Ice Cube Feat. Musiq Soulchild – Why Me? [Video]

Here’s a  video of Ice Cube’s latest single, “Why Me?”, featuring Musiq Soulchild. It’s off his album, Raw Footage, which is in stores now.

This is a pretty good song, but the video takes it to another level.

I haven’t liked any of Ice Cube’s music for years but I like this one.

If only he stayed away from family comedies.

-STAN

Chris Rock Rips Into Bill Clinton And Sarah Palin

Chris Rock on The Late Show With David Letterman on September 22nd. Bill Clinton was the first guest on the show. He rips into Bill Clinton about Barack Obama, and Sarah Palin.

Chris Rock is a fool! And David Letterman is getting worse by the minute.

-STAN

Let’s not slide down…Let’s run up!

A few days ago, I thought about my childhood and this memory came up.

I was in the third grade, which was 1993-94. At that time, I was living in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. My father, who was still in the Army at the time, had just been stationed to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, just outside the Twin Cities. We had just moved to a townhouse right next to the elementary school I attended, Crestview Elementary.

I remembered I was in school, recess time and I was playing on the playground. The playground consisted of swings, monkey bars, ladders, etc. The coolest thing about this playground at school was this huge slide it had. From the top of the slide to the bottom had to be almost a story with a near-perfect forty-five degree angle down the slide. The kids would wait in a line to go down the slide. But I remembered a few boys started to do something different.

The boys started to try to run up the slide from the bottom to get to the top. It was pretty dangerous as most of the kids just wanted to slide down the slide. The boys would take their chance to run up like someone trying to run across a busy intersection to get to the other side while dodging moving vehicles. The boys would try and try, but never could get to the top. As they did this, some kids watched in awe and also attempted to try to run to the top, me included. More and more kids joined in to try. Most failed and some had to jump out of the way of the remaining kids that were going down the slide.

Then, one boy made it to the top. Then another. And another.

I saw this and wanted to know the feeling of getting to the top, even if it would be trivial the next day. My first few attempts, I made it half way, but I couldn’t make it to the top and would slide down to the bottom again.

After so many attempts, I tried my hardest to get to the top. I made it to the spot where I would always end up falling. I held on to the sides of the slide, and started to climb the slide. I remembered it was super hard. One of the kids below me, who was also trying to get up, started to push me up. Then, one of the kids at the top put their hand out and told me to grab on and started to pull me up. It became a team effort to get to the top.

Finally, I made it, and more and more kids made it as well with the help of others. Then, one of the teachers saw this, and told us to stop doing what we were doing.

We never did that anymore while I was at that school.

Anyways, I remembered this moment and thought, “Isn’t this how our walk with God is?”

A slide is made to go down. The population of this world that doesn’t have that relationship with God is going downhill. It’s so easy to go down and get that instant gratification, but you end up needing more and more of it.

We as Christians are going against the grain of what a slide was meant for, running up the slide to get to the top. We want to get to where God is, the top of the slide, and we pursue that with all our heart. We run into situations or people that try to bring us down, kids going down the slide while we attempt to make it to the top. It’s easy to let those people/situations to bring us down but we need to keep our eyes focused and fixated on that goal of getting to the top of the slide.

Then, we make it to the place where we’ve seen ourselves fall down again and again. Some of us fall because we go about it alone, thinking we can do it by ourselves on our own strength and just a belief in Christ. But we are weak, sometimes we deceive ourselves. We have belief in Him but don’t follow the Lord’s decrees. We need our brothers and sisters in Christ to walk with us along the way as well and hold us accountable, and push us up, like the kid who helped pushed me up the slide. So many attempts I thought I could make it to the top on my own, but I needed the help of the kids who were trying to get to the top for support.

The boy who first made it to the top of the slide, signifies Jesus Christ, and the kids that joined him at the top right after him are the apostles and so on and so forth. Basically those before us who have gone through the same struggles as we have in our lives. The kid below me pushing me could only do so much, but I had to have that person reach out his hand and help pull me up. Our brothers and sisters in Christ can help us, but we need Jesus to help us up. He reaches out his hand when he sees we are truly living for Him and are pursuing him. He will pull us through tough situations, relationships, financial, illness, etc. He wants us to be there with him. All we have to do is go against the grain of this world.

Let us continue continue to go against the grain. Let’s run up that slide, not walk up it. And let us help pull those who don’t know Him with us. And when we see them falling, push them up to where they know Jesus and see him reaching out his hand to pull them up.

Thank you Lord for reaching out your hand to me and pulling me up. I won’t let go.

-STAN

“Notorious” Movie Trailer

Hopefully this movie brings up things we didn’t know about him, and not just an overview of things we already do know.

Comes out January 16, 2009 in theaters.

-STAN

JR Matsumura: He is Prolifik!

Here’s a little video of a friend of mines, JR Matsumura. An awesome man of God.

Music featured on the video by one of the local Hip-Hop artists, NoMasterBacks, also strong Christ followers.

This is JR’s God-given gift, a talent for surfing. A very unique talent.

Shaun, Micah, and I helped him put together another video using this footage. A video for Prolifik Clothing, so look out for that. This is just a lil’ sneak peek for you guys. Enjoy.

Praise God for the awesome, talented, men & women of God that He has put in my life! Thank you Lord.

-STAN

Baron Davis Makes Me a Clipper Fan

OLAWD! This is still too hilarious!

Baron Davis is a fool!

Clippers, You guys have star power. Finally.

Seriously. Would you rather have this….?

…Or this as your starting point guard?

Alien Boy or the dude with one of the crossovers in the L with a great sense of humor?

I’d take the latter.

I’m a Clipper fan as long as Baron Davis is on the floor. It’ll certainly be a more fun locker room to be in, I’ll tell you that.

Do I think they can win? Probably not. Playoffs? Hope so. But long as they beat the Lakers every time they play them this year, it’ll be fine.

Can’t wait until the season starts next month.

Add me to the rest of the five Clipper fans in the world.

Bad move with Brand though. OUCH!

-STAN

“Leave It All Behind” Sampler: Download Now!

Nic & Phonte posted this treat on the theforeignexchangemusic.com site a few days ago. A sampler of a few tracks on the upcoming album.

Dangggggg. All I can say is that it’s HEAT!

Click here to download the “Leave It All Behind” Sampler:

Foreign Exchange “Leave It All Behind” Sampler
a. Take Off The Blues
b. All or Nothing
c. Something To Behold
d. If This Is Love
e. If She Breaks Your Heart

Can’t wait for October 14th, 2008

“Something to Behold” is the jam SONNN!

-STAN

Stutterin’ Stan: Review on Quality & Clean Blog

A few days ago,  a reader of this blog asked if they could write something about my blog and music on their wordpress blog. I agreed and a day later they posted it on their blog. Below is what was written. Check it out. Thanks again for the support!

Review on Quality & Clean

Clean: 4.5 (most are instrumental)

Quality: 5

Genre: Electronic

Most people who know me are surprised when they find out that I am a sucker for dance/techno/electronica music. Most of it ala C89.5 (radio station in Seattle), is sort of poppish and repetitive and not very quality (but I like it nonetheless). Also, most of the lyrics are about one topic (the dance floor and what happens later that night), so not the most uplifting.

When I find good electronic music (musically or lyrically) I am always super excited and want to tell the whole world because it is so rare. I feel the same way about my most recent find. Stutterin Stan, is actually a beat maker. Using software he electronically makes beats aka the rhythm or percussion that gives a song its groove. Often a beat maker will use a short sample of a pre-existing song and loop it over and over so that is sounds completely new. Beat makers also use tapes containing dozens of individual beats but mix them in such a way as to make them sound new. If you listen to the background music closely of most R&B or rap songs, it will consist of these types of beats. Usually beats are made to be only part of a song, and sound incomplete on their own. That’s ok because they are meant to enhance the vocals, not steal the spotlight.

Stutterin Stan’s beats are interesting enough to be their own songs. His tracks are more than just one sample looped over and over again, but like a dance they throw in unexpected yet graceful surprises. On his myspace page you can listen to 6 full tracks which are either instrumental or feature a few spoken verses. One is a remix of Hillsong’s Open My Eyes. You Can’t Stop Us, and World Warrior are probably my favorites but they are all great. Other beats you can by on his myspace page for cheap; they are more trance-like (I love trance but it is more repetative). Check out his blog as well. Its consists of a fun mix of his faith and music making journeys.

Below is a video of World Warrior being performed at a contest.

-D. Inidaho

Hipsters Don’t Know: Johnson & Jonson

Blu & Mainframe are Johnson & Jonson.

Dangggggg.

New self titled album on Tres Records coming out September 23. Get it.

This is what keeps me comin’ back to the music. For every thousand Soulja Boys that are around, there’s a few MC’s like this. I listen for that minority with dope beats and lyrics.

Blu rips this beat up! Go get the album on the 23rd. And check more of their music on their MySpace.

Just lettin’ you hipsters know.

-STAN

Matt Damon is Classic!

Matt Damon rips Sarah Palin.

“A really bad Disney movie.”

“I need to know if she really thinks Dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago.”

WHAT?! LOL.

Matt Damon is awesome!

-STAN