It isn't always Justified

In FX's new drama Justified, Timothy Olyphant plays a Kentucky U.S. Marshall forced from his posting in Miami to head back home to the heartland. Olyphant plays Raylin Givens, a hard talkin’ fast shootin’ U.S. Marshall who’s a fan of Wild West ultimatums to “get outta town.” In the series pilot, the viewer is introduced to Givens as he guns down a bad guy after not taking Givens up on his life sparing offer to get out of Miami within 24 hours. This killing, while justified as the other man drew first, forces Givens relocation back home to Kentucky. Through the 46 minute pilot, we’re introduced to a cast of White Supremacist characters and Givens’ old flings from before he left the heartland. In the end, another Wild West gunfight leaves one of Givens’ old mining buddies (and White Supremacist leader) on a gurney while Givens saves the life of an old crush.

Whenever Hollywood goes Hillbilly, hilarity often ensues; whether intentional or not. By bringing up decades old cultural stereotypes of gapped toothed, road kill eating, gun toting idiots who’d rather shoot up old soda cans than work a normal 9-5 always seem to find their ways into these shows. What makes Justified different is the ability to move past the predetermined Hollywood norms. While many Red Stater’s will still be angered by Hollywood’s attempt at portraying the backcountry of Kentucky, they don’t (in my opinion) have much to get up in arms about. No pun intended. Yes, they show the extremes of a Kentucky hillbilly, yet through people like Givens’ ex-wife, and even Givens himself, they show that Kentucky ‘aint all bad.

It’s bigger than hip hop, hip hop, hip hop, hip hop

“Attention, Huxtables, there is a block party down the street.”

Dave Chappelle has never been one to back down from a fight, or tone down his act to meet predetermined social norms of what political correctness means or should be. The Chappelle Show always made fun of current racial issues while tap dancing along the line between crude, slapstick humor and biting, socially critical comedy. From skits like The Racial Pixies or the Racial Draft, Chappelle and Co. were never shy about bringing up hot bed issues, and no one or no issue was safe from their wrath.

Chappelle was skyrocketing to fame; a hit TV show, along with it a nice new $50 million TV deal. Then Chappelle defied all Hollywood standards, even common sense itself, and disappeared. Not just skipping work. Not just hiding from the paparazzi - or his boss. He disappeared. Straight gone. He would later show up in South Africa. Not long after his disappearance, and subsequent resurfacing half a world away, Michel Gondry released Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, A documentary filmed at a concert Chappelle put on in New York City in 2004.


The show featured performances by Kanye West, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Common, a surprise performance by the reunited Fugees, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Dead Prez, John Legend, and Jill Scott among others. While Chappelle was the MC and the creative force behind the show, he limited his own exhibition within it. Instead of going into long standup routines between acts, he’d simply come on and make a few jokes before introducing the next performer.

“5,000 black people chillin' in the rain. 19 white people peppered in the crowd. Trying to find a Mexican.” while banging away on the Bongo’s quipped Chappelle.

It was a feast of epic proportions for Hip-Hop fans. Many, if not all, of those who graced the stage that day walk through the Hip-Hop pantheons as some of the best performers of all time. It’s an amazing enough experience to see them live individually (something I can say as I have seen nearly half of the groups live myself) but seeing them performing all on one stage goes beyond just being a “good show”; it was one of the greatest.

As a Hip-Hop fan, growing up in the modern age of the genre when all you need is a good hook and a catchy accompanying dance move to qualify as a rap song, many of the performers in Block Party are the Godfathers of Rap. The Roots, The Fugees, these groups define what Hip-Hop should be.

As a documentary film, Block Party strayed from its Concert Film genre by focusing most of the film on the days leading up to the show and reactions of both the people onstage and those watching it from the crowd. More emphasis was put on the purpose and power of the show then the show itself.

Once the show starts the film bounces between the performances and what is going on backstage. We as viewers get to see and hear what is going through the minds of the performers set to go on next - and how the old ladies from Ohio are enjoying their first ever rap concert.

Being fan of both documentary film and good Hip-Hop, this film is perfect for me. I sat in pure bliss for the 126 minutes it was on screen. In organizing the Block Party, Chappelle was looking to do much more then just put on a good show. He wanted to create an experience; a community on one block for one night, with the hope of spreading that feeling though this film. Whether White, Black, Latino, Asian, young, old, Gay, Straight; it didn’t matter. True Hip-Hop is color blind, ageless, and ignorant of all social dividing lines. Chappelle created something that transcended a singular musical genre, crossing over into the realm of a social environment in which family became a loose term for everyone in attendance.

Many Hip-Hop artists' themselves feel like by simply performing within the genre that they are all members of a certain family. Many of the performers in the film have toured, or at least performed together before. Talib and The Roots performed at Common’s benefit show last year in Chicago (a show that also featured the likes of Will.I.Am and Lupe FIasco). When the the studio wouldn’t clear some of Lauren Hill’s songs for performance, she brought The Fugees back together just so that they could be part of the Block Party, seven years after their breakup.

I feel as if Block Party and Dave’s disappearance are inextricably linked. The film shows Chappelle is his natural environment; the place in which he thrives. Walking around, interacting with normal America. The same segment of people who made The Chappelle Show the highest selling TV show DVD of all time. With the third season looming, Chappelle didn’t like where the show was headed. Rumors emerged that Chappelle was being pressured from Comedy Central Executives about the show’s content, and that just isn’t how Chappelle operates. A completely sane man wouldn’t walk away from $50 million over some creative differences, but at the same time a sane man could never produce the hilarity that is Dave Chappelle and his schizophrenic cast of characters.

In Block Party, Chappelle created the true meaning of what Hip-Hop is, or at least what it should be. Everyone coming together to enjoy both the music itself and the message behind it. The show was free, with Chappelle putting up the money for it out of his own pocket. I’m guessing many of the acts were performing for free, or at least at vastly discounted rates. They, like Chappelle, wanted to put on an event in which we could all join them in celebrating and commemorating life, sorrow, happiness, and pain.

Rap music, on the surface, may appear to be all gangsters and hoes, but in reality, true Hip-Hop centers around issues of race, culture, gender, sexuality, and politics. Rap gets a bad name thanks to people like Lil' Jon (check out this Chappelle sketch on Jon) and Soulja Boy but through films like Block Party the true Hip-Hop mentality comes to light.

“Every comic wants to be a musician. Every musician thinks they're funny. It's a very strange relationship that we have. Some musicians are funny. Some comedians can play. I'll give you an example: Mos Def - funny guy; Jamie Foxx - good singer and piano player. So you never know, you never know what kind of talent a person has. I ain't mediocre at both, but I've managed to talk my way into a fortune. Life, is a funny and unpredictable thing!” - Dave Chappelle

For the love of Justin Bieber!

Justin Bieber. Just those two words are enough to make nearly every teenage girl on the face of the planet squeal in delight, inevitably followed by a flood of tears. The 16 year-old Canadian singing sensation has skyrocketed from obscurity to instant stardom thanks to the user generated multimedia giant YouTube.

Justin Bieber, however, is not an artist you will find in many college guy’s iTunes libraries. He was vacant from mine until this assignment.

He started out at the age of 13, when he and his single mother put up some covers of Usher, Chris Brown, and Stevie Wonder on YouTube for friends and family to see. Those videos were seen by Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive who saw something special in him, flying the young Bieber and his mother to Atlanta, GA to audition with Island Records, where he caught the eye of Usher himself. Braun soon became his manager, and soon after Justin signed a record deal with Island. And the rest, literally, is history,

His first album “My World” was released in 2009. To raise hype, four singles were released before the album came out: “One Time”, “One Less Lonely Girl”, “Love Me”, and “Favorite Girl.” All four reached Billboards Top 40 status on in it’s "Hot 100 list", the first time this has ever happened. Ever.

“My World” went on to sell 137,000 copies in its first week and was received well by critics. Bieber became an instant hit with the key “critics” as well, those critics being the “little girl” demographic; the reason why is obvious. “He’s just so freaking cute” is I’m sure what any 12 year old girl you asked about why she is “in love” with Justin would say.

Bieber would most likely appear on a list of the most marketable performers of all time. For one, everyone loves the story of a nobody becoming famous, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s as cute as the lovechild of Puppy and a baby Panda. Add in actual musical talent and you’ve got little Bieber.

Joined by those four pre-released singles, “My World” contains four other tracks: “Down To Earth”, “Bigger”, “First Dance” (featuring celeb BFF Usher), and “Common Denominator.” After listening through the entire 30 minute album, I was honestly surprised. As a fan of techno and hip-hop, a 16 year-old boy is far from my normal jam, but Bieber displays a surprisingly strong range, showing he’s got some pipes and a damn good marketing team.

The songs themselves are written to hit his fans straight in their little tween hearts; the lyrics are all about that one, special girl out there, whom every girl out there pretends she is; “I saw so many pretty faces / Before I saw you, you / Now all I see is you” goes “One Less Lonely Girl”. While it's not exactly Barry White, the compositions, beats, pop riffs, and Bieber’s ability to perform many years above his age, makes the songs enjoyable, even for a college guy like myself. While I’m not waiting with baited breath for the upcoming release of “My World 2.0”, I have respect for Bieber as an artist. Before today, I never gave the kid a chance. Now, after three listen throughs of “My World”, I actually find myself bopping around in my chair to “Love Me”.

Following him on Twitter, where he constantly updates his 1.3 million Followers about what he’s up to, has given me a little more insight into the mind of the rising star. While most celebs say they care about their fans, it seems like Justin actually means it. He realizes how crazy his ascent has been, and who he has to thank for it. He’s the first celebrity I’ve seen on Twitter actually Follow their fans (he follows 41,595), constantly re-tweeting the messages from tween girl fans from which you can literally wring their tears of joy.

While he has millions of fans, million of others point out that he's a 16 year-old boy (with the voice of a 12 year-old girl... sorry Justin) singing about love, something he has undoubtedly never actually felt (again, sorry Justin, I obviously don't know this for sure... just a hunch, and since you ignored my attempt at getting you to Follow me on Twitter for the sake of this post, I guess our bromance will never blossom past this blog). But once you get over the fact that his lyrics might be a little above his pay grade, he’s got a voice, and a "cute face", and he knows how to use both. Very, very well. Love him or hate him, you’ve got to respect the kid for having a dream and following it, as for now, Bieber-mania shows no sign of slowing down (we’ll deal with the whole issue of going through puberty and what will mean to his precious little voice later).