The seven levels of rapper

(duplee)

(blustre) Great songs by bad artists?

The 7 Levels of Rappers | REACTION MASHUP

(gozman) Drake on Iceman diss

The biggest meme in rap: Drake

• VIDEO: Kendrick Lamar in Los Angeles: Juneteenth
• US wanted 'Black Irish' slaves, too (Doherty)

BEST rap songs ever made? - Top 10 most streamed rap songs of all time

• Rapper of the Year: RAP goes too far: metal Ghostemane?

OMC, I'm in LOVE! 'Off Campus' (rom-com)

Chemical basis of love (neuropsych)

"OMC" not OMG? That's right, as in oh holy COW and "Don't have a Cow, man!" because love is a many-splendored thing. What better topic for a TV show than the same-old same-old? Sex sells, specially when it's wrapped in romantic love, which justifies it in our consensus reality. One is the sizzle, the titillation, and the other is the drug.

 

(Alex Meyers) May 2026: Off Campus is my kind of trash! Yeah, Off Campus, that's right. So I made an animated commentary analysis of it. Here's a full breakdown of this Prime Video TV show, a romcom that is so basic, it's kind of not the worst thing out there.

Nothing Higher to Live For: A Buddhist View of Romantic Love

Do we ever grow out of it? Generation Timeline made simple (Wiki)

.

I've nothing higher to live for!

(Leo Price) ...If life means nothing, then only pleasure is worthwhile. Or if life has meaning and we cannot get at it, then still only enjoyment matters.

This is the view of not only brutes but some sophisticated philosophers.

It slips into our unconscious by default when we hold no other. However, we are reluctant to entertain it.

Oh, Ro-Ro! - Oh, Jewels!!

We would rather, if we question ourselves about it at all, take as our "purpose" the

• support of family,
• search for truth or beauty,
• improvement of society,
• fame,
• self-expression,
• development of talent...

It might be fair to say that apart from these or beneath these, for many of us our fundamental purpose is the search for love, particularly romantic love.

The love of one person for another is often the floor onto which we fall after the collapse of other dreams.

(Recap & Edit) Garrett and Hannah being a comedic duo (Off Campus)

I will kill you. - Find me first, Eros!

It is thought of as solid when nothing else is, and although it frequently gives way and dumps us into a basement of despair, it still enjoys a reputation of dependability. No matter that such a reputation is illogical—it still flourishes and will continue to flourish regardless of what anyone says.

Love, or the MYTH of love, is the first, last, and sometimes the only refuge of uncomprehending human beings. What else makes our hearts pound? What else makes us swoon with tingly feelings? What else renders us so intensely alive, aching, pining, yearning, wishing, hoping, craving?

• (Aaron and Jo) Full frontal nudity? Dating experts react to Off Campus
• (netflix party) Started as a book? Getting overly invested in another hockey romance

I 💖you, Agnes. - I, too, Hieronymus.

The SEARCH for love—the sublime, the nebulous, the all consuming—remains sacred in a world that increasingly despises the sacred.

When the heroic and transcendental are only memories, when religious institutions fill up with bureaucrats and social scientists, when nobody believes there is a sky beyond the ceiling, then there seems no other escape from the prison of self than throwing ourselves abandon into love.

With a grey age of spiritual deadness upon us, we love. We beg for love or grieve for love. We have nothing higher to live for.

Indeed, many take it on faith that romantic love is the highest thing to live for. Movies, popular literature, art, and music all relentlessly celebrate it as the one "truth" accessible to all.

This kind of love obliterates reason, as poets have long sweetly lamented, and this is part of its charm and power. Why? We want to be swept up and spirited out of our calculating selves. "Want" is the key word because in the spiritual void of modern life, the wanting of love becomes increasingly indistinguishable from love itself.

So powerful, so insistent is it that we seldom notice that the gratification it tempts us with is rare, yet the craving is relentless. Love addiction? Love is mostly in anticipation; it is an agony of anticipation; it is an ache for a completion not found in the dreary round of mundane routine. That we never seem to possess it in its imagined fullness does not deter us. It hurts so bad that it must be good. Nothing Higher to Live For: A Buddhist View of Romantic Love

Off Campus stars getting body shamed?

(BF) Katie Holmes Who and Dawson Creeky Van Der Beaky teen rom-com

The Gen Alpha Melody

(Carl E. Martin) The Gen Alpha Melody

(Bookimo) The Mistake (Off Campus) | Elle Kennedy animated summary

• (Generation Alpha?)
• The Love Hypothesis: The Fake Dating Trope Explained
• Off Campus S1 | Official Trailer | Prime Video
• Off Campus is my kind of trash

Local royalty: Rose Queen Serena Hui Guo

The Rose Queen

Did K-pop Rosie give Asian females more clout?

Who in the world is the "Queen of the Tournament of Roses"? More commonly known as the "Rose Queen," she is a young woman selected for the annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses in California, U.S.

Six "Rose Princesses" are also selected to make up the Rose Court of seven. The Rose Court rides on a float in the Rose Parade on New Year's Day and they become ambassadors.

The 2026 Rose Court includes

1. 

   The Rose Queen crown should be in the Louvre

   Naira Elaine Wadley, John Muir High School;
2. Sophia Bai Ren, Arcadia High School;
3. Olivia Hargrove, Pasadena City College (PCC);
4. Keiko Rakin, Alhambra High School;
5. Serena Hui Guo, Arcadia High School;
6. Riya Gupta, California Institute of Technology (Caltech);
7. Livia Amy de Paula, Temple City High School.

Qualifications and selection process

After the parade, there's a big football game

Each September, approximately 1,000 females between the ages of 17 and 21 interview to serve as a member of the Tournament of Roses Rose Court [1].

To be eligible, applicants must be a female resident of the Pasadena City College district, which includes the cities of Pasadena, Altadena, La Cañada Flintridge, South Pasadena, San Marino, Sierra Madre, Arcadia, Temple City, the northern portion of Rosemead, and the western portion of El Monte.

Starting with the 2025 Rose Parade, the cities of Alhambra and San Gabriel and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Monterey Hills, and El Sereno will be included as part of the geographic expansion plan.

Australian Asian singer Rose

They must be currently enrolled as a 12th grade senior in high school or as a full-time college student (minimum 12 units) in any accredited high school or college in the Pasadena City College district, Alhambra Unified School District, San Gabriel Unified School District, or Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), possess at least a 2.0 grade point average in the current year's and previous year's course work, and be at least 17 years of age by Dec. 31 of the current year and not more than 21 years of age before Jan. 5 of the next year.

Each applicant also must never have been married or have had a marriage annulled, have no children, and must agree not to marry prior to Jan. 5 of the next year [1]. More

'Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle' (9/12)

• demonslayer-movie.com

Manga make believe

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – "The Movie: Infinity Castle" (Japanese 劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限城編, Hepburn Gekijō-ban Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Jō-hen) is a trilogy of Japanese animated dark fantasy action films based on the "Infinity Castle" arc of the 2016–20 manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba by Koyoharu Gotouge.

It is a direct sequel to the fourth season of the anime television series as well as its fourth, fifth, and sixth film adaptations, following Mugen Train (2020) and compilation films To the Swordsmith Village (2023) and To the Hashira Training (2024). It is directed by Haruo Sotozaki, produced by Ufotable, and written by the studio's staff members. More

Metallica wins, Megadeth to quit biz

Megadeth (Dave Mustaine's side project after getting kicked out of Metallica) calling it quits

Megadeth and Metallica are not even in the same ballpark…

The bittersweet END of Megadeth...

Megadeth retire. And it’s actually GOOD and about time

• Just don't say Lars or Metallica are "gay"

The most hated metal band: Gaytellica

HOW METALLICA BECAME THE MOST HATED BAND IN METAL

Metallica is a persistent myth: the most sucky thrash band wins.

Black Sabbath: Master of Reality (docs)

• The Tapes Archive: "Master of Reality"
• "Sabotage" (documentary)

Lifestyle of Zack de la Rocha: RATM

Rage Against the Machine (RATM) is, or was, a band. And Afro-Latin singer and sincere vegetarian activist Zack de la Rocha may have been the main reason for their success. Morello fans may disagree.

iHeart Music Festival, Las Vegas (6/11)

Exclusive Capital One Cardholder Presale Tickets For Our iHeartRadio Music Festival | iHeartRadio

Time to be determined and subject to change. Only a limited number of Capital One Access Passes are offered so don't miss the chance to get tickets. For more information on iHeartRadio Music Festival 2025 visit iHeartRadio.com/Festival.

Purchasing presale tickets and passes: Capital One cardholders who login at the beginning of the Capital One Cardholder presale window will have a better chance to purchase tickets and passes. Capital One cardholder presale offers are a Capital One cardholder benefit and are never guaranteed.

Cardholder presale ticket sale is for existing Capital One cardholders. New applicants that have recently applied and have yet to receive a card are not eligible if new card is received after the presale window or after presale supplies are all gone. Presale tickets are limited to 8 per transaction while presale supplies last.

When purchasing, make sure the following information is accurate: Use an eligible Capital One Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card. Correct card number, security code, billing address associated with the card, name as it appears on the card and expiration date. Artist appearances, dates, times, and venues may change and are not guaranteed.

Capital One Access Pass timing and location details to be determined at a later date. Artist experience subject to change without notice. Capital One does not provide, endorse, nor guarantee any third-party product, service, information, or recommendation listed above. The third parties listed are not affiliated with Capital One and are solely responsible for their products and services. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

RAP goes too far: metal Ghostemane

Ghostemane "Mercury" Fleischer Studio TRXSH GXNG ＴＲＡＳＨ 新 ドラゴン

May 17, 2025: NEW from Gho$tmane: Prompto - Victoria's Secret (T R A S H)

If rap is dumbed down, I'll make it TRASH!

So much of rap is stupid, unbearably so. Rock 'n roll was better, not by much but it was making something new of older Black music (blues, guitar driven gospel, jazz). But we're coming around to this rap thingy after a half century. For all the boisterous bluster, some really has kick (umph), the right beat. We're finally seeing it.

• What four young Black men formed and called themselves "Gho$tmane," incorporating death and Black metal into their sound? Here they are:

HARD MIX GHOSTEMANE // BASS TRACKS GHOSTEMANE

White privilege extends into the rap universe?

(Yeah, that guy, Sunny McCalifornia. How could a boy with buckteeth get so groovy he not only develops a distinctive sound but a unique aesthetic from the 1920s?) We have to guess that it's because we mainly hear pop-rap (the cr-p rap the radio plays to death) that rap seems boring and anything but phresh.

But with radio removed, one is now exposed to all the other ways of listening (peer-to-peer sharing, TikTok, underground shows, networks, influencers, curation, recommendations, luck, and social media.

With the censors out and the "filters" on, there's some really good stuff out there. Some recent Buddhist articles we produced got a tremendous response with what looks like hundreds of thousands of views. It's just rap. Rap is old. Hasn't all the hoopla about rap died down already. It might have about the old stuff, but there is much more vital NEW stuff. Who even knew this was rap.

We thought it would be good to hear rap songs done in another genre thanks to the GREAT Richard Cheese (longtime fans since he appearances on the Kevin & Bean Show decades ago). So just tapping in something like death metal rap got an unexpectedly good response on YouTube. What, it's a thing? We thought, what are these suggestions? So clicking on a few of them, not bad. It was just Slipknot when Corey spits bars. We knew about that. We didn't know some of these songs got videos made for them.

Then, skipping down, we tapped the White Album looking suggestion, just to see, and the song that came up was really good or not what we expected. It was rap, not death metal. We were looking for death metal. But then it was metal as rap. Who were these guys? Are there bands of Black youths who listen to black metal (which is called "black" not because of the race of the artists or fans but due to the dark arts discussed by the music, such as Venom, Mercyful Fate, Deicide) and rap about it? No. Who knows? (There's that horrorcore freakshow stuff, but that seems very niche). Everyone listens to everything nowadays. There's no reason to stay in a compartment and limit yourself.

Rock rap with Wes and Limp Bizkit

This was someone smart enough to rap but very dark, but still actual rap, not a parody or imitation. Hey, there's something here. You see, a few months ago, we surfed through a video of Limp Bizkit live in the Netherlands, and before the show, they are getting the crowd amped up and start playing a rap song.

All of the 100% Caucasian audience loves it, starts moving, singing along. "They do know this is not a Limp Bizkit song, right?" was the question that crossed our minds. But it was a rap song, and that was the amazing thing--one that Limp Bizkit knew it, and two that the audience loved it so much. Oh yeah, duh, they are there to see rap-rock. It turns out it wasn't Limp Bizkit but Limp's DJ spinning Ludacris as Wes is standing, holding his guitar, in his briefs, about to noodle.

That's how The Heart Sutra (RAP version) article got written. Real rap is what Ludacris was doing, that old skool yellin and cars and women and other featured rappers on a track.

Who's ever heard of Gho$temane? Apparently, everybody but us because he's already played Coachella, though not with the reception he might have been expecting (during the day, under the desert sun, on the lawn, in the heat, to a smaller audience.

Australia’s drill scene is a war zone | Gangsta rap Int'l - Down Under

How is this guy not in all our faces or in the manifesto of the teen who takes a shot at Eminem in the future? Didn't Megan Fox's boytoy diss Marshal Mathers in a rap only to have it blow up in his face? Who ever heard about MGK? Or Riff Raff featured on Far East Movement's "Illest," Vanilla Ice (aka Rob Van Winkle) or the way mad white rappers The Bloodhound Gang feature him as Robby Winkle, that Australian one-hit-wonder Masked Wolf, where drill (gangsta rap is breaking out) as well as biker gangs.

Eminem said the N word with style in rap battle. - And he managed to finally rhyme with "orange"

The rap trap is some fake cr-p

• Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval, Dhr. Seven, Sheldon S., Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY, The Future of Musick

Cowboy Carter: Beyonce in LA (4/28)

Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter’ album snubbed by the CMA Awards and folks like her are fuming

I got 'em all blackmailed. They best get me free

The Illuminati has two more weeks to reign and rule before P Diddy's trial gets underway and stars as big as Jay-Z and Beyonce get named as possible co-conspirators, dragged into court to defend themselves after being implicated by Sean Diddy Combs, who suddenly ends up indisposed in his maximum security cells while under watch. He apparently placed a sheet in his [blank] and drained himself of all fluids, succumbing to a kind of "dehydration" that only seems to happen in the Hollywood press when stars do something papers like Variety do not want to mention or name by its name. Queen Bey was shunned by the country music spectacle that is Stagecoach in the neighboring county when Lana Del Rey and even Ke$ha go attention, not to mention all the top rappers going gay country for the stay.

• Maybe we save our money to see Kendrick Lamar at Sofi in May

Fans saddle up for kickoff of Beyoncé’s ‘Cowboy Carter Tour’

Our God (the Devil?) will take care of us.

(TODAY) April 28, 2025: Beyoncé is set to kick off her highly-anticipated "Cowboy Carter Tour" tonight, Monday, in Los Angeles. But Ticketmaster’s handling of concert prices is drawing criticism from fans once again with other artists like Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Oasis, Bruce Springsteen, and Lady Gaga also set to hit the road. [Check tickets. Seats have been forcibly reassigned.

You trying to throw shade my way, Ms. Swift?

Traffic is horrible due to two other events, a Latin artist in the neighboring venue and Japanese Heritage Night at Dodger Stadium, meaning downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is at an impasse. Plan ahead. Get a WaymoUberLyft and do not plan on being home anytime soon. Doors at 5:00 pm, show at 7:00 pm, tickets still available for as low as $50.] NBC’s Kaylee Hartung reports for TODAY. #beyonce #ladygaga #concert

• TODAY, April 28, 2025; Crystal Q., CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Deftones: alt-nu metal US tour 2025

Peace and Freedom = nirvana (insightla.org)

A person gets so sick of politics and politicians, business bullsitters and oligarchs, war profiteers and phony anti-war figures that what can one do but follow the words of Berkeley student Mario Savio? He gets to the point, and anyone who cares about freedom and what America's ideals are said to be might agree. Hey, why not? It's March Forth Day.

Mario Savio "An End to History" at UC Berkeley, 1964

Deftones "7 Words" (live)

(pppaaatttrrriiikkk1) What's the alternative to metal? Nu metal (aka alt metal), at least it was back in the summer of 2003 when Deftones were live at Big Day Out or Big Day In in Sydney, Australia, down under where the fans go around the fur for their adrenaline. Fast forward to today, when the Deftones are in Los Angeles for a big show at the Forum, aka the Kia.

A call for civil disobedience when freedom is threatened

March Forth Day

March Forth Day (nationaltoday.com)

MARCH FORTH is an annual unofficial American holiday celebrated on March 4th to encourage everyone to work towards achieving their dreams. It aims to provide an opportunity for people to take calculated risks towards achieving their goals and developing themselves. It is a special day to take a stand against procrastination or the faux reasons that tend to creep into our heads and discourage us from even trying. The name was made up as a homophone of the day "March Fourth." It is also the shortened version of the full name — "March Forth and Do Something Day." More

• Mario Savio in Berkeley; Deftones; NationalToday.com; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

NEW Tate McRae, Lola Young "Messy"

We prefer our artists and music a wee bit "messy."

LYRICS: "Messy"

You know I'm impatient

So why would you leave me

waiting outside the station?

When it was like minus 4 degrees 

And I get what you're saying

I just really don't want to hear it right now

Can you shut up for like once in your life?

Listen to me

I took your nice words of advice about

How you think I'm gonna die

Lucky if I turn 33

Okay, so yeah, I smoke like a chimney

I'm not skinny, and I pull a Britney

Every other week

But cut me some slack

Who do you want me to be?

'Cause I'm too messy

And then I'm too f*cking clean

You told me, "Get a job"

And you ask where the hell I've been

And I'm too perfect

'Til I open my big mouth

I want to be me

Is that not allowed?

And I'm too clever

And then I'm too f*cking dumb

You hate it when I cry

Unless it's that time of the month

And I'm too perfect

'Til I show you that I'm not

A thousand people I could be for you

And you hate the f*cking lot

You hate the f*cking lot

You hate the f*cking lot

It's taking you ages

You still don't get the hint

I'm not asking for pages

But one text or two would be nice

And please don't pull those faces

When I've been out working

my arse off all day

It's just one bottle of wine or two

But hey, you can't even talk

You smoke weed just to help you sleep

Then why you're out getting stoned at 4 o'clock

And then you come home to me

And don't say hello

'Cause I got high again

And forgot to fold my

clothes

'Cause I'm too messy

And then I'm too f*cking clean

You told me, "Get a job"

And you ask where the hell I've been

And I'm too perfect

'Til I open my big mouth

I want to be me

Is that not allowed?

And I'm too clever

And then I'm too f*cking dumb

You hate it when I cry

Unless it's that time of the month

My "Rubber Band" is about addiction

And I'm too perfect

'Til I show you that I'm not

A thousand people I could be for you

And you hate the f*cking lot

You hate the f*cking lot

You hate the f*cking lot

#LolaYoung #Messy

Illuminati darling and would-be pornstar Tate McRae goes for it: "Sports Car"

Canadian super star Tate McRae "Sports Car" (official video) selling her something for fame?

What is this cr...? I mean, it's great, Tate!!!

It can't just be our ears. This song and aesthetic are so very reminiscent of what? Remember a hit ("Unholy") for transgender Kim Petras and her chubby co-singer, what's his name, Jam Jiff? It's also so very Charli XCX. What a rip, Tate. (Tate's previous hit, "Greedy," is great but too sexy a striptease video for us to have posted; of course, in light of what Olivia, SZA, Megan, Taylor, Chapel, Katy, Bey, and others have to do to get noticed, it's brutal out there). See McRae on tour (tatemcrae.com), where she's "Miss Progressive," an insult to political liberals who are more forward thinking than all the regressive forces arrayed against us. Her new smash hit follow-up album release drops at midnight and can be heard for a first listen on KISS (102.7 KIIS-FM Los Angeles | iHeart).

Sam Smith, Kim Petras - "Unholy" (official LGBTQIA+ music video)

• Tate Mcrae is really a dancer, poet, and intellectual (TeenBuzz Radio podcast interview)
• Olivia Rodrigo is the best of the lot: ♫ good 4 u
• Eds., Wisdom Quarterly