Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (August 2016)

The month of July leading into August was an interesting time for music for a few reasons.  First and foremost, this is one of the few times where every song that entered the countdown stayed on the countdown--which is ironic because the beginning of the month found me flooding my ears with music, but I was probably tired of having melodies and beats on my mind for the majority of the last 24 days.  Second, there were a lot of times where one song would make me think of another song or one moment would remind me of another moment where I was thinking about the same song or sets of songs...pretty much a real fustercluck.  Third, I've had quite a few instances where I've had the desire to hear music either from those with whom I've broken bread or who I've known better than the back of my hand.  (Hold on...checking this extra hairy patch on the back of my hand...okay, I'm good.)  So in the August edition of the "'Get Out of My Brain!' Countdown of the Month", you all will witness "Moments In Intersectionality", "Moments In Shameless Plugging" and two other songs that won't leave me alone.  Let's jump to it...

The American President: Donald Trump & The Societal Exposé, Part 4

YouTuber Tashya Tummings had perhaps one of the most interesting quotes of the year on the sneak: "The more public you are, the less talent you have."  If that's the case, then Republican presidential candidate and famed businessman Donald Trump is the most talentless hack in the 2016 presidential election.  Even with the candidates remaining on the GOP side, Senator Ted Cruz or Governor John Kasich aren't the "sexy picks" because they aren't as entertaining as Trump.  Sure, they could write tangible policy in their sleep with their hands tied behind their backs, but because Trump and Cruz have been too busy taking shots at each other's wives and giving news outlets even more fodder, nobody cares.  With the help of the media, Trump has effectively turned the GOP debates and town halls into nothing more than reality television for politics without having any teeth to his bombastic claims of making America "great again".  With that said, Trump isn't a lone ranger when it comes to giving the people what they want.  The difficulty in filling an arena with people interested in watching a science experiment versus the ease in packing those same stands with football, basketball or boxing fans immediately comes to mind.  It's not to devalue the greatness of sports or entertainment because, obviously, I have made a living from writing and discussing those things ad nauseam.  Nevertheless, when Americans turn on their televisions, log into their social media accounts and turn on their radios and media players, they often want a show, not a lecture.  Hence, in the fourth and final installment to "The American President: Donald Trump & The Societal Exposé", I will manifest the last reason why he is merely a byproduct of a society that routinely values style over substance...

Living Legend or Urban Myth? The Concept of "Real Hip-Hop"

(First things first: I must give credit where it's due to my unofficial contributor for this particular post, Mrs. Scribbler.  Many of the issues that I plan on tackling in this potentially-controversial post are the end results of a conversation that she and I had on this topic recently, and for that, I say "thank you beeb" :-)!  Now, let's start the show...)

When I did a Google search for "real hip-hop", the image above was the first that popped up, including several variations of it further down the page.  The next image featured 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G. and Run-D.M.C. in the center with other hip-hop legends like LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Rakim, Ice Cube, Jay-Z, Nas, KRS-One, Public Enemy and a host of others on the outskirts.  Conversely, the sixth image in the search showed a picture saying "THIS ISN'T HIP-HOP" with an "X" through pictures of artists like Lil' Wayne, Drake, Big Sean, Rick Ross, Wale, Wiz Khalifa, J. Cole, Nicki Minaj and even Busta Rhymes--whose face ironically appeared on the aforementioned collage with the hip-hop legends.  I also saw images of graffiti, DJing, breaking, boomboxes, cassette tapes, microphones, headphones, and all of the typical associations with "real" hip-hop.  However, I write this post because I have become perplexed and somewhat annoyed by the notions of "real hip-hop" or "real hip-hop is not on the radio"--concepts that I believe are nothing more than "urban myths".

UHHHH DUHHHH ALERT: Kendrick Lamar Named MTV's "Hottest MC"

So this is supposed to be a picture of Kendrick Lamar being surprised as MTV personality and hip-hop aficionado Sway tricked the 25-year-old Compton, California rapper into thinking that he was getting interviewed.  In reality, Sway revealed that Kendrick had been named MTV's "Hottest MC in the Game" for 2012.  Now before we go any further, I must set this up with Mrs. Scribbler's reaction to the list...when I merely mentioned that Future was No. 9 on this list a spot ahead of Meek Mill, she scoffed, "I'm no longer interested.  I mean, you can continue, but I'm no longer interested.  Is he even a rapper???"  However, when she correctly guessed the top gun, she immediately said, "That's no surprise.  He deserves it."