichaway, there are right ways to do uncle sam points, right ways to strobe, right ways to setup for a flare. i have respect for them, because it all has to compute in their head while they execute it. its not flail arm left, pelvic thrust right- it's all in the head. hip hop choreographed dancing is more like drills.

now heres where i seriously seriously shoot myself. hype. i want to talk about hype. hype was cool in the beginning. but it's getting way to excessive- its becoming mainstream: hmmm mainstream underground.... makes no sense at all. lets start with the shoes. yeah it was alright in the beginning. i mean breaking necks was addictive. now i dare you to go into any given mall in the bay area and tell me you dont see a handful of people who have nike sb's. and it doesnt make sense: shoes are meant to be worn. and beat the sh*t out of. sb does not mean "stays in box". i know i know i have alot of sneakers and i shouldnt be saying sh*t. but i have worn every single pair. and quite frankly i love wearing my sneakers and beating the living hell out of them. i remeber when i bought my shimizus- they were quite used. however i still beat the sh*t out of them. not its developing a hole- the heels are getting shredded. it tells people "hey im not afraid to beat the sh*t out of these". it gives the sneakers character.

now onto a personal topic: bikes. OH LORD bikes. one does not need a bike if theyre not vigorously using it. i hate how fixed gear bikes have become the thing. i cant say anything much because i own one. but i hate how its getting so overly hyped. sometimes it doesnt make sense. the other week i saw two kids in milpitas with fixed bikes. one red: colormatched. one black and blue: also colormatched. both riders had chrome messenger bags. now i wasnt paying attention to the red one but the blue one really caught my eye. this kid had some blue pokemon keychain hanging off his bag. he had a matching top tube pad. nitto pursuit bars. and an aerospoke. it was obvious this bike was not ridden everyday. first off get some balls- no one needs a top tube pad unless theyre afraid of their nets getting bruises from falling. nitto pursuit bars are really pointless- theyre short and only for hipsters. you cant got fast and get aerodynamic with them bars. and an aerospoke? WTF. if youre not going 30mph, or not on the velodrome- one should not need an aerospoke unless you have the money. aerospokes are cool, but i mean put that sh*t to use. and the kid- oh man the kid ould lurk everywhere and only do skids. i wanted to deck the kid in the dome. these bikes are meant to go fast. i mean the tricks and skidding are cool- but damn save it for a competition or something. or go buy a bmx bike.

so dont get a fixie bike unless youre going to use it religiously. this bike was made for the velodrome as well as for the old school bike messengers. so if youre not using it almost everyday, and if youre not planning to do runs at hellyer, i suggest you get off the hype. ted shred hates the hype. he will personally take off your track cog and use it as a ninja star and tell you to f*cking footbrake.

rant over.



heres the 2009 (i think) version of my bike the lage. i dont get it- se named the singlespeed/fixed bikes after beer references, but now theyre not even beer type colors- the premium brew was green and cream (bottle and foam). the lager came in cream(foam) and brown (beer). and the draft came in gray (can). now the premium bre is blue, the lager black and red, and the draft is maroonish. i like the draft's color though. not raving over the three piece crank though.

hellspeed,
jmik.