Music Update

Lately there’s has been a lot of new and up and coming music being produced and it’s really making me happy. Chance the Rapper, all of TDE, and even Lil Durk, and Skizzy Mars, have been publishing a lot of music that’s been keeping my ears full.

First, SZA, the single group member of TDE put out an album called “Suburban Lager” with popular songs such as Babylon, which features Kendrick Lamar, and Sweet November. SZA, being the newest member in TDE, along with being the single female has seriously impressed me. Although it seems in pictures that her style is mainly tomboy-ish her voice is smooth and calm. Her vocals along with Kendrick’s rap fit perfectly together. It seems like they are a music match made in heaven, almost as if they’re musically married.

Another member of the rap group, TDE, newly signed Isiah Rashad has been producing new spits lately that have got me excited. Even though I partially expected this from a protégé of schoolboy Q and Kendrick Lamar, the raps along with acoustics have been sounding like he’s been apart the business for a while. On top of all that talent, he also has his own style which I personally find very attractive. I could definitely see him and SZA putting something radical together.

One of My favorite artists, Chance the rapper is currently working on his new mixtape “The Social Experiment.” Which is supposed to feature many different artists on it along with feature different sounds of Chance. So far, Chance has released 3 songs of his own, along with one of his brothers. Two of the songs he’s put out so far seem partially slow but I personally think they still have a funk like beat that makes them up beat and interesting to listen to. Chance never seems to fail me actually. In the past 3 years I’ve been listening to his songs, never has he just lost creativity like most artists, especially rappers. Lately, his music has been soft, but in a way where no matter what the subject is, anyone can relate to it. He’s managed to actually incorporate his brother into the industry along with his friends from the Save Money crew which I think is really cool. Him and other artists like vic mensa come from a background where in the industry they were told no many times by big wigs because of their age.

Although april was a good month for music, I don’t think May will fail at all.

Artistic Ruins (353 words)

Now a days every teenage girl thinks they are a photographer. Thanks to instagram and other social media aps, I believe people are truly convinced that they are photographers by the clicking of their iphone, added with a nice instagram filter, and wala! There you have it. They’re artists…..right….? No.

            I think people forget that there is much much more to being a photographer than the click and posting on a smartphone. People forget that real photographers now a days still have to print their photos still must know all functions of a real camera, all which take years to master. It angers me thinking that people look at it as a simple hobby they could just pick up quick. It’s not. There are schools for it… SCHOOLS. DEGREES PEOPLE! You can major and minor in this stuff. Now, I understand that you can major and minor in a lot of things but, please I’m begging people to take it seriously.

            Photographers work years to get to certain points in their careers. I would hate to see teenage girls ruin yet another thing.

            Oh yeah, and another thing that girls have also ruined is writing. They automatically assume that their fashion or whatever it is blog is serious literature that should be taken serious when really it’s just them usually whining or reposting pictures from tumblr, which pisses me off to the maximum. Writing is the key to history and I’ll be so upset if another thing is ruined by ignorant people.

Trappin' ain't cool (456)

Trappin ain’t cool.

Ever since my friends have started listening to trap artists like chief keef and lil durk they’ve thought it was cool to act tough. I think they have forgotten where they live and grew up compared to these artists. Now I’m not saying my friends have had it easy while growing up at all. I’m just saying that they didn’t grow up to hearing gunshots while waking up. Chicago vs. Cedar Rapids, two very different places.

For the first time in history there has been more current killings in Chicago than in Iraq or Afghanistan combined. Crazy. I don’t think Cedar Rapids could even compare, if we tried, but why would we try? L-O-L, not funny.

I think the type of music is starting to reflection our generation. We’re growing up to be a nation of wanna be thugs and I think it ruining us. Boys are growing up to music that makes gun play and gang banging look like a game, when I feel like the only person who realizes it’s not at all.

Now I know that not all people who listen to trap music think like this and even sometimes I listen to it myself but, I think people should just be careful of how they interpret music. It’s an art form where people are expressing their feelings and what they’re going through, not a guide on how you should live your life. I think talk about guns and people in prison is supposed to be un appealing, not appealing.

The fall of Cuder (411)

The man on the moons seem to be the peak of Scott Mescudis career. Now, that might just be my opinion, but facts show that he has not received the ratings or approval, which have seriously declined since he took a break of rapping after the man on the moons.

            When he produced WZRD. Skeptics came about that he wasn’t going to be good anymore, but I didn’t listen. I kept believing that the next album would be better. And now here we are at satellite flight, the 3^rd album released after the third man on the moon and the music he is producing is still not as good & he’s selling very little.

            This all saddens me. Knowing your favorite rapper is no longer producing what he use to is really upsetting. The music I have depended on for years, (since 2009) is no longer creating itself. It’s stuck. And I don’t think anyone knows really what to do considering even cudi who’s supposed to be making the good music can’t fix it. Sad, sad, sad.

            Now I understand that after Cudi had his daughter Vaida, he stopped smoking to completely be able to pay attention to her, Understanding. But I think if he wants to get back to the music he was making before he might just need to start. Maybe not as much as he was before but at least when he is making the music just to see if that could possibly help, just an idea cud!

            Over all, I still will keep listening to the music he produces because of how much I respect him as an artist, and I think a lot of people would agree with me. It’s like keeping up with an old friend. You don’t have to listen to it every day, or constantly be around it, but you gotta check up on it every now and then.

Websites for Humanity

How can random online browsing change your outlook on day to day life?

When asked this question, my mind is brought to two different places. Humansofnewyork.com and Dearphotograph.com. Two websites that are dedicated to pictures of simple to extraordinary people in their day to day life, some in the present and some in the past.

Humans of New York is a website dedicated to its title. Photos of people who walk the streets of the big apple, with things to say. Not always extraordinary things but, things. All of the photos are taken by Brandon Stanton, a photographer that started his tumblr years ago not expecting to gain this much attention. Stantons website has now grown from just a website, to a book, and a branch site leading to the animals of new york, his wives page.

Dear Photograph is another extraordinary site that takes a different spin on photos that affect lives. Each photo taken on Dear Photograph is an old photo in a spot, lined up with the current spot behind it. Sort of like a flashback. Each story contains written notes from the person who took the photo behind it. Some are serious and some are just plain fun, but all have meaning.

Each of these sites I think can put positive things into someone who is looking at them’s situation or life. Dear photograph could be a reminder how times have changed, While Humans of New York could give the wisdom you’d never expect from the most random of people you most likely will never meet in your life. Pretty cool right?

I'm addicted (421 words)

My tumblr obsession has become therapy.

            Every night before I fall asleep I scroll as far through my tumblr timeline as possible, or until I chicken out and become tired. It’s gotten to the point where I am now staying up past my usual bed time. It’s crazy. (sarcasm)

            But where I’m getting with this is I think it’s affecting my mood and outlook on certain things in both good ways and bad.

Relationships: I think tumblr is setting me up for unrealistic Ideas when it comes to what boys should be saying to me or how a relationship should be to the extent of how we cuddle. I kind of hate it, because lately I’ve been talking to a guy, I really like, but I’ve noticed that I keep comparing him to the things I see on tumbr which makes me even more angry at myself.

Where I live: Now, Iowa is so pretty, I realize that. But, do you know how many other places that are so much prettier there are? A LOT. Like every time I get on tumblr I see a new one I need to visit.

All in all, I’ll probably keep up with my tumblr addiction alogn with other social Medias just fine.

Instannoying (432 words)

Lately I’ve found instagram extra annoying. Along with twitter.

            Mainly the things I’ve found annoying have had to do with updates they’ve added such as the insta direct messaging which for me has done nothing but make me angry.

            Now, I understand that there are some plus sides to the update to this app but along with apps such as twitter, and snapchat these aps are doing so in a way that seems as though they are trying to be something they’re not. Yes, I am judging an ap.

            Only because I’m really tired of social media apps constantly updating themselves to try to dominate the social media world. They should just stick to what they’re good at.

            Snapchat for instance is doing a great job suttlely updating things like snap stories, and people like that, so they should stop. I believe they’re risking their user amounts, that’s all.

When you go in to post a picture (the same way that you’ve been posting pictures on Instagram), you’ll see two new tabs on the top of the post: Followers and Direct.

With Direct, you can choose a specific friend and type a special message, and that goes only to your friend. Once that friend opens up the photo, their profile picture within the message gets a check mark, noting that it’s been read. Users can also like direct photo messages, and chat can ensue from there.  You can send Direct messages up to 15 people, Sounds a lot like snapchat, riiiiight? That’s what I thought too.