Termanology: Tight Pants Are For Girls

"All they want to rap about is gay shit/whatever happened to BET the basement/you see the type of shit we being replaced with/ face it, every rapper you love now ain't shit"
It's kinda hard to argue with his thesis.

Listen and Learn: Tight Pants Are For Girls
Are tight pants a metaphor for everything that's wrong with rap these days, or just a metaphor for hipster rap, or is hipster rap exactly what's wrong with rap, or is Termanology simply going after those who rap while wearing tight pants? Discuss.

The Places We Live

Go To This Website: The Places We Live

America Week #3: Insults that led to war

I hope the following two tales show all the other countries in the world that when you deal with America the Great, you say please and thank you. You take your hat off, and you speak in a respectful tone. Otherwise, we will do it to you and go right upside your head. America the Great keeps on winning.

INSULT #1: The XYZ Affair and the Quasi War of 1798
aka when the French first started to suck.

After the revolution, much debate raged over whether to support Britain or France in their ongoing dispute with Jefferson being the most vocal proponent of the French while Hamilton favored the British. Washington stood somewhere in between. He was fearful of another war with Great Britain, and sought a treaty to avert a war by resolving issues still leftover from before the Revolution. His main objective was the British evacuation from a substantial number of forts still occupied around the Great Lakes and to achieve better trade status with England.

Hamilton wrote the treaty and John Jay was sent to London to negotiate it. The Jay Treaty eventually made its way through both houses and passed. Along the way it angered Jefferson and Madison so much they morphed their movement into the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose what they believed was too much Federalist power.
But I digress. The Jay Treaty didn't do much. Trade between America and Britain improved, and some lingering issues from the revolution were solved, but the core issues were never dealt with, and the treaty never prevented the eventual war with Britain as much as it just postponed it till 1812.

But, moving on. Whatever your stance was back in the 1790's on the Jay Treaty, there was one extraordinarily unfair concession Jay gave to the British. He not olny allowed the British the right to seize U.S. goods bound for France if they then paid for them, but also to confiscate French goods on American ships without payment.
Needles to say, this infuriated the French, and rightly so. Adding insult to injury, the United States declared its old loans to France invalid, arguing America owed the French Monarchy, not the newly formed French Republic.

But instead of acting like gentlemen and talking it over, they acted the motherfucking the fool and started seizing our ships right away. Can you believe that shit?
Even with the French capturing our vessels all wily nily, we being Americans, took the high ground, and in April, 1798, Adams sent over three delegates to figure out how to resolve the situation like gentlemen. The three delegates sought French foreign minister Charles Talleyrand, but instead were met but three French agents who told the Americans Talleyrand would meet with them to negotiate if they, the Americans
a) gave France a large, low interest loan to further its military incursions in Europe,
b) offered a bribe of $250,000 to Talleyrand, and
c) had Adams apologize for comments he made concerning the French earlier during his administration.
The delegates were nothing short of flabbergasted. When word got back to the America the public was insulted. "Millions for defense, not a penny for tribute," wrote the newspapers. Jefferson, always a supporter of the French did not believe Talleyrand made such disgraceful demands, rather he argued the Adams' delegates were weak and unable to negotiate properly. Adams released the documents demanding the bribe, changing the three French agents name to X,Y, and Z, thus giving this scandal its name.
Needless to say, Adams didn't pay a single cent. His delegates went home, and the French went on seizing American ships. On July 7, 1798, Congress declared all treaties with France null and void and two days later authorized all attacks on French Vessels and the Quasi War began.
At the time America had virtually no navy. Congress authorized funds to buy and outfight ships with guns, and all in, America's fleet was roughly 25 vessels. The war was fought entirely at sea, along America's southern coast and throughout the Caribbean. Throughout the entire conflict, the American Navy captured or destroyed a substantial number of French vessels and only one American ship was taken by the French, only to be recaptured by the Americans a few months later.
By the end of the 1800's, the French were crying and couldn’t take it anymore. The French public demanded an end to it all and both parties signed the treaty of Mortefontaine effectively ending the hostilities.

Since then, France was kicked out of Algeria, and suffers tremendous problems with racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and rampant illiteracy. Meanwhile, in America the Great, we recently elected a black man, son of an immigrant, to serve our highest office.

Here is a song Rush wrote about it.



INSULT #2: The Zimmerman Telegram
aka The Height of Chutzpah


Throughout most of World War I, the United States maintained her neutrality. Public opinion in America was strongly anti-German, and after the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania, President Wilson was at an impasse. Germany could no longer go on sinking anything and everything that moved between America and Europe. I mean what was this, another Quasi war? Eventually, Germany agreed to compensate the victims and to slow their submarine warfare.

But, on January 16, 1917, the British intercepted a telegram from German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador in the United States, Johann von Bernstorff. Zimmermann wrote of Germany's desire to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, and their fear it would draw the United States into the War. If this were to happen, Zimmermann instructed Bernstroff to approach the Mexican government for support. In return, Germany would offer Mexico monetary and military aid to recapture Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and other land they lost during the Mexican American war,

Mexico told them thanks but not thanks. Their military determined it would not be feasible or even desirable to reclaim its lost territory. German financial support was worthless, as the US was the only sizable weapons manufacturer on the continent, and what good would the German money be if they couldn't buy weapons from America because you know, they would be in a war with America. Furthermore, the Mexican government had no plan to pacify the now large English-speaking population in their former territory. Mexico wasn't having it.

When telegram was intercepted in January for months it was thought to be a forgery. But as the public slowly recognized its authenticity, and as German submarine warfare grew more ruthless, war became inevitable. On April 2, 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany..

Germany lost WWI and suffered from rampant stagflation. They tried again in the 1940’s and also got it handed to them.
While costly, American involvement in WWI is generally believed to be what turned the tide against the Axis powers. Since then, America The Great has never lost a war.

OH MAN!

He's no tossed salad man but still, stay far far away.

And I'm done sagging. It's over.

America Week #2: Fajita Gate

This story isn't nearly as funny as yesterday's, but it still involves public drunken fighting.

Story #2: Fajita Gate

Novemeber 22, 2002
San Francisco, California

Jade Santoro had spent most of his night drinking at The Bus Stop, a Union Street watering hole whose biggest draw is its free popcorn. At some point, he decided he wanted more than free popcorn, and walked a few blocks down the street the Blue Light, a bar remarkably similar to the Bus Stop except for the fact they serve food there and that it’s owned by Boz fucking Skaggs. His friend Adam Snyder was working there that night. Snyder, knowing he would be hungry later, ordered chicken fajitas from the kitchen, and set them down for later. Santoro drank with his friend and stayed to help Snyder close it down.

Meanwhile three off duty police officers, Matthew Tonsing, David Lee, and Alex Fagan Jr. had arrived at the Bus Stop. Fagan's father, Alex Fagan Sr. had been promoted to assistant chief of the police department, and they had spent all night celebrating. They decided to end their evening at the Bus Stop. The three cops drank until closing time and then lingered around in front of the bar drinking some more.

Santoro, Snyder, and the box with the fajita had left the Blue Light and passed by the Bus Stop on their way to Snyder's car. One of the cops identified the take out box as a food carrying device and demanded Snyder give him his food. Snyder flat out refused. The cops had some words and Santoro steeped in to defend his friend saying. "It's his food, leave him alone."

All hell broke loose. The off-duty officers converged and beat the two mean into submission. After cuts, bruises, concussions and a broken nose, not to mention a ruined fajita ("I went and picked up my fajitas that had slid over to the side of the street, and at that point it was kind of a lost cause, so I threw them away.") 9-11 was called. Fajitagate had begun.

When the police arrived on the scene, Snyder and Santoro identified the three off duty cops immediately. The police detained the three officers and the question of whether or not these cops receieved preferntial treatment--the central issue behind fajita gate--began. The arresting officers allowed off duty cops to change clothes, talk to each other, and even waited a few hours before giving them a blood alchool test. That being said, they didn’t squash the case. They spoke with the officers involved and had them contact their union representatives.

What most people don't know, what makes this story so strange is that the San Fransisco Police Department has always had a reputation for being a very mellow, laid back department. Unlike the LAPD, the SFPD never had a reputation for violence, corruption, or even brutality. In fact if anything, the department fails the other way. Terence Hallinan, S.F's D.A. at the time felt strongly the department did a poor, lazy job at investigating its cases. He wanted the department to be more aggressive and had openly challenged both its will, desire, and ability to investigate cases aggressively.

Thing was, Hallinan came from a bizarre, only in California type of family. His dad was a civil-rights attorney and hard-core leftist that ran once ran for President. As a kid, he would get into fights all the time, so much his nickname was KO. His family home was constantly vandalized with hammer and sickle graffiti. By the time he became an attorney he had been arrested so many times for fighting and various forms public protest he was nearly not allowed into the California Bar Association until future mayor spoke on his behalf. He went on to represent Angela Davis and all types of local radicals, drug dealers, and anyone who no one else would defend. It seems safe to say that only in a city like San Fransisco would a guy with this type of background have the chutzpah to run for D.A, let alone win.

So here's a guy who grew up fighting for people to get out of jail, and now, he’s become became part of the system that puts people into jail. But he’s still stuck in a fight the system mentaility that he’s butting heads with the police department every chance he gets.

Now, even though the SFPD were seen as laid back and possibly weak, there had always been a small, rag-tag group of "cowboy cops" that tended to take matters into their own hands. In 1970's, inspired by Dirty Harry, a group of SF drug cops decided they were gonna to go out into the streets and hit dudes in the mouth Mike Singletary style. Alex Fagan Sr. the man just promoted to assistant chief of police, was more or less the founder of that movement. And the apple didn't fall far from the tree. His son Alex Jr, with only one year on the force before the incident outside The Bus Stop, had used force 16 times, sending 6 suspects to the hospital.

But all this was lost. All the evidence that came Hallinan's way pointed towards a drunken bar fight. And even though everyone was drunk, the fight was over a fajita, and it took place outside a bar, Hallinan didn’t see it as a barfight. He was sure the department was hiding something. And even though the department was willing to have the three officers plead guilty and not fight the case, Hallinan wanted more, he didn't want three out of control cops, he wanted to bring down the whole department. And so he began to prepare a case alleging a massive frame up and cover up job.

Earl Sanders, the city's first black Chief felt very strongly all that had happened was a drunken fight. " From the experience of forty years, everything that I'd seen is that this was the happenstance meeting of five young men who got into a fistfight at two-thirty in the morning. I read the police report. There was no indication that there was anything awry with the investigation." That quote so enraged Hallinan and convinced him of a massive conspiracy that he began a grand jury investigation the file of which ran over 500 pages.

He called 43 witnesses to testify including but not limited to the cook at the Blue Light whose recpipe was called into question, "I put meat, and, after two or three minutes, put bell peppers, green peppers, and onions, and then I just took tortillas, flour tortillas, and I put in the white container and that's it."

After a exhaustive investigation, Hallinan asked the jury to for indictments against the three off-duty cops for beating up Snyder and Santoro. Here’s the weird part, for the obstruction of justice charges, they simply read the jury the law on conspiracy, and gave the jurors a blank indictment form and told them to write in the name of any officer they felt was guilty of these charges. The jury came back with indictments for the six highest-ranking officers in the department, including assistant chief Alex Fagan and Chief Earl Sanders.

Never in American history has the entire command structure of a police department been decimated. Sanders decided to hand himself in but first needed a replacement. He called Fagan, but found he'd been indicted, and more or less worked his way down the chain of command, only to find every single suitable replacement had been indicted as well. He finally found Heather Wong, the deputy chief of administration to run the department. (Coincidentally, this allowed Mayor Willie Brown to relish in the fact that during his term, he appointed the city's first Asian, black, and female Police Chief.)

Earl Sanders had always been seen as a hero in the black community. A long time champion of civil rights and a career policeman on the force, he climbed his way up to the top of the department. When he first started, the SFPD was still an all Irish institution, but he was able to earn enough respect for doing quality police work to gain acceptance. His rise through the department was an inspiration to every black cop and everyone else for the matter. Furthermore, he didn't play political games, his relationship with the mayor was no more than decent, and it was accepted throughout the city he got his job through hard work, not politics and patronage.

His arrest was nothing less than an outrage among the city's black policemen. During his booking, every officer sat there and refused to fingerprint him. According to Sanders I finally "turned over my collar with the four stars and said, 'Sergeant, do your job.' "

Sanders and the other officers all decided to take an unpaid leave of absence until things could get sorted out. Hallinan meanwhile was shocked at how high up the indictments went. He studied the testimony and discovered Sanders name had only been mentioned twice. Two weeks later, he went before a judge and asked the charges to be dropped against Sanders and Fagan. He still wanted to proceed with conspiracy charges against five other senior officers and a felony assault case against Fagan Jr.

It didn't go to far. His case against the five officers was thrown out by a judge who asked, "Where was the wink? Where was the nod? Where was the agreement?"



Fagan and another off-duty cop were eventually found not guilty in 2004 but were found liable in a civil case in 2007. Fagan was fired after failing a police examination.

Mayor Willie Brown served out the rest of his term and retired from politics.

Earl Sanders retired early due to fajitagate-related stress. In 2007, the US Supreme court turned down an appeal in his lawsuit alleging he had been maliciously prosecuted.

Terence Hallinan lost his reelection campaign and now is a spokesman for NORM.L

Daniel Arnold posted a rap song on his blog

checkit

Don't worry, he'll soon be back to showing you something you've never heard of and comparing it to something you'll never hear of again.

America Week #1: Two Cent Beer Night

America, it really is the best place ever. After the events of yesterday, we can finally feel confident in our patriotism, that we love our country for the right reasons, America is truly something to love and be proud of. No longer must our patriotism hide in the shadows of our shame. For America's dream, it's promise, it's lure, has truly been exhibited. We are again the land of milk and honey, a land where dreams come true for those who once could not even afford the luxury of dreaming.

To honor this day, and this country, all week will be "America Week." America Week will be a celebration of America through stories THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN AMERICA.

Story #1 Ten Cent Beer Night
What is more American than beer? Actually, since beer is more or less a German thing, I'm thinking more of the action of drinking a beer on a hot summer day. And what is more American than drinking a beer on a hot summer day? Nothing. Nothing except baseball. And what is more American than drinking a beer on a hot summer day while watching a baseball game? Nothing at all, expect of course a black president.


Cleveland, June 4, 1974. It was a hot American night. The type of humidity coming off a Great Lake made your shirt stick to you the way it only could in America. The Rangers were in from Texas playing the Indians, and all hell was about to break loose. Earlier in the week, the Indians were in Texas and a fight broke out midgame. After a few shenanigans, the Indians' first baseman punched out Texas' pitcher in the 8th inning. A bench clearing brawl ensued. Insult was added to injury when the Texas fans dumped beer onto the Indians.

All of Cleveland knew it was payback time. At the time Cleveland was in rough shape. The Cuahoga River, which runs through downtown Cleveland went up in flames for the ninth time in 1952 destroying 1.5 million dollars worth of property. Nothing was done till the river burned again in 1969, this time even with flames reaching five stories high and burning for more than half an hour, only $50,000 worth of property was destroyed. How could a fire, on water, in downtown Cleveland only produce $50,000 worth of damage? Leading up to 74, well over 600 factories fled Cleveland, leaving behind only staggering unemployment and block after block of abaondment buildings. Between 1970 and 1980, Cleveland would loose nearly 200,000 residents. And in the midst of all this, the city council debated and declaring bankruptcy, a move unheard of since the Great Depression.

So, in a city like this, how do you get people out to see a baseball game when normally the stadium only sells 25 percent of its seats? You offer them 10 cent beer. The owner of the Indians couldn't stand too look out and see all the empty seats and some brilliant promotions guy came up with ten cent beer night. And it worked, on June 4th, 25,134 people bought tickets, triple normal crowd on regular priced beer night.

Hilarity immediately ensued.

In what could be the only evidence needed to prove the vast superiority of Clevelanders to just about anyone else from anywhere that isn't Cleveland, a huge number of fans showed up to the game with pockets stuffed full of fireworks. And they didn't even wait till the first pitch to start setting them off.

By the second inning, a woman had leaped from the stands, ran to the on-deck circle, flashed the crowd, and attempted to kiss the umpire. This only inspired more streakers, including a man in the fourth inning who slid into second base naked, and a father son team that mooned the entire Rangers' dugout. And everytime security tried to chase one fan off the field, others would leap into the outfield from their seats in right or left field, only to run to the opposite side, hop over the barricade, and loose themselves in the pandemonium of the crowd.

As the game went on, the crowd became drunker and more awesome. A man threw a tennis ball onto the field, chased after it, led security on a chase around the outfield, bumped into another fan on the field, hugged him, and hoped back up into the stands. By this point, fans had gone beyond throwing empty or somewhat full beer cups onto the field, and graduated to bombarding the field with rocks, batteries, golf balls, and even parts of the stadium itself. Attempts to clean the field by the ground crew were halted after the crews became nothing more than moving targets.

By this point, the stadium's crew could not move the beer fast enough from it's holding truck to the concession stands. A last minute decision was made to allow the fans to get their beers directly from the truck. This means they fans lined up and filled their cups with beer coming out of a hose connect to a truck. Do you understand what that looks like? It was after this that one young fan threw a roll of lit firecrackers into the Texas dugout, and the umpire ordered both bullpens evacuated.

A half full jug of Thundbird wine was thrown at Texas firstbasman Mike Hargrove, missing his head by inches. A pile of clothes in left field grew as more and more fans started streaking. A group of fans tried to remove the padding on the left field wall. The Indians' front office left the stadium, like nothing was wrong.

Then in the ninth inning, all hell broke loose. A fan leaped from the stands, ran and stole a Texas outfielder's hat. When the outfielder tried to get it back, he tripped and the entire Texas bench ran into the field armed with bats to take out their frustrations. By the time the reached the outfield, nearly 250 Clevelanders were there to meet them, armed with chains, knives, and clubs made from various items ripped from the stadium floor. As more and more fans jumped over the wall, the chaos began. The Indian's manager ordered his own players onto the field to rescue Rangers. It was an all out melee. Here's a little back and forth from the announcers:
"Hargrove has got some kid on the ground and he is really administering a beating"
"Well, the fellow came up and hit him from behind is what happened."
"Boy, Hargrove really wants a piece of him, and I don't blame him"

The players eventually made their way off the field and into the clubhouse, locking the doors behind them. More fans came onto the field and once all the bases were stolen, and the Cleveland riot squad was called in to clear the field, the game was called, and Cleveland forfeited.

American League President Lee McPhail summed it up with a great quote, "America may need a good five cent cigar, but it doesn't need ten cent beer."

Tomorrow: The Teapot Dome Scandal

Biggie Week #3

St. Ides Commerical


Gimme The Loot
Gimme The Loot feat. Ray Cash
It's really amazing how Ray Cash raps the "other" Biggie verses changing the words but saying more or less the same thing.
If you've never even heard Gimme the Loot, you should be ashamed. If it's your favorite song in the world, the Ray Cash version will not top it, but it will impress. Listen, and discuss.
Live Freestyle At MSG w. Tupac Biggie comes in at about 1.42 This version doesn't have pac but this clip does. Only it doesn't have biggie. Go figure.

The Mayor Of Racine Is a Moron

OH MAN!


Racine mayor arrested in sex sting
Is this guy for real?

Racine Anecdote: I always used to think Racine was just some town in Wisconsin. Then I met all these dudes from there like four years ago and all they ever talked about was how Racine is just the most violent place on Earth and how living in the worst neighborhood in Milwaukee ain't shit cause it's still better than the best neighborhood in Racine and how if you live in Chicago and "mess up" the gangs will come up to Milwaukee and kill you but if you go to Racine no one will do anything to you because people are too afraid to go there. Yeah, bullshit. Clearly. But then, one day, I was in Chicago and I experience a no-money situation where I had 40 dollars and due to a complicated set of circumstances that do not need to be described here or anywhere else for the matter, the money blew out of my hands in a giant gust of wind leaving me stranded in the parking lot and having to gather up change in the car to pay for my exit. On my way back to Milwaukee I was running out of gas, had no cash on me, atm magnetic strip was broken, and I foresaw myself running out of gas and being stranded 60 miles from home only to die from a slow death of starvation and boredom and dehydration. My only hope was a crazed truck driver might kill me before the dehydration set in. I called my friend to tell her goodbye and she told me that Aaron Vold, a mutual friend was actually spending the weekend at his parents house in Racine, and I should go borrow $20 from him, With a new lease on life I drove into Racine, searching for both the bad parts of town to see if these kids were right and Aaron Vold. He gave me some money and a short tour of Racine, showing me the bad parts of town and telling me about how kids ride elephants down the street during prom. (true) Anyway, while the initial reports might have been grossly exaggerated, I can say, Racine has got problems, and problems plural. Too bad the mayor who actually started to fix some of them is now going away for a long time. 12 year-olds dude.

Biggie Week #2

17 years old killing it on a street corner


Real Niggaz aka Biggie flowing over a menagerie of west coasts beats. And Party and Bullshit, off the Who's The Man soundtrack. Side note, Who's The Man is actually the most complex film ever made. It has something like 38 different plot lines that come together in a such a way it makes LA Confidential look like Sled Dogs.

Biggie Week- Post #1

To get ready for Notorious, which looks like it's going to be great, it's Biggie week here at 414son.blogspot. Expect a clip and some joints to download everyday. And yes, weeks start on tuesday.

Warning - Live in Boston


Wake Up Show Freestyle

The Actual Plot To The Unborn (Unreal)

Alright, The Unborn, from what I've been able to gather, is about Odette Yustman (who according to the Chicago Tribune spends "too much time jogging when she should be thinking about sandwiches") starts having horrible nightmares after discovering she's Jewish, no, for real. Then, there's this thing with an evil twin brother that doesn't really exist in the physical form, (you know, a dybbuk, everyone knows about that shit) and Nazi scientists who did some experiment at Auschwitz and somehow Gary Oldman has to get involved because he's a rabbi whose expertise just happens related to dybuk's created by Nazi experiments at Auschwitz.

How offended should we be?

Essay Contest #1

Why is this the best photo taken since the infamous shot of me in Africa? No more than 200 words, Please email or submit via comment section no later than Jan 15th.
For larger image please go here.

I made a mistake, but you did too.

I think my clip game was on point for nearly all of 2008. I make no apologies. However, my posting the best clips of 2008 game might be a bit suspect. I've added two more to the bottom of the post, vital stuff.
On another note, if it's blue, click on it. Christ, I spend all this time putting the code in so you don't have to see the link and can click on the words and all I get are questions. It's important to me that you know the King of New York whatnot came from an article at blackpower.com No, for real.

We had fun on New Years

Did you?

Drinking Out Of Cups

Don't know how I missed this one in 08. Guess I posted my year in clips damnshit a minute too early. Also, no one has won the prize yet, John and Brian's advice lacked the necessary step by step tech support needed, and as a result, this clip has it's right side cut off slightly.

Finally, A Debate I Can Get Behind

New Jack City VS. King of New York
No contest after all, Frank White push the sticks on the Lexus, LX, four and a half...





Also, in case you didn't know, "both of these iconic films are available on DVD, on bootleg and otherwise." Unreal

Heinemann's R.I.P.

Wow. Didn't see this one coming. At all. Clearly, a sad sign of our impending economic doom. Without any warning, the Jewish George Webb's shut it's doors for good. You know times are tough when people can't afford to spend 1.99 on a breakfast special that comes with free coffee. Don't worry, your grandparents can still go eat at the Wooden Goose (not with me though because according to Josh I'm "simply not capable of showing up to that restaurant on time") or they can meet up with Sam Macon at Jay's American Cafe.

Does anyone know

why whenever I embed or post photos it crops the shit? Whoever solves this problem for me will get a prize. I will display a photo of you and write two haiku(s?) about what a great person you are. Help me help you.

2008 in clips

Little things like made the worst year ever a bit bearable.
You got more, let me know, I'll add them.























thanks to byroncrawford.com for the idea.