Things Wrong With America....

I was never fond of American mentality and education. I went to part of first grade in Taiwan, and coming over was such a culture shock. In Taiwan, I was told to obey authorities, follow directions, be humble, and contribute to society.

Coming to the U.S., it was all about individuality (especially prevalent in the mentality of Generation X). I was told everyone is unique. Everyone is special. You are the greatest human being on the Earth. Teachers talked to you ask their friend, not an authority to be respected. You can do whatever you want to. There is no "wrong answer." There is no "stupid question."

You end up with a bunch of unruly kids running around thinking they can do whatever they want to because they are special and don't need to listen to authority. Yeah you twit, you're special just like the other twit running around. In Taiwan, the kids would have gotten a spanking, but in the U.S. parents can't even discipline their kids. (Refer to the Chappelle show - Trading Spouses where the white dad gave the black kid a "Time Out"). And look where that got us America, bunch of arrogant and obese Americans who can't even locate Iraq on the map.

Like for example, I'm always fascinated by the attitude of the America's Next Top Model Girls when they go abroad. They fail at speaking a foreign language for a commercial, and they blame it on the language rather than themselves. They take other culture and can't accept it because they think America is the best.

Take a look at the U.S. Basketball Olympic Team. In 1992, The U.S. sent to Spain the "Dream Team." All that you're great, you're awesome mentality at first encouraged and fostered a team of the arguably the most talented team in history. The arrogance was fine when it's back up with actual aptitude. I mean the opposing team would ask the Dream Team for their autograph before the game start. Compare that to the 2004 Team U.S.A. It was such an embarrassment. Highest paying athletes, with all that arrogance and hubris, and only third-place. The aura of the U.S.A. is gone. In fact, nobody gives a shit about the U.S. anymore. Countries that used to suck up to the U.S. now suck up to China.

So the American dream is pretty much dead, just like how the "dream team" dead. People need to work two jobs, just to get by. People are losing their homes. The dollar is sinking into the ground.

Rock The Bells 2008

I'm not usually the type to blog about what happens in my daily life, I always found that to be lame. I mean other people don't really care that you got a haircut over the weekend, unless of course you have a stalker on your hand.

However, Rock The Bells 2008 was wayy too awesome not to blog about. It was definitely the best concert I've been to (doesn't say much because all 3 concerts I've been to are Maroon 5 concerts). But nevertheless this was definitely an awesome concert, high energy, with hip-hop heavy hitters, and I got to meet awesome rappers. First of all, the setlist and line-up was already amazing: De La Soul, Method Man, Redman, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Nas, Mos Def, and A Tribe Called Quest.

So I take the LIRR, which was delayed 30 minutes from Penn to Freeport. Of course, I was getting really anxious to make it there at 2:00 to volunteer in the VIP section. The bus caught traffic, but ended up getting there on time. Met the people from Guerrilla Union, most of the were from Cali. They were totally awesome and just laid-back. Volunteering consisted of clipping VIP cards and passing out freebies (back pack, shirt, drinks, and useless San Disk stuff). The VIP station was unfortunately right next to the second stage, and had to listen to this horrible garbage music by NinjaSonik (who are contributing to the demise of hip-hop, encouraging people to rock teal tight jeans). Volunteering meant I had to stay for the first half of the concert, which was fine, as long as I got to see Mos Def & Nas.. It was pretty laid back, the people I worked with were pretty chill.

Towards the late afternoon, things died down and I went to go watch Mos Def. I was standing by where the artists enter, and I saw Mos Def coming in and Talib Kweli, said what's up to both of them. Kweli was a special guest, and therefore they performed Blackstar songs. It was alright, wasn't anything too crazy. I mean don't get me wrong, I love Blackstar but the live performance wasn't that great. During this performance, I caught Method Man coming in, got a picture with him, got my shirt and iphone autographed, which was awesome. Meth is sooooooooo awesome and chill. He was definitely really nice...

Was running back and forth between the stage and the VIP section. This whole time, different guys were trying to come up to me and talk to me. They provided vapid pick up lines like, I'm with the head of security here, I know Nas, Damn you fine shawty, etc, etc. Guerrilla Union managed to feed us from backstage. When I went back there, I swear I got high just being in the area. There was sooo much weed all around. The food was alright, I mean it was sure better than $6.00 hot dog from the Nikon Center food concession stand.

There was a meet & greet with Tribe at 8:00, and the volunteers were the first in line to meet them. Q Tip was soooooooo high, kept drawing apple bongs on his autographs. I got a picture with him, which was pretty awesome. It was also nice to see Tribe reunited for the first time since 1998. The people who paid for VIP tickets lined up to see them, and they were super excited. I like Q Tip, but Tribe is definitely a bit before my time, so I wasn't like hyperventilating or anything. Supposedly, Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige was supposed to be at the meet & greet as well, but they ended up not showing up.

We were officially dismissed from volunteering after the meet & greet. Most of the other volunteers peaced out, which was strange, because why would you work your ass off the whole day and not stay for the concert.. I of course, ran back to watch Nas perform (my fav. rapper of all time). IT WAS AMAZING. Nas took as from Illmatic to his most recent album (originally titled Nigger, renamed to Untitled when record made him change it). Went through the old school stuff: NY State of Mind, Lifes a Bitch, etc. , to the new stuff: NIGGER. My favs were: If I Ruled the World, Street Dreams, Nas is Like, One Mic, Made You Look.

Nas took from a pause going through his songs to address the audience saying: It's hard for a nigga out there with all the pressure. He just needs to breathe. Out came HOVA. Crowd went crazy.. Of course I didn't because I knew ahead of time that that Jay-Z was gonna be there. Besides, I can't seem to like Jay all that much because of the Nas-Jay-Z beef back in the day. Come-on, Ether Man. Fuck Jay-Z and his cockafeller wanted beef. Performed Black Republicans. The crowd definitely got the most hyped up for Nas and was still hyped by the time Jay-Z came on.

Tribe performed next, and the crowd was pretty low energy by then. Maybe because they were too tired from going crazy for Nas, and it was the last act. Q Tip was pissed tho, he stressed that this is the first time that Tribe is performing as a group since 1998, and the crowed hyped up a bit, but no where on Nas & Jay-Z level. By then, I was pretty dead too. Saw a co-worker from Morgan Stanley earlier, and wanted to hitch a ride with him. Couldn't find him (found out after that he was hanging out with Nas). Ended up getting a ride home from someone I totally didn't know. Sketch? I guess so, but I thought he was nice and wasn't sketchy at all. He only offered when I said how tired I was, and how long of a way it will be to get home via public transportation (Jones Beach Bus - 50 minutes, Wait for LIRR - 30 minutes, LIRR to Jamaica - 50 minutes, wait for bus - 45 minutes, bus - 45 minutes, not even including having to deal with the massive amount of people)... We left early, but he wanted to wait for Busta (special guest) to come on. Bounced after that.

Caught Talib Kweli with his girlfriend on the way out (by the Artist gate).. Got a pic with him, but unfortunately is blurry. Told him that it was cool he went to brooklyn tech, I went to Stuyvesant. He said thank you after taking the picture. I mean cmon, how nice/humble is that. Told him to stay intelligent... I was referring to Beautiful Struggle lyrics, don't know if he caught that.

So that was Rock The Bells 2008 for me... Definitely going back 2009. I love hip hop! Almost for that with all the rock influence I've been getting from my guitar.