But I'm The Blueprint / I'm Like the Map For'em

Back at you for the first time in a little bit - and I promise I'm going to try and be here a lot more regularly moving forward - and time to call out everyone.

Yeah - everyone.

At some point, we're all guilty of not giving credit where credit is due, and it's become something that really grinds my gears like Peter Griffin.

We're all so quick to attack and criticize; calling people out for their decisions and everyday actions, putting just about anything under the microscope of negativity as if we're without flaws and worthy to pass judgment.

Sure, there is some element of that necessary in the world, but with that should come a willingness and acceptance that you have to pay attention to the other side of the coin as well. You can't just be critical and not give credit when it's due...

The title of this piece - another brilliant lyric from Jay-Z and the song "A Star is Born" - sums up my personal connection to this situation incredibly.

As I'm sure I've rambled on about here a couple of times, a bunch of my Mixed Martial Arts writing is syndicated to Bleacher Report. Over the first six or seven months of my existence there, I went from being the new kid on the block to being selected as a Featured Columnist and the top-ranked writer in the MMA Community.

With the success came the usual collection of haters and detractors. It seemed that my dedication and commitment to writing every day was a problem for some. The line was usually something along the lines of, "No wonder he's #1 - the guy writes a million articles a day, and all of them are crap."

Seriously. You gotta love it.

Funny thing is, shortly after questioning my practices, a couple people started to put the pattern I laid out into use for themselves... and have now risen to the top of the charts in my place.

Note: I stopped posting a bazillion pieces a day during my two month dalliance with Heavy.com... but I'm back now, and plan on reclaiming the throne.

D'you think I've gotten any, "Sorry for busting your chops all summer. Now that I'm being as successful as you were, I can see the merit in your methods" type emails or messages?

Of course not.

That would involve giving credit where credit is due, and we can't have that.

It would take away from all the bitching and complaining about everything...

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Soundtrack of My Life: Empire State of Mind

Song: Empire State of Mind
Artist: Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
Album: The Blueprint 3 (2009)

This song is just too damn good to ignore, regardless of the fact that it was only a couple weeks ago that "Run This Town" off the exact same album made an appearance in this section.

Jay-Z becomes the first repeat performer in the Soundtrack, something I have been diligently trying to avoid. Not because it's Jay, but because there are so many talented artists out there with great songs that inspire me and move me that I've never felt the need to double up.

Honestly, I could fill this column with about six or eight artists and feel good about it. Some of you could probably name those six or eight artists if you tried.

All that being said, this song is too much of a monster to not give it the attention it deserves.

Mommy took a bus trip and now she got her bust out,
everybody ride her, just like a bus route,
Hail Mary to the city your a Virgin,
and Jesus can’t save you life starts when the church ends,
came here for school, graduated to the high life,
ball players, rap stars, addicted to the limelight,
MDMA got you feeling like a champion,
the city never sleeps better slip you a Ambien

Seriously - who else is ending a banger with a rhyme about sleep medication that works so perfectly?

This one is an all-time selection for me, Top 5 material.

Hip Hop isn't dead, you just gotta wait for the quality to come out.

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Things I Learned This Week

1. They Invented Shovels for a Reason

So we got our first set of snowfalls this week; nothing massive, but enough for the complex groundskeeper to have to do a little bit of snow removal. With the stairs covered in snow, I fully expected to see him, shovel in hand, taking care of the early white annoyance.

But that would only make sense. After all, why should I expect said lazy, useless groundkeeper to do anything the right way after watching him take four days to mow the grass all summer? Even though shovels were designed specifically for the purpose of snow removal, do you know what this rocket surgeon was rocking?

A leaf blower. You read that right - a goddamn leaf blower. Needless to say, the stairs still have snow caked on them.

2. Even Luke Isn't Interested in an Early Winter

Though he quite enjoyed playing in the snow last winter, like us, the canine component of the house was thoroughly unimpressed with the snow that fell this week.

After about two energetic frolics through the fluffy, white powder, Luke had had enough. He sticks to the road and concrete as much as possible, lifts alternating paws out of the cold when he is forced into the snow and has no real interest in spending more time outside than is absolutely necessary.

Basically, he's the canine equivalent of yours truly.

3. There Are Some Awful Football Teams This Year

While I completely enjoy quiet Sundays on the couch watching football while Sarah slugs it out at the hospital, what's a brother gotta do to get a decent game on the television? Why in the name of all things holy would I have any interest in watching the Oakland Raiders?

Option #2 for an early game was Dallas at Kansas City, which is marginally better than watching the Raiders, except that I absolutely hate the Dallas Cowboys and listening to Troy Aikman make excuses for his former team.

Detroit actually looks decent compared to St. Louis, and don't even get me started on Cleveland and Buffalo... yeech!

4. The Blueprint 3 is...

Insert your own superlative of choice: awesome, dope, bananas (B-AN-AN-AS), classic, dynamic, whatever you'd like.

I know I told you all about it a few weeks ago when "Run this Town" appeared in the Soundtrack, but the fact that I went out and actually bought the CD should tell you the level of smooth this album possesses.

"Empire State of Mind" is ridiculous.

5. Making Moves, Part 193

It probably seems to you that ever week is met with a new update on the status of my writing career, but the truth is that every week offers something new.

For one, the Keyboard Kimura interview curse was broken last night at WEC 43 when Scott Jorgensen dropped Noah Thomas in the first round. Add to that someone new taking over the top spot on the Bleacher Report MMA Writer Rankings (read: little ol' me) and the fact that I am in the process of interviewing Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida, and I'd say there has been some new things learned on the writing front this week.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone... enjoy the turkey sweats!

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Soundtrack of My Life: Run This Town

Song: Run This Town
Artist: Jay-Z feat. Rihanna and Kanye West
Album: The Blueprint 3

The Roc is in the building... put your diamonds in the sky and just enjoy the brilliance.

These three are so iconic individually that I don't even feel the need to get into details about the brilliance that comes from combining the three.

Just pop it in and listen to the masters on the mic and Ms. Rihanna doing her catchy chorus thing like she always does.

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All Me To Reintroduce Myself...

If it can work for Jay-Z, it can work for me!

After having spent the last number of months working on other people's projects and not putting myself out there as much as I could, today marks the rebirth of E. Spencer Kyte, shameless self-promoter.

Since there is no one else who is going to promote my work with more insight, passion and drive than I can myself, why wouldn't I get down to business?

I'm Twitter'ing, a new and improved Facebook Fan Page is in the works and you'll be seeing my stuff pop up anywhere and everywhere I can get it, especially the stuff from over at Keyboard Kimura.

C'mon - you had to know I wasn't going to get through a post about self-promotion without mentioning the new site...

Welcome to the re-launch of E. Spencer Kyte.

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Soundtrack of My Life

Song: La La La (Excuse Me Miss, Again)

Artist: Jay Z

Album: Bad Boys 2 OST (2003)

This one is long overdue.

To have not dropped a Jay-Z track on the soundtrack in the first year was a mistake, since there are very few in the business whose music I enjoy and who I respect and admire as a person more than Jay.

I'll put it to you this way: I have his first album, Reasonable Doubt, on vinyl and still in the wrapping because I think when all is said and done, it will go down as one of the seminal hip hop albums of all-time and Jay will be bestowed with the title of Greatest of All-Time, unlike LL Cool J who just claimed it for himself.

As for this song itself, all I can say is that it's dirty.

The beat, delivered by Pharrell / The Neptunes, is infectious and will stick in your head for hours. It's 4,000 times better than the initial Excuse Me Miss and contains another of my favourite lyrics ever when Jay drops:

This ain't Chris Rock bitch
It's the Roc bitch
And I'm the franchise like a Houston Rocket
Yao Ming (Nawimean)

When you're tossing references to 7'6 Chinesse basketball players out in your tracks and they flow without any hiccup... retarded!

That's not the only set of rhyming cuplets delivered that have me loving this song though, as the whole thing is littered with well put together concepts, quick wit and Pop Culture references, which makes this song kinda like me... HA!

Sick with the pen, nigga
No physician in the world can fix him
No prescription, you could prescribe to subside
His affliction
He's not a sane man, he's more like Rainman, twitchin'

Anyway, as I said off the top - this one is long overdue and there are certainly any number of track by Shawn Carter that could have very easily ended up in this piece. Or I could have just put the entire Black Album...

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Change Clothes

Yeah, I'm channeling Shawn Carter here alright and with good reason.

The man the world knows as Jay-Z is a fashion icon and someone that a lot of men out there could stand to pay a little attention to, not just on wax either.

Some time ago, Mr. Beyonce Knowles decided to trade in the throwbacks and crooked hats for dapper duds and double Windsor knots. The uniform of white sneakers and white t-shirts, on top of wife beaters that Talib Kweli speaks of in "Get By" used to be the daily attire of Jay too, but somewhere along the way something changed.

The lead single from his outstanding "retirement record" The Black Album and title of this missive serves as an infommercial on attire:

Ma, I don't shop what the rest buy
Oh no Ma please respect my
Jiggy this is probably purple label
Or that BBC or it's probably tailored
But y'all niggas acting way too tough
Throw on a suit, get it tapered up, and let's just
(Change Clothes and go...)

So why am I sharing all of this with you?

Tonight is Sarah's Nursing Ball, a chance for her and those in her class to dress it up and have a nicely dressed night next to equally elegant significant others. We're dressing up and stepping out tonight...

Last year, I was the envy of the other boyfriends in the room, as Sarah is the greatest girlfriend a man could ask for an okayed my wearing jeans, sneaks and an untucked dress shirt under a jacket...

Yep, this time last year I was sporting the Douchebag Uniform. I told you I was a culprit too.

So when we hit the mall a couple weeks ago to pick up gear for tonight, I started with pieces - a great pinstriped vest, crisp white shirt, dynamite black tie and some sweet grey wool pants. I thought I was set. Then I watched Revolver.

"See? Everyone always looks good in a suit," I said as Jason Statham and his Turtle-less entourage stepped from an elevator in one of the opening scenes. Since then, all I could think about was suiting up for the evening, styling it up even more than originally scheduled. And that is just what I'm going to do tonight.

Black Pinstripe - three piece - freshly clipped hair, clean shaved and ready for pictures.

I joke about my metrosexuality on occasion and am an admitted fashion fan. As such, I want to pass on this nugget of advice to any and every man who has stuck around and gotten to this point of the prose:

Whenever you can - dinner out somewhere, drinks, a date or a party like I'm hitting tonight - style it up as much as you can.

ZZ Top wasn't lying all those years ago; every girl is crazy for a sharp dressed man.

(The love of shopping has returned... you've got a sidekick if you need one Newt!)

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Soundtrack of My Life

Song: Get By
Artist: Talib Kweli
Album: Quality (2002, Rawkus Records)

Whenever I hear some bullshit hip hop song polluting the airwaves and giving the music I love a bad name, I have a small collection of artists and songs that make me feel better and remind me how powerful and incredible hip hop can be. Kweli is one of those artists and this is one of those songs.

The thing I has always loved about Talib Kweli, since he first entered my eardrums alongside Mos Def as Black Star with the song "Respiration," is that it's never been about anything besides the music and real life. There are no songs about rims or e'rbody in the club gettin' tipsy or what the temperature is in a certain location. It's about the things he sees in his life and in his neighborhood and his reactions to them.

Now, with this song specifically, there is a lot to love.

I love the Nina Simone piano sample.
I love the hand-claps at the tail end of the song when Kweli breaks it down one last time.
I love the chorus that, once I hear it, is stuck in my head for hours on end.

Most of all, I love exactly what has always Kweli done best - deliver intelligent, incredible rhymes:

We go through "Epidodes II," like "Attack of the Clones"

I paint a picture with the pen like Norman Mailer

We do or die like Bed-Stuy through the red sky
with the window of the red eye
Let the lead fly, some G. Rap shit, "Livin' to Let Die"

The TV got us reachin for stars
Not the ones between Venus and Mars, the ones that be readin for parts
Some people get breast enhancements and penis enlargers
Saturday sinners Sunday morning at the feet of the Father
They need somethin to rely on, we get high on all types of drug
When, all you really need is love

Personally, I like that the airwaves are littered with one hit wonders and flashes in the pan; it lets me keep cats like Kweli as my own, not that there haven't been chances for the masses to catch on.

Jay-Z famously name checked Kweli on "Moment of Clarity" off The Black Album, dropping the lyric "If skills sold / truth be told / I'd probably be / lyrically Talib Kweli" but still not a lot of people have caught on, probably because the song wasn't one of the singles off the album and never made heavy rotation on the radio...

For anyone out there who is a fan of hip hop - the real hip hop, not the junk you hear in heavy rotation - this song and this MC are a must. Equally as incredible as this track is the remix featuring Mos, Jay-Z and Kanye. Go pick'em both up and enjoy.

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Pajamas: Not An Outdoor Outfit

Guess what? You can't wear pajamas in public. It's as simple as that.

No, it doesn't matter where you're going. Unless you're going to bed, you have on the wrong attire.

Britney Spears does it all the time? Is that the argument you're going to use? Seriously? Britney's about three months away from a full out mental breakdown where she ends up sitting in a chair staring out the window all day and people say things like "It's such a shame what happened to that Spears girl. I knew she was really in trouble when she started wearing her pajamas everywhere."

Comfort? You want to give me comfort as justification? D'you know what's comfortable? Being bare-ass naked, that's comfortable, but you don't see me pushing a grocery cart in my birthday suit on a weekly basis do you? People say Crocs are comfortable too but I wouldn't be caught dead in those either.

Stacey and Clinton need to do an expose about this on a future episode of What Not To Wear. I mean, it comes up in nearly every single episode because all the fashion mongoloids out there think it's acceptable and see nothing wrong with strolling around the video store in their best Hello Kitty PJ's.

The simple fact of the matter is that there is absolutely nothing okay with wearing your pajamas out in public. No exceptions. Not even little kids, because that is just the parent being mean to their child and setting them up for years of horrible fashion choices down the road. Besides, it's not like they're a complicated piece of clothing to get in and out of. We're not talking about a corset here folks. They're pajamas!

I would say it takes no more than 30 seconds to slip out of the PJ's and into a different pair of pants. I'd even extend that to a minute, just to be nice. So how is it, even in the hustle and bustle world we live in now, that a growing number of people don't have one minute to spare to change out of the pants they crawl into bed in when they're heading out the door?

Public pajama-wearing scares the hell out of me for a number of reasons and not just because I'm a metrosexual prick who thinks he knows a thing or two about fashion. No No - it extends beyond that.

If pajamas become acceptable, what's next? It can't be long until we see some dude walk into the corner store in his housecoat...

If you don't have the time to put on a respectable pair of pants, what else have you neglected to do? Did you skip the shower for the last couple days too because the water makes you feel all icky?

I never thought I would say this, but dammit, I would rather see everyone busting out the sweatpants 24-7 than walking around in pajamas. That may not seem like much of a concession to some of you, but believe me, before this pajama epidemic, wearing sweatpants anywhere outside of the gym, laying around the house or a quick trip to the corner store was #1 on my Fashion Faux Pas list.

We've fallen into this funk of everything having to be about dressed down, comfortable and casual. Workplaces are now business casual four days a week and jeans on Fridays. The guy who shows up in the suit and tie is the odd duck and that is a crying shame.

Even Jay Z has encouraged the masses to drop the jerseys and constant casual attire and "throw on a suit and get it tapered up" in the track "Change Clothes." D'you think Hova would be caught dead in public in his pajamas? Not a chance, even though he's probably got some real slick boudoir attire.

It's not hard folks. I beg you, when you get to the front door, pause and look down at your lower half. If you see hearts, Winnie the Pooh, the name of your university or something you've seen first thing in the morning, go change.

Pants aren't that hard. You can do it. I know you can.

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Soundtrack of My Life

Song: Diamonds from Sierra Leone
Artist: Kanye West
Album: Late Registration

I lasted until #7 but I just couldn't keep Kanye away. Really, how could you expect me to? The dude is dynamic and this is my favourite joint of all.

Sampling the hell out of the Shirley Bassey song "Diamonds Are Forever" from the Bond film of same name, this version is all about Kanye and The Roc-A-Fella fam, as shown by the chorus urging listeners to throw a diamond in the sky, the hand symbol of the Roc.

Besides having a ridiculously infectious beat, the rhymes Kanye spits over said beat displays some of his best bravado to date.

After debris settles and the dust get swept off
Big K pick up where young Hov left off
Right when magazines wrote Kanye West off
I dropped my new shit sound like the best of
A&R's lookin' like "pssh we messed up"
Grammy night, damn right, we got dressed up
Bottle after bottle till we got messed up

The truth is, Kanye isn't just bragging. He really is picking up where Jay Z left off and scores of music industry execs who said he was a great producer and only a great producer definitely did mess up.

Crazy thing about Kanye though, and this song is one of the ones that really exemplifies it to me and makes me mad at people that don't appreciate his genius - and he is a genius people - is that beyond all the bragging and crazy shit Kanye has been known to do, layered in there into overlooked songs like this, are smart, brilliant lyrics that any emcee would be proud to call their own:

Take your diamonds and throw 'em up like you bulimic
Yea the beat cold but the flow is anemic

What more can you ask for?
The international assholes nah
Who complains about what he is owed?
And throw a tantrum like he is 3 years old
You gotta love it though somebody still speaks from his soul
And wouldn't change by the change, or the game, or the fame,
When he came, in the game, he made his own lane
Now all I need is y'all to pronounce my name
Its Kanye - But some of my plastic - they still say Kane

Next to the verse he drops on the Ne-Yo remix of Ghostface Killer's "Back Like That" that features a Ron Burgundy reference and the gem "she ordered the Kobe beef like Shaquille O'Neal," this track is easily my favourite Kanye lyrics of all time.

What makes this song even more important to me is that it educated Kanye. Sure, the diamond is the symbol of Roc-A-Fella, but after he recorded the song and heard the Lupe Fiasco* track "Conflict Diamonds," Kanye sought knowledge and educated himself to the plight of children who work in the diamond minds and used the video for this song as a message and recorded a remix of the track where he questions Jacob the Jeweler about the status of his diamonds.

Winner of the 2006 Grammy for Best Rap Song, Diamonds from Sierra Leone is a definite addition to the soundtrack of any Kanye West fans life.

* If you don't know about Lupe Fiasco, go get yourself some and tell me he isn't bananas... and definitely get the CRS joint "US Placers." It's Kanye, Lupe and Pharrell, but I'll tell you more about it at a later date...

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Soundtrack of My Life

Song: Faint

Artist: Linkin Park

Album: Meteora

Everyone has an angry song. This is one of mine and I needed it today.

Take your ideas about Nu-Metal or Rap Metal or whatever the hell you want to call it and piss off because Linkin Park is far more than the genre they were dumped into upon their debut. These guys are more than just posers like Fred Durst or kooks like Jonathan Davis of Korn. These guys are musicians, vocalists, an emcee's emcee and all together wicked. Accept it.

Faint pulls it all together and throws it at the world from the jump with a crashing drum beat courtesy of Rob Bourdon and crunching guitars that hit hard and fast and loud. It's vintage LP and it's fan-damn-tastic!

There aren't many vocalist on the male side that I like more than Chester Bennington and that is saying a lot. Dude just puts everything into every lyric, every song and every performance and that is part of what works here. Chester booming out the chorus at the top of his lungs with the passion and conviction he does not only fits the song to a tee, but convinces you that he isn't just singing a song. These are words he believes, 100%.

And then there is my man Mike Shinoda. Because Chester is so powerful and so forceful on every track, Mike S often is unfairly overshadowed. I say unfairly because if anyone was smart enough to go out and pick up his group Fort Minor's outstanding album The Rising Tied, then you know that the LP MC is pretty damn talented in his own right.

Factor in that everyone - EVERYONE - has felt like the lyrics of this song convey at one point or another:

I am a little bit of loneliness a little bit of disregard
Handful of complaints but I can’t help the fact that everyone can see these
scars
I am what I want you to want what I want you to feel
But it's like no matter what I do, I can't convince you, to just believe
this is real
So I let go, watching you, turn your back like you always do
Face away and pretend that I'm not
But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I got

I am a little bit insecure a little unconfident
Cause you don't understand I do what I can but sometimes I don't make sense
I am what you never wanna say but I've never had a doubt
It's like no matter what I do I can't convince you for once just to hear me out
So I let go watching you turn your back like you always do
Face away and pretend that I'm not
But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I've got

When you've had a rotten day - and I had a rotten day today - coming home, clicking on this track and letting it just belt on repeat is all that I need.

Oh yeah, the mash-up version with Jay Z from the Collision Course album, "Jigga What / Faint" is equally bad-ass, so you might want to go check it out too.

* * * * * * * * * *

One other song was in strong consideration... "My Ass Fell Off" by Dan & The Tobins.

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