Things - 20231105
I do not want to pigeonhole myself into a rigid "recommendations" schedule... This series I am dubbing "Things" will be an occasional dumping ground of things I have been enjoying. Could be music or books, could be an activity, could even just be a feeling. Could be any thing. Also, it might be some thing I am not enjoying. Who knows. That's the beauty of an object that one need not, cannot, or does not wish to give a specific name to.
The Dog Of The South by Charles Portis
Finished reading Charles Portis' The Dog of the South, and as someone who wants to read more than 2 books a year, but fails, I can't recommend it enough. I also can't recommend Meaghan Garvey's recommendations enough either... which is how I find this book.
A few passage excerpts.
We are weaker than our fathers, Dupree... We don't even look like them.
Addicted to codeine? Pure baloney!
Dykon - Rude Ass Dyke
I am an unabashed Bobby Raps fan. For whatever reason, this Minnesota-based Bobby-adjacent artist R.A.D. (Rude Ass Dyke) made one album, and then maybe stopped? I can't find anything else from anywhere after this one Soundcloud album. Anyways, I found my way back to it. The entire project is exactly what I respond to: little bouncy synths, catchy hooks, and cute wordplay.
Highlights: Blame, Young Boss Shit, Wit My Dogs, Privacy
Croptober - Money Man
The last full project I just 100% loved was "Money Long," the collab-tape between Peewee Longway and Money Man—two artists who sometimes get stuck in a certain recipe but rarely miss with anything that comes from it. When I was last in Atlanta in 2021, Money Man was the artist I heard most blaring out of cars still running at gas stations. His newest tape "Croptober" is solid, more of the same of what you'd expect, but the highlights come when he steps outside of himself a bit. The highlights for me were "Go Get The Money," "Pound Alert," and the "Larry Bird." I can hear "Sold Out Dates" in its DNA but he keeps the cadence for the entire 2:08, and outlines the logistics of an entire grow operation.
One thousand pounds of shit, that's a distro
Three different seeds in a pipe, that's a mixo
This shit is crazy, one hell of an elbow
Louis New York, they treat me like a deity
Can't do a split, you gotta get a P at least
Cannabis, DMT, we havin' all of that
We fallin' forward, hell nah, we ain't fallin' back
He hit that purple heart, he had a lung attack
100k all blues, I told her to thumb through that
I pushed his shit back, I hate that it came to that
Seven grams over, he see where he weighin' at
Wireless hotspot, anonymous login
I grew up with cash, so this shit a commodity
Black Faces - Childish Gambino x Nipsey Hussle
I've been installing a ton of Philips Hue outdoor lights, and I've had to hack them together a bit. They sell the extension cables with their patented connections in 2M and 5M length. The problem? You can bury the cable, but you aren't supposed to bury the connections! I needed some spotlights in the flower bed in the middle of my front yard, which is 40ft from the house. Not only would that get expensive, but it's also not doable with these dumb extensions. I purchased some low-voltage 14/2 cable and got some of M16 Waterproof connectors and spliced the Hue Power Supply to the longer cable run. Anyways, I also purchased a Multi-Meter, a tool I had not purchased up until now for whatever reason. But, I wanted to make sure I didn't have these wires flipped and destroy $200 worth of electronics. After coupling the cables together I used the Multi-Meter to make sure I didn't fuck up. As I touched the leads to the wire and saw -12DC, I remembered Nipsey Hussle saying one of the best understated punchlines in existence.
I ain't failed yet / Bout a dolla, hell yes / I'm a problem, field test.
What song did he say this on? "Black Faces" off of Childish Gaminbo's take-me-seriously mixtape Royalty. The song is still holds up (mainly due to Nip), but most will forget this mixtape also had the skywlkr-produced frenzied Britney Spears-sample "Toxic" with Danny Brown, as well as a smattering of solid tracks.
I Only Trip with U - iLoveMakonnen
I have been mulling over what the funniest bit would be for a mid-life crisis, and I thought about getting really into molly. Recently, I went on a mini-binge of hyper-local documentaries: Hand on a Hard Body, The Dancing Outlaw, and Small Town Ecstasy. The latter is about a 40-year-old father who gets addicted to ecstasy and encourages his children to also do drugs and go to raves. He beat me to it! It does not end well for him!
Anyways, I was up in the wee hours of the night holding my son in my arms and thinking about that documentary, and the desperation of bonding, and getting real sentimental. This song flashed back to me, and I think it's truly beautiful (the possibility of it being about Lil Peep makes it more so). Drink two beers at 1:30am and stand outside on your porch in the darkness, and try not to start regretting decsions. As much I love teddy bear Makonnen, Drink More Water 6 is such a classic. Visible abs must have unlocked something.
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