Cross Country Plywood Pushing

I spent my entire life living on the west side of Virginia Beach, where Skateboard and hip-hop culture are dominant over everything else. So consequently, I've been immersed in the Skateboard culture since I can remember. Never been too good at skating, but I've always been a huge fan, and I've always been into skateboard fashion. In my mind Virginia Beach is the skateboard capitol of the east coast, followed by Philadelphia. two of the best examples of Virginia Beach skateboarding are VA Fleezers and the Welcome to Virginia Beach video, one of which features an acquaintance of mine. Both feature a bomb soundtrack, with MGMT and Nas. Also one of the locations in these videos is in front of the High School I graduated from.



Here is Welcome To VA Beach set to Nas' song Rule.



I'm also a huge Stevie Williams fan. I wear DGK from time to time, and to me his style of skating is the most entertaining for me to watch, especially because alot of his videos feature him skating through the hood in Philadelphia, and not at skate parks.









Rasul Allah is in this Love Park video. Besides being affiliated with DGK, hes also the front man for one of my favorite undergroung hip-hop groups; Lost Children of Babylon, who collabed with Jedi Mind Tricks and Wu-Tang.

Now, switching it up Old School to NYC for a minute. Fuckin Harold Hunter and the Zoo York team from back in 97, skating through Times Square! With Method Man and Ghostface Killah freestylin on the soundtrack! sorry for the bad quality but its from a 13 year old VHS


Taking it to the West coast..... I'm a big Fan of P-rod and Nike SB. I been wearing SB's since 2005.



Another lesser known skater from LA is Donovan Strain. I've been watching his Butteryass Monday's Video Blog at Butteryass Mondays for over a year now. Alot of them aren't really skateboard oriented but they are hilarious.

Here is one of my favorite butteryass mondays vids for those of you too lazy to actually click the link. I think everyone should get a laugh out of this.



Enjoy,
Anon

Ambient and Electronic

After Hip-Hop/Rap, I probably spend the most time listening to Ambient and Electronic music, mostly of European origin. Hopefully I can plug a couple of my favorites, and my open minded readers might be able to enjoy something new.

1. Boards Of Canada
BOC is a Scottish Duo who's music is reminiscent of the warm analog sound of Moog orchestrated soundtracks from the 1970's that were prevalent in many forms of media at the time. Their music contains themes of childhood, nostalgia, and the natural world. When I listen to their songs, they really do evoke a nostalgic and introspective feeling. A lot of times I listen to their music when im working on math homework or while I'm walking to class. Here are two of their greatest songs in my opinion; Music Is Math and Olson version 3.



2. Aphex Twin
Started listening to Aphex Twin in 7th grade. The mastermind behind Aphex Twin, Richard D. James is completely eccentric, by all senses of the word. He is currently the reigning king of the British Ambient/Electronic scene. I must confess I prefer his softer less percussive stuff off of Slected Ambient Works 85-92 and Selected Ambient Works II




3. Vangelis
Vangelis is a Greek Electronic Composer, famous for doing many movie soundtracks. He did the soundtrack for the 1982 Sci-Fi movie, Bladerunner, Starring Harrison Ford. one of the most introspective Ambient tunes of all time in my opinion was on this soundtrack. Here is Bladerunner Blues:

4. Brian Eno
Brian Eno is an english composer who is essentially considered to be the father and chief innovator of the Ambient genre. He's composed many movie soundtracks, worked with U2, Paul Simon, and many others. In 1978 he released Ambient 1-Music for Airports and since then he's released 3 other volumes. I associate his music with Winter and Autumn, and consequently that's when I listen to his music the most.

For my readers who might be interested in Electronic but need something more pop oriented I suggest checking out the NYC group MGMT, who's album Oracular Spectacular is an absolute must hear. Also, a no brainer here, the Gorillaz, They recently released Plastic Beach with collaborations from De La Soul, Mos Def, and Bobby Womack.

Peace,
Anon

Servants in Heaven, Kings in Hell

So I made the Trek along the orange line into DC this weekend. In my opinion, DC is the most Culturally unique city on the East Coast. The sad part is that most non-natives of DC don't experience much besides the areas around the national mall.

The main purpose of heading into the city was to see Jedi Mind Tricks, Mr. Lif, Outerspace, and a personal acquaintance and local DC rapper, K-Beta, perform at 9:30 club. I discovered JMT in the 8th grade, and while I do not consider them my favorite Hip-Hop artists by any means, they were extremely influential on me. They are one of the most successful independent Hip-Hop groups and have an enormous cult following in Philadelphia, The underground hip-hop scene, and Skateboard scene. Their 2000 Album Violent By Design is considered by most to be the prototype of all underground hip-hop albums to date and its one of my top 5 favorite albums ever. They have a tendency to pair up Hardcore lyrics and anarchist undertones with mythical and fantasy imagery. and their in house producer, Stoupe, has the most unique sound of any producer since RZA. He has a tendency for sampling Orchestra and Classical music and putting it over top of drums and bass. He also uses a lot of Latin American samples. While it's difficult to call him the greatest producer ever, because his relatively small commercial success and tendency to be a recluse wont ever get him much critical acclaim from mainstream critics, I definitely feel safe saying he has the most complex style of any hip-hop producer. Every fan of underground hip-hop needs to hear the album Violent By Design at some point.

This would be the second time I saw them live, the first time was in Baltimore back in September. I enjoyed this concert the most, because I stayed for the whole thing, and was literally right on the stage for the entire concert. The entire venue was pretty much packed for the entire show.

I'm also excited to say JMT frontman Vinnie Paz has a solo album on the way and the lead single is a collaboration with Virginia Beach Duo Clipse, another one of my favorite Hip-hop acts. It's so amazing to hear two of your favorite acts collaborate together, especially when their musical styles are different. Here is the single, Street Wars:

Why?

In short, just because. The idea of blogging came to me late one night when I was all alone in my dorm room with racing thoughts and no way to articulate them. Thats when I decided that I need a blog. The main purpose of this blog is to essentially put "pen to paper" and publish my thoughts in some way that will be accessible to others. I feel my discourses may be beneficial to others, and likely myself. As the title says, this is my manifesto, composed of my cynical critiques of societies short comings, promotion of independent music and cinema, and whatever else I deem to be a necessary topic of discussion. As a fair warning, you can expect it to be controversial and you can expect it to be offensive, so be prepared. If you are able to keep an open minded approach, you might just learn something!

Why am I doing this anonymously?


Well, why not? What do I possibly stand to gain from using my real name? Most companies do a quick google search of people's names before hiring, so it is best not to draw negative attention to your name on the internet. Also, I despise the idea of attention craving people on the internet. I feel most blogs, twitters, youtube accounts, and the like are all filled with people craving attention, when in fact, NOBODY GIVES A MAD ASS FUCK!! So by extension, anonymity allows one to say what they want and mean what they say without fear of consequence or retribution. Anonymity is the ONLY way to be free of judgement based on race, stereotype, gender, etc.

" Anonymous has no face, no race and no origin. Anonymous is a force and as such, simply is.
Anonymous is not I, you, or we. Anonymous is all without name, blame, and restraint.
Anonymous cannot be hurt, damaged, or stopped. Anonymous grows at a rate that only itself can comprehend.
Anonymous has no leader, no organization. Anonymous is a wandering mass of both order and chaos.
Anonymous is here, Anonymous is now, Anonymous will always be.
Anonymous has another among its unfathomable ranks.
Anonymous is Legion, Anonymous is Immortal."


Peace,
Anon