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March 1, 2005

This or That: This is Where It's At

I haven't been happy with the state of hip-hop music lately, Asian American or not. I've been finding solace in my Neil Armstrong mix-CDs, Sweeet, Bittersweeet, and now WarmFuzzy. They are staples in my car and on my iPod.

On Saturday I went with a friend to a hip-hop show. I hadn't been to a show in a while (when you put together parties/shows, ironically you don't have the time to go to others). I saw Black Sheep at the Red Devil Lounge in the city.

Black Sheep was great! I didn't expect to see so many "random" people: Fratboy-looking types and Asians. I felt like an old lady, because I swear the average age in the club was well under 25. I was thinking, How old were these people when "The Choice Is Yours" came out? (At least people knew enough to sing along to the words of "Strobelight Honey.")

The three opening acts before Black Sheep were a big reminder of why I'm waaay over my underground hip-hop days (I leave that to the Backpacker crowd): No originality, wack beats and production, and biting other people's styles. I realized that many of the "random Asians" I saw at the club were probably there to support one of the opening acts.

Believe me when I say you probably won't ever see me at another hip-hop show like that again. If you do, I'll only show up ten minutes before the headlining act. Or at a Massive Selector party. I've become a music snob, especially when it comes to hip-hop.

On the flip side of things: You definitely won't see/hear any wack hip-hop at MY event on March 12th. If you happen to be in the Bay Area, or you're an avid NAATA film festival-goer, then please check out Directions in Sound My friend Dan put together the punk/indie rock night at Cafe Du Nord (Friday, March 11th), so you should check that out too!

I'll be around the festival, so feel free to say Hi or chat me up. If I'm drunk enough, maybe I'll drag you to karaoke or to do shots at Dimples--we will be in Japantown, after all!

I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go!