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happy belated bornday to rhome anderson, aka dj stylus
(short for "da jingoistic stylus")
my bad homie- how'd i miss that?

next round's on me, ho(lmes)

dp

naturalaw-dp - 2:58 PM
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8.26.2004

dp on Olympic Hoops
ahh, WWRWS? (What Would Ralph Wiley Say?)

the outright hatred of Team USA B-ball is... outright.
outright, as in "right out loud, audacious and rather joyful"

why?

i know they're not crushing teams like the one & only Dream Team in '92
i know that other teams have been shooting better than them
i know that they've lost twice in this tournament

yet, i hear folks saying things like:
"they're lazy"
"they're awful"
"bunch of overpaid, tattooed prima donnas"

hell, i even heard a good friend of mine who oughta know better spew venemous delight at their first round blowout loss to Puerto Rico, chortling at those "rich bastards... i'm glad they got their asses kicked"

i know that most of these judgements are being made without the aid of actually WATCHING the games. (shame on you, vibe conductor)

well, i took some time off work to watch a few games.
thus, i feel i'm partially qualified to speak...

but jason whitlock said it so much better

R Dub would be proud of you, mayne.

easy,
dp

ps. the dude with the tattoos and cornrows? he's playing with a BROKEN THUMB and nary a complaint. some of y'all would phone it in off a bad hangnail...

naturalaw-dp - 3:27 PM
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3 comments:

Wilbon & Whitlock made similar points, but I watched some games myself and had come to several of those conclusions independently. Anyone who knows me knows that I soured on the NBA long ago even though I was a rabid sports head up until a few years ago... style of play and celebrity minstrelsy being the prime contributors.

The reasons why the US team has been losing are simple: not acclimated to the international game, not ready for the zone, shooting horribly, taking their opponents for granted and a cobbled-together squad that wasn't the right mix of skillsets for these Olympics (this squad is a marketing ploy).

The reasons why I personally giggled with glee at their misfortune is that them bammas had the nerve to act swole when they barely squeaked by squads that couldn't even qualify for the Olympics and still didn't see the disaster ahead of them. The rest of the world developing a tight game of ball is not a new phenomenon, so why be surprised when you finally get served?

I'm not hating on the players. I'm hating on this inferior version of the game we've backed ourselves into that has an entire population of young folks valuing style over substance. I'm hating on hubris combined with cluelessness, from the top on down. Poor Larry Brown. AI's efforts are gallant, but he's been set up. They didn't see it coming when they lost by 17 to Italy? (no NBA players on their roster) Even AI started to realize the impending doom then.

I can't buy into the motivation thing being an excuse, although it is a performance factor. Blah, blah, the pinnacle of the amateur game means nothing when you've got millions waiting for you at your regular job. Well don't show up for the Olympics then if it's not that important. Playing hurt in the Olympics when it can jeopardize your millions is a sacrifice, but unless everyone else catches that Marbury bug, AI will be a sacrificial lamb.

Another reason to giggle? Sarunas Jasikevicius baby!! TERPS!! WHUT!!??! How's that for a slow fat white boy? Ultimately, this is all good though because it makes the game better. I might actually start liking it again.

posted by Stylus : 1:44 PM

hmmm...
this part:

"The reasons why I personally giggled with glee at their misfortune is that them bammas had the nerve to act swole when they barely squeaked by squads that couldn't even qualify for the Olympics and still didn't see the disaster ahead of them. The rest of the world developing a tight game of ball is not a new phenomenon, so why be surprised when you finally get served?"

i saw carlos arroyo act swole while PRico mashed the US
i saw sarunas j act swole while Lithuania beat the US

i saw a bunch of relieved US dudes celebrate AI's buzzer beater in the tune-up tournament...

which games did you watch where the US was acting swole? and where they acted surprised when they lost? you act like cats are behaving like olympic sprinters out there.

there is basically one jackass on the team- carmelo anthony, and that's cuz he acts like a spoiled 19 yr old kid. beyond that, i've seen nothing disgraceful or boorish about the rest of the squad.

there was a picture in the paper of tim duncan & allen iverson on the bench, eyes wide open and scooted up to the edge of their seats during the PRico game. it could be interpreted in several ways:

a) watching a teammates shot go up
b) watching their opponents shot go up
c) watching a ref's call go for or against them
d) sitting there looking dumb

which interepretation did you pick?

i'm not saying you oughta root for the US Team- but just enjoy the game man. your rampant "Rhomie Jingoism" is gettin' jive ugly...

ps. Jingoism: extreme chauvinism marked especially by belligerent personal politics

pps. i'll get you some more flicks sized for the picture randomizer

ppps. you's a grimacing jingo-giggler

posted by naturalaw-dp : 2:47 PM

Must be a fine line between 'swole' and 'relieved'. When bluster is the norm, perhaps it's tough to differentiate. Arroyo & Jasimashicus deserve to be psyced. Jingoism is generally nationalistic and I ain't no patriot. Ginobili... geyeah.

posted by Stylus : 3:26 PM

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8.22.2004

With apologies to the yearly Rock-Steady reunion…
The Olympics are upon us again, and with the pervasiveness of hip-hop culture all over the world, I’ve been wondering what It would be like to have some hip-hop related events.

FREESTYLE COMPETITION
Not freestyle swimming or gymnastics – just freestyle
Competitors are given a minute & 30 seconds to come off the top in different categories ranging from stream of consciousness rhymes where anything goes to topical freestyles.
All competitors must use the same beat by DJ Premier in each round, but for extra difficulty points MC’s can opt for beats provided by Kokayi.

SLAM POETRY
This is practically an Olympic event already. The problem with poetry is that EVERYONE with a pen & paper can write a poem but everybody aint a poet. So the best way to whittle down the competition I think would be to just take the top 5 poets from nationals & that would make up the U.S. Olympic Slam Team. I'm only ranked #18 but I'm cute, so I gues that would make me like the Anna Kornukovia of poetry. (PS: I'm pissed that they only list the top 15)

DOUBLES RHYMING
POEM-CEES would be the Mark Spitzes of this event.

BEATBOX COMPETITION
Or “the beatbox battle” popularized by the POEM-CEES around 2000
Each competitor gets 30 seconds to create music using only their body & nothing else.
Judges score according to dynamics, how it looks visually, how much it sounds like the original beat (if doing a cover tune) and crowd response.

B-BOY DECATHALON
Competitors must excel in numerous physically demanding hip-hop related events, including.

Floorwork - breakdancing moves are no longer allowed in gymnastics floor exercises
We’ve got out own thang – let them get theirs

Tagging obstacle course - Graf artists must move quickly & undetected thru a maze of trains, fences, tracks & “hot’ rails (that aren’t charged), leaving tags at various predetermined points in a certain amount of time.

DJ’ing competition - winners of the DMC & other organized competitions combine to create the U.S. Olympic DJ Team. Stylus, any ideas on how the bouts should run?

And just for fun…

Heavy Metal 100 meters - Your favorite MC’s race for the gold wearing ALL of their platinum; rings, Jesus pieces, diamond ice picks, ruby crowns, whatever they bought – they gotta wear it. You haven’t seen a race till you’ve seen Ghostface sprinting while hugging himself to keep from getting slapped in the face by his dinner-plate medallion.
The extra weight & awkwardness of their “equipment” make this one of the funniest Olympic events to watch – also the most dangerous to participate in.
Cat's don’t realize this is how Slick Rick really lost his eye.

Pic!

blackpicasso - 2:27 PM
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1 comments:

Well actually, Pic...you're better than cute!

Anywho...sorry about not posting more than the top 15, but that's all the info I was given to post babe!

Also...I would change that link to go here:

http://www.nationalpoetryslam.com/scores.html because that has the actual rank of the top 4 poets in the country...the link you have has the top 15 in the country prior to finals, so the top ten of that top 15 are actually way out of order.

*you know who this is*

posted by Anonymous : 11:04 AM

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8.9.2004

Soooooo!! you want to see the Wizzzzarrrddd...

okay, wanna know what happened?

This year, I went to nationals with the least amount of anxiety or trepidation that I’d ever had. Obviously, not being part of a team & just having to depend on your own smarts took a load off, as opposed to having to strategize with 4 other people & make decisions based on what’s best for the team. Yay for selfish me!

The organization for slam bouts is kinda confusing, so I’ll try to keep it simple: A single bout will have 5 teams of four poets each and 1 individual poet, called a “storm poet”. The object of each TEAM is to have the most points at the end of the bout after performing and being scored for a poem each round. So the teams are there to beat each other. The storm poets job is to beat EVERYBODY IN THE ROOM by getting the highest individual score of the entire bout. I was a storm poet.

First off, the city of St Louis is a very nice place, although I was pretty much confined to the downtown business area which like most major cities, kinda loses life after folks get off work & go home. Where can a brotha go to get some fried fish & collards? Oh that black stuff is alllll the way over on the east side sorry but there’s a TGIFridays a few blocks up.
Sigh.
The Hampton Inn had a lovely view of the Gateway Arch a few blocks away – and that’s the ONLY nice thing I can say about that damn hotel. They hated us poets from giddyup. I do admit, we were loud, boisterous, demanding, looked weird & (some of us) smelled bad, though. They kept security visible in the lobby like it was Fresh Fest ’89.
Side note: maybe I need a late pass - but with cereal, bagles, muffins, waffles, toast, french toast & orange juice, has “continental breakfast” always been the anti-Atkins, carb-only diet?

Anyway, the best part about Nats has always been the fellowship. Shouts to Celena Glenn, Both NJ Teams, Taylor Mali & Kim Zisa. Although a lot of my favorites were absent this year, I still had my DC team to hang out with (Droopy, Twain, Chris August & 1st timer Sonya Renee). No Fu-ki wine this time, just Malibu mixed with every-dam-thing. Ain’t it a shame that the one week I really should abstain & stay in my right mind, I just go & get plastered?

I had two chances to make semi finals by scoring as high as possible in both of my bouts. The 1st night was – New Jersey, Berkley Ca, Evansville, In, Del Ray Ca, and Columbia Mo. Out of the 24 poets in the room, I got the 3rd highest score of 28.8 off of my “Epiphany” piece. Jaylee from Berkley did a gorgeous poem about living with cancer & got a perfect 30. The other sista who got a 29.3 did a piece dedicated to her aunt who had a double masectomy. Mark my words - Cancer will be the hot topic in slam poetry next year.

My 2nd night I can’t even remember the teams I had. All I know is that I received the lowest slam score I think I’ve ever gotten in my career. I got a score of 26 (twenty six) and that was the 3rd HIGHEST score in the room. Apparently these poetry judges didn’t like poetry at all. They were thoroughly unimpressed with everything.

So, coming in 3rd place in both of my bouts, I’m walking a tightrope. I had no assurance that I’d made semis, so I had to sit & wait for everyone’s scores to get tallied to see if I made the top ten. See, on that same night when my bout was happening, there were thirteen other bouts with the other 70 teams & 13 storm poets slamming (Yeah, it’s that big).

While I’m waiting I…

Ran into numerous St Louis Jawns who didn’t know diddly about slamming but oddly enough, WERE (and getting all tens, I must say)

Witnessed Benjamin Hughes doing his Benjamin Hughes thing

Found someone else who realizes how dope the book “Portable Promised Land” is

Got props from Marc Smith creator of the slam telling me that I should be in semis

Me, Jarius & Big Bru were propositioned by a drunk white chick on the street wrapping her arms around us calling us all her “boyfriends” – we escaped as she squatted behind a car relieving herself

Searched in vain for some good calamari

Rhymed – not poemed - at the hip-hop slam (albeit at 2:30am)

Drank n drank n drank n drank

Okay, so when the results finally came in, I’m ranked number 18 due to my two 3rd place finishes, BUT if they had ranked by cumulative score, I’d be #8 in the country. Can’t feel bad about that, especially since I went in knowing that I wasn’t in competitive slam shape.

But you know who was?

My DC compadre SONYA RENEE who not only ranked #5 after the 1st two bouts, but went to finals with 9 of the country’s best performance poets & left them ALL in the dust. She beat the hell outta everybody. She got a 29.7. She took home the money. She is the National Champion. I am so proud of her.

As for me, I’m retiring my “Epiphany” piece from slam contests. It’s lost it’s “poignancy” (as Nat Law would say) to me. Time for another epiphany.
Maybe when my baby comes,

The Champ is here…

Pic!

blackpicasso - 9:18 PM
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