we Made it in America

Last weekend I attended the 2014 Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philly and it was everything I hoped it would be. These were some memorable moments in no particular order.

1. Kanye.
He rapped. He sang. He ranted. He wanted people to mosh? It was Kanye.

2. Pharrell.
So it rained that day. and we waited 2 hours IN the pouring rain. ended up getting front row spots. Pharrell was incredible and killed it obviously.

3. Drugs and Beer.
Festivals are one of the only places where people just openly do drugs and its like…eh. The BEST part actually was the people who took just one step too far. Lets make a reality show that follows all of the paramedics that take all the drunk druggies away.

4. Rain.
It poured. Like literally POURED. They told everyone to evacuate so obviously no one did. Instead we took the opportunity to get front row seats for Pharrell. RIP shoes and crown 😦

Other memorable moments:

5. Kings of Leon doing an encore with Sex on Fire.
6. Losing my phone and friends during J Cole’s set.
7. Danny Brown being weird AF and it being amazing.
8. A constant stream of house music.
9. YG’s FREE MEEK set.
10. Dressing ‘festival chic’

Here are some low quality pics and from my SnapChat.

 

 

I’ll say things that are serious and put them in a joke form so people can enjoy them. We laugh to keep from crying.

I have a love/hate relationship with Kanye West. I say this like I actually know him personally…But I look at everything from a PR perspective. At first I thought he was arrogant and everything he said deserved the hashtag #richpeopleprobs. But I’m starting to understand where he’s coming from and why he acts the way he does.

He considers himself a visionary. and if you really look back at what he has accomplished, he is. His approach is just one that makes people angry, which causes people to not take him seriously, which then makes him angry. I get it, it’s a vicious cycle. It’s extremely frustrating when people don’t take you seriously, and your means of expressing yourself, the only way you really know how, is the main reason people write you off. I feel you, Kanye.

I’m a huge Kanye West (the musician) fan. No matter what I say or what he does I’m gonna keep listening to his music.

He was on the second night of Late Night with Seth Meyers and I thought he handled himself very well. You can tell he wasn’t coached into saying things for interview purposes but it’s so funny how hard he tries to please, while simultaneously preaching that he doesn’t care.

Anyways, I’m really excited for Seth Meyers taking over Late Night. He has great chemistry with guests.

 

 

2013 in Review: My favorite albums of the year

2013 was a pretty good year for music in my opinion. I feel like I have a very diverse taste in music and I’ll listen to pretty much anything. Also, as a disclaimer, having absolutely no musical talent other than ability to listen and critique my opinion means pretty much nothing other than the I just really enjoyed listening to these albums repeatedly in their entirety. So the following, in descending order, are the 6 albums that pretty much dominated iPod during 2013.

6. Long.Live.A$AP. A$AP Rocky

I saw A$AP Rocky in concert 3 times this year. YES THREE TIMES. Once pre-L.L.A$AP, and twice post album release. I’ve got to saw he and the mob put on a good show. Despite almost getting suffocated at each show I have no regrets seeing him three times.

When I know I’m going to a show I try to listen to the artist non-stop before the show. It’s no fun seeing someone live and not shouting all the words to their songs. That being said, I listened to this album for about a month straight non-stop.

Favorite song: Probably a tie between “Long Live A$AP” and “1Train“.

5. ARTPOP Lady Gaga

This woman could probably release a blank CD and I would be all over it. I’m not sure what it is. Her eclectic style, or the fact that she is probably one of the most genuine performers of my generation, but I am always instantly drawn to anything Lady Gaga does. Her passion for her music and her performances is so obvious and she has the talent to back it up. I like ARTPOP because it reminds me a lot of her first album “The Fame”, which I still listen to like it just came out.

Favorite Song: “Do What U Want” feat. R Kelly.

 

4. Yeezus, Kanye West

You can hate Kanye for being an ass but theres no denying the man knows music. I feel like when ever Kanye releases new music, you can appreciate it if you go into it with any sort of expectations. Each album is so different than the one before it. People might say that he’s lost his touch but I think Yeezus is one of the best. It’s so dark and different and I love it.

Favorite Song: “I’m in it”

3. Yours Truly, Ariana Grande

It really blows my mind that Victoria Justice got a record deal before Ariana. I think people are always hesitant about young Nickelodeon/Disney stars going from acting into singing. Take away her cheesy acting and TV shows and I feel like Ariana is the real deal. People compare her to Mariah Carey which is no doubt a lot of pressure but I was truly shocked by how good her album is. Her voice is really unlike anyone else her age and in her genre. I hope she keeps going with music and does great things as she gets older.

Favorite Song: Tattooed Heart. 

If you haven’t seen it, watch her preform this song live at the American Music Awards. She even gets a standing O from Lady Gaga at the end 🙂

2. 20/20 experience, Justin Timberlake

Both parts are good but Part 1 was really hard to top. I literally still listen to the whole album at least once a week. The only weird thing is imaging him writing all of these songs about Jessica Biel.

Favorite Song: Pusher Love Girl 

1. Nothing Was The Same, Drake 

Anyone that knows me knows that I pathetically worship the ground that

Drake walks on so it’s no surprise that NWTS is my favorite album of the year. There’s just something about the way the album flows, you just have to listen to the whole thing all the way through. I’m obviously a bit biased, but you can really tell that Drake puts so much of himself in to his music and doesn’t just write songs to make hits. I mean, he raps, he sings, sometimes it sounds like he’s just talking to you. OK I’ll stop because I could probably write an entire post about how much I love this album.

Favorite Song: “Own it”, and also the way it is kind of a continuation of “Wu-Tang forever”. I always have to listen to the two back to back.

Just because the previous 6 are my top favorites doesn’t mean I didn’t listen to other things. Here a few honorable mentions, of other albums that I really enjoyed

• Bangerz (Don’t lie, you low-key liked it too), Miley Cyrus
• Midnight Memories, One Direction
• My Name is My Name, Pusha T
• MMLP2, Eminem
• Born Sinner, J Cole
• Because the Internet, Childish Gambino
• Sail Out EP, Jhene Aiko 
• Beyonce: The Visual Album, Beyonce (Special Sidenote: I do love Beyonce and her new album but I am still somewhat recovering from the fact that she just dropped it with no heads up so that’s why it didn’t make the top list. I don’t doubt it will be on my 2014 playlist for months to come.)