Archive for January 2009
The Nacirema Dream Is Over
Whatever happened to Papoose? When I had a internship interview at Universal, and they asked me what up-and-coming rapper I was checking for, I was like Papoose and Saigon were the future. The white dude behind the desk started laughing; “Papoose? What kind of name is that?” I told him to remember that name because Papoose was going to be somebody. That was in 2004.
In ‘09? Well… the Nacirema Dream is over.
I had such high hopes for the kid; Papoose was the definition of “beast mode” and yet he could be thoughtful. He didn’t have much sense of structure or melodies, but he was a spit fire MC. Plain and simple, he knows how to rap.[1] Plus he is the type of guy who doesn’t have time for fuckery. He would never act a fool like many of his mixtape counterparts. In ‘06 Papoose was killing verses while Tru Life was hacking into Jim Jones’ Myspace page.
Granted, Papoose had considerable success. He got props from all types of rappers (plus praise from rap godfather, Rakim), he spit the best verse on the “Touch It Remix” (A top 20 hit), got a XXL cover, and of course in ‘06 he got his memorable 1.5 million dollar deal. But in the end, Papoose will go down as a flash in the pan. He’s pretty much Canibus 2.0; a guy who can rap his ass off but nothing else. Saddest part is, he doesn’t rap that well anymore.
Throughout his run I always wondered if he would exhaust himself on the mixtapes to get his deal and then have nothing left for his album. I had the same worries for guys like Banks and Cassidy and then both their albums were trash.[2] But his album didn’t even ship vinyl. He didn’t even get a chance to put out a wack album! And after about a year of wack mixtapes in ‘07, he got off Jive (Seriously, Jive? You should have seen A&R hell coming).
Once he got off Jive, strange things started happening. Papoose pretty much became a mixtape rapper who always got involved in the type of goon shit that makes rapper look like idiots. He punched Fat Joe in the face, or didn’t. He somehow got punched or stabbed or something, or didn’t. He got Murder Mook shot or something, or he didn’t. He tried to run up on Max B. He fell in love with Remy and tried to bust her out of jail, or didn’t. Oh wait, he did do that last one.
Now, with every crazy situation that came up he handled it as well as he could (He didn’t provoke the Joe situation, that was ThisIs50). Take for example how he handled the Mook situation, he didn’t go making videos talking shit and pointing guns like some retard. Instead, he spit one of the most underrated diss tracks of the last few years, “Who Shot Ya?” People probably stopped listening after 2 minutes of Biggie quoting (I almost did too) but dude goes off in the second half of the track by logically and mathematically breaking down inconsistencies in Mook’s story. And that’s what always excited me about Papoose: Finally there was a rapper who could spit in a cohesive manner and not a slapdash one. So what if it’s easy to take apart a story as phony as Mooks? To do it in rhyme form? That takes skills.
Skills, character, intelligence. Those are all things Papoose had. But not anymore. I hear he’s trying to reinvent himself. Well, I wish him all the best luck in that endeavor, and if his album ever comes out I’ll be sure to check for it. But without an album, without a deal, without some real spithotfiyah type shit, I won’t be checking for dude as often. He had a pretty good run, but now it’s over. It’s only fitting that his latest mixtape is titled “21 Gun Salute.”
[1] Yeah, I know no ones like rapping anymore. Sue me.
[2] I still worry for Joe Budden’s “Padded Room” and Saigon’s “Greatest Story Never Told”
New York, After Hours
After reading Roger Ebert’s “Great Movie” review of After Hours, I felt compelled to watch it. If only because it was directed by Martin Scorsese and Ebert promised the use of dream logic in a film that has been described as “Kafkaesque.” In his original 1985 review of the film, Ebert wrote; “Audiences from other parts of the country are likely to think some of Scorsese’s scenes are fantasy, while New Yorkers may see them as merely exaggerations of reality.”
After having seen the film, I feel confident enough to say that if you’ve lived in New York long enough you’ve likely had your own After Hours moment. I say because I’ve had my own After Hours moment.
An After Hours moment is not like a long night, or a wild and crazy night, or a plain old adventure. And it doesn’t apply to a series of coincidences that somehow all relate to you, that’s just cosmic. An After Hours moment[1] can only be attained when your in a desperate situation, and someone magically appears, and they seem destined to help you, but they only aggravate you even further.
My personal AHM came last July 4th when I went out (against my better judgment) to Brooklyn.[2] Granted, Brooklyn is quite a trudge but we knew this guy who had an apartment worth about two million that had a beautiful view overlooking the river and the city.[3] Plus, I was promised there would be some of that {ahem} to burn.
Long story short; about an hour after we got there, me and my cousin ran out of there like dip at a Super Bowl party. We were running out of the elevators and into the streets knowing that the next elevator packs a group of guys who are probably going to kill us. Why? Well, I can’t divulge into details but tjpse dudes were going to pummel our faces in for something my cousin may or may not have done. So while we were out running for our lives on the streets, my only goal was to get a cab and have them take us into Manhattan. I didn’t feel safe taking the nearby JMZ line since those dudes might have been around there.
Now here’s where the real nightmare scenario comes into play. 1) I didn’t really know where I was even though I had been there a few times before. 2) I was with my somewhat hysterical cousin who ran sporadically and seemed determined to go the opposite direction I wanted to go in. 3) I was, and still am, totally out of shape 4) It was the 4th of July, so getting a cab was tough. The apartment building was in a residential area ten minutes away from any main streets, and the front desk guys told us that despite making numerous calls they couldn’t get a cab to come to the building, so we had to “just book it.” 5) We didn’t actually know where those guys were. They might have been behind us or right around the corner. We weren’t sure. 6) Brooklyn is filled with goons.
We ran around so much, and got so lost, we ended up running right back to the building we were running from. After about 15 minutes, I was convinced that there was no way we would ever find our way through the urban jungle without a cab. Two cabs passed by but both of them had passengers. Ten minutes later another cab stopped at a corner. I jetted up to it so frantically that the driver must have thought I was about to do some Grand Theft Auto shit because he cruised off. But then, finally, magically, wonderfully, a cab rolled up. And we got in. And then, it happened.
Here’s a transcript of my very own personal After Hours moment:
Me {Breathless}: Hey, I’m trying to go into Manhattan.
Cabbie: Are you sure? The train is right over there.
Me: No, no, no. I don’t want to take the train. Just drive me into Manhattan.
Cabbie: Where in Manhattan.
Me: Chambers Street.
Cabbie: Chambers and what?
Me: Look can you just start driving.
Cabbie: I can’t start unless I know where I’m going.
Me: We’re going to Manhattan.
Cabbie: Where in Manhattan?
Me: Chamber Street and ahh, do you know where the 4 train is?
Cabbie: No, but the JMZ trains are right over there.
Me: No! I don’t want to take that train. Just drive into Manhattan.
Cabbie: Where in Manhattan?
Me: Just drive me to the other side of the bridge. Just drive right into Manhattan and I’ll just get off there.
Cabbie: Which bridge?
Me: Whatever bridge goes into Manhattan! The closest bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge!
{Finally starts driving}
Cabbie: Okay, where in Manhattan do you want to go?
Me: Umm, I don’t know. Just take me to Grand Central. You know where that is, everyone does.
Cabbie: You sure you want to go there? That’s kind of far.
Me: I don’t care! Look, don’t worry. I have money. {Pulls out $28 dollars} I will give you all of my money if you just take me to Grand Central.
Cabbie: Are you sure you want to go there? It’ll be really expensive. Why not just take the train?
Somehow, we ended up at West 4th street. I took the train home. By the time I got back, it was already morning. But it turned out that I had forgot my keys (I had given them to my mom in the afternoon) and had to call my sister up and tell her to open the door for me. FML indeed.
[1] Yes, it can only be a moment and not an entire night because then you’d actually be living the movie which is just impossible.
[2] It’s interesting that I was in Brooklyn while Paul Hackett was in SoHo. It only adds to my labeling of Brooklyn as the new place to be, despite never wanting to go there.
[3] No, I don’t know which river or what side of the city.
Jack Bauer = Dick Cheney’s Wet Dream (But I Still Like 24)
Jack Bauer, A Man You Shouldn’t Believe In (Because he’s not real).
With season 6, 24 became as stale as a loving but repetitive marriage; sure your partner does all the things you like but when you do them year after year they become tiresome. 24, a high concept show with its concept right in the title, was based around time but eventually began to test our patience. Yes it was fun to watch, but how many times could Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) escape certain death? How many times can you justify torture? How many loved ones could really be kidnapped? How many times could terrorists gain access to suitcase nukes?
Three days short of two years later, another season of 24 finally debuted on FOX on January 11th, 2009 trying to answer all those questions. The delay between the seasons are mostly attributed to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, but also partially because 24’s writers needed time to think up new ideas after season 6 rehashed plot devices 24 fans have become bored of. If the first four episodes is any indication, despite their best efforts the show can’t help but fall into the same old habits.
In the first episode of the 2 night, 4 hour, season premier we find Bauer testifying before Congress about the now disbanded CTU and his interrogation methods (read: torture). Bauer chooses to forgo having a lawyer present and answers every question honestly, ready for whatever judgment is past down, right before he’s swooped up by the FBI who tells him Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) is still alive and the actions begins.
The scene in Congress isn’t there for Bauer’s redemption, it’s a chance for the show to dialogue with fans and human rights critics who rightfully say the show’s torture scenes are cause for concern. And it couldn’t come soon enough. In the closing days of the Bush administration, and with Obama’s promise to shut down Guantanamo Bay on his first day on the job, its about time the show defended some of its antics. As Slate’s the lawyers designing interrogation techniques cited Bauer more frequently than the Constitution.”
Lithwick’s right to explain the problematic nature of Bauer’s “extreme measures” which make good TV, but are ultimately just fantasy. To make matter worse, while Bauer may openly answer questions about his actions on the show, someone who’s responsible for torture in real life—say like, I don’t know… Dick Cheney—will likely lawyer-up and make complex but morally bankrupt legal arguments while citing the “ticking time bomb” situation that never ever comes up in real life, but happens 12 times a day in the life of Jack Bauer.
Later on in day 7 of 24, someone pulls Bauer aside to tell him that what Congress is doing to him is unfair and that he isn’t the only one who supports what Bauer did. This might as well be a a fan bumping into show creator Joel Surnow at the supermarket and telling Surnow he loves the 24.
Politics aside, the problem with Bauer’s torture techniques in the show is that they always produce results. Jack never seems to torture the wrong person. If the writers really wanted a chance of pace, they ought to have Bauer be wrong for once, which would help further complicate his character.
While it may seem like 24 has tried everything already, it’s actively trying to do new things and put a twist on old ones. Bringing back Almeida was one twist, but then there’s another. And new characters like FBI Special Agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) fit right in, and so does the FBI’s super-computer geek Janis Gold (Janeane Garofalo) if only to see her duke it out with the fellow geek Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub). Sometimes the show does the same old things, but after so long, fans may remember that’s why they fell in the love in the first place and answer all those questions that start with “How many times?” with “at least once more.”
