One commenter declares this "to be the most stupid thing i have seen on hulu." Another asks, "If you have Jesus on your side why doesn't he give you amazing musical prowess?"
How could I not post it here?
Recently in Hip Hop Category
Kanye West has provided a good bit of material here at the BofG, and today he provides a nice addendum to this morning's painfully hip video on King Solomon Bling. From today's Page Six:
IF you use the word "bling" these days, you're unhip and totally out of style, according to Kanye West. The hip-hop star tells Complex magazine: "Only white people and older black people say 'bling' now. If a white person uses slang too early, then that makes them look like a wigger. But if black people use slang too late, then it makes them look like a wigger." Thanks for straightening us out!
Word.
UPDATE: Mystery solved. For an explanation of the symbol (and a stencil for copying), click here.
Miami Ink is a popular tv show about tattoos, and it has not been shy about displaying religious imagery. The video below is of a Texas pastor--Pastor Cleetus--getting a Jesus tattoo. Another popular tattoo has been what is purported to be an Egyptian symbol for "Only God Can Judge Me."
Don't know about the Egyptian symbol part--unlike the "G" in B of G I'm not omniscient (yet!) and I don't have the time to go beyond the research I've already done. However, I do know why "Only God Can Judge Me" has emerged as a particularly popular tattoo trope. The contemporary source of this meme was Tupac Shakur, who had "Only God Can Judge Me" tattooed next to a cross on his chest & performed a signature rap by the same title. This stanza is particularly haunting when you consider how he ultimately died:
I hear the doctor standing over me
screaming I can make it
Got a body full of bullet holes
Laying here naked
Still I can't breathe
something evil's in my I-V
Cuz everytime I breathe
I think they're killing me
I'm having nightmares
Homicidal fantansies
I wake up stranglin'
Danglin'
from my bed sheets
I call the nurse
cuz it hurts
To reminisce
How could it come to this ?
I wish they dind't miss
somebody help me
Tell me where to go from here ?
The buzz is building in NYC for the September 8 opening of Black Style Now, an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. A major focal point: hip hop, "America's most important cultural export."
Bling will be the subject of a special lecture on October 25, but folks who cannot make it need not despair. The exhibit also has a tie-in volume on the subject. Watch for Bling: The Hip-Hop Jewelry Book, by Gabriel Tolliver and Reggie Ossa.
Desi rap artist the1shanti describes his work here, and there are more samples from Spiritual Bling on his myspace page:
“I stand at the crossroads between P. Diddy and Deepak Chopra,” the1shanti said during the Q&A portion of the event. “I make music everyone can vibe to.”
From Mr. T to Saudi shopping, this week has once again highlighted the tension between truly spiritual adornment and reductionistic materialism. Below: a somewhat more . . . abstract meditation on related themes.
"Artificial Gods--Argo 8" is a video produced by a young Puerto Rican visual artist, and its subjects: the appropriation of rap culture by white consumers and the emergence of "commercial Hip Hop that rocks only bling, cash, and hoes, with no real content." It's avant garde & designed to shock, Daft Punk Gundam meets Spike Lee. On YouTube one of the artist's bewildered fans comments, "It's pretty Yoko dude," but for some folks, that's a compliment.
The plot in a nutshell: "Hip Hop Raiden who took the Godly mantle of Hip Hop has been revived. Built as a machine to brainwash the masses with commercial Hip Hop, thus making it consumer friendly. Jesus White the reformed villain of this world, has taken it upon himself to kill Raiden, in a John Wayne like fashion."
Religious blingmaster to the stars, Jacob the Jeweler, has just been arrested on charges of money laundering for a narcotics ring.
And lest we think religious rap is an exclusively Christian (and silly) domain, here is a more serious "Bahai -style" rap that's been getting some attention on Youtube.com.
Rap and religion are mainstays here at the Blingdom of God, but our last video uniting the two left a lot to be desired. Fortunately, the ever-enlightening Angela Gunn has sent a link that shows a more excellent way.
For more on the maker of this viral video, check out his website at whitedj.com.
Thanks Angela!