c101: September 2006 Archives

I have been to the promised land people. At least the hip-hop promised land and it is wonderful. I should bring back "My Week Beats Your Year" by Telefon Tel Aviv because it's true based on the examples to the left. In the span of three short days, I saw A Tribe Called Quest and arguably (impossible to argue with me) the best MC every to grace the M-I-C, Rakim.

Both shows were vastly different, with Tribe embodying its playful songs with an very energetic stage performance and Rakim, well, being Rakim. That means smoove and weaving in and out of the beats dropped by Kid Capri. Just goes to show that Chicago rocks the Casbah. Both embraced their old school status and tore through their catalogs with ease. Here is ATCQ with "Bonita Applebum" and Eric B. & Rakim doing "Mahogany." Werd to you and yours.

Let's go to the movies, shall we? For those that have not seen it, please take some time and witness the greatness that is Rashomon (In the Woods). And no BF, I haven't seen Unleashed yet. I haven't been able to convince VS to put it on his Netflix list. Don't worry, a review is on the way.

As for Rashomon, the movie is simple, the story is not. In ancient Japan, a woman is raped and her husband killed. The film gives us four viewpoints of the incident - one for each defendant - each revealing a little more detail. Which version, if any, is the real truth about what happened ? Who is telling the truth? What is truth?

But what really makes the movie a classic is director Akira Kurosawa. He takes this simple movie and develops new form and structure of cinema in ways previously unseen. The story he used for Rashomon has become a standard in the history of film that has become common knowledge for writers and directors. In that sense, Rashomon is as important and entertaining as a film as Citizen Kane, Battleship Potemkin, Rear Window, or Open City.

A key ingredient to the success of Rashomon, is that the recollections given to the courts by the four characters and their emotions reveal their humanity, even if their details reveal nothing or everything.

Regardless of my descriptions, y'all need to check out this wonderful work of cinema. You will not be disappointed. So, with Rashomon in mind, let's rok Spoon's Animal Human and The Rapture "Pieces of the People We Love".

Animal Human