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I've been to 3 spots looking for the new Roots "Phrenology". Turns out the album doesn't come out here in Canada until this Wednesday, a week after the states! What kind of backwards nation do we live in???

Ummm, all apologies like Nirvana for not much on the update tip. Time to catch up: Last Thursday was ridiculose, off the meat rack and just plain dumb. The Haitian Sensation project continues to move along nice. Shout out to the Kid, I miss you at work homey. Hope to see you back from that Kid'n'Play convention real soon! Uhhhh, lots of music to pick up this week: Kwa, Roots, Blueprint 2, Donnie, a bunch of twelves. I'll be back with a review of the Missy and some other things to say, I'm sure. Up at Escape tomorrow to catch the homey Haze, haven't been out to hear drums and basses in a hot second. . . I want to hear the M.I.S.T. remix of LK on the BIG system. . .

Ronnie Artest has been added to the "tight list".

Scruff was a nice little show. Hip hop, broken, roots, R'n'b, breaks, more after I bounced I'm sure, and a good turn-out for a Monday. But where were the Powerade and Powerbars on dude who plays 5-hr sets on the regular? And, as Blunt wisely pointed out, where were the Camelbak water packs and heart meters on the cats who stayed for the whole 5 hours? Both sets are on some Ironman shit. Respect to all who had to work the next day (or set up their installation) and still stayed up ridiculously late. Also props to Mr. Scruff for making his site available in 4 different languages: the future right there.

Now you too can own a piece of Eminem memorabilia that will impress no one.

Caught 8 Mile last night. I was pleasantly surprised - all in all, a pretty good film. Sure it was a little melodramatic, but they avoided the pitfalls that you'd expect a big Hollywood to fall into (racial stereotypes, corny dialogue, cliched plot). It's set in '95, so the highlight of the whole shit is the authentic retro soundtrack (Mobb Deep, Pharcyde, lots of Biggie, etc.) - had us smiling. The last scene (over "Shook Ones Pt. II) is pretty ridiculous. Big up Danger for being the loudest guy in the theatre and laughing at all the serious parts.

I'm curious to see if this phenomenon has any lasting impression. I got the feeling that most people leaving the theatre were intrigued by the culture they'd just been witness too, but I'm seeing nathan in the media that follows up more in-depth on hip hop history and the battle scene.

BBC News: Bleak outlook for global education. As much as we all can do other things to improve the lot of people in poor countries, I'm a big believer that education is the key to empowering people to bring up themselves. "Human capital" is what drives the economy, and more educated people are more likely to make more intelligent decisions (this isn't always true with individuals, but it almost always is in aggregate). It's not heartening to hear that some countries are moving backwards. That's some misplaced priorities. . .

The Eritrean community centre is a nice little spot for shows - a couple turns would have been nice, but it turned out all good. Especially Germama - watch for that name, that poet has both charisma and things to say spilling out his pockets. The Nine Planets video release? Props for making the Via station look like some kind of urban Star Trek station. Great vibes at Surface last night too, best reaction to a video release that I've ever seen. Big-up DL, Mic Check, Brenden, Nick, Jaao, the Limey, Jets and everyone else, especially drunken Cal for acting all rugby. Rugged raw material indeed.

Here's the Madlib mix from Gilles Peterson's Worldwide show out the UK. The reliable word is that 'Lib thinks hip hop is over since he visited London and politicked with Kaidi and I.G. et al, and his new tracks are all broken up. I've never been a huge Madlib cat, but I'm amped to see what this guy does over the next few. Definitely worth picking up is the new Straight No Chaser mag . . . if you think you have work ethic, get out the toilet 'cause Madlib defecates on you!

Heading up to the nth digri CD release soon, it's an 8pm start. Palm Squiddad will be up in there alongside a gang of poets. We are some bougeois artistes these days, playing all these poetry jams ;-)

Check the new video from Cornbread Comm. I will say that it takes a well-endowed nut sack to come out with a song (and video) that is so blatant and positive about love. That said, I'm still hoping that this is the "radio joint" and we see a return to more classic Comm. This is my favourite emcee after all.

Here's an OKPlayer post about famous players you've balled against. I love reading about what dudes were like when they were just regular gym rats on the come-up. Best story is Warren Sapp challenging guy to 1-on-1 then ripping up his $100 bill. He's so gangsta!

As a small tribute to Deejay Jam Master Jay, I'd like to share my first memory of hip hop music. I've told this story to a lot of people, but this seems like an appropriate time to tell it to a wider audience, given the events of last week:

I must have been about 7 or 8 years old, because it had been a couple years since kindergarten. For first grade, my best friend Al and I were sent to different schools, so we'd grown apart over 2 or 3 years of separation. A couple years is a long time when you're a little kid! I was kind of nervous - "man, I wonder if he's changed?".

Al showed up, rocking corduroys and confidence like Isiah Thomas. Dude was like "what's up Ian's Mom, hi Ian. . .". We hung out in the living room with my moms, talking about school, hockey, basketball, and chess (I was a nerd so just chill). Al pulled out a tape and says "Ian, you've got to hear this, it's the best new music". The album cover was red and green. Mom popped it into our big ol' single-cassette deck that was the size of 2 DVD players stacked on top of each other and pressed play. It was "Raising Hell". The music was on real loud, but about 30 seconds in, Mom shouted above it "is that swearing I hear on there?". Al replied, knowingly, "they need to swear to make the words rhyme. That's how it works, Mrs. Swain." We listened to a couple more songs and danced a little, and then Al had to bounce.

As soon as Al was out, Moms turned to me and said "You didn't like that music, did you?". I did the right thing to keep Moms copacetic: put on the gasface and say "No". But inside, little Pho was thinking "oh how I loved that music!" And I had to hear more. And that was the beginning. Thank you Al, looking forward to seeing you when you get back. And thank you Jay and Run, that was a big gift that I won't forget ever.

P.S. As I listen to "Raising Hell" today, I don't hear any cursing at all. Mom, what were you talking about??? I mean, Dad's banging "Get UR Freak On" these days, maybe you need to rag on HIM a little.

The jam for tomorrow is Oni's B-day. . . 7PM start. . . Mercury Lounge. . . A whole gang of poets, including Oni herself, Dane out of Palm Sqizzuad, all featuring "sultry erotic" type pieces. I'll be supplying the music - just spent an hour and a half digging for tracks that are strictly about booty. An entire evening of sexual flavourousness that's as dirty as Bobby Brown and Khia's lovechild. Don't even act like you don't want it!

Watching a Raps game, just caught a Nike ad - with a Prefuse 73 soundtrack!

Good news - no structural damage to Vince's knee.