Another Film I'm Excited About...

What a great year it has been for movies and theres still more to come! They haven't put out much in way of marketing for this film but they rarely do for Wes Anderson movies and yet I still cannot wait to see this. Apparently the trailer is out in the states soon so I hope to see it on youtube in the next few days. The plot is apparently about three brothers (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman) taking a train ride through India after the death of their father (I think).

Rain Delays Play...

I was supposed to meet up with some of my old secondary school classmates for a drink tonight. Thanks to this excellent weather though we thought it would be best to cancel and try again at a later date. I'm different to most people because I do enjoy this weather. Don't get me wrong I feel really bad for the people who suffer the floods and stuff and I don't know what I'd do if it happened to me. The rain does mean though that there are less people around and the streets are quieter which means a lot for me living in the middle of what feels like a DMZ sometimes.

Consider Yourself Schooled Part One - Wu-Tang Clan

Well I thought that I would start with something fairly obvious. The Wu-Tang Clan formed in New York in 1992 mainly thanks to the RZA and GZA, two cousins who had previously worked in the record industry with very little success. These two along with Ol' Dirty Bastard then proceeded to build the group with friends from in and around the New York area. The final line up of the group was made up of RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Masta Killa, Method Man, Raekwon and U-God (Silly names I know but hear me out...). They took the name of the group from the 1981 martial arts film, "Shaolin and Wu Tang".

A year later in 1993 was the first time the Clan made themselves known to the general public with their single "Protect Ya Neck". Thanks to the underground reaction to this single they were signed to RCA and released their first album "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" in late 1993.

With a low use of samples (apart from the kung-fu film skits) and what sounds like low cost production methods that RZA uses is what gives the album its gritty and underground feel that most Hip-Hop at the time was avoiding. Calling Jazz pianists, such as Thelonious Monk his biggest influences certainly gives the album a very different sound to the "Gangster" Hip-Hop that was so popular both then and now.

The first to do many things in the world of Hip-Hop, such as start their own clothing label, create slang terms in their songs that become used the world over, cite comic book references in their tracks and change samples to do things that people couldn't imagine at the time. Yet these things do not change the fact that out of four albums the only one you really need to hear is the debut. Perhaps the world of business and making money took too much of their attention away from actually making good music, perhaps innovators in this as well as we see this even more nowadays.

Must Have Album - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Protect Ya Neck (Remember it is 1993 and they made this video on their own with no money and only the equipment they had!)

Consider Yourself Schooled...

I have always had a massive love for music. This has increased though while working at Nostalgia & Comics in Birmingham thanks to being introduced to loads of new stuff which is mainly down to Rich and Dave. Stu as well probably if he had spent a bit more time there in the last six or so months.

The one genre that I love the most has to be Hip-Hop and its only in the last seven or so years that I've gotten into it properly. I'm sick of defending the good Hip-Hop that is out there because like most genres its outnumbered in a big way by the shit that is seen as "Mainstream". Its because of this that I have decided to take it upon myself to "School" people, so to speak in the art of real Hip-Hop. Over the next couple of weeks I will post an artist that I feel people should give a chance, why they should give them a chance and the one album they should have if they don't have any others by that specific artist.

I hope you people find this useful.

Word..

Geek Attack...

Look what arrived in the post this morning! Thank you ebay, £36 instead of £70! Bargain. Next up is the Spider-man...

One Down, Two To Go...

Well I've got my results for my first year at Uni and I passed! Just thought I'd let you know. I'll post my overall grade and individual results some point in the future!

This Is How You Market A Movie...

Several of the popular 7-Eleven stores in the U.S have been transformed into "Kwik-E-Marts"! This is absolutely genius!
What fascinates me about this is the fact that they would not have to promote this movie at all and it would make a ridiculous amount of money but they still go to the trouble of doing something different that has never been done before.

Photos Via Hypebeast