Michelle's eMac (yeah, it's old) has been doing something weird where iTunes looses all knowledge of her music library and metadata. The music is still there, but her iTunes Music Library.xml file is nowhere to be found. Luckily, we back her Mac up so we can follow these instructions for restoring iTunes Music metadata using an old version of her xml file:
Close iTunes.
Open your Music folder.
Drag iTunes Music Library.xml, if it exists, to the Desktop (or somewhere else). I'd change the name--like add a date--so that you know whichxml file it is.
Drag any file like iTunes Library or iTunes 4 Music Library (with no file extension or .itl) to the trash.
Open iTunes. Do Nothing!
Select File > Library > Import Playlist and choose the version of iTunes Music Library.xml that you've last backed up.
Warning: This is a rap music blog post! It also contains frank discussion of sex, drugs and rap, hopefully from a somewhat academic perspective, so it's NSFW. If you come here for other stuff, usually, you might want to skip this post.
What is Jerkin'? I'm not exactly sure, and I hope by blogging a bit about it, I can get some input for the record from people involved in the scene. Here's what I know now, in abbreviated form. Probably the most mainstream Jerkin' song is the New Boyz' "You're a Jerk"; check their video out here. Clearly, Jerkin' is a style of music, a series of dance steps and some seriously flashy attire including bright colors, skinny jeans and skating and shit.
Anyway, on to the subject of this post: one thing that's fascinated me is the prevalence of female MCs in Jerkin'. There are a lot of them and these girls can spit furious. They easily hold their own, and then some, against the dudes. I react with enthusiasm to this just as I did with the Riot Grrrl genre (whether guys were invited to that party or not!); there's nothing like women blowing up a sausage fest scene, like hip-hop.
For the rest of this post, I'm going to throw up some samples of particularly good female Jerkin' tunes, verses and such. All of the full songs can be had over at Digital Dripped.
(Incidentally, I get the same visceral "Holy Shit!" reaction with Digital Dripped that many of us had with the original Napster. It seems just too good to be true. And it's encouraging to see tweets from Mikey where he says most of the contacts he gets from record labels are about putting tracks up and not taking them down. Anyway, on to the MCs...)
(I use a flash audio player below... so it might not show up on iPhone or Linux.)
Each of these MCs are smokin' hot. They spit over the fattest beats... definitely turn your speakers up! They do lyrical gymnastics of the highest quality. Be warned: Jerkin' lyrics talk quite frankly about sex... so, deal.
New Era -- Do It Now
This is a remarkable track by New Era. The beat is luscious; the hook is addictively clever and danceable and the verses are top-notch. The subject is pretty novel: she's talking about how much head she gets. She even goes as far as to shout out a list of guys that have done the deed for her. This is flipping the sexual energy around from typical hip-hop; Jerkin' itself can be highly sexual, but this is a woman boasting about her conquests. Superb.
"I get more mouth than a red letter"
New Era -- Dumb Bitch
It's hard for me to tell (living in Jersey and all, and being old and shit) but this appears to be a diss response track to a diss of New Era for boasting about liking to give head in the last track (or some other track). She makes the case that she's not ashamed of her oral sex skills and does so in a scathing manner.
"Cuz, um, if you ain't suckin' dick,
he got a side bitch
And, I can bet money on that one
me and my hubby get it poppin' like a cap gun"
Lala ft. Giddy -- Nymphomaniac
This track is almost too dirty to write about! It's a fast-paced romp using a lot of electric sounds and deep tonal bass. LaLa kills the first verse and Giddy ends it will an equally accomplished lyrical flourish. This is a simple but impressive and sonically large track.
"I'm a nymphomaniac, looking for a brainiac
to teach me a lesson, yup, simple as that.
I'm a nymphomaniac, looking for a brainiac
to show me how to work it, then run it back."
Yummy S Dot -- Get Buck (Remix)
Girls can be aggressive too, yo. This song is about not stepping down at the club when another girl is straight tripping out. Yummy S Dot is not adverse to throwing down... and her verses on this track emphasize her toughness over a heavy bass and electronic synth background.
"Bitch back that, before that ass gets slapped
'cause you hear 'pop! pop!' when the burner 'clap claps'!
Ho, I'm serious, you are delirious
If you think your man ain't know me, are you furious?"
Mz. E Baby -- So Fresh (ft. C-Coop)
This songs is purely copacetic... Mz. E Baby is a lyricist unparalleled in Jerkin', and Jay Star and New Era are about as close to her skills as it comes. This is a heavy hitting, musically minimal and lyrically insane track. E Baby shreds and shreds and just when you think she's killed it enough, the beat drops out and she's coming back 10 times harder.
"What I do, it gotta be right
When I do it, it gotta be tight
More icy than Gucci Mane
???
So Fresh, So Clean
From my head to my toes, I'm covered with bling
I'm hot, you not
now everybody run with me."
Fe Raw -- Fill It Up Snip
Then there's Fe Raw, another remarkable jerkin' female. Very laid-back flow that isn't the best in the verses but bad ass hooks. She has a bunch of other great tracks including "Boy, You Nasty" which is really a fun track.
"'Cuz I'm a bad bitch, badder than you'll ever fuck with
(juice?) in my cup, got me really fucked up
married to the mob, so I'm like, so what
(meet?) in the flow, fill it up"
Jayy Starr -- Raw Bitch
Jayy Star, like New Era and Mz. E Baby is one of my favorites. She is in the stratosphere in terms of lyrical quality. She claims she is a "raw bitch": She raps about how bad ass she is at rapping, how much money she makes and all the guys she can get. And she does this with one superb verse after another.
"Lil' daddy in my ear tryin' to holla
but I only speak money, an he ain't talkin' dollars"
"I swear I'm the realist
Starr spits sick more ill than the illest
dope like crack dealahs,
I'm not the best, what you talking 'bout, Wilis?"
"Stacks on deck, jewels on my neck
(bury?) incorrect, I get respect
cook them checks, goons on deck,
I'm so sex, jerkin', yes
I'm a raw bitch, raw bitch"
Asia Lynn -- Tip Toe
Finally, Asia Lynn throws down this track... and it sounds like the first verse is actually someone else rapping, but I can't figure out who. This is a minimal track and highlights Asia's lyrical style. She is obviously having a good time... in the club, smoking blunts, shaking her ass, making the other girls jealous.
"Tip Toe, when I step in the club
I'm a bad bitch, so these niggas show me love
These bitches steady hating, they some pigeons, I'm a dove
When they see Asia Lynn, it's alright, they know what's up"
Say you’re eager to be voting, on some candidates you’re doting,
While you’re waiting in the polling place this thought might give you pause...
Who was it who configgered, and maybe subtly jiggered
The machines that say who’s president and who will write our laws?
I hope they all mean kindly, but we needn’t trust them blindly,
Or cross our fingers hoping all that stuff will work just fine.
We won’t rely on vapor, we’ll let voters vote on paper,
Then some post-election audits can confirm the bottom line.
Friends, raise your joyful plaudits to post-election audits
Where we count some votes by hand to check the work of the machines.
It might sound esoteric, or tiresomely numeric
But democracy’s at stake, so let’s make sure those counts are clean.
Well, perhaps you run elections and you use the best protections
But some pesky voting activists, they will not be appeased...
If they seem unduly pensive, don’t get angry or defensive,
Some post-election audits will help put their minds at ease!
Brilliant experts work with vigor to implement due rigor
So results can be confirmed before the winners are announced
That negative exponential, it sure does have potential
And PPEBWR, it would too, if it could only be pronounced.
Let’s offer up our plaudits to post-election audits
It’s just plain common sense to check the count, to measure twice,
It strikes me as moronic to place faith in electronics
Y’know everything goes better when you use ten-sided dice.
Be you populist or wonky, be you elephant or donkey,
Green, Reform or independent, it matters not to me...
Let’s make vote verification America’s trendy destination
’Coz it’s democratic bedrock, and on that we can agree.
Yes, let’s sing ecstatic plaudits to our post-election audits
Where we count some votes by hand to see the facts in open sight
There’s no need to sit and wonder if the outcome was a blunder
When a post-election audit can ensure we get it right.
(Because sometimes you need more than 140 characters...)
If you know me well, you know two things: 1) my favorite musical troupe of all time is Sonic Youth; and, 2) I played drums in a death metal band for a while in high school.
In fact, to this day, my most consistent listening habits are obscure hip-hop and very heavy artists. I just can't get enough.
I was intrigued to see an interview in Decibel with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore about black metal. (If you don't know what black metal is, you won't find the rest of this post very interesting.)
In this interview, Thurston displays a very deep and broad knowledge of black metal, linking it to the avant-garde stuff he's found so inspiring for so long. He talks about how it's so raw and how it's so much not about being music but being art. It's such a great display of his devotion to all things sonic, and it's a fun read. Not to mention that there are bands in there that only the encyclopedic have ever heard of.
However, he also says the following about death metal:
Were you ever into death metal?
I really drew the line between black metal and death metal. Death metal was obviously more of a technically proficient kind of playing, which I had no interest in. I wanted to hear music by people who had no desire to impress with any kind of traditional, skilled playing. I do appreciate hearing riff masters, but they’re a dime a dozen.
This, as someone who respects Thurston probably way way more than I should, kind of caught me off-guard. I assumed that any musicians that were putting forth concerted effort to express themselves wouldn't be met by a godfather with such disinterest.
When I was playing this stuff in Albuquerque in '93-'95, we frankly had no idea that black metal existed (if it was even called that, which seems doubtful). We knew about american music mostly and the occasional European act like Bolthrower (U.K.). We certainly weren't jet-setting around the world playing shows and having any sort of insight into how metal varied around the world.
Maybe I'm reading too much into a few sentences in an interview. I can't help but be a bit disappointed. I'd like to think we can find something of value in most types of artistic expression. And to write off a whole genre of music that I hold close to my heart... well, it's just too bad.
“Rock ’n’ roll has absolutely nothing to do with music. It’s much more than music. Rock ’n’ roll is who you are. You can’t call the Cramps music. It’s noise, rockin’ noise.” --Lux Interior
How does one mourn the loss of a god?
Lux Interior, the 62 year-old frontman for The Cramps, died on Wednesday. He’s survived by the rest of the planet and Poison Ivy, his wife of 34 years and Cramps’ guitarist. The band site has gone black.
The NYT obituary is good... I think I can come to terms with “zombie rockabilly” although I really think they had a unique vision and expression that wasn’t so dependent on the specifics of music history.
Michelle’s favorite band is The Cramps. Our second date was to a Cramps show on 2 November 1997 (our ten year anniversary is in April). And I was pretty much in love after that show. The Demolition Doll Rods opened, and they sucked... mostly naked with skulls hanging from pasties; they couldn’t play their way out of a paper bag.
The second act, Guitar Wolf, was like nothing I had ever seen before, even having played death metal for a number of years in high school (I played drums with double bass). Guitar Wolf is a greasy trio from Japan that are each totally insane. They rock, hard... so hard, in fact, that the lead singer was kicked out of the club about halfway through their set!
Needless to say, I was pumped when The Cramps came on. They were a tight four-piece with a wicked hot guitarist, Poison Ivy, and an impossibly skinny singer, Lux Interior, who was wearing something that was impossibly tight. They played killer song after killer song... “I Was A Teenage Werewolf”, “Human Fly”, “Drug Train”, etc. Each song seemingly ten times better and more raw than the last.
We move to Berkeley for my graduate school and we saw The Cramps three more times, each on a Halloween evening in the 2000s. One of which the newly formed Eagles of Death Metal opened up... and, to everyone’s surprise, their drummer was none other than Josh Homme of Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age. After that amazing show, I was surprised to find Sarah Ellinger, a SIMS student and someone I mistakenly took for a timid soul, at the front of the stage basking in the rock.
Rest in Pumps, Lux.
UPDATE [2009-02-06T10:59:45]: OMFGWTF... Chelle just pointed me to this crazy recording of The Cramps live in California in 1978 at the Napa State Mental Hospital:
So, while everyone was watching the opening ceremony on 8/8/8 of the Olympics, Michelle and I saw Iggy and the Stooges play NYC. It was insane... at one point, Iggy asked everyone onstage for a couple of songs, including No Fun. A bunch of people had recording devices and you can see some of the craziness -- like this -- on YouTube.
Meanwhile, we have a new place in Jersey, check it out. The view of NYC, from just a few doors down, is unbelievable.
Now, we begin the hard part of moving... and, oh yeah, filing the thesis. All within these last few weeks of summer. Wow. Deep breaths.
Easily my favorite music artists, Sonic Youth, are playing a free show in Manhattan at Battery Park starting at 4:15 EDT. It's part of WMFU's 50th Anniversary... and it will broadcast live and streamed at .
Via Mikey of 
Then there's 
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