Mr. A

I'm happy to say that I got the chance to be taught by Mr. A. He has shown me a different way to think about everything around me, and has taught me how to look at everything with an open mind. History of Rock and Roll was more than just a class about music history, it was a class about self awareness and how each of us views the world differently. Something that made his class stand out from other classes was how everyone's opinion mattered and was shared. It's unfortunate that he will no longer be teaching after this year, everyone needs the experience of his teaching. If Mr. A is reading this I wish you the best of luck with your album, career, and the rest of your life. Thank you for your time. 

Tyga

A rapper that I have always been a fan of and has had a consistent career for the last couple of years is Tyga. His breakout song "Far Away" that released a few years ago is a lot different than what he normally releases. "Far Away" was made for a younger audience, while most of his other songs are extremely derogatory and very vulgar. He has good rhythm and his production is always great (he's a part of the Young Money label).  He has a very distinctive voice and is constantly releasing new songs, something I like about him. 

Logic

This Friday I am going to see one of my favorite rappers, Logic, in concert at Emo's. From what I've heard his concerts are a lot of fun and I'm very excited to go. Something that stands out about Logic's music is his rhythm and flow. He is one of the best rappers at keeping a high tempo while enunciating his lyrics effectively. Listening to him is aesthetically pleasing and in my opinion very addicting. He treats each line with a lot of care and his lyrics are a notch above most rappers in the game today. He is just now blowing up and has an endless ceiling for his future. 

Reincarnated

I must've been missing a key aspect of the documentary on the making of Snoop's album, "Reincarnated". It seemed to me the director focused the majority of his attention on Snoop and his bronies getting super baked with some random Jamaicans. I get that they're trying to show Snoop's "research" on the Rastafarian culture, but it was a little overboard at some points. The points where they showed Snoop talking to the Jamaicans about his album and Reggae music seemed forced and a bit random. I like Snoop's music and he seems like a pretty cool guy, but I would've liked to find out more about how he makes his music. If you want to see Snoop get super blazed with his clique and some random Jamaicans, this is the doc for you. 

Technology at a Young Age

We recently discussed how our current society/generation is beginning to be more and more enveloped in our technological advances, and how it is starting to prevent social interaction, to a certain extent. I agree that our use of technology is beginning to breach our social abilities, but I don't think it's necessarily as detrimental as a lot of people seem to think. The entire point of technology is to make things easier, faster, more convenient, and that's what it is doing. To say technology is becoming bad for us because it isn't allowing us to communicate between each other, face to face, is an inadequate argument. I believe there will always be situations that require human interaction, no matter how advanced technology becomes. Is it a bad thing that we are becoming less social as a society? Some people may think so, but I don't think it's something to worry about. 

Phone Rule

While everyone is up in arms about the new phone rule, I don't think people realize the purpose of it and why it was enacted by the school. I admit it is extremely inconvenient and annoying, it was put in place to prove to people that the school was doing something about the whole Yik Yak situation. Rumors have it that someone is actually sueing the school over the incident, and in order for the school not to be in any legal trouble, the rule was enacted. Yes it is (in my opinion) too little too late, it is meant to show some initiative. 

Jon Bellion

Recently I discovered singer/rapper Jon Bellion while listening to other artists in the Visionary Music Group, including Logic, Castro and QuESt.  Bellion caught my attention mainly because of the catchiness of his sound/lyrics. I downloaded his mixtape "The Separation" and cannot stop listening to it.  While I admit the lyrical content is a bit cheesy and somewhat bland, there is something about the sound of his voice and the production of his music that I deeply enjoy. It's a bit poppy sometimes, but it's very upbeat and gives off happy vibes. 

Dizzy Wright

Yes, another rapper. Recently I've been listening to this young rapper named Dizzy Wright. He belongs to the rap group known as Funk Volume, which also includes the more famously known Hopsin. What makes Dizzy stand out to me is his lyrical maturity and the relevance of the material in his songs. The one song in particular that really exemplifies this is "Red Balloons". It's a fairly recent release, coming out about 3 days ago.  In the song, Dizzy raps about the deaths/disappearances of young children throughout the world, and the dreadful toll it takes on the parents of the children. While I cannot directly relate to the material, I respect Dizzy Wright at a much higher level than I would if he had not made the song. Dizzy is definitely worth a listen if you enjoy intelligent rap. 

JMBLYA

The up and coming music festival "JMBLYA" that is occurring in New Braunfels this year is this Saturday, and I couldn't be more excited.  My favorite rapper currently, Chance the Rapper, is the headliner for the festival, along with my 2 favorite trap DJ's, Baauer and RL Grime, the latter being my favorite of the DJ's.  I've heard amazing things about Chance's live performances, and I believe he has the highest potential out of all young rappers in the game today. I've blogged about him multiple times, showing how much I admire his work. I hope he lives up to all the hype this weekend. 

ACL

After listening to some of the more unknown artists that will be coming to ACL, I have a few I would be interested in seeing if nothing else is playing. I liked Capital Cities, they had a good sound that I definitely enjoyed. Iggy Azalea, while not the most lyrically competent, would definitely have a banger of a concert. Gramatik is a decent DJ that I'd be down to catch a few minutes of if I was passing by. Most of my time at ACL will be spent camping out for the headliners, which has its perks but definitely lessens the variety of music i will be able to listen to while at ACL.