Show review! Murs at camden jazz cafe

as you Probably know if you read this blog, i am a big hip hop fan of new and old....but mostly old! and one of, probably my favirote new age rapper, murs was finally doing a euro tour and I could finally get to see his set.

Stig of the dump opened up, I had'nt ever really heard his stuff apart from this uk vs us rap battle I saw once, he was on that and was good(and won his battle) also friends had said good things about him so I was expecting good things, And thats what I got! He opened with an acapella and went straight into his set, it was really cool to see a guy not give a shit about how he looked or how he sounded when it comes to hip hop which is a common problem with the music genre - some of his songs were more grimey than others but most of it was uk hip hop at its finest, honestly in my opinoun he is a underated talent and I hope he gets all he deserves in the future, although he was supporting murs and that would be the high point of my.....career? as a rapper, and yeh I said career because I couldnt think of any other word, obviously he does his thing because hes inspired by the music and not money but you get what I mean.

So after 30-40 minutes of in your face british hip hop was mur's turn and I was fucking stoaked - this guy had influenced me from a worse time in my life however corney that sounds and I listen to him on the regular - and if anyone knows me they know I love hip hop, probably just as much as punk music and this guy in my opinoun is the pioneer of it all nowadays.
he comes on with such energy and dosn't stop moving for a secound, everyones connecting and singing along and I have a huge grin on my face, between songs he has humor and between others he has a message, just what I like in my musicians - He goes through most of the 'classics' from his album '3:16' which features beats all made by 9th wonder on this tour however he was acompaied by 'foundation' who was a great dj and was just as invovled as murs, which I find also very important as if it was not for the dj we'd have no funky beats and breaks to dance to right?
he also went through some new songs coming out on his new lp 'varsity blues 2' which sounded super cool.

He also had some fun and did some freestyles over tracks of which he told a story, for example he did one over dubstep, another over a dance track and another over wiz khalifas's 'black and yellow' - of which I dislike but murs made it awesome because he's awesome! - overall I had a great night, so did the rest of the audience I could tell, he's got awesome energy and has the hip hop honesty that most 'hip hop' acts lack in nowadays I'd say, if you get the chance to most definatly see him 100% you'll be missing out if you don't!

why I think sampling is one of the coolest things ever

Ok so what is Sampling first off?
well sampling was born in the 1970s with the birth of underground hip hop and in laymens terms its when you get someone elses song, or a sound from anywhere thats recorded, and chop it up, rearrange it and use it in a track that you compile together using computer programs...well nowadays anyway back in the day they'd use tape loops and turntable samplers. you can sample anything you want, singing, beats, snyths, violins, double bass anything that can be recorded!
so what does this mean?
well it means you potentially have any instrument or sound at your command, all you have to do is put it all together. For example if you had the technology and money you could pay for a double bass player to come to your home studio and you could record him doing all sorts of chords, once recorded you pay him and then cut them and then assign them to each key to your midi keyboard and there you go, you have a professional double bass at your disposal. - This is just one example you could do it with anything and I mean anything. Dj shadow first really took sampling in both hands and made a whole album from samples, it even included samples from famous NASA take off countdowns.
I feel its ultimate creativity and it's finest, observe the world, listen to it's sounds - record them and make a song out of it. How awesome is that!
One day I hope to learn to Dj and then have some sort of home studio where I can start to do this myself.
Heres a simple but effective tutorial video I found on youtube about sampling

streotypes of a male misunderstood. and its not all good

Stereotypes are never a good thing, I should'nt have to write an essay on the negitive effects of stereotypes and how it goes hand in hand with racism and sexism But it seems the world still hasn't got a grasp on things so heres one about male stereotypes. Why male? well its a lot less touched on then female stereotypes or racist stereotypes. And what is a male sterotype? well people seem to fixated on being a 'real man' - what is a real man in a stereotpyical opinoun? well heres what I've found over the years from my perspective

• He's strong
• He can win in fights
• He can drink a lot
• He's not gay
  
• He can sex well

Theres obviously loooooads more than ive just listed, and of course all of them are bullshit but that in my personal experiences is the stereotypcial man that( more than I'd like to admit) people expect when they see a male. First off why are these stereotypes wrong? well believe it or not there are many men out there who actually believe this ''makes a man a man'' and therefore if anyone is for example homosexual or dosn't want to drink then he is seen as a joke or looked at in a negitive light therefore shunning people from simple life choices that we are all entitled to make, in extreame cases this can be a form of oppression because it influnces modern day man so much that he may never be what he wants to be because he fears of the repercussions he might face against his fellow man.

And that is why these stereotypes are bullshit. so what does make a man a man? well in my opinoun you should backup a bit and ask yourself instead what makes a decent human being a decent human being? because as soon as we categorise ourselfs into what we should/should'nt be via sexual orientation were already saying that females can't do certain things males can and visa versa and thats a pretty sexist view to have in my opinoun. let's all just work on bettering ourselves as human beings instead of focusing on traits we 'should' have because of if were a dude or a gal

peace and thanksx

Gorillbar(sort of) has a tumblr!

ok well I say sort of because it's a bit more personal than gorillbar
but it will more than likely have things on it that will intrest you if your digging this blog

www.gorillabarstumblr.tumblr.com

video games: whats up with the kids today?

I'd like to start this post in a positive way, Been playing a lot of old street fighter games so It inspired me to write this. The console you see above is the super nintendo entertainment system and it is probably invovled with most of my happiest childhood memories, not just because I loved playing it but because of who I played it it with, mainly my brother and my dad.

Why did I bother telling you that? well If you haven't geussed already this post is about video games today and the problems that come with them today And I geuss I was trying to demonstrate how this isn't a complete slant at video games as the console above is almost a family airloom to me and has great sentimental value and I still treasure it to this day.
HOWEVER
today I feel its a different case as I see kids litreally spending 24/7 online on their xbox/ps3 - now im not one to tell you how to live your life but at least live it! I don't know if its the online capabilities or the superb grahpics that are on offer to today's gamer but something has a lot of these young(and sometimes worrying old) people litreally hooked on their games. I geuss first I'd compare myself as a child playing playstation or super nintendo, did I spend that much time on my consoles? did I love my consoles? well...No and yes, Truely I loved gaming and found it a creative and imaginative experience everytime I picked up the pad but I think that creativity and imaginativity carried on when I turned off the TV and these kids...arn't?
I could argue that anytime spent fiddling with a controller and swearing at a tv is a waste of time but I simply dont belive that. As a child/teenager I found computer games a constant comfort to take my mind off difficult and painful times whilst growing up, its almost Like I could switch off and just not care about anytihng but the game I was playing - ask yourself where else you can do that in life? there arn't many answers, and all it took was turning on your console and playing.
But should kids get stuck in this trance everyday? well of course not, although video games where always there as an escape it's always important to experience situations around you be them bad and good, they shape you, you learn from them and you grow up with them to shape you into a (hopefully) well rounded and awesome person. these situations are usually located outside of your bedroom...and if you never leave the bedroom due to the console then will you learn these skills and if you do will it be too late?
well I dont have the answer but I belive we shall find it out in the near future as these xbox 360/ps3 kids are growing up and will have to face reality sooner or later..unfortunatly.

Whats the solution? well I don't know but all I know is that video games in the golden 90's where about imgination, jumping on turtles as a fat italian with colourful 16 bit screen resolution and not pretending you were in the army with real life graphics. Has gaming became too realistic? I think so and Just like how I see society I belive we must take a step back to take a step forward

peace and thanks!

What is a 'whore'?

Maybe its because i'm currently a bit deprived of sleep at the moment but I felt the need to write about something a little controversial and opinionated...maybe the point where I might offend someone?..o well

SO what is a 'whore'? - well the normal response by a lot of people would be 'someone who has sex a lot' how do I know? well for the past few months Ive been asking people what they think a whore is and by the results Ive found, this is normally the case....However I have to disagree.

Sex is one of the last primal instincts we have left as evolved primates, to mate - why else do you find yourself in attraction to a man's/woman's physical attributes? because our bodies are telling us to mate a lot or at least some of the time. Now of course its not as simple anymore, as we've developed so has our psyche and our traditions and expectations of when and why sex happens.

A whore is not someone who has sex a lot because its perfectly healthy and most importantly natural to give into that need if you and the other person is comfortable with it.

A whore or 'slut' to me is someone who abuses sex for many reasons, ill make a list, just remember this is all personal opinoun:

• Having sex with strangers without protection
  
• having sex with someone's boyfriend/girlfriend
• having sex with someone promising them commitment but instead lying
  
• intoxicating someone with the intent to have sex with them
  
• using sex for money or blackmail
  

There's definatly more but these were just some examples.
I decided to write this because I think the term 'whore' or 'slut' gets chucked around way too loosely. sex and other sexual....stuff is perfectly fine if it leaves no victims emotionally or physically.

I hope that if you were so judgmental of others because of this then you'll be a bit more easy going in the future!

peace and thanks!

A film to check out! - adventureland

I haven't done a film review since the time machine classic last year so I thought it would make sence to do more than one.....Adventureland first came out in 2009, but I saw it first late last year - basically its a really suttle romance/comedy which odd considering its made by the same makers of superbad, who generally gives us in your face teenager american comedy, And although this film has much the same feel because its based on teenagerhood situations it gives us a twist because it throws in a romance story which gives it a serious and emotional edge but at the same time having a suttle comedy...which is an awesome mix.

The film is based in 1987 following the character of james, as he works through summer to save up to move to new york with one of his best friends. he gets a crappy job at an amusment park called 'adventureland' and soon makes new friends and finds a girl he befriends called emily, soon he falls for her but there are complications like any teenage romance.

The film generally deals with all the things most teenagers will have to deal with when trying to find the right person and having a sucessful relationship and it really helps you relate to the film when you've also had some of these experiences. in fact id say I like it most because I can relate to 'james' so much that I could possibly imagene myself having the ending he gets? and that makes me feel good!

he works a crappy job he hates, gets shit all money, is shit at talking to girls and hates where he lives and wants to move out

who can't relate to that? you must have at least 2 things in common? unless you one of those well adjusted normal people....BUT the majority of you arn't! so yeh I think this film just gives you/us - the generation of fuck ups that we can end up where we want with who we want no matter what complications get in the way and have some laughs in the process

..............and its all on youtube but shhhhhhhhhh

peace and thanks