Monday, August 31, 2009

Dart's Rant Of The Day: I Am Not For Sale © John Robinson

By now all of you have heard the news that Marvel was bought...lock, stock and barrel by Disney for an obscene amount of money, $4 billion dollars to be exact. I saw this purchase/business deal as both an intelligent person that understands the future ramifications and as a Marvel fanboy that grew up on Marvel characters. The distressing part is that more than 5,000 characters dating back to the Timely & Atlas Comics days of the original Human Torch are now property of the evil Disney Corporation on some "all of your base are belong to us" type shit. Since one of my biggest dreams is to work writing for Marvel it sucks knowing that I'll really be toiling for overlord Bob Iger.


Don't get it twisted, I know that Steve Jobs is also a major shareholder of The Walt Disney Company. I also know that they managed to stay out of the way of Pixar Studios and they don't often interfere in ESPN, Touchstone Pictures or Miramax Films' business. The biggest issue to me is that Marvel Comics built itself into a powerful brand and dominated the comic book/superhero film genre at the box office until it started it's own film studio. They had built all this up themselves after 48 years of continuous brilliance just to allow themselves to be acquired to have a bigger hold on the marketplace or ensure they they can further dominate with the resources & influence of The Walt Disney Company.

As Joe Quesada said on Twitter earlier today: @JoeQuesada: Everybody take a deep breath, all your favorite comics remain unchanged and Tom Brevoort remains grouchy. @JoeQuesada: If you're familiar w/ Disney/Pixar's relationship, you'll understand why this is a new dawn for Marvel & the comics industry. I understand why it's a good business move for both parties involved it's just sad to think that everything is for sale now. Is there nothing or no one that's willing to look at a world where everything is a subsidiary of some huge corporation and say "I am not for sale"! Think about it, the old American dream was to come up with an idea, build it up from the bottom and grow into a big business. Now it's come up with an idea, grow it up until a huge corporation decides to buy it from you. Then take that money and come up with another idea.

It's interesting to see what this deal will do for Marvel's future endeavors especially as far as merchandising & film projects go. I've always been selective of what projects I undertook and I've turned down more people that wanted to pay me to not do what I currently do or even have me "tone it down". Eat dick and die. Why should I sell out? Why should I compromise my own integrity or sanitize my own thoughts? Because you're paying me to not be myself? If I can't say what I truly feel about something then why write about it at all? This blog is predicated on my passion or hatred for certain things and if I took money to say something was good when it wasn't or to not go as hard on it as I'd like to I'd one myself.

It's important that anyone that's feeling uneasy about this deal not panic. This will actually ensure that Marvel can go forward and do the things they planned to execute from now throughout 2014. Think about the potential great things (or huge clusterfucks) that can be put into motion now that wouldn't have been possible before without a partnership of some sort. I knew something big was happening after that announcement Marvel made with the digital comicbooks coming to the iPod and iPhone. Not too long after, my brother showed me a Spider Woman digital motion comic on his iPhone. It looks like they want to pull of a Secret Invasion of their own, huh?

Everyone on the internet knows that Dart Adams can't be bought...I AM for hire, though. Somebody has to have some goddamn integrity around here. We'll see how the whole situation plays out, Lord knows fanboys and fangirls don't stay quiet when things happen in the comic book world that they don't like. So...has anyone heard that "The Blueprint 3" leaked? I can't believe it. It's not even September yet! LOL

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Friday, August 28, 2009

What's New In Dart's iPod #93 AKA The Black August Edition

This week's review blog will actually be posted on the day it's expected for a change. I'll be writing about the Patriots preseason games on Armchair Linebacker and I'll get back to posting guest blogs on Nerd With Swag this weekend as well. I'm still behind on a gang of posts in spots I saved over the past few weeks so bear with me as my post count for August raised to close to 20 over this weekend. I can't wait to hear "OB4CL2' & "Foundation" after hearing the snippets. I'm really worried about "The Blueprint 3" after hearing that song " Ghetto Techno" that won't even be on the album. Ouch! September is gonna be interesting.

This week I'll be reviewing four new projects that recently hit the 'net/bloggerverse and/or will be landing on store shelves soon in the following order: Beanie Sigel "The Broad Street Bully", Blue Scholars "OOF! EP", DJ Skee & Freddie Gibbs "midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik"and Trey Songz "Ready". For those of you new to this blog, I don’t rate albums on a scale or assign them a numerical value out of 5 or 10, instead I merely answer the all important question of “Is it worth buying or not?”. Here's how my recently revised "Cop It Or Not" ratings system breaks down below:


Opinions be damned. This particular project has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and should come with a Surgeon General's warning and/or a biohazard sticker. It should only be handled by hazmat teams or bomb/demolitions squads. To quote Common & Canibus, this album is your worst nightmare squared.


Oh No! This CD is a drink coaster/table balancer/doorstop/gerbil/hamster room divider/frisbee/discus/makeshift shield/last ditch choice for a visor/alternate shuriken choice. Sell this shit to whoever is dumb enough to buy it from you.

Maeby (Maybe)! Depending on your own set of personal preferences you might like this joint. Give it a listen first to see if it's in your lane or not.


Mos Def! Cop the album when it drops...'Nuff said.

I'm like Sonny, I peep game in reverse/man, y'all game is rehearsed/ I came from the dirt... © Beanie Sigel



Best Joints: Why Wouldn't I, Tear Drops, Where's My Opponent, Ready For War, All For It, Sicker Than Your Average, Run To The Roc, Bang Bang, Return Of The Chain Gang, You Over Did It & The Ghetto

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: "The Solution" was a disappointment. This is a gang of "The Solution" era material including a few State Property collabos that most definitely should've been on that album instead. You can go on ahead and buy this CD with no reservations that it's gonna be lackluster. This album makes me kinda wish Jay-Z went back to biting Young Chris' flow. I give this project a recommended maybe.





Best Joints: Bananas, Hi-808, Coo?, New People, Hello, Cruz, Ahi (instrumental), Hi (instrumental), Lucky Chances (instrumental), Tako (instrumental), Postal (instrumental) & Havva (instrumental)

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: This EP consists of six laid back tracks in the spirit of "808's & Heartbreak" and the relaxed nature of the islands of Hawaii. After those tracks play out, you have the instrumentals for the same 6 tracks. Since I prefer the more high energy Blue Scholars material to these collected tracks the best I can give it is a maybe. If you somehow managed to sleep on Blue Scholars previous releases then slap yourself and get right. Congratulations to the guys for signing to Duck Down Records, I can't wait to hear the full length jawn.






Best Joints: Midwest Malcolm (Inhale), Boxframe Cadillac, Sumthin' U Should Know, For My Niggas, Murda On My Mind, Womb 2 The Tomb, County Bounce, How I Feel, Talkin' Bout You, Still Standing, I'm The Man, Bussdown, Playa, Iodine Poison, Just Tryin' Ta Make It and Higher Learning (Exhale)

Hot Garbage: N/A

Dart's Take: How the hell are people sleeping on this dude outta Gary, Indiana? After last year's "The Education Of Freddie Gibbs it's completely beyond me. DJ Skee hooks up with him to create "midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik" which is executed damn near perfectly in my opinion. The production was on point. The lyrics and flow kept the listener entertained from beginning to end. I was surprised that I'd like it this much and I'm STILL playing "The Miseducation Of Freddie Gibbs" on my iPod Touch. I have no choice but to give "midwestgangstaboxcadillacmuzik" a mos def. Download it here





Best Joints: Neighbors Know My Name, I Invented Sex, I Need A Girl, One Love, Does He Do It, Say Aah (that hook...Why?), Be Where You Are, Successful, Jupiter Love, Black Roses, Love Lost, Holla If Ya Need Me and Yo Side Of The Bed

Hot Garbage: LOL :-) (I'm NOT amused),

Dart's Take: It's yet another 2009 R&B album that sounded like that Techno-ish shit that made me roll my eyes throughout Keri Hilson. Jamie Foxx, Ciara, Beyonce, The-Dream, Ne-Yo, Day 26 & Bobby Valentino's albums. I prefer to have more Soul in my R&B so this album was meh to me with the exception of a few jams that caught me (Neighbors Know My Name, Black Roses & Love Lost) other than that it just sounded like everyone else's shit. I give it a maybe because most of the listening public now will go for this kinda R&B where I'm not impressed with it sonically.





Late Passes (For Doz Dat Slept):


Projects I'm Looking Forward To Reviewing Once They Leak...I Mean Drop in 2009:



Rhymefest-El Che
Jay Electronica-Act II: Patents Of Nobility
Jay Electronica-Abracadabra: Let There Be Light
Royce Da 5'9"-Street Hop
Big Boi-Sir Luscious Leftfoot, Son Of Chico Dusty
Pac Div-Grown Kid's Syndrome
Magnif & J Dilla-Detroit Royalty
Blu-God Is Good
Drake- Thank Me Later
Sean Price, Guilty Simpson & Black Milk-Random Axe
Alchemist & Oh No are Gangrene
Ghostface Killah-Wizard Of Poetry
Eternia & MoSS- At Last
B.O.B.-The Adventures Of B.O.B.
Billy Danze-Behind Gatez
Masta Ace & Ed O.G. (A&E)-Arts & Entertainment
AG & O.C.-Oasis: Together Brothers
Baatin-Titus
Phat Kat and Elzhi are Cold Steel
The Beatnuts-The Planet Of The Crates
Ski Beatz-Half Man, Half Amazing
Evidence-Cats & Dogs
Statik Selektah-The Hangover


Jay-Z, he's bigger than Hip Hop....R.I.P Edward "Ted" Kennedy. It's truly the end of an era

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