The Audacity of Dope

Feels good, doesn’t it?

Perhaps a little amateurish, but like I mentioned with LL, I’m willing to give people a pass if their hearts are in the right places.  Nish Gaveer is a dude from Philly who put together this song and video in support of Obama.  You ever notice how diverse Barack’s supporters are versus John McCain’s?  The people I see at McCain/Palin rallies look like they’re from another world…and certainly not the America I live in where people of all backgrounds work and live together.  Oh, but I almost forgot, according to Palin, I live in an anti-America city.  GTFOH.

(chyea @ the Usain Bolt pose at 1:45)

This is the third incarnation of this song, as the initial leaked version featured the Pussycat Dolls, the album track featured Rihanna, and now the video features Keri Hilson.  To be honest, I can’t really pick one of those over the other, since they all do a decent job.  The best part of this song is clearly Kardi and his energy, and the video does a great job capturing what one of his live shows is like.  Dropping videos like this in October just isn’t fair though.  The weather is starting to get awful and [Biggie] I swear to God sometimes it feels like death Jamaica is callin’ me [/Big].

Huge shout to Kardi and the Black Jays fam, especially for tossing my favorite track off of Not 4 Sale, “Nina,” at the end of the clip.  Video courtesy of OnSmash.

As always, Jay Smooth comes through with another on point video.  The importance of the youth vote has never been higher and this is the biggest election in our lifetimes.  It’s imperitive that you actually go vote (or send in your absentee ballots ASAP) on the 4th.  No excuses whatsoever.

One of my favorite songs of the year, Phonte & Nicolay’s “Daykeeper,” finally has some excellent visuals to go along with it.  If you missed my interview with Tay a few weeks ago, we talked a lot about how part of the beauty of Leave It All Behind is that it’s so open to interpretation.  I think the same can be said for this video.  One thing’s for sure though, it’s wild how a song like this can really change your mood everytime you hear it.  Definitely a “night song” and I always tend to get very reflective when I hear it.  Great stuff.

Peep that interview with Phonte right here and be sure to stay up to date with everything FE on their site.

If you weren’t able to make it to Tacoma last Sunday to hear Joe speak, here are a few short highlights.  It may sound trite, but he’s right.  Every vote really does count, especially here in Washington where Governor Gregoire needs your support.

If you have your absentee ballot, vote now.  If you have some free time in the next 10 days, volunteer to help out right here.  And that’s not just empty rhetoric, I’ve been volunteering since the start of summer.  Get out there and help bring us across the finish line.

I haven’t been posting up my CrossFit workouts for a while, mainly cause I do ’em so often, this blog would be nothing but workouts and wack lyrics.  Plus, it’s a little weird to keep strangers up to date with my personal workout log, but ehhh.  I felt like I did well on “Christine” tonight, so I figured I’d post.  Sue me.

Christine: 3 Rounds for Time

500m row
12 deadlifts (bodyweight)
24 box jumps

My dude Mikey suggested this one, and since we did a lot of arm stuff the day before and I’d never tried Christine, I was all for it.  The rowing felt great (one of my better exercises) and the box jumps were fairly easy (except for the final few when your legs are shot).  We used Mikey’s bodyweight, so I only had to lift 135lbs, 20 less than my own BW.  It’s still a decent lift and you feel it on the final round.  I finished in 12:32.  Blaow.

Try this one if you have a rowing machine at your gym.  Or if you’re in Seattle, you could always man (or woman) up and come to a free workout at Foundation CrossFit with us on Saturdays @ noon.  Or you could be lame and get fat during the winter.  Your call.

Now this is more like it.  An actual deserving recipient of WLotD.  Good to have you back Jeezy.

“You see me standing here, like a chandelier”
–Young Jeezy, “Vacation”

Hmm, slight problem.  Chandeliers hang, not stand.

(i had the same look as Exile when I heard this)

Blu is the man and probably in my top 3 favorite MC’s right now.  Plus he’s a cool ass dude, so this pains me to do.  However, I heard a line in Evidence’s new track that just confused me:

“It’s the middle of ’08, and I still ain’t heard Obama speak bout problems that we face”
–Blu, “For Whom The Bell Tolls”

Word? This reminds me of the criticism that many people tried to hit Barack with early in his campaign: that he was only preaching this esoteric “change” idea, without backing it up with substantive policy positions and strategies.  The problem with that is that if you actually make an effort to listen to more than a 30 second soundbite on the news, or go read any of the extensive issue pages of his website, you quickly learn what Obama’s all about.  Now, you don’t have to agree with his ideas, but to say that they aren’t there or he hasn’t addressed virtually everything is just false.  I hope Blu has found Barack’s statements that talk about the issues he’s concerned with, because I assure you, they’re there.

So forgive me homey, but I just disagree with that line.  Blu’s still possibly the illest MC in the game right now, so make sure y’all cop his new Johnson&Jonson project.  Easily one of the best albums of the year.  And here’s Ev’s new track if you haven’t grabbed it yet:

Evidence ft. Phonte, Blu, & Will.I.Am – “For Whom The Bell Tolls”

Yes…super last minute, but for L.A. readers, go check out a special birthday party tonight for Planet Asia at Busby’s East.  Performances by Strong Arm Steady, DJ Muggs, and Asia himself.  Should be a great night so check it out if you’re in SoCal and your schedule’s open!

And just in case you’re on the fence, peep Asia & Muggs’ new video for “Lions In The Forest.”  This is my jam right now.