Layin' in Mountains, Countin'

Rock the Bells set times came out. No Erykah Baduh, not complaining. Some tough decisions to make. Souls of Mischief or Killah Priest? Whew, good problems to have.
Another track I am excited for from the Built for Cuban Linx album:



Been a little sick the last few days but feeling better thanks to copious amounts of cold medicine.
Getting off the shuttle.
Keep it grindy.

Get Cream and the Cuisine in Queens

Alright, I admit it, I have been slacking on the blogging thing. I know I am not on this enough when my mom (who couldn't care less about at least half of my posts because they are about music that she "can't listen to") is complaining that I'm not posting. I logged into Blogger and found a couple of comments from months ago waiting to be moderated. My bad.

Lots has been going on. I have been messing with Google Plus a bit so you can see some of my online activity over there. I updated my Twitter profile mostly to avoid teeny boppers thinking that I am the actor who played Neville Longbottom. If you are confused by this feel free to reference my first post on this blog. Here is a sample of the types of messages I have been subject to since the last Harry Potter movie came out:

When the hell did it become socially acceptable for Justin Bieber tweeners to drop the N word?

FFS.

Anyway, time to take my damned name back. This must be how George Michael from Arrested Development felt.

Rock The Bells is coming up. Wu-Tang is making a strong showing again and they are sticking with the "playing entire albums" theme which I am pretty pumped about. Probably I will dedicate a little bit of my YouTube embed real estate to songs I am looking forward to hearing live.

Classic.

About to hop off the shuttle. Grind hard.

Flow Freely, This Is All Graffiti

Quick post.
Just heard this track for the first time. Beat is dope.



Ricky Rothstein
Chatted with Albert for a bit. Talked about getting a motorcycle. Man, this bike is pretty bonkers. Probably I should get a license and start with some kind of toy bike. Then again, if my motorcycle club is ever going to get off the ground I am going to have to man up at some point.
Wifey is in AK still. Going to keep it pretty reasonable this weekend and maybe go see gramps in the eastbay Sunday.
Good day today at work, mostly.
Grind hard.

Face It, Jerome Get More Time Than Brandon

Mobi-blogging.  Taking this junk to the next level. Haven't posted in a bit. Things have been good though. Some busy weekends with Johnny Evil visiting from Dub. Went to Carmel for Quannah's wedding which was pretty dammed entertaining thanks in no small part to the presence of Andre and his infinitely patient/lovely wife Tara. AK stand up. Bussing it over to the Mission for quiz night. Last week we took second on the strength of JY's Rainman-like knowledge of Pulp Fiction. Got to see the boys in black and orange win an extra inning game against the Mets. They are going to have to play better than they have been to have a real shot this year but I'm not going to complain. Kia made her way to AK to hopefully finish off the heating system. Its amazing how hard it is to give heating people large sums of money.
Off the bus. Grind hard.

No Escape, The Corleone, Fettuccine, Capone

Two and a half months with no post is too long. That said, its not like I have been good about other forms of communication over that period. Haven't called my family, haven't emailed people I haven't seen in a while. Basically, if I haven't seen you in person at work, my apartment or Mini bar on Friday night you aren't getting much love. Sorry.
Work has been ape. That's not an excuse as much as a change of topic. It has been ape though. I have spent most commutes working which is not how I like to spend my time on the bus. I am breaking that trend tonight because I was at work late and refuse to spend more time working. My weekends have been pretty chill lately except for the BBQ last Saturday. Didn't eat much BBQ but had a few beers and some bourbon which is a good way to ruin your plans for Sunday.
Was in India a couple weeks ago for a couple weeks (roughly). You know, quick trip to India, nbd. The wifey and I are headed to Maui in June for the 10th wedding anniversary which makes me feel old to say and type.
OK, been listening to Nas lately, specifically the It Was Written album which I am not not ashamed to admit was my first Nas album. The album is classic, not as classic as Illmatic but whatever. My two favorite tracks off the album:


Classic, hadn't seen this video either.


Foxy Brown kills that verse.

Oh and if you were wondering if Cormega can still rap, check this out:

Yup. Oh yeah and Sean Price is a monster.
That's all. Grind hard.

Miss Her, Kiss Her, Love Her, That Girl Is Poison

Voting closed!
Thanks to those of you who participated in the survey.
The results were conclusive but before we get to that here are the comments included with the votes.

"hope i voted for the anonymous coworker!"

You would, hater.

"While there are some beautiful, beautiful selections in #2, I think #1 brings the most r&b-est, deep seated grooving to the battle."

Fair enough. Deep seated grooving is my favorite.

"floob"

meh

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdF2zqs1bxQ"

Yup, damn right.

"I know who this "coworker" is. His name starts with an "m" and ends with "ark ewing." I have to say I like a little bit of both lists, but #2 stands out to me more."

That's like, your opinion man.

"More sensual and slow. Playlist 1 is more dance or too happening. Hippity Hoppity!"

La Bouche cost Playlist 1 this vote.

"I'm guessing the other person is Albert."

Not a bad guess.

"I'm picking # 2 because I think its yours, Matthew. I'm trying to be supportive here. I think the give-away was Blackstreet. The difference between No Diggity and Don't Leave Me is the tub-thumping, which features in a lot of your embeds. I also just don't see Mr. Prime Beef bumping to a power ballad like I Have Nothing. On the other hand, I can see you doing a routine to Heavy D. Tell me I'm wrong. String the contest along. But don't be a hater. It's just your old pater."

Uh, thanks dad.

"Stuck way closer to being R&B, with a decent mix of fast and slow. Just way more heavy hitters in Playlist 2 compared to Playlist 1."

But Playlist 1 had a hell of a pitching squad.

"Matthew - I suspect I am voting for the wrong one, but it has one of my favorite songs... (name removed)"

Yup, you voted wrong :)

I had a quick chat with my playlist counterpart who agreed to have his name included in the results post as long as he was permitted to make a statement. That statement is copied verbatim.

"I regret very few of the decisions I've made in my life. Putting two La Bouche songs on a single playlist is one of those regrets." -mewing

That's right everyone the mystery playlist contributor was none other than Mark Ewing. Mark proved a worthy adversary and I am impressed with his depth of selections. He did make a tactical error with La Bouche x2 but a few of his selections, Montell Jordan, Tony Rich Project and Shai in particular, gave me pause when he played those cards.

In the end, playlist 2 (my playlist) took the prize by a 9 to 5 margin (yeah, there were 14 votes, my blog isn't that popular). In the end though, there is no loser, especially when you have a blog post which reminds people of the existence of this song:

Thanks for playing.

Love Pac and B.I.G. But I Miss Pun The Most

Monday done. Got some work done which was good.
Results from the survey are coming in. Not necessarily a huge sample size on the vote so if you want to vote please go for it. I will probably shut down the form tomorrow, Wednesday latest. The comments are far more entertaining than the actual vote count. One from my dad stood out today:

"I'm picking # 2 because I think its yours, Matthew. I'm trying to be supportive here. I think the give-away was Blackstreet. The difference between No Diggity and Don't Leave Me is the tub-thumping, which features in a lot of your embeds. I also just don't see Mr. Prime Beef bumping to a power ballad like I Have Nothing. On the other hand, I can see you doing a routine to Heavy D. Tell me I'm wrong. String the contest along. But don't be a hater. It's just your old pater."

Pater definition.

Anyway. Whose is whose? I won't say until the survey is closed.
Spent a lot of time grinding away on my computer today which meant I had time to listen to music. Here are some gems from today.


Big Pun was crazy, RIP.


Three dope verses, sick beat, GZA batting clean-up.

Been watching Battlestar Galactica in a quest to lock down the title of uber-geek. Its pretty entertaining though.
Alright back to my Classic X-Men comics. Like I said, uber-geek.
Grind hard.