Singers and the Songs They Make

In general, I listen to a lot of R&B, hip-hop, and rap music. One of my favorite artists is the one and only Kanye West. When it comes to the phrase, "the sky is the limit", he has more than "Touched The Sky" because of his unique approach to rapping. He is known as a rap genius, and I can see why. Whenever he releases his new albums "To The World", he'll get acclaimations and all sorts of positive feedback. And when he and his buddy
Jay-Z pair up, they "Lift Off." Literally, they'll lift off into the world of fame and just amaze everyone at their concerts. I mean, Kanye does have his off-the-mike issues, which tend to become very publicized very fast (Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, outrageous comments about George Bush and Hitler) At times, Kanye can act like "Bad News," but I still think that he is pretty "Amazing."

Drake also has some really nice songs too, but he does the strangest things. "Lord Knows" what he's up to when he goes "Uptown" to Toronto. I mean, we get that you "Started from the Bottom" and have the right to show that you are pretty "Successful," but you've got to "Take Care" of yourself man. And "The Motto," YOLO,  has become the most overused and annoying acronym in our modern era. I can't even mention it in a conversation anymore because my friends will just flat-out groan. I'm just asking for the YOLO mania to be "Over" with, but I know that it probably won't.

However, when you take some verses that these rappers "spit" too literally, they can sound really confusing, stupid-sounding, or just plain strange. No average adult would understand why 2 Chainz would want someone to "bury [him] inside the Gucci store." My rapper Wale, guy with the same name as me (hence the name of the blog), I sympathize with you. People need to understand that it's not pronounced "whale," it's Wa-Lay.  And yes, Rick Ross, we hear you. We don't need to listen to 100+ songs about how "You the Boss".

In my opinion, rappers are starting to lose their edge. Nowadays, it's all about money, power, drugs, and girls. I liked the rappers when they were making songs to try and break into the business. Drake and Lil Wayne (yes Lil Wayne) made their best and most original songs before they stepped onto the scene and started rapping about nonsense. We still have rappers like the recent breakthrough star J. Cole and the legendary Eminem who just know how to rap about life. Eminem especially cannot be messed with; his lyrics are absolutely "Beautiful." I'm calling out rap music not because I think it's terrible or because it needs to go away. Fans want the old rappers back, rap that had originality in it, the kind of rap that made the world somewhat of an important issue to think about. TRUUUU....

The Things That People Do...(Part 2)

In general, people do the strangest things. Just when you think you've heard it all, there's something new and stupider that comes up to shock the world.

For example, I recently read an old story about a college kid, Philip Wheeler, who was expelled from Harvard because he faked his way into the college. He provided fake stats, unoriginal recommendations and stories, and fake SAT scores. He was pretty close to graduating too. Anyways, what he did was stupid. Now he's screwed for life because he would probably be denied to any college he applies to. He basically has a target on his back for faking his way into the most prestigious university in the world.

Also, there have been countless stories about homeless or very low-income men who get themselves arrested. The easiest plan of action: rob a bank. How to rob a bank without too much drama: rob them of a dollar or a penny, like I've heard of in the two situations that I read about. These people are basically saying that they would receive more medical care and more food and shelter in jail than being homeless. That represents just how lopsided the U.S. economy is.

Yesterday, rapper 50 Cent tweeted about how he "dont see no black people" at NASCAR's Daytona 500. Maybe it's because there are no black people in NASCAR. It's ironic though because HE's there and he's watching the Daytona 500. Pretty funny 50.

Also yesterday, there were 3 kids in North Dakota who got caught wearing KKK suits at a hockey game. Really, in this time and era? It's pretty stupid because they probably thought no one would care that much, especially since they only wore it for 30 seconds. Hey, the cameras are everywhere. Just because you're at a hockey game, which doesn't attract black people, in North Dakota, where there's almost NO black people, doesn't mean that you won't get caught. Thank you Yahoo!

To wrap it up, people can do the weirdest things. It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, a superstar athlete or a celebrity, or some random teenagers across the street. People go through life making really bad decisions (Kim Kardashian, Kris Humphries) that can end up making headlines for being stupid. I give most credit to Yahoo! for my blog. Don't do stupid stuff.

The Things That People Do

 

JaVale McGee: (http://bbs.hupu.com/4185372.html)

This is the first part of a two part series: the first one is focused on athletes, the second one on people in general.

People do the strangest things, especially athletes. Atheletes, being paid the way they are, feel like they can play the games they play and get away with a couple of silly actions without being seen. The problem with that is that the cameras are everywhere. Here's an account of recent slip-ups by athletes.

• First one: an NBA basketball player named JaVale McGee. Type in this name on Youtube or Google it, and the first results will talk about how silly this guy is. He's a very lanky, 7'0, athletically gifted center for the Denver Nuggets, but he does way too many silly things on the court. Words cannot fully describe the ridiculousness of this guy. Just go on the link, then you'll see what I mean (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX34qq06xbE).
• Next up involves a kicker in the NFL who plays for the San Diego Chargers. This kicker must have really eaten something for breakfast because during a game, he took time to relieve himself on the field. Yeah, he peed on the field, and a trainer tried to cover him up to avoid being showcased on ESPN. Unfortunately, the cameras are everywhere, and he was caught. After that, he missed the field goal to tie the game up against the Denver Broncos. That's got to be karma, right?  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltsSie5i5Do)
• Another surprising thing that an athlete has done includes a soccer player for England's Chelsea football club. This player repeatedly and maliciously kicked a ballboy in the ribs during a soccer game. The ballboy was trying to retrieve an out-of-bounds ball on the ground when the player went up to him and kicked him while he was on the ground; he was supposedly trying to get the ball out of the ball boy's hands. That's not an everyday act of anger. I hear of fights and angry tweets between atheletes, but I've never heard of a player kicking a non-player before. Appalling, isn't it?  Something new everyday. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqrXaEfBEHk)
• Finally, the last example involves Manti T'eo, star linebacker from Notre Dame. He recently got caught up in the infamous girlfriend hoax,and it doesn't look like this story will go away for like the next five years. He was "dating" a girl named Lennay Kekua while at Notre Dame until she "passed away" in September. She had "died" of leukemia, and T'eo found out about this hours after his grandmother had just passed away. Somehow, his play on the football field only intensified, and he lead his team to an unbeaten record. People who heard about his story sympathized with him, but when the hoax was revealed, all hell broke loose. People either scolded him because they thought he was in on the scam to make others feel bad for him (and improve his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy by getting national attention) or they ridiculed him because he had a girfriend who didn't actually exist. In the end, one of the nation's top NFL prospects is going to be forever reminded with a one-of-a-kind story instead of his amazing football play. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFRrT1abzcA)

Athletes have the strangest stories. They have cameras on them all the time, so everything they do is going to make news. But this shouldn't take all of the attention. Celebrities, and people in general, have done things that just aren't right nowadays...