Wednesday, January 22, 2003

Quick Hits--Swizz Beatz Weeks ago, when we first started these City Pages blogs, I was going to publish my year-end picks for the Best in Music 2002. Later, after managing to get in my top ten list for City Pages and the Village Voice Pazz & Jop Poll, I was going to provide comments and expand upon my choices, both in those forums and my blog. All this has come up a cropper, owing to sloth, procrastination, and the overwhelming demands of writing something smart when I flat-out didn’t feel creative. You may get the deluxe package—master list and annotated comments—in this space sometime before the summer solstice, but in the meantime I figure I’ll jot down pithy, spontaneous (translation: maybe not so smart) impressions of discs sent to me from the record label Santa Clauses who fill my mailbox. Look for them in future blogs under the title, Quick Hits. Today’s QH is “G.H.E.T.T.O. Stories” by Ruff Ryders producer Swizz Beatz. As happened to Timbaland and Rodney Jerkins, among others, Swizz fell into a rut after scoring distinctive tracks with Eve, DMX, and other Ruff Ryders a couple years back, which helped me put off listening to this (it dropped in early December) until last night. But Swizz has clearly been hoarding his freshest (but still relatively spare and catchy) stuff for his own joint. I’d consider more than a half-dozen of the 17 tracks for a personal mixtape, including suave hip-hop ballads with Jadakiss and Ron Isley (“Big Business,” which is superior to the more chaotic “Bigger Business” remix) and LL Cool J (“Ghetto Love”), gangbanger anthems with Shyne, N.O.R.E., and Busta Rhymes, a bouncing, blunt-oriented track with Styles, and a rap-metal hybrid with Metallica and Ja Rule. Disappointments include a hokey tropicalia mix for Eve (“Island Spice”), and a mediocre remix of “Salute Me” with Nas, Fat Joe and Cassidy. 5:46:33 PM    comment []

Old News Worth Repeating  By now it is hardly original to conclude that George W. Bush is governed by oil interests in his foreign policy pursuits. But a couple of news stories in the past week reiterate the point in neon. That they haven’t become more controversial indicates that the Prez’s sheer audacity has begun to wear on the public’s capacity for outrage. Still it is worth repeating that: A) there has been some discussion of Dick Cheney’s old firm Haliburton taking over the Iraqi oil fields after we wipe Saddam and a few thousand (at minimum) innocent people off the face of the earth; and B) that Bush’s tax proposals are purposefully designed to enhance the purchase value of gas-guzzling SUVs. 4:55:42 PM    comment []

Some King-sized Bytes About Larry King   Is there a connection between King’s endorsement of a garlic-laced heart product and his many divorces? Doesn’t his ever-receding hairline and oversized glasses make him look more and more like a lizard? Is the octogenarian demographic really enough to keep this guy on the air? Does King really read every single one of those book jackets himself before pimping those tomes? Wouldn’t you pay to see King and Rex Reed in a celebrity death match? Is there a more inane, yet whorish, media personality in the world today? 4:45:25 PM    comment []

Scottie Pippen Is An Idiot Apparently taking full advantage of his Central Arkansas education, Portland Trailblazer Scottie Pippen recently opined that Kevin Garnett was “padding his stats” this season because KG’s all-around numbers, which reveal him to be the league’s most productive player, haven’t generated more wins for his 23-18 ballclub. Let’s not put too fine a point on this: Scottie Pippen is an idiot. Even casual basketball fans must be aware by now that numbers alone never do Garnett justice. His attitude and work ethic, his superior defense, and his totally unselfish instincts (which ironically have been ripped by ex-NBA stars cum numbskulls Magic Johnson and Charles Barkley) are the antithesis of stat-padding. With Brandon and Szczerbiak absent for most of the season, Garnett’s squad has managed to come within two games of Pippen’s vastly more talented Portland team in the NBA standings. In his day, Pippen was a marvelous player. Yet it bears noting that without Michael Jordan as his teammate, he’s won exactly as many championships as KG—zero. And while Pippen’s play as Portland’s point guard has certainly helped the Blazers’ this year, he has fewer assists than Garnett--who plays forward--and more turnovers per game. Pippen is also a clearly inferior defender than Garnett , and, in his role as Portland’s team leader, hasn’t been able to staunch the knuckleheaded dysfunction of Rasheed Wallace, Bonzie Wells, and Damon Stoudamire. Pippen made his ill-conceived comments before the Wolves’ road game against Portland. KG proceeded to rack up 31 points (on 16 shots), 20 rebounds and 4 assists in 41 minutes as the Wolves won 104-98. Pippen had 8 points (on 11 shots), 4 rebounds, and 5 assists in 42 minutes. But give him credit: When you go 8-4-5 in 42 minutes of a home loss to an inferior team, there is absolutely no stat-padding going on. 4:29:30 PM    comment []

© Copyright 2003 Britt Robson. Last update: 4/6/03; 6:13:56 AM.