The Lost Ronin Files Pt 1: Bathsalt Beats

Here's another one to be filed under "the best of intentions."

Started in December, this piece was never finished due to the usual circumstances that leave one whinging for time one day and energy the next. In fact, it's likely I never would have finished it at all if not for the annual shitshow that is the Grammy's. Admittedly, it's a strange thing to take note of as my relationship to mainstream music has been on an increasingly elliptical orbit for some time now. I close in on commercial radio for a peek only to veer further away than before. If nothing else, the Grammy's serve to remind that there are no awards for my music.

It's odd, however, expressing any emotion regarding the Grammy's at all. Paying attention to them is, for me, a lot like paying attention to the sexual adventures and conquests of an ex-girlfriend I never really connected with to begin with. Unless there's comically abject humiliation taking place, do I really care?

That being said, here are my final thoughts on 2012. As a leap/election years go, it didn't disappoint for disappointing moments.

In fact, looking back, there were very few moments when 2012 didn't feel like a Mad Max Zombified redux of "We Didn't Start the Fire." There were face eating bath salt attacks, Chik-Fil-A outrage, faux Chik-Fil-A outrage, the monolithic Walking Dead, numerous tragic public shootings, the most Wrestlemania-like re-election I've seen in some time, numerous apocalyptic proclamations of what would follow said election, Mayan hysteria and Gangnam Style. It's enough have one passing bullets with biscuits every time someone coughs at the family dinner table.

On the other hand, I got married and that was awesome.

Speaking of Psy's "Gangnam Style," I'm not gonna lie: I too enjoyed the hell out of it. The video was a perfect storm of awkward and funny and repeated viewings did little to dim the fun. But it took off a little too much and, as a result, I heard it a little too often. So I'm not putting it on 2012's Bitchin' Mixtape. The same goes for Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know." There is no way that song was ever designed to be a pop crossover hit. Still, consider how many people heard it for the first time on the Voice. Kudos to Gotye keeping it weird and succeeding anyways. Besides, a little weirdness keeps it fecund, y'know?

That being said, mainstream radio was not a place of great excitement or enthusiasm this year. First, there was a distinct lack of ruckus brought on by dudes with guitars. Sure, your favorite classic rockers did their best to represent (I know a lot of you dig the Springsteen) but this is an aging class. Look no further than the anniversary of Rage Against the Machine's debut album as indictment. Still, it wasn't all sour as the Afghan Whigs finally reunited and made my inner 17 year old squee with angsty glee.

Ladies, on the other hand, you were marvelous. From hip-hop to the coffee shop and all spaces in between, the ladies brought the heat this last year. Whether it was M.I.A.'s SuperBowl finger or Lana Del Rey's national humiliation on SNL, at least it was interesting.

Hip-hop also seemed to thrive this year as El-P (with or without Killer Mike), Danny Brown, Kreayshawn, Asap Rocky, 2 Chainz and Die Antwoord all seemed to take root in the dark corners of public consciousness. The dissolution of Das Racist felt like a strange culmination to this new hip hop culture that has taken root outside of the current superstar establishment of the Dre's and the Ye's.

The dark cloud hovering over this was the loss of Adam Yauch to cancer. The Beastie Boys, moreso than almost any group from the 90's, embodied everything that was great about "alternative" music as hip-hop collided with punk rock collided with activism. I may not have been a Beasties die-hard but it was hard not to feel overwhelmed by the loss. It was a sad but inevitable milestone for alt music even if we can take solace in the legacy Yauch left behind. It's hard to imagine groups like Matt and Kim or Sleigh Bells without that hip-hop influence.

Ultimately, there's not a lot more I can say about 2012. It was a year fraught with apocalyptic tension on pre-millenial levels and the music reflected that. There was little comfort or safety to be found in this year's music and, quite frankly, I'm okay with that. I am, after all, from the 90's.

Or, as the late Bill Hicks once said, "Play from your fucking heart."

While this may look a lot like New Year's resolutions, I prefer to think of it as making decisions to end aberrant behaviors on my own part and for my best interest a manifesto. And instead of keeping it to myself like any human being with anything close to resembling a shred of dignity, I find it's usually best to shame myself into action by way of public accountability. And nothing works for self laceration quite like public forums. So, if any of these thoughts help you,... well then, god speed and all that.

1. Stop Living in My Head So Damn Much. I spend a lot of time thinking. About everything. About what I want to do and about how to do it. This includes stories, projects and things around the house that I perpetually put off. I mean really, how many times can one person consider all of the angles? So, enough with the thinking. Time to trust my own judgement and get to more doing. As such...

2.Work Harder. Stop grousing and just do what you're supposed to do already. You could've finished your workout in the time it took you to figure out the eleven billionty reasons you don't want to do it (but will anyway). And this goes further than "don't procrastinate." Whatever you do, do it as hard as you can. Push yourself to do more in less time and hopefully, you'll get to the point where you can do it faster. That's logical, right?

3. Work Passionately. If you're doing what you love, then it seems a lot less like work and a lot more like, well, just being. It's a trueism, I know, and I tend to abhor trueisms, but this one is pretty simple.

4. Obey the First Rule of Time Management: Which is: don't waste your fucking time. Usually, I use this in regards to lost causes that we fool ourselves into believing will work if only we had a little more willpower. White knuckle hope and belief is nice but nothing beats actual work... But I digress. This also applies to "how much E! network do you really need to watch?"

5. Admit It, You're an Animal. And that's okay, but animals weren't built for cubicles. So take that big astronaut brain of yours that's trapped in that caveman's body and run it for a few miles. Or do some push ups. Running has turned into my new drink too much and look at the stars experience, which is great for (yeah, I know what I said earlier) thinking.

6. But You're an Animal of Class and Taste. I'm going to try reading more this year. And when I say read, I mean read more books that aren't graphic novels. A hundred pages a week isn't great but it's better than what I've been doing (i.e. reading twenty pages and then "ooh. Look. Something shiny!).

7. Catch Your Stories While They're There. Usually, I mean this in regards to writing down stray ideas and the truly freaky dreams. But I lost my grandmother this last year, and unless I sit down and pry the stories out of my grandfather in the here and now, we'll lose a love story that spanned continents, cultures and decades. Stories are everywhere. You just gotta catch 'em while you can.

A Lot of Things Have Changed, A Lot of Things Have Not

In our collective rush to welcome in the New Year, I see a lot of you quoting Neil Gaiman. And why not? He's upbeat, inspirational and eloquent. But I'm gonna mix it up by sharing some Mos Def with you. Even though this was the opening to his solo debut in '99, the words "a lot of things have changed, a lot of things have not" have resonated for me in perpetuity ever since. It was certainly the only thing resonating in my head this morning.

And don't get hung up on the words hip-hop- this is applicable advice to all paths of life.

From "Fear Not of Man" on Black on Both Sides:

A lot of things going on, y'all- twentyfirst century is coming, twentieth century almost done. A lot of things have changed, a lot of things have not.

Mainly us. We gonna get it together, right? I believe that.

Listen, people be asking me all the time, "Yo Mos, whatever's gonna happen with hip-hop?" I tell 'em, "You know what's gonna happen with hip-hop? Whatever's happening with us. If we smoked out, hip-hop is gonna be smoked out. If we doing alright, hip-hop is gonna be doing alright."

People talk about hip-hop like it's some giant living in the hillside coming down to visit the townspeople. We are hip-hop. Me, you, everybody- we are hip-hop. So hip-hop is going where we going. So the next time you ask yourself where hip-hop is going, ask yourself "Where am I going? How am I doing?"

And you get a clear idea.

So, if hip-hop is about the people and hip-hop won't get better until the people get better, then how do people get better? Well, from my understanding, people get better when they start to understand that they are valuable. And they not valuable because they got a whole lotta money or because somebody think they sexy, but they valuable because they been created by God and God makes you valuable. Whether or not you recognize that value is one thing.