+ I wish I was a little bit taller… \\ 09.26.09
Growing up I wanted to be one of two things: A rapper or a ball player. Tonight’s show at Michigan Sate University was a testament as to why I still...to this day…wish I could be an NBA basketball player. You can stop laughing now. I’m serious. The jerseys, the team shoes, the fandemonium, the sense of ownership and pride the fans have on their team. I love it. All of that is only heightened at a college basketball powerhouse like Michigan State.
Mascots have always creeped me out a little. There’s something about a guy in a costume dancing around that really scares me.
Every year Michigan State students camp out for tickets in their football stadium overnight in what is called the ‘Izzone’—a dedication to head coach Tom Izzo. As the clock approaches midnight coach Tom Izzo comes out, shares some words with the students and then introduces the basketball players. The loyalty to Spartan basketball is cult status. What Izzo says, goes. I recognized some of the guys from Michigan State’s championship run last year against UNC—Kalin Lucas and Raymar Morgan were solid last March (Even though Tyler Hansborough owned them in the championship game). As soon as these guys came out to the field the crowd went berzerk. As a comic there’s nothing I can do to get people to go this crazy. Besides athletes or rappers…who can rock sweatpants and have girls screaming your name?
Future NBA draft pick?
So before I went up, senior forward Raymond Morgan brought me onstage. While I’ve never heard my name butchered so badly (Han-son Jimaj?) he showed a lot of love and sat onstage with sophomore forward Draymond Green. I guess they figured it was a roast…so I roasted away. I took some jabs at Spartan alumni Mateen Cleaves, Zach Randolph, and of course the late-great Plaxico Burress. Throughout the entire show Draymond and I were riffing back and forth; during one segment I asked him what he’d do if he became a millionaire overnight. His response? Buy a Bentley and a mansion in East Lansing. Come on Draymond! I was hoping you’d say anything BUT buy a car with rims.
Raymar Morgan. Solid hosting job.
All in all one of the funnest shows I’ve been a part of on this tour. Special thanks to Tom Izzo, the Spartan basketball team, and Amp Energy for bringing me out and showing me an awesome time. Two days from now I’m performing at Brookdale Community College in Lindberg, New Jersey. Oh standup. You always humble me.
The crowd. Nutso.
+ Inspiration \\ 09.26.09
In less than two months I’ll be recording my first comedy album at the Purple Onion in San Francisco. I can’t tell you how excited I am.The Purple Onion is one of those venues that’s been a breeding ground for creativity since the ‘50s. Lenny Bruce, Woody Allen, Maya Angelou, Richard Pryor, and Robin Williams have all frequented that room. I mean come on, the Smothers Brothers recorded their first album there (Live at the Purple Onion). Even today, some of my favorite local and national acts have recorded their CD’s here…Brent Weinbach, Moshe Kasher, Zach Galifianakis and countless others have made the Purple Onion the place to record a defining piece of work for any comic—especially if you came out of San Francisco.
A lot of people think CD recordings are obsolete and a waste of time for comics today. With Youtube, Imeem, and other sources you can just dump a video on the internet and have people spread it around virally. I’m not even going to try to do be a Web 2.0 snob and say that stuff is irrelevant or not important. Without a doubt it is. But to me, there’s still some serious value in being able to design and craft your own comedy album to have it produced and packaged conceptually like a music album. Maybe it’s the 8th grader in me that still loves ripping open the new Jay album and seeing the booklet art for the album. (My favorite inserts? ‘Vol 2. Hard Knock Life’ and ‘The Blueprint‘) Today, Patton Oswalt does an awesome job with his CD design. Check out ‘My Weakness is Strong’. Love the ‘50s themed cartoons.
So I was thinking about inspiration for the album art for my comedy cd. One of the sickest album covers I’ve seen in the past five years or so is Lupe Fiasco’s ‘Food and Liquor’ cover. Originally designed by Chicago artist Chuck Anderson the details on the album cover are ridic. The Nintendo DS, Cartier glasses, Japanese toys, and Turkish Quran are the sweetest touches ever. Also the retro 80s backdrop is dope.
The other artist I’m obsessed with right now is French artist Francoise-Nielly. While her paintings are usually my height or taller, her designs remind me of the early Jordan ad campaigns I loved growing up (Between ‘92-‘93). The vibrant colors and crazy prints are hot. Anyone else see how these are strikingly similar to the patterns and prints used for the AJ7’s or AJ8’s?
I’m going to try to have a hybrid of these two concepts. (Of course I’m going to throw my own little twist to it as well) Can’t wait to show you guys what I’ve come up with.
The official CD recording dates are Friday November 13th and Saturday November 14th. 8 PM. I hope to see you there San Francisco.
+ Yahoo! OMG the 411 \\ 09.24.09
O-M-G guys. Yahoo! recently launched a website called omg.yahoo.com; A portal dedicated to celebrity news, gossip, and other stuff my little sister would be really into. The show I’m on is called ‘OMG: The 411’, and I was a guest comedian on it along with talented comic friend, Kyle Kinane. What’s interesting about working on a show for Yahoo! is that you have to figure out PG-13 versions of words like ‘Douchebag’ (i.e. Jon Gosselin) or ‘Venerial disease’ (i.e. Kim Kardashian) when writing your jokes. I know. I need to work on being a cleaner comic. And on that note, enjoy:
OMG! The 411:
What were they thinking?
Eye Candy
Fun times were had at the Yahoo! offices in Santa Monica. Our producer Shara was awesome to work with. Can’t wait to go back and shoot more stuff on the green screen ‘NBA Live’ style. Holla at me EA Sports!
+ Unbehuyvable \\ 09.21.09
Got a quick break from the tour so I was in LA for a couple days working on some photo/video stuff with good friend Huy Hong. He’s taken some pretty dope photos, and it was cool seeing what we could come up with in a short period of time (We shot this all within an hour or so). Quick collabos are always the funnest. Good lookin’ out Huy!
Hasan Minhaj on Serena Williams at the 2009 US Open from Huy Hong on Vimeo.
+ So what’s Ohio like? \\ 09.09.09
A whole lot of this.
+ Collabo \\ 09.09.09
This past week I’ve gotten to work with some of my favorite comics at the University of Wisconsin and Ohio Northern University. Thanks for the pics guys.
Myself with Sabrina Jalees. She’s from Canada. If you don’t like her you’re probably racist.
Erin Jackson, Bobby Miyamoto, and myself.
+ I don’t run rap no more I run the map \\ 09.09.09
Blueprint 3 dropped today. Let’s get into it.
Jay-Z. Jiggaman. Jay Hova. The self proclaimed ‘greatest rapper alive’ has more recently been called the ‘greatest rapper ever’. Big shoes to fill, but for a rapper that has redefined the genre and taken hip hop to astronomical heights over the past few years (Securing presidency of the Def Jam record label, headlining Glastonbury, and aiding Barack Obama’s political campaign) Jay is more than just a rapper. Love him or hate him, he is the hip hop icon of the past decade.
Who cares? With a whirlwind or rumors circling about the release of a new album, his secret collabos with Kanye in Hawaii, and his set at ‘Ye’s ‘Glow in the Dark’ show at Madison Square Garden, every hip hop fan for the past year was on the edge of their seat waiting to see when Jay would drop the album. Then came his set at summer jam Chicago. Jay freestyled what would be the opening track for his new album; taking subliminal shots at Dame Dash, Jim Jones, and The Game. We then found out about the release date—September 11th, 2009. The same release date of the original Blueprint album; September 11th, 2001. Even the towers falling couldn’t stop Hov from getting five mics for this album; which was immediately heralded as a ‘classic’ record. After a leak of the record from Timbos camp, Jay pushed for an earlier release date. Today, September 8, 2009 marks the release of Hov’s 11th studio album, ‘The Blueprint 3’—the final chapter to his critically acclaimed ‘Blueprint’ series.
Is he still relevant? Lately, Jay-Z haters have been taking their shots over blogs and Twitter stating no one should care about the album, writing Jay off as an overhyped has-been rapper. I think fellow comedian Donald Glover has the best response to this: “Jay-Z is like SNL. For some reason it’s cool to hate him and say ‘I remember when he was good’ even though there’s still a lot of good there.“ In regards to his relevance in the game people need to accept one thing. Jay-Z is now heralded in the same way Madonna, Prince, or Michael Jackson (Yes I went there) are—no matter what year it is people will listen to their records. These artists have redefined their respective genres and set a bar for music where they’re only competing with themselves. Now, is Jay’s return to hip hop post-‘Black Album’ similar to Jordan’s return to the Wizards? Absolutely not. Yeah, 2006’s ‘Kingdom Come’ was a flop, but Jay’s return to the ‘Reasonable Doubt’-esque rhymes and gritty imagery of the crack game in ‘American Gangster’ was lyrical genius (Please check ‘Pray’, ‘Success’, and ‘Fallin’ if you doubt this). After that his relevance and hunger to produce classic joints in the studio could no longer be questioned. Which is exactly why I looked forward to BP3 so much. Rather than being a concept album with one producer like ‘American Gangster’, Jay would be reconnecting with Kanye, Timbo, Pharell, and NO I.D. for Blueprint 3.
So what about the album? Sprawling over 15 tracks Jay stuck to his go-to formula of dropping some radio friendly singles to promote the album including ‘D.O.A’ and ‘Run this Town’ with Kanye and Rihanna. For me, I find that Hov’s gems come from his non-radio friendly material (i.e. ‘99 Problems’, ‘P.S.A.‘, ‘Takeover’, and ‘Renegade) and he sprinkles them throughout the album. Must listen to tracks include ‘What We Talkin’ About’, ‘Thank You’, ‘Venus vs. Mars’, ‘Empire State of Mind’, and ‘So Ambitious’. Add that up with the singles and you already have a solid album on your hands. Yes, there are forgettable tracks like ‘Young Forever’ (Really, you’re not even going to vary up your samples for this one Kanye?) and ‘Reminder’ but there’s no doubt the album is a feast filled with elite production and rapping. Some of my favorite tracks have always been Jay’s openers on his albums. From ‘Can’t Knock the Hustle’ to ‘Pray’ to the ‘The Ruler’s Back’, Jay comes correct and delivers fire when he opens up an album. Here’s my favorite verse from ‘What We Talkin’ About’:
Please, We ain’t focused on naps
Cuz I don’t run rap no more I run the map
A small part of the reason the President is black
I told him I got him when he hit me on the jack
Talkin’ bout progress I ain’t lookin back
You know I run track Try not to get lapped
People keep talkin’ bout Hov left em flat
Try to re-write history Lets talk about facts
Dame made millions Even Jaz made some scraps
He could’ve made more But he didn’t sign his contract
As far as street guys We was dealin’ crack
That’s just how the game goes I don’t owe nobody jack
Grown men want me to sit em on my lap
But I don’t have a beard and Santa Claus ain’t black
I repeat, You can’t sit on my lap
I don’t have a beard Now get off my sack
Scream at me
At the end of the day I’m a die hard Jay-Z fan. ‘Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life’ was one of the first hip hop albums I ever bought. I’ve seen him in concert twice. I’ve purchased Roc A Wear before and looked like an idiot wearing it. So I know I’m biased. But I will call a spade a spade. The album gets a B+ from me. At the end of the day it won’t go down as one of his top 5 albums, or even one of the best albums of 2009/2010 (Yes, I think Kanye will drop a better album), but the problem remains and will always be the same—Jay has to beat himself in order to produce another ‘classic’ album. Regardless, I can’t wait to see the Fuse TV concert on 9/11 at Madison Square.
