My head hurts from all this jail

Gucci Mane: love him or never heard of him? If you are white, tis likely you’ve never heard of him. Gucci Mane (oft pronounced Gucci Man) is, of course, really hot on “the streets,” which means that Power 92 plays him a lot. That blog about stuff white people like once pointed out that white people enjoy black music that black people no longer care about. Anyway, Gucci is cared about now, so this is the chance to catch up on everything you (you, if you’re a white person) have missed while listening to 90s Wu Tang on repeat.

Gucci’s sure got an ugly mug, and sometimes he acts even uglier, but his laid back, husky and somewhat blubbery flow has its fans… one of them is even me. At his best, Gucci exhibits a breezy, self possessed confidence. Unlike his former ATL associate/current big beef Young Jeezy, he doesn’t sound like he’s hoarsely coughing nonsense at you. (Remember that crucial moment in history, right before Obama was elected? Jeezy had this to say about it: MY PRESIDENT IS BLACK/MY LAMBO’S BLUE/I’LL BE GOD DAMNED IF MY RIMS AIN’T TOO.) Gucci seems like a good-natured fellow, and his raps sound as natural as if he were merely breathing them. He’s lyrical, clever, and, according to imeem’s bio on him, liked writing poetry when he was little. It shows.

Let’s be real though. Gucci Mane is thug life 2009. There are youtube videos of him punching a woman, he also shot someone in Jeezy’s coterie a couple years ago, and he’s in jail again. Not that being thug life makes you punch women. Tupac would never do that.

Anyway, it’s taken me some time to understand what Gucci’s discography looks like. He is truly a rapper 3.0, because most of his impressively prolific oeuvre consists of many mixtapes. However, he’s still got some studio albums called Trap House and also Back to the Trap House. In two weeks, The State vs. Radric Davis drops. (Gucci’s given name is Radric Davis.) Sensing a theme here?

Do you want to understand the charms of Gucci Mane? No, you don’t want to listen to someone who beats women? Well, let’s hope that jail rehabilitates him a little this time.

Please enjoy my top 3 2009 Gucci traxxx:

“Pretty Girls“

Instead of peddling pap to larger audiences with Lady Gaga on “Chillin,’” Wale should have led his debut album Attention Deficit with this summer-appropriate jam about girls, featuring Gucci. Gaga’s poor imitation of M.I.A. really ruined it for Wale on that first single. “Pretty Girls” features some lively street percussion (think hand claps and plastic buckets) paired with a gospel-esque organ. Gucci rhymes about riding girls like a Huffy, and seeing similarities between diamonds and slushies. The whole thing makes for a tune I’d like to blare out of my convertible on a hot day.

“Spotlight“

This is Gucci’s nicest single from his forthcoming studio album. There was the very crunk “Wasted,” with Plies (who the fuck is that?), which sounds as though everyone was wasted while recording it. And now we have a modest, unpretentious Usher club song that provides the basic bump and grind it aimed to. Most amusing moment: Usher asks, “How you doin Gucci?” at beginning of the song, and Gucci responds by saying, “Yeaaaah…” as though he is slowly, reluctantly rising from his lazyboy when someone calls him from the kitchen. Second most amusing moment: the line that starts with “Gucci on Elimidate.”

“Shine Blockas“

Gucci will never make art like a member of Outkast, but he can keep up with Big Boi’s bounce in this optimistic ditty about maintaining one’s shine, regardless of circumstances. As always, Gucci’s presence is introduced by a series of excited self proclamations: “Gucci!” Wait a couple measures… then: “Gucci!” I guess I’d be that excited about myself if I was Gucci Mane too.

home, home on the driving range.  where the macys and bandits play.  where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the pies are baked fresh all day.

sung to the tune of “home on the range” obvi.

it’s about that time folks.  sarah’s just now getting out of class (law school rocks!) and swinging through the lex to pick me and my overly packed suitcase up.  oh and we’re also grabbing lunch at blue-to the-sky.  the most yummiest in the tummiest meal in the world.  i’ll have the special sandwich (cuz i am, mom told me so) and sarah will have the chix salad on focaccia.  the usual.

then we’ll sing along with our ipizzle all the way to the atl.

WOW!!! December is almost here??  Well we are going into our last series of the year.  It’s not your typical Christmas series.  I can tell you this we will have highlights from the greatest Christmas movie ever made one weekend!!  Can’t tell you which one, you have to be here for all 3 weeks of the series to find out.

DIDDY WILL BE HOSTING THE DIDDY DIRTY MONEY ATL TAKE OVER ALBUM LISTENING PARTY LIVE THURSDAY DECEMBER, 3RD AT THE VELVET ROOM IN ATLANTA!

GET THERE EARLY THIS PARTY WILL SELL OUT!

CELEBRITIES WILL BE IN THE BUILDING!

BROUGHT TO YOU BY BAD BOY/ MIKE THE PIKE PRODUCTIONS/ TRACK KINGZ WORLDWIDE

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=206721710395

The Soul Train Awards are back!!!

While many are still talking about how much better the American Music Awards were, I was checking out footage from the Soul Train Awards…
href=”http://www.bet.com/video/678487″>

The following are the nominees and BOLD are the winners I think will get it.

BEST NEW ARTIST

• DRAKE (I think he’ll get it)
• Jazmine Sullivan
• Keri Hilson
• Ryan Leslie (I’d like to see him get it)
• Solange

BEST R&B/SOUL ARTIST FEMALE

• BEYONCE (As usual, they’ll give it to her)
• Chrisette Michelle (I think she deserves it)
• Jennifer Hudson
• Ledisi
• Whitney Houston

BEST MALE R&B/SOUL MALE

• Charlie Wilson
• MAXWELL (I think he’ll get it AND deserves it!!!)
• Musiq Soulchild
• Raphael Saadiq
• Robin Thicke

SONG OF THE YEAR

• “God in Me” – MARY MARY (It was big and a close second!)
• “Pretty Wings” – Maxwell (I’d like to see this late entry win)
• “Single Ladies (Put a ring on it)” – BEYONCE (She’ll win but not by much!)
• “Spotlight” – Jennifer Hudson
• “Turnin Me On” – Keri Hilson/ ft Lil Wayne

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

• Beyonce – I am… Sasha Fierce (Platinum) Sony Music
• Jamie Foxx – Intuition (Platinum) J Records
• Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak (Platinum) Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam
• MAXWELL – Blacksummer’s Night (Gold) Sony Music
(My choice to win although Kanye’s album minus his personal drama was superb if you are just talking about music!)
• Ne-Yo – Year of the Gentleman

RECORD OF THE YEAR (SONGWRITER AWARD)

• Beyonce – “Single Ladies (Put a ring on it)”
• Drake – “Best I ever had”
• Jamie Foxx Ft/T-Pain – “Blame it”
• Keri Hilson – “Knock You Down”
• MAXWELL – “Pretty Wings” (Hands DOWN if you are talking about the QUALITY of writing)

BEST REGGAE ARTIST AWARD
• Movado (He had a fairly good year but may not stand out compared to Sean)
• SEAN PAUL (because the people who choose them always go to the guy most popular they’ll probably choose him)
• Serani
• Taurus Riley
• Ziggy Marley

CENTRIC AWARD – SOUL APPROVED/UNDERGROUND

• Corneille
• Eric Roberson
• LAURA IZABOR (I think she’ll win as the most visible, held up and I have not stopped playing this album. Great work musically though I wouldn’t say “underground.” Atlantic just didn’t promoter her)
• Maysa
• The Knux

BEST GOSPEL PERFORMANCE MALE, FEMALE OR GROUP

• BeBe and CeCe Winans – “Close To You”
• Fred Hammond f/John P Kee – “They That Wait”
• Marvin Sapp – “Praise Him in Advance”
• MARY MARY – “God In Me” (As the biggest crossover they’ll win hands down…and I happen to think it’s a great song anyway with a greater message)
• Smokie Norful – “Justified”

BEST COLLABORATION

• Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo – “Knock you Down”
• Keyshia Cole featuring Monica – “Trust”
• MARIO featuring Gucci Mane and Sean Garrett – “Break up” (I choose this song although it may be too street for some tastes…but the combination of flows made for an engaging journey into downtempo Rhythm & Beats aka R&B)
• Mary Mary featuring Kierra (KiKi) Sheard – “God In Me”
• Trey Songz featuring Drake – “Successful” (People like this dude Drake right now and Trey finally got some hits out this year beyond New York and ATL…This was a good second place mention)

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

• Michael Jackson

Since there weren’t any choices, it goes to Michael. It goes to him not because he was the best this year but because he died this year, let’s keep it real. This music industry is so politically inclined they couldn’t just say we are giving MJ the accolades we haven’t given out of guilt…maybe if more of us were supportive and loving toward one of the greatest to ever do it then maybe the people closer to him would have done more to protect and take care of him.

Looking forward to seeing who actually wins! Maybe the industry can take notes from the AMAs by giving awards based on sales and not politics since sales mean PEOPLE chose the winners! *Pardon me Grammys* but the voters are not necessarily in tune with the music…I’ll get on their case in another blog coming soon!

*Freedom*
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Piedmont Airlines (1st) Boeing 727-51C N7270C (msn 18897) ATL, originally uploaded by Airliners Gallery.

Copyright Photo: Bruce Drum.

Please click on photo or link below for full view, information, prints for sale and other photos:

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…whose up for a strike?

Not gonna bang on about this one.  Details can be found on Edugeek (here) and on the Angry Technicans Blog (here).  Needless to say, I’m finally a fully paid up member of ATL.  If you work with children then for the sake of £8 per month, can you really afford not to?

1. 1668 Nekoma St. NW Atlanta Ga 30318
2. 4050 Blanton Ave Atlanta Ga 30331
3. 2070 Joseph E Boon Blvd NW Simpson Rd Atlanta Ga 30314
4. 1950 Detroit Ave NW Atlanta Ga 30314
5. 235 Westview pl SW Atlanta Ga 30314
6. 990 Stonewall Dr SE Atlanta Ga 30315
7. 1339 Graymont Dr SWAtlanta GA 30310

ASKING 250K ALL CASH or MAKE OFFER

OR AVAILABLE FOR OWNER FINANCING

CALL 201-546-5713

1. 1668 Nekoma St. NW Atlanta Ga 30318
2. 4050 Blanton Ave Atlanta Ga 30331
3. 2070 Joseph E Boon Blvd NW Simpson Rd Atlanta Ga 30314
4. 1950 Detroit Ave NW Atlanta Ga 30314
5. 235 Westview pl SW Atlanta Ga 30314
6. 990 Stonewall Dr SE Atlanta Ga 30315
7. 1339 Graymont Dr SWAtlanta GA 30310

ASKING 250K ALL CASH or MAKE OFFER

OR AVAILABLE FOR OWNER FINANCING

CALL 201-546-5713

I joined a new union over the weekend, after reading about yet another school IT technician suspended from work pending the outcome of an investigation into them that they are not even allowed to be told the details of.

What this usually means is an allegation by a child, and while genuine cases do exist, they are the exceptional minority. Most cases like this are down to the increasingly and disturbingly popular trend of using such allegations as a method for pupils to exact revenge on staff who have reprimanded them.

Unions tend to have a poor reputation in the press due to the more militant unions taking unpopular or unfounded strike action. The recent postal worker strikes in the UK had scant public support, and strikes by London Underground staff make the majority of London commuters decidedly furious.

For school workers, the real strength of union membership has nothing to do with strikes, or even pay negotiations, but in the legal protection and advice you are entitled to if either a student or the school itself tries to shaft you. My opinion is that every member of school staff should be in a union if only for that reason. Think of it as career insurance. Union membership costs less per month than your broadband rental, and you do not need to have a union rep at your school to obtain assistance.

Which Union?

• State sector: UNISON (join) or GMB (join).

  In my last school, which was in the state sector, I was a member of UNISON. Also popular amongst school staff is the GMB. Find out which one is more popular with support staff in your school and join that one.

• Private sector: ATL (join).

  Since my move to the private sector I did not know which union to join, since the above only deal with state schools. Acting on advice found on EduGeek, I discovered that the ATL cover support and administrative staff working in private schools. I am now a member.

You can join any of these unions online by using the links above. It will take you less than 10 minutes and could one day save your reputation and career. Do it now.

I guess I’m a Shiester, this song has been on repeat since its arrival the other day. HEATER!!!!

Gucci tells about not taking sh*t personal in the industry… take notes whiny ass artists

it’s friday?  it’s friday!  and you know what that means?  this time next week i’ll still be recovering from my turkey day hangover.  i cannot wait.  i’m also pretty excited about my weekend plans…

it’s 60 degrees again.  weird.  so i’m going to start off my weekend with a leisurely run around.  all the while trying to avoid the bear that is on the loose in my neighborhood.  tonight i’m going to tear my house apart.  laundry, clean sheets, scrubbing the bathroom, dusting.  you name it.  i might also pop in my netflix, my best friend’s girl. looks silly, i know, but perfect for a girly friday night.

tomorrow kelli and i are hitting the road early as the jcrew factory store is hosting one of its sample sales.  i’ve never been to the sample sale before.  but it promises to be bananas.  we have to be home relatively early so kelli can hit the road and i’m going to use this time to a.) nap and b.) whip a little somethin’ somethin’ up in the kitchen.  if all goes well i’ll be bringing treats with me to atl next week!

my co-workers have been eager to go on a “bar crawl” through town.  and tomorrow, our plan gets put into action.  we’re starting at everyone’s favorite, donny t’s, for some late afternoon margs.  and we’ll work our way through town eating, drinking and making merry.  oh, and avoiding that bear.

sunday i plan on having a monster cave day.  and being as uncivilized as possible.  i’m not turning on a light, taking a shower or moving from my bedroom until at least 3 p.m.  because i’m an adult.  and i can.

i’ll probably be pretty worn out on monday.  so it’s a good thing that i’m getting all that cleaning accomplished tonight.  that way, next week i can pack and get excited about going home!

Here are top 5 things that happened around out house this weekend:

• UK Basketball is back
• Got a cool e-mail yesterday that I wasn’t expecting
• We put the Christmas tree up
• Hanging out with Media Shout this weekend
• My boss is blogging – link to come next week

Have a great weekend!!

We taking ideas on where to put our first store. How about you guys give us suggestions on where we should call home, never know you might get to take a bite!

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Below are links to my work. This is only a snap shot of what I have done, so if you want to see more just ask.

>Digital work 

>TV reel

>Print work

>Digital work Part 2 

From Russia – RIA NOVOSTI

your tax dollars at work  – http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20091016/156492181.html

…. it flies, it shoots, it fries …..

I’m writing this stupid post for the third damn time because the hotel in the richest county in America thinks it’s appropriate to charge $12.95 to use their lame Internet, but that’s another post entirely.  They can suck it, though.   I tried twice (unsuccessfully) to write this post from my phone, but now I’m down in the lobby slumming it like a poor person.  I figured since WordPress had an iPhone app to update your blog that it would also function.  Needless to say, I was quite angry when I finally published the bloody thing and the version I thought was deleted was the one that got put up, not the version I actually liked.  Technology…what can we do but bend over for it?  Here we go…

Check out my yummies.

I’ve finished day one of a four-day trip, and I’m working on the two hundo so I give that two very strong thumbs down.  I’ve not been on a trip longer than two days in quite some time, and packing the food to last me through it all took rather a lot of effort.  I got it done though.  One of those containers is empty, and the penne with meat sauce was quite tasty.  Tomorrow I’m in JAN, which brings me to the point of tonight’s post.

One of the great perks of this job is getting paid to visit friends I don’t get to see nearly as often as I’d like.  This time tomorrow I’ll probably be drinking my second beer with my great and wonderful friend Kristen whom I’ve not seen since the beginning of time.  I met her in 2003 on a study abroad in Spain.  Even though I don’t get to see or talk to her nearly as often as I’d like, when I do it’s like we pick up right where we left off – for me anyway – so I’m very much looking forward to some quality time with a quality girl and some quality brews.

Now if only we could score some overnights in ATL…that’d be pretty boss.