Blog: Smart And Angry

"As far as 'The Fire' is concerned, we wanted to balance the record out also, with a sign of hope, a ray of hope. 'The Fire' is almost an anthem, if you will. It's like a hang-on-in-there, if you will, for us." -Roots drummer and co-producer ?uestlove on MTV News The past few Roots albums have been pretty dark, almost depressing, which I tend to lean towards in my personal outlook. From 2pac speaking addressing urban economics, Blu rapping for the blue-collar workers, or even Kanye's bitterness towards college on his first album, I [...]

The other day I decided to check out this video of MTV2's Sucker Free Summit. I was expecting Drake, Gucci Man, and Eminem to occupy my the next 45 minutes accepting awards. surprisingly instead there was rap that I had never listened too and a few of my favorites as well on the list as well as your usual bigger named Hip Hop artist. Yet the surprise of the show was when group for Instant Classic announced its winner... [...]

"A career of a lifetime, right down the drain"- Dusty Rhodes NBA superstar Lebron James announced to the world last night that he would be joining the Miami Heat organization. This came as a surprise to the fans of the NBA, Cleavland residents, and even myself (even though I have never been that big on the man in the first place). The thing is, this isn't that big of a deal. Fourteen years ago and less than 300 miles away from Miami one of [...]

So when did it become to so cool to follow the crowd? I mean there are so many people out there that just accept information without research or questioning it. Some of my favorite books growing up were Danny Dunn and Encyclopedia Brown series. I don't know how popular they were, but I remember the one thing that I enjoyed about those books and tried to apply in my own life, was just to try to be as logical as possible in terms of information. Never limiting my thoughts or opinions to first examinations. Hence why I usually never recommend [...]

I understand that Drake is successful and it warrants a barrage of hype as well as criticism. I just think this has gone too far. There are too many people posting the things they don't like about him and his music. To be fair I like his album, but I don't think its the greatest thing since sliced bread either. There are definite weaknesses about it as well. I wont go into those cause there are already a million reviews out. The problem with all this immediate backlash is I feel its [...]

I am so glad that this movie didn't do well. I hate the fact that big time studios think they can stay racially inauthentic in their film and get away with it. I mean if this movie was actually filmed on location(which I highly doubt), I am pretty sure that Jake Gyllenhaal would of been stoned to death on site. Note to Hollywood... We are no longer in the 50's, so stop casting White people in roles that are meant for those that are non-whites.

Our posterboy for Remedial Rap almost got assassinated as you can see below. Inaudible audio, lotta "brah" said (Black version of Bro?), and then flurry of punches. I'm trying to figure out what is going on in this video as the comments themselves don't help as they are filled with "brah" and N-bombs. Some hypothesises we are working on: -looks like a library, maybe Lil' B's vocab is so bad that they had to just punch him in the face. -Maybe one [...]

So the other night I had the chance to watch the Jay-Z "On to the Next One" video. After viewing the video I decided to share it on Facebook and Twitter like any good person does with stuff they like now days on the internets. A few minutes after posting, I had a few replys saying things like "check out the symbolism" and "symbolism=Illuminati" which I had no idea what they were talking really talking about. The only thing I heard about this group was a brief conversation from a friend whose bible study group has been throwing [...]

" As hard as it may seem to believe that Diggy got no help with anything, I can yell it until I'm blue in the face he had no connection help"- Some PR person working with Diggy Simmons That is a quote from the email I recieved last night from Diggy's "marketing/media relations" person. Trying to convince me that this kid did it with all by himself without any help from his family. I don't [...]

Was recommended to give Diggy Simmons a go about a month ago. My first listen of him was the "Made you Look freestyle", which I was actually impressed with his talents(despite the fact that it was just a freestyle). Shortly after this listen I noticed that "Diggy Simmons" was a trending topic on Twitter and was puzzled. After checking out a few of the Tweets about him out, it was to my surprise to see that this guy had just got a recording deal(what ever that means nowadays) with Atlantic Records. I wondered how I could be [...]

What I used to love about music blogs in 2007 was it was the alternative from radio and MTV. Without it, I wouldn't have discovered some of my favorite acts M.I.A., Tokyo Police Club and Wale in that era. I wanted to start a blog to show off new acts I found on the internet that no one else is talking about. One of my first Co-signs was Lykke Li. I randomly came across her on a messageboard and downloaded her music on the exact date of February 14 2007. I put her music up cause she was different and [...]

This week has been quite the week for music. Between the new "leaks", and full length drops its been hard to keep up. This actually kind of reminds of when MTV used to have that whole "New Music Week" back in the days, back when MTV played music actually. So to begin the week off I'll start with one of our favorites over here at Smart & Angry, Pac Div who just dropped there new free release "Don't Mention It". Last years "Church League Champions" one of my favorite releases hands down. This years "Don't [...]

Lets get one thing straight... I been hearing comparisons since his first mixtape and frankly, I'm tired of it. There aren't many similarities between the two at all! Besides them both being from the ATL, being black, and sometimes they have a slightly similar tone in their voice.That is where the similarities stop. They have nothing really besides that! Just lazy PR people our journalist running out of ideas for their sixth editorial of the day. [...]

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One guerrilla camera take, JFK assassination Concept, and a big butt=

An email from Lykke Li? What did she send? "Here you go, Internet. The first live performance EVER of this song: An homage to an idea lost in the fire. Fortunately for us all, two camera men happened to be lurking in the shadows while me and my band got our groove on for the first time since we recorded it. Why the wait one might think? Well, me as well as other things had to [...]

This might be post number 1,000 that you see about Lady Gaga's new video today, rightfully so. This video deserves all the acclaim in the world.. This is pop music's "Avatar", a visually brilliant treat that at the at the end of the day one can at least say "that was visual amazing". For those on the Gaga train or not(which I choose the later), this is something all can both sides can applaud. Whether the creative use of fashion (coke cans in hair, cigerette glasses) 60's/70's B movie feel , the inside jokes ("told you she did't [...]

"I don't got no lyrics," Flocka told Whoo Kid and the DJ's special guest co-hosts, the staff of XXL magazine. "The n---as who they say is lyrical, they ain't got no shows ... that ain't finnin' to get you no money." From MTV News BTW look at his face when you ask him what 2+2 is, his brain is going overdrive right now and might explode. [...]

Just thought I would continue on with the Endless Love.

2 Terrible actors +1 Good rapper + 1 Fallen Pop Star=???