Pop Culture Journalism Class Blog

By Daniel A. Shyti

Their aesthetic is unmistakable: bedecked with gold chains, smeared in filth from head to toe, and covered with mice, insects, or anything else that might make you want to turn away.  When you see Die Antwoord (Afrikaans for “The Answer”) for the first time, it is obvious that this is not rap culture as we know it in the west.  Their trashy-but-flashy culture is known as “Zef” in their native South Africa.

The bar was set high in 2010, when their music videos exploded across the internet.  “Enter the Ninja” became an instant sensation, in which Yolandi Vi$$er’s pixie-esque chorus bookends Ninja’s (Watkin Tudor Jones) sublimely personal rhymes.  They followed this with the controversial “Evil Boy,” riddled with phallic imagery and protesting a cultural circumcision ritual.  Despite their tongue-in-cheek presence, Die Antwoord quickly established itself as a force to be taken seriously.

On February 7, the group officially dropped its second full-length album, TEN$ION.  Following a dispute with Interscope, Die Antwoord decided to release the album on their own label to avoid the pressure of a major record company being involved in the production of their music.

TEN$ION represents another step forward for Die Antwoord, regardless of whatever administrative issues they may be facing.  The enigmatic DJ Hi-Tek (who chooses to remain unidentified) produces bigger beats than ever to supplement their new self-described “rap/rave” angle.  Their club-ready single “I Fink U Freeky” features an over-the-top synth hook reminiscent of Mortal Kombat.  However, after an awkward lull of a couple actual songs pockmarked by skits and interludes, you’ll likely find yourself in a post-rave kandy sugar crash.  But round three brings redemption: Yolandi pulls no punches on “Baby’s On Fire,” with a flow that would satiate any hip-hop fanatic.  Again, this track couldn’t be more danceable if it came with its own smoke machine.

http://vimeo.com/36134199

Another forgettable track segues into that other single of theirs, “Fok Julle Naaiers” (translates essentially to “fuck all y’all”).  This one serves as nothing short of a showdown between Die Antwoord and the rest of the world, and it’s not looking too good for everyone else.  Another haunting, droning chorus from Yolandi paves the way for a menacing fury of nut flexing; the kind that only Ninja can deliver over a slow-paced beat that makes you look over your shoulder.

But wait, did we just listen to an entire Die Antwoord album without any controversy?  Of course not, because “Fok Julle Naaiers” plays out into a menacing final verse from DJ Hi-Tek himself, which borrows its content from Mike Tyson’s infamous response to a heckler who suggested that Tyson deserves a straightjacket.  Ninja, however, released an internet video explaining that the homophobic slurs used in this hate-filled mantra are acceptable, because Hi-Tek himself his homosexual.  He also believes that “maybe you guys in the USA can learn a little thing or two from your brothers and sisters here in the dark depths of Africa,” because he claims that discrimination based on race and sexual preference are mostly a thing of the past in South African culture.

While the album may have a few seams from start to finish, the gems make up for its less imaginative tracks.  Like most rappers, Ninja and Yolandi spend most of their verses telling you how tough they are or how great they are at rapping, but their ability to present their lifestyle with a sense of fashion and nuance makes TEN$ION worth more than a few listens.  Ultimately, Die Antwoord refused to compromise with the evolution of their sound, which is more than most artists can say about their own attempts and following up a behemoth international debut.

Life in the shadow of “Sammy The Bull”

“Mob Daughter,” by Karen Gravano with Lisa Pulitzer

By Kayla Cohen

On television, Karen Gravano always says she’s more than her father’s daughter. But surprisingly, she only focuses on her dad, and doesn’t bother telling her story in her new book. If you’re hoping to learn more and find out who she really is — don’t bother buying the book.

In Mob Daughter, released Valentine’s Day, Gravano talks about growing up in Brooklyn living a normal life, but always having the gut feeling that her dad might be a mobster.

Countless times Gravano describes the outfits worn by her father and his fellow mobsters in detail, but never telling us how she looks. She talks on and on about her  father’s incarcerations, but we are barely mentions her  own experience behind bars.

The story gets too repetitive. Gravano gives the same details about the same place, like her old houses, throughout the book. The details about her father’s famous mobster friends, like John Gotti and her uncle, were extremely repetitive. Also, Gravano jumps to different events in time, making the timeline hard to follow. At one point she is talking about her house, but the next she is talking about her nephew drowning years later in a different state.

The story gives a little peek into her personal relationships that she had with Lee D’Avanzo and David Seabrook, but nothing too in depth.  She briefly speaks of her friendships growing up, but on the show claim those same friends, like Renee  Graziano and Drita D’Avanzo, had a huge impact on her life. She also glorifies her time as a marijuana dealer .

Gravano show no remorse in the story for the victims of her father’s murders, one of them being her mother’s brother. To her, his 19 murders were something that should not be spoken about. So, uhm, why write a book if you want to keep quiet?

If the reader wants a story about “Sammy the Bull” and a peek into the mob lifestyle, this book is a great choice. If the reader wants to learn about Karen Gravano, this is not the book to read.

BY: RYAN WEISSER

“Oh, I wanna dance with somebody; I wanna feel the heat with somebody!” sings Whitney Houston on a flat-screen in the popular late-night dining establishment at Mason, Ike’s, as college students stare at the late pop-star while munching on six-inch pancakes and crinkle-cut fries.

“I remember singing ‘I Will Always Love You’ with my dad on car rides to school,” said Erin

Hoehl, a 21-year-old senior at Mason studying criminology and administration of justice who is from Essex Junction, Vt. “I’m sad that Whitney’s gone, but I am happy that she gave me some special memories just through her music.”

In her prime, Houston was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts seven consecutive times – a musical record that no one else has beaten. Her death on February 11 was a shock to the world.

And on Mason’s campus, students remember Houston. In honor of her memory, Mason sophomore Amy Kerr is playing her albums all week.

“Every single one of my birthdays, until I was like 10, we had a karaoke challenge, and I would always sing Whitney Houston,” said Amy Kerr, a 19-year-old Mason sophomore from Alexandria, Va., studying conflict analysis. “It’s weird for me to think that she’s dead, especially since I went to one of her tour dates in Manchester, U.K., a few years back. There were a lot of rumors then about her bad health and drug abuse, but I never expected her to die.”

“She was such a great artist,” Kerr added. “There aren’t too many musicians anymore who had a true talent like Whitney did.”

And while some may be tired of the re-occurring news headlines updating the world about Houston’s untimely death, many are awaiting the news as to how and why Houston died.

“I just want to know the details,” said Hoehl, looking up at the flat-screen in Ike’s that is displaying Houston’s music video for “I’m Your Baby Tonight.” “I’m going to keep watching the news to see how else the story of how she died unfolds.”

By Zohra Alnoor

The latest science-fiction phenomenon since Harry Potter and Twilight is set in a post-apocalyptic world that, unfortunately, none of today’s tech-savvy and spoon-fed youth would probably ever survive in. Suzanne Collins created the world of The Hunger Games, and has since written two more wildly popular books in the series following the life of 16-year-old, Katniss Everdeen.

The book is written in first-person, from Katniss’s perspective. She explains how brutal the people within The Capitol are, which is the country of Panem’s only modern and wealthy metropolis.  The rest of the country is made up of 12 states known as “Districts” that are extremely poor.

Once every year, The Capitol holds a competition called the Hunger Games, where one boy and one girl from every District between the ages of 12 and 18 are randomly selected and forced to participate. They’re then placed in a large outdoor arena where their every move is filmed and televised to all of Panem. Once in the arena, they must fight to the death. Whoever lives, wins. But there can only be one winner. No exceptions.

The book’s pace begins to quicken once Katniss’s 12-year-old sister Primrose is selected in what The Capitol disgustingly calls the annual “lottery.” Without hesitation, Katniss volunteers herself as a tribute, otherwise known as a ‘participant,’ for the Hunger Games in her sister’s place.
“I cried reading that part. I swear, it feels as if you’re Katniss when you’re reading that chapter,” said Madina Zamani, 21, a junior majoring in Biology at George Mason University. Zamani has a large group of female friends that sit on campus together and talk about The Hunger Games constantly.
“We were obsessed with Harry Potter in middle school, with Twilight in high school, and now The Hunger Games in college,” said Hanaa Garad, 20, a junior majoring in Health Systems & Management at GMU.

The book takes you through the dangers that Katniss must face in the Hunger Games arena, from booby traps, to venomous insects, and of course, the 23 other tributes that she must defeat, including the male tribute from District 12, who has a romantic interest in her. Can she trust him and fall for someone that must ultimately kill her? This question is just one of the many mysteries in the book.

The excitement you will feel while the story unfolds is unexplainable. Collins has created strong characters with great character development throughout the story. You become so attached to Katniss’s character as you progress through the story and feel as if you’re in her shoes through every step of the Games. The book was extremely entrancing and had one of the most compelling plot lines that I’ve read in quite a while. The creative, futuristic world of Panem amazes me and the concept of The Hunger Games grabbed my attention. It was a thrill while it lasted, but now it’s on to the second book for me. I’m more than ready to get lost in the world of the Hunger Games once again.

If you’re looking for a good read with in-depth characters, amazingly detailed writing, something that will tug at your heart strings, make you laugh and have you at the edge of your seat all at the same time, then pick up The Hunger Games and you can finally rid yourself of that sparkly fairy and what’s-her-face.

_____________

by Karina Schultheis

There was a lot of screaming, yelling, and fist-pumping on Super Bowl Sunday — but fans at the Patriot Center weren’t losing their mind cheering for the Giants or the Patriots — they were screaming for the rock band, Rise Against.

Ending their 46-city tour, the band’s four-hour concert kicked off with up-and-coming band The Menzingers, an energetic group of four young men with impressive musical abilities. They put on a fantastic performance and their song lyrics were incredibly mature for a group that looked too young to even buy a beer at their own show.

Next came A Day to Remember, who did not rely on their already-popular hard rock songs to make the crowd cheer. They rallied the stadium by jumping wildly on (and off) stage, dropping thousands of balloons from the ceiling, and throwing beach balls and toilet paper into the audience. At one point, as a way to get the fans in the seats as energetic as those on the floor, lead singer Jeremy McKinnon told all of the men in the audience to take off their shirts and swing them ’round. Half-naked, screaming men quickly took over the  Patriot Center.

Despite the popularity of ADTR, there was palpable anticipation in the auditorium as the minutes ticked closer to Rise Against’s performance. The band certainly did not disappoint, playing favorites from the past decade including “Swing Life Away” (circa 2005), “Prayer of the Refugee” and “Ready to Fall.” Of course, they also threw in an assortment of songs off their new album “Endgame” during their two and a half hour set.

youtube] Rise Against’s powerful song lyrics and energetic guitar solos have kept them on the top of music charts since their 2001 signing. However, the band also sets itself apart from other rock bands by their insistence on making social and political statements, most notably their disapproval of the war. Many of their songs have clear anti-war and anti-discrimination messages disguised as Top 40 chart-toppers. An entire segment of their website is dedicated to activism.

During the concert, four LED screens onstage flashed images of Occupy Wall Street camps, faces from many different nationalities, and children wrapped in the American flag. Main singer Tim McIlrath shouted out to representatives from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who were present and handing out literature after the show.

Some of these messages might have been lost on part of the audience, which included masses of middle- and high-school students (as well as a sprinkling of parents with earplugs). They might not have even recognized the videos and photos as being from Occupy Wall Street, or if they did, have a working knowledge of what the movement is about. What these fans did recognize, however, were the lyrics to all the songs and the names of the artists as “Marry me, Tim!” signs waved in the air.

The night completed with a setlist of four acoustical songs and a 15-minute encore performance. Surveying the faces of the audience as people piled out of the auditorium and into the streets, it looked as if the only people who were not enjoying their night were the people about to clean up after it.

There was a lot of balloons and toilet paper to be dealt with, after all.

It snowed Saturday. Instead of sitting by a fire, or making some cocoa, Mary Shea went swimming — outside.

“Friends have told me that I’m crazy,” said Shea, a 30-year-old executive assistant in Herndon, Va.

But, she paid $25 to jump off the dock in Fredericksburg Saturday, Feb. 11 at 9 a.m.

She was part of the fifth-annual Polar Bear Plunge benefitting The Wounded EOD Warriors

Foundation.

The plunge sponsored by the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs

and proceeds go to helping wounded soldiers and their families.

“This location collected over $20,000 for the 2011 polar plunge event,” said Sherri R. Beck, President, Wounded EOD Warriors Foundation.

In addition to the super-cold swim, there is a silent auction and snacks for sale. There is also a costume contest.

As of Wednesday, Feb. 8, there were 196 people registered to take the plunge. The forecast for Saturday was 39 degrees.

“That water is going to be freezing,” said 30-year-old Justin Riman, a few days before the event. But the consultant from Herndon, Va. was psyched. “I’m looking for it it.”

BY DONOVAN HALL

“Final Fantasy XIII-2” has finally dropped and gamers everywhere finally have a reason to give praise to the role playing game powerhouse, Final Fantasy, once again.
After “Final Fantasy XIII” was released in 2010 fans of the popular series began losing hope that the games would stay true to their original game play. The series are known for their grand and elaborate worlds where players are able to explore freely and make decisions that control their destiny.
However, “Final Fantasy XIII” was the complete opposite. Despite the breathtaking graphics, amazing movie like cut scenes and a likable story, the game was rather boring. It was very linear and riddled with cut scenes. The structure of the game gave it the feeling of an animated movie that the watcher had no control over.
The game play went sort of like this: You run down a long, but pretty, hallway until you get

to a cut scene. This triggers a boss fight of some sort. After you’ve defeated that boss there is another cut scene, which the led to more running. Not very “Final Fantasy” at all.
The game did receive positive feedback, but it was mainly trashed because of the closed ended world and the linear story. Long time fans of the series were also disappointed. Andrew Littleton, a senior studying Economics, has been playing the games since he was a kid.
“I felt like I had absolutely no control over the game or my characters. It was like playing a really pretty but terribly boring movie that I made no decisions in,” Littleton said.
So when the sequel was released, fans began to wonder; will it be sweet redemption or another piece of beautiful looking crap? Thankfully for fans the game came out smelling as beautiful as it looked.
The game play is very reminiscent of the older games in the series. With more freedom to explore the world and make critical decisions, it seems that the fate of the characters have been placed back in the rightful hands of the game player. The game is much more open ended than the last one, bringing back the element that made this series so popular.

“Final Fantasy XIII-2” also features the amazing cinematography and breathtaking visuals that players loved in the prequel. Combining these factors with a newly developed fighting system, an even more amazing story and the beloved ability to choose what you want to do make this game quite the success. In a way, the sequel is everything that the prequel should have been.
It seems the games makers really took all of the feedback to heart, and in return, have produced a sequel that is worthy of bringing this series back to its former glory.

Above: Scary Mercedes at the Herndon ArtSpace (August 13, 2011)

By Daniel A. Shyti

Martin Bonica spent last summer interning abroad for a left-wing Israeli radio station, “Kol Hashalom” (translated to “All for Peace”).  His contribution to the station included his own personal show, web upkeep, and his entire collection of albums by Rage Against the Machine.

About six years ago, he started appearing a shows wearing a distinctive white lab coat.  He recorded one of his first live sets at the Sterling Community Center for now-defunct metal group Condemned to Destruction, and in 2007 he added multiple video cameras to his arsenal.  He created his first full-on media packages for local experimental-funk quartet Orange Marmalade.

“Once I started recording shows I began to realize, ‘Oh, this is art,’ says Bonica, a 21-year-old history major at George Mason University. ” I didn’t know I was good at art.”

Since then, he has worked with many artists in the Metro area, including  In Alcatraz 1962, Cazador, and Broken Cartridge.  Fall 2010, he was hired to be Director of Audio Engineering for WGMU Radio.

He continued with audio and video production until January 2011, after Orange Marmalade played  their last show at Jaxx Nightclub in Springfield, Va.  Bonica then focused on his own project called Scary Mercedes, a new wave hodgepodge with various contributors and influences.

“Starting in 2010, the local music scene imploded on itself.  Recording was my main hobby until there was nothing to record, so I just started making my own music,” he says.  “Basically, I started Scary Mercedes because I’m a very spiteful person.”

He laughs. But despite being a project born to spite a dying scene, Scary Mercedes has seen no shortage of fresh material.  Bonica has released two EPs – “Ambulatory” and “Bird’s Can’t Hope” – both of which can be downloaded for free with links found below or on his Facebook page.

His main collaborator is local musician Jimmy Romero (Cazador, Broken Cartridge), though he often outsources instrumentation to other artists on a whim. It seems almost like a game, testing his ability to turn unrelated musical elements into gritty chemical compounds that frame his punchy, mathematical vocals.

“I like taking elements from other bands, just to prove that they can work together,” says Bonica.  “I’ve listened to a lot of new wave, like the Zom Zoms, but also more hardcore stuff like Every Time I Die, so I would wind up putting things like breakdowns into some of my songs.”

Bonica is wrapping up production on a new EP entitled “Chaos Engine,” set to release this spring.  Though busy with his own music, he says he still loves working behind the scenes.

“Everything is really secondary to mixing and recording,” he says. ” I would throw Scary Mercedes in the trash the second I had a real [recording] job to do.”

Download the first two EPs by Scary Mercedes here:
“Bird’s Can’t Hope”
“Ambulatory”

Or visit the Scary Mercedes SoundCloud page for more.

BY: RYAN WEISSER

A new form of music is taking over weekend raves. Instead of bubblegum techno and trippy dance tunes reminiscent of the disco age, warehouses filled with sweaty and intoxicated college students are pumping out dub-step, a genre of house music that prides itself on “making people’s ears bleed.”

At least that’s what Kayvon Nik, the creator of SauceWithThat.com and former George Mason University student, a music website dedicated to everything electronica, said.

Dub-step, house, moombahton and other forms of techno/electronica are the least bit traditional. There are hardly any instruments used besides a keyboard or electric piano and a switchboard fit for only the greatest of DJs.

“There are hardly any lyrics in a dub-step song, and if there are, you can bet they’ll be auto-tuned and altered,” said Nik, a 21-year-old from Vienna, Va. who transferred as a sophomore to Virginia Tech and is now a junior studying business information technology. “It’s a weird form of music that has A LOT of bass going on. But it’s also a very awesome experience for your ears – you never know what sound to expect next.”

Nik, while visiting friends at Mason, realized that the D.C.-area was a hub for this bass-thumping form of music.

“I’d never heard of so many people on a campus listening to dub-step before. It’s even playing at some of the restaurants on campus,” Nik said, who’s referring to a few Skrillex and Deadmau5 hits. “It’s unbelievably awesome. You know, the kids who listened to Deadmau5 and Daft Punk were the major weirdoes and probably druggies when I was growing up. Now, I see sorority girls and frat stars listening to Bassnectar on their way to class – it’s awesome.”

Nik puts only “the sickest of the sickest” tunes on his website.

“People want to listen to awesome music, and other than Pandora and Spotify, there’s no place to do that for free and without commercials,” Nik said. “So a few of my friends and I fixed that problem.”

SauceWithThat.com is still in its beginning stages, as Nik and the co-creators want to add style, fashion, art and other forms of media that go along with the “best and probably one of the most intelligent forms of music.”

“I think Mason students are really going to love seeing this site grow,” Nik said. “Mason seems so hip – excuse me if that sounds lame – but I feel like this campus loves new and different things and of course all things saucy.”

Well Mason is the place where “innovation is tradition” and students seem to be taking a liking to this new, different and definitely saucy form of music called dub-step.

“I’ve always liked dub-step and house music, but it’s never been one of my favorites until this year,” said Skyler King, a 20-year old Mason junior and government major from Murietta, Ca. “I was surprised to see them playing it at The Rat and at Ike’s, but I think it’s a nice change of pace.”

Alyssa Bilewski at first hated the dup-step music her boyfriend plays.

“But after a while it grew on me,” said the  20-year-old Mason forensic science major and sophomore from Woodbridge, Va. “Now I absolutely love it! It’s so interesting and upbeat — perfect for dancing.”

By Daniel Shyti
Sitting on a hill with a book, a flashlight, and a 12-pack of Yuengling, three young men sensed a rising force between them.

The book was The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry and the force was SELMA, a poetry collective based in the Metro Area.  With a transient membership of three to six participants, it has remained under the social media radar hosting only small readings and events in unpublicized locations.  Though knowledge of the group’s existence has spread only by word of mouth, members seem to believe that the private nature of their meetings is sufficient for their intended purpose.

“SELMA is the collective effort of a small group of young men to share their thoughts,” explains 20-year-old Matt Stone, a founding member.  “The sole purpose is to create an environment of emotional understanding, while moving forward as individuals and as a group.”

SELMA borrows its name from a plantation house in Lessburg built on land once owned by George Mason’s nephew, which is now a decrepit, B-list historic site.  This has a thematic correlation with SELMA’s literary influences, which range from Jack Micheline and D.A. Levy, to Sapphire and Ed Mabrey – all significant-yet-underappreciated American poets.  These are the poets who have been rocks in the river of the mainstream current, contributing to the volatility of what would otherwise be a calm, passive body.

The SELMA collective has only been active since fall of 2011 and has nonspecific plans for future events or publications.  Though they may be much less distinguished or prolific than the artists lifted above, their effort to perpetuate an unheralded art form puts their motivation in the vein of the greats that came before them.

Excerpts from untitled works by various authors:
You ebb and flow,
you’re shifiting gears,
smoothly,
truthfully transitioning,
one season to another.
Everyone, even my mother,
loves you.
—
Collapsed over the wheel,
the word “theft” blinking thick,
red on my skull.
I have tried to justify
the injustices of the world.
They have mistaken
my silence for arrogance.
I have failed
to yield on green.

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