girl blue sees the light.: September 2010

Mickey Factz's latest mixtape, I'm Better Than You, challenges haters and shows vulnerability, as Mickey pronounces his position over others in life, while sharing about un-returned female BBM's at the same time, retorting, "If you ain't gonna respond, then why you read it for?" There is champion production in "Legend," the club inspiration in the smiling and yet depressed "Mona Lisa," and the literal audio remnant sprinkling of "Diamond Dust." For all those who have been following Mickey from the beginning, there are no disappointments.

Look for Chester French, Bun B, Fat Joe, Steve-O, Count Jus, Redd Stylez, Lundon, Kara Rose, B.O.B., and Big K.R.I.T., and production from Precize, Don Cannon, and Sean C & LV. Noteable mention: Hype-men DJ Enuff and DJ Quiz.

Look out for Mickey's debut album, The Achievement, dropping early next year on Battery/JIVE Records.

If you don't like reading upside down, and if you care anything about being spoon fed what you hear from the radio and from music video's, I have DA's entire twitter speech from earlier today. D.A.'s "tweech" on popular music lacking depth. I got that, but one step further, if everything with depth and substance didn't just imitate life but transcended human difficulties, then we'd be getting somewhere. Anyways, just think--if everything that played on the radio was substantial, and that was the norm, artists would be trying to cartwheel over that, completely challenged, and take it to even the next level. What would the possibility be then? A girl can dream...

Can't wait to hear the album, Chester French.

"Fuck all this stupid, immature, 4 on the floor bullshit music right now. How about some genuine emotion, craftsmanship, and creativity in popular music? I don't dislike dance music or any genre of music. In fact, some of my favorite music is dance music, but everything? Really? It's not that I don't like having a good time, but there is shockingly little depth or thought in popular music right now. In a horrible recession with two wars going on for a decade don't we need some truth and realness right now? Escapism is dominating. I just want 1 mainstream Nirvana or Wu-Tang or something with some grit and uniqueness. As Cornel West says, we've become too well-adapted to injustice and mediocrity, and our popular music culture is symptomatic of it. We're finishing up a record that I hope goes against the grain, but it's spitting in the ocean. We need a mass change in consumption. Everyone is following the person in front of them. Artist > A&R > Radio Dept > Programmers > Advertisers > Agencies. WE NEED LEADERS! We face a collective action problem in which no one will step-up and worry more about what's good for society than not getting fired. Courage requires risking personal adversity for something you believe in. Everyone's passing the buck, though. I'm just being honest with ya'll because that's what this forum is good for and I feel like our fans are with me on this. And don't get me wrong. There is great fucking music being made right now. I saw Grizzly Bear this weekend and they were amazing. No reason Grizzly Bear shouldn't top the charts. Tell me why you can't play that on the radio! People are the same they've always been. They played Mike Oldfield's esoteric "Tubular Bells" on the radio. Shit was a #1. People are the same. They can handle challenging art. Even though they hate on us, I'm glad that there are outfits like Pitchfork out there championing underdog music. But it's a mass prob. They can only chip away at the institutional limitations of our current cultural economy. We need real systemic change in culture. I love that technology allows everyone to create and distribute on the cheap. We need to ask what institutions will help direct and curate. I almost think we should go back to aristocrats financing works of art. And I don't mean multinational corporations. Some of these music tech people should just finance good music and give it away. That would help culture more than 800 redundant startups. I know I post a lot on politics, etc on my blog but that's because I see myself as a citizen, not a "business, man." What if we all boycotted stupid shit for few months. Why can't we have cultural demonstrations? I'm not going at specific artists because I don't want to criticize any specific person's life choices. I've made plenty of mistakes. But if you're an artist, THINK about what you're making. Don't churn out meaningless bullshit. You have an honorable VOCATION to uphold. Take "Toot it and boot it" for example. That shit is so catchy. But it says it's going to make a girl "feel stupid." Are you fucking kidding me? Is this the stone-ages? The radio peeps should've told dude to change his lyric. That shit is awful for culture. Let's turn off the radio or TV when bullshit is on. Let's not buy that shit on iTunes. Let's insist upon respect as listeners and viewers. Fuck radio consolidation, record company consolidation, publishing company consolidation, management company consolidation. Our culture is not a commodity. We need to stop treating it like one. These aren't widgets. They're ideas. And platforms are powerful. I feel like mainstream music has become "music for people who aren't really into music." Is that a sign of a thriving national culture? I get that entertainment is a business. Fine. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be tempered by social ethics. We're all quietly acquiescing to a BP Oil Spill of Culture right now. Why don't we all ask for a financial settlement? These conglomerates are polluting the public airwaves that we've graciously leased them. Now they need to clean em up! And I have friends who work at labels, radio stations, agencies, etc. so I'm not condemning any individual. I think we're all complicit. Tell me what ya'll think. I'm just giving you my genuine thoughts right now. Sorry for flooding your streams. Oh, and why aren't live drums allowed in pop music anymore? Are we robots who can only make sense of quantized rhythms? Exception on the drum thing to @questlove , who has always inspired me with his creative courage."