J Dilla's Record Collection and the Economics of Music

Earlier this week I had an opportunity to have a small chat with Scotty Hagen of UHF Records who lucked out and came across a good chunk of J Dilla's Record Collection while purchasing an old storage facility. In addition to the records he found TONS of beat tapes and unreleased recordings made before Dilla's passing. After this hit the net, the internet went apeshit angry about this for a reason I cannot begin to understand, especially because the folks at UHF did every single thing RIGHT in this situation. What better way to let Dilla's legacy live on than to spread his love to fans of his music?

The most hilarious response I heard was that these records should be in a museum, you know the vintage record museum we all visit to stare at records someone else owned 30 years ago, apparently attendance is booming.

UHF ended up in contact with Dilla's mother and returned the beat tapes to her, which clearly shows he isn't in the "fuck them, give me money camp" because those tapes were worth more than the entire record collection combined. The outrage persisted though as people were FURIOUS someone was selling A DEAD GUY'S old albums.

What I came to realize from this situation is that the music industry is the most dysfunctional business from top to bottom that I've seen (and this includes consumers). It's beyond obvious that the remnants of major labels are clueless, bands are so focused on the "art" they don't realize how much they get fucked financially to increase exposure and fans are the first to cry sell out when something doesn't fit their ideal of artistic integrity. This isn't even touching on the evil that is the RIAA or unlistenable terrestrial radio.

It's interesting that in this day of digital music ubiquity, the most honest and well meaning people at any level of the food chain, are those at your local mom & pop record store.

If you want to do real good, download a bunch of Dilla's music and donate money to the Ma Dukes fund to help pay off Dilla's huge medical expenses left after his death, or go to UHF Music and support a business that does what a business is supposed to do, serve it's customers.

My Male Manifesto

Whenever I read articles like this or this about the "downfall of men" it makes me laugh and cry at the same time. Being a man in 2012 is sort of shitty, but saying that apparently isn't politically correct so any time someone starts to say this, they are immediately shut down. Don't get me wrong, men have had it great for centuries upon centuries, so maybe it's the inevitable Darwinian shift among our species.

I believe the starting point for this "issue" is the massive feminization of curriculum in schools that has occurred in the past 20 to 30 years. As a young child I remember having no male teachers, I did not have my first one until 7th grade which is sort of shocking. Now the demographics of teaching have always skewed female but the curriculum shift went from a focus on the basics to a focus on making learning "fun" rather than strictly teaching necessary material. This works for some people, but for others like myself it put me off from learning for almost a DECADE. Rather than solving math problems, answering questions and writing essays, we were cutting and pasting pictures off magazines onto poster board and conducted hour long interactive exercises to confirm a simple easy-to-understand point. Either way the moment when learning division became learning a complicated song instead of learning the meaning behind it, that is the second we failed. There is also the fact that this leads to consensus building when problem solving is necessary, sometimes this works but often times it leads to wasted time and effort while providing those with stupid arguments validity.

The other main issue about education is the reduction of content taught that would actively appeal to guys. Oftentimes in the classroom opinions of students are treated equally as facts to encourage openness and respect while having a discussion. This usually results in a long, arduous and unnecessary discussion that bores many of the male students in the classroom who are thinking "just move the fuck along". If this happens once in a while it's fine because that is how the world works, but when it happens daily in multiple classes it is VERY easy to see why young male students get burned out so easily.

It didn't take me long to figure out to pass many classes taught by women, all that was necessary was thoughtfulness and being open minded. Needless to say I always fared much better with male teachers who did not care about anything but the knowledge retained. Is one more right than the other? Not really, but there are advantages to each that each gender possesses, unfortunately the male aspects are disappearing.

There is more than education to this; and the declining marriage rates which are seen as a problem to many are common sense to most men my age. Why would we want to get married and have kids? What benefit is there when the current system is set up for us to fail no matter which way we go? Divorce laws, child support laws and sexual harassment laws (while all good meaning and necessary at the time) have shown us plenty of examples of why marriage is a poor investment in our future. I would much rather be alone for the rest of my life being responsible only for myself.

Another issue worth mentioning is the absolute confusion that exists when it comes to hitting on a girl, what was once something cut and dry is now a clusterfuck. Men are so concerned with not offending, not seeming creepy and not getting in trouble for harassment that we choose to instead say nothing to protect ourselves.

Throughout my life I have been told by virtually everyone to "follow my dreams", "find your passion" and "be yourself" which I have come to realize over time is not only absolute bullshit, but it is in fact harmful to the future of young people. Whenever I make TRUTHFUL statements contradicting these, immediately I am negative and a pessimist (something that people apparently don't like being around). This leads to someone getting older and not having a passion, having unrealistic dreams or not knowing how to communicate properly in society. They end up lost and apathetic, questioning the meaning behind everything they were taught seeking truth. It would be interesting to see the happiness level of the "successful" women that are always mentioned in the same breath with modern men, because I would venture to say they are just as unhappy and disillusioned as the male gender. The main difference is that the system is currently set up for women to succeed.

Women and men are different, so it's time we stop comparing them constantly and instead clearly identify each gender's strengths and weaknesses (something that has already been done) to ensure proper development without blatant focus on one.

DONATING TO A CHURCH IS NOT CHARITY!

Churches and religious organizations are the only businesses in America that can get get away without paying proper taxes.

It is also well known that donations to a religious organization can be written off as a charity.

Donating money to a church is not charity, it is not close to charity and the fact we let people get away with this is ridiculous. These churches pay nothing or next to nothing and expect to be given complete freedom in what they say and how they act (which is fine, if they paid their part). ALL religious institutions are businesses and market themselves to the public, therefore they should be forced to pay their part in taxes.

Whenever folks talk about how Mitt Romney is just a rich greedy asshole someone will defend him by stating his charitable constitutions. These charitable constitutions were to the Mormon Church, which isn't exactly into helping the poor and less fortunate with that money....instead they use it to fund "missions" to spread their idea of made up nonsense to others, in essence an Advertising Plan.

This also goes to the Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and any other religion that feels it's okay to accept money to promote your businesses but not pay their part. It's about time we stop giving these greedy con-men a pass for taking advantage of people who are more likely to believe in nonsense.

Religion is holding us back from success

People who know me know that I am extremely tolerant of what people believe, but also that I'm intolerant of Religion. Personal spiritual beliefs are just that and I have no statement on that, I do however find Religion to be a manipulative waste of time that is hurting humanity more than helping it. So I figured it would be prudent to discuss some reasons I hate Religion.

1. Donating money to your church IS NOT CHARITY!

2. In America if you are a Religion you are tax free. All religions should be taxed, not taxing their income is wrong and leads to financial shadiness.

3. Religious beliefs spread ridiculous, baseless "knowledge" about homosexuality, fornication and a bunch of other things that we are free to do.

4. People get mad when you bash their religion (note: ALL religions deserve to be bashed), as if you are bashing the person instead of their irrational belief pattern.

5. The three main worldwide religions are extremely sexist.

6. Many religious folks feel that their politics and religion should always go hand-in-hand, you don't have to be religious to see this is a terrible idea.

7. Because of Religion there are still ridiculous "blue laws", laws against atheists and agnostics holding office, anti-gay legislation among other prohibitions of personal freedom.

8. The acceptance of the supernatural has forced me to listen to tons of unproven stories about "spirits" and "ghosts" from otherwise smart people. It's a drag having to tell someone they are positive they saw something that didn't exist.

Music Class, Pep Rallys, Church and The Locker Room Saloon

One of the things that I loathe the most, the absolute most without question are events where useless forced participatory involvement is needed. I always feel stupid when doing whatever is requested, extremely stupid, so stupid that I can't escape the stupidity even though I look around and most people (or everyone) are doing the same thing. Here are some examples of the ones that have followed my life and why I hate them.

MUSIC CLASS - Grade School

Whenever I had classes I enjoyed the ones where I could sit and read, sit and do math or later sit and type up a paper. Any class that involved other things I hated, with the exception of maybe gym at points. Music wasn't the worst but I sure hated singing the lame songs. Even at 7 years old I knew the songs we were singing were fucking terrible juvenile shit, I laughed at the fact we had to sing this bullshit when I came home and listened to Danzig, Dr. Dre and Nine Inch Nails. The only cool song I remember singing was People Are People by Depeche Mode, which stood out so much because even at that age I hated being patronized for being young. Even though I was between 7 and 10 I knew that this class patronized my intelligence.

PEP RALLYS - High School

Thankfully I went to a small Catholic high school that had a strong sports culture but a very low excitement level in general for it by anyone who didn't play (about half the school). We only occasionally had pep rallys, and whenever we did they were mandatory.It was usually our goal to be as annoying as possible, and not in a loud way but in a "loud and obnoxious" way. Our only goal in doing this was because there was nothing else to do, we hated high school and had no school spirit whatsoever. I felt that it was ridiculous that we should feel obligated to care whether or not our sports teams win or not, much less expect us to act overly happy about it. Fuck these.

CHURCH - 1st Grade - High School

Since I went to a Catholic school and had to go weekly for 12 damn years, I have almost all boring mass stories, I wouldn't have minded it so much if it were only sit and chill for 50 minutes every Tuesday while we talk nonsense at you. It was never that though, it was more like this:

Arrive:

SIT

STAND

SING

SIT

STAND

SING

SIT

STAND

SIT

STAND

SING

KNEEL

STAND

SING

SIT

STAND

SHAKE HANDS

SING

WALK UP FOR COOKIE

KNEEL

STAND

SIT

Leave

I know I didn't actually go into the whole mass, that would have taken five pages. It also is important to say that this is all done in the most boring and dull manner possible, ESPECIALLY the singing! There may be a couple old women singing really happily, but everyone else sounds like they are falling asleep. Also it is important to note that I am omitting the "repeat after me" stuff that happens constantly too. It's a terrible boring mess that you have to attend, and learn nothing from it other than how much you don't want to go back.

The worst part of having to do this every week is that you know it's a waste of time. Inefficiency is something that really bothered me in my childhood, it truly made me dislike a lot of things permanently.

The best part of being an adult is you get to cut down on a lot of the shit you hate, which is all the stuff that is force fed to you. The liberation is huge, and in college everything is optional which is the way it should be in a lot of cases for kids.

THE LOCKER ROOM SALOON - Adult

The first time I walked into this place, it felt like walking into a headache. Upon entering you receive two drumsticks which you are expected (sometimes YELLED at) to use. The moment I realized I needed to put this place on the permanent ban list occurred when the DJ played this classical deep gem by Poison named "Talk Dirty To Me". As the crowd was encouraged to sing along to one of the all time worst songs by one of the all time worst bands, a 5'6" ex jock who looked and acted a lot like the waiter from Office Space started yelling at me for not participating. This persisted throughout the song and I lost it and explained to him that I will not being doing that ever and he needs to leave me alone NOW. He thankfully stopped, as did I. I haven't been to Locker Room Balloon since.

Nintendo 3DS: One Year Later

It's been a year since I bought my Nintendo 3DS for a whopping $250 on the day it launched. At the time I felt as it wasn't the best purchase, since then some of my feelings have changed and I wanted to expand on them while I'm stuck at home sick.

How I Felt Then:
The system arrived with 1 good launch game and lacking an internet browser, eshop, a method to access more than 1 3D video and a terrible battery life. My first month or two of owning the 3DS were spent playing A LOT of Super Street Fighter IV Turbo 3D.

Now:
The retail games I own are Super Street Fighter IV Turbo 3D, BlazBlue 3D and Super Mario 3D Land. SSFIV is great, BlazBlue is underwhelming and Super Mario 3D Land is one of the greatest games I have played on any console ever, and quite possibly my favorite Mario game ever made. That last sentence says A LOT to why my impression changed.

The eStore games I own are Let's Gold 3D and Pushimo, both fantastic games that were well worth the $6.99 cost. Pushimo is actually an instant classic. There have also been a bunch of free games released such as Excitebike 3D Classics, Zelda: Four Swords Anniversary Edition, a 3D Pokedex and some other stuff I will probably never use. They were free so no complaints here. I have also purchased Punch Out and Game Boy Tetris from the Virtual Console, which features a lackluster selection of ONLY Game Boy, Game Gear and original NES games.

Due to the price drop from $249.99 to $179.99 all of the buyers who overpaid were given 20 virtual console games, 10 from NES and 10 from GBA. The NES games feature classics like SMB, Legend of Zelda, Metroid and Adventures of Link along with average first party fare such as Ice Climber, Yoshi, Donkey Kong Jr. Baloon Fight and Wrecking Crew. The GBA games released I thought were overall much better as it included Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (a 10/10 game), WarioWare Inc, Metroid Fusion, Mario Kart Super Circuit, F-Zero Maximum Velocity, Wario Land 4, Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, Mario vs. Donkey Kong and the only one of the bunch that definitely isn't for me: Fire Emblem.

Other applications that have found their way on my system and my opinions of them:
Netflix - Used once, I have much better options to watch Netflix content (8 minutes total use)
StreetPass Mii Plaza - Used once, seems stupid (8 minutes total use)
Mii Maker - Maybe a Mii for a certain game in the future, other than this useless (14 minutes total use)
Activity Log - Mostly using it for this, I don't travel with my 3DS so not for that (13 minutes total use)
Nintendo Video - Watched about 3 videos on it (total use unknown)
Nintendo Zone - What does this do? (3 minutes total use)
Swapnote - I haven't even finished setting up. (3 minutes total use)

I determined that there is one reason my opinion of the console has drastically improved:

What Other Dead People Need Holograms?

Yesterday, a hologram of Tupac Shakur performed with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre at the Coachella Festival. I'm sure you have seen it, but you should see it again because it's amazing:

I am someone who is not easily impressed, but this blew me out of the fucking water more than anything I have ever seen in a concert. While I always enjoyed liked Snoop and LOVE Dr. Dre, I always felt Tupac was a wee bit overrated by almost everyone. That last statement by no means I don't think he's good, I just don't think he's the undisputed greatest of all time that most say. Even feeling this way, Tupac was the perfect first hologram performance. The audience at this crowd were the perfect age to see someone as iconic as Tupac actually performing in front of them. Well after this I thought of the possibilities! Here are some people that I would bring back from the dead if I had Dr. Dre's super expensive holographic technology:

THE BEATLES
This is obvious, while the issues being an aged Ringo and Paul performing with a younger looking George and John, the problem of the fact that they actually played instruments and then the problem of what era to use.

All these can be figured out after we get Paul and Ringo to agree on this! It would be even better if it was the "almost happened" SNL Reunion when Lorne Michaels jokingly went on the air and offered the Beatles $3,000 to reunite on the show, then upping the price to $3,200! Apparently John and Paul were watching this together and considered going down there for fun. If you know me, you know how much I love The Beatles (like most people) so none of this should come as a surprise.

JIM MORRISON

The Doors have tried to do the reunion thing with Ian Astbury of The Cult, the shitty guy from the even shittier band Fuel, Travis Meeks from Days Of The New, Skrillex and about 50 other bands. Other than Travis Meeks who did decent covers they were all terrible. This could be a way for the final Doors reunion to go out without being a terrible failure. I like when good bands go out on terms that aren't embarassing.

GEORGE CARLIN

The hologram thing works great for comedians so for this I could have easily picked Pryor, Hicks, Hedberg, Bruce, etc. When the technology becomes more affordable there is actually a possibility this would take off.

MICHAEL JACKSON

Another artist perfect for a holographic career rejuvenation, in fact a holographic show may be the best possible way historically to see MJ live. There is no guilt for supporting an accused pedophile, no uber expensive tickets and you could most likely see him in a small venue. The other advantage is that he doesn't play instruments so that will not be a problem.