ByronCrawford.com

Kanye West: A man of dubious ethics

My apologies in advance to those of you who are getting bored with this whole Kanyegate, but I'm sure there were a lot of people who felt the same way during the original Watergate, and we know how that turned out. Anyhoo, I thought I'd just let you guys in on a couple of other Kanye-related scandles I happened upon while doing research for my own.

Cap-Onegate: Apparently, Kon the Louis Vutton Too Good for the Ghetto Don sold poor little Cap-One some beats, and then resold the same beats to Jay-Z for The Blueprint, Alchemist-style. Cap-One obviously didn't appreciate that, and has recorded an entire CD going off on Kanye.

It's Only Famgate: And if that wasn't bad enough, it looks like he's being sued by by some group called I.O.F. (It's Only Family) for jacking the hook to their song "Straight Like That" for his and Ludacris' "Stand Up." They too have decided to take their anger into the recording booth and have produced a song enitled "Fuck Ludacris," which should probably subtitled ("And His Buttboy Kanye, No Homo")

Were you aware that Kanye has already been banned from one awards show this year? Yep, it's true. Some Gospel awards show was going to give him a trophy for "Jesus Walks," but then they realized how much of a douche he was and took his punk ass off the ballots completely. This is what can happen with the Grammys if enough of us speak out about it. Sign the petition today.

The Real World: Philadelphia - Episode 15: Episode Summary

It's been a while since I've done this, and let's face it: I've been slacking a bit this season compared to San Diego. I can't help it; the first 15 episodes of this shit have been bad even by recent Real World standards. It almost got to the point where I said fuck it, and found something else to do on Tuesday nights. Fortunately, I'm too broke to do much other than drink the occasional Miller High Life in my parents' basement and too lazy to get another job. With that said, on to the show.

John Legend can't sing

You know, I've got this thing going on between myself and Kanye, no homo, and I'd hate to drag anybody else into it. But I just heard this fudge's song on the radio and I'd feel remiss if I didn't say a little bit about it. Oh, it's bad. I was on my way up the street to get a sandwich and I had the radio tuned in to the local jig station because I'd been rocking out to that Trick Daddy and Lil' Jon song the night before on the way back from the Big Gay Mart, no homo. So anyway, this dude's song was on. It was some acapella wannabe Marc Cohn sounding shit, but the lyrics were all dumb and the dude's voice was straight nails on chalkboard. "Walking in Memphis" it wasn't. I only caught the end of it ("take it slooooow"), but then the guy came on and was like, "That was John Legend with his new song, 'Douchebag Romance,' or whatever it's called," and I was just like, "Damn, yet another way in which Kanye is ruining the music biz." The End.

Dropping out is for suckers

According to this Irish jig that they've got working for the New York Times, Kanye West's The College Dropout is the year's best pop album. Now, before anybody asks: No they didn't bother to mention the brewing scandal surrounding this album that will hopefully result in Kanye West having all 10 of his Grammy nominations revoked. And also, yes: Apparently, in New York there are black Irishmen who like to rock out to the smooth sounds of Gretchen Wilson's "Redneck Woman." See, diversity isn't always a good thing.

Anyway, this is just all the more reason for us to fight. For the New York Times to name The College Dropout the Album of the Year when it's so clearly undeserving is obviously part of some elaborate scheme to keep black people from graduating from college. Is Jesse Jackson still in Ohio counting the votes? I might need to get him on the phone.

Now I've seen it all

In the 1 year or so history of The BC.C, I've never actually received any email from one of my readers' moms. That is, until now:

Byron, I am mother of Grant Blaisdell who has been writing to you - for what it is worth , you reached and provoked my teenager son to express his feelings and opinions, ands start investing in communicating with email - this is positive - Grant told me about it and let me read your correspondence - so I am just encroaching little bit on both of yours privacy , but I wanted to tell you that you  are in my prayers today, I wan to wish you Happy Holidays -

I am a Catholic form Poland, an did have committed to help African Americans - through what I have - private mobile operator who can be used to reach our brothers and sisters  by sending text messages to their cell phones - this is a powerful way to get organized and be organized and informed - I funded VoteUp.org and have used it to help to vote in Urban Communities,look it up at www.VoteUp.org

I hope you are well today!
Eva Blaisdell
Chairman of the Board, CEO / AngelMobile

Hi, kids

I wrote a post this afternoon before I had to go to work, but it got all messed up. Anyway, it wasn't anything too special, just some updates on the progress of Kanyegate. That's all I really feel like saying right now. Maybe I'll feel more motivated tomorrow. But at least I'm posting this yousendit link to the new Ol' Dirty album. Get it while you can, or else you'll have to pay Dirty's mom and her "manager" for it.

ODB-Osirus

Kanye Hating and The Ghostwriting Debate

This was in today's Coolfer. I figured I'd just post the whole thing here so that everybody got a chance to see it. It brings up some points that I really didn't consider when I drunkenly, and on a whim, came up with this idea. The dude might actually not be eligible for at least one of these categories. How does The Recording Academy actually go about making sure these people write these songs, or do they even bother?

Blogger Byron Crawford is urging people to sign his petition to get Kanye removed from all Grammy ballots. There's even a press release at mi2n. Kanye is nominated for "Album of the Year," "Song of the Year," "Best Rap Solo Performance" and seven others.

Here's an excerpt:

"Two categories in which he was nominated were Song of the Year and Best Rap Song for 'Jesus Walks,' a song he bought from an Indianapolis-based MC named Rhymefest and re-recorded. While it is true that Rhymefest was given a songwriting credit and nominated for two awards along with West, we do not feel that it is appropriate for The Recording Academy to reward this kind of behavior, especially in light of statements he has made with regard to his capabilities as an artist and the fact that he rarely acknowledges the fact that he buys a lot of 'his' music from other artists."

So the issue here is not that Kanye has bought songs from songwriters. This happens all the time in the music world and a few hundred times a day in Nashville, no doubt. The issue at hand is that Kanye, according to Crawford, bought the song "Jesus Walks" from Chicago MC Rhymefest and tried to pass it off as a collaboration.

The question at hand is whether or not Kanye actually deserves songwriting credit, which would impact the category of his nomination. The notes in College Dropout say Kanye officially splits songwriting credits with C. Smith (Rhymefest). According to Grammy rules, the "Song of the Year" award is given to the songwriter, while the "Record of the Year" is given to the artist and producer, engineer and mixer.

If "Jesus Walks" was indeed ghostwritten, then technically Kanye should not receive songwriting credit and should not have received the "Song of the Year" nomination. Technically. Correct? (Any entertainment lawyers reading this, please feel free to pitch in.) The thing about ghostwriting, often called music's "dirty little secret," is that the real writer is hidden while the purchaser takes full credit. In this case, Kanye is taking only partial credit. And ghostwriting is so common, would the Academy be likely to go by the book with its rules and nomination process?

More on ghostwriting:

• Here a definition of a ghostwriter from Film Music Magazine: "A person who composes music for another composer but is not credited on the cue sheet or in the final product in any way. In a ghostwriting situation, the person hiring the ghostwriter takes credit for writing the music and the ghostwriter is usually not allowed to reveal to anyone that he/she wrote the music or worked on the project in any way."
• The blog Move The Crowd on ghostwriting and hip hop.
• Ghostwriting is commonplace in the literary world, as evidence by the title of this how-to book: Write A Book Without Lifting A Finger.

Anti-Kanye writing contest

Hate Kanye West? Want to share that hatred on a site that has the potential to be viewed by thousands, possibly millions? Then participate in my new anti-Kanye West writing contest. Several, maybe even all entrants will have their works posted on the new Ban Kanye West from the Grammys website to be launched January 1st. Selected winners will also receive their choice between a copy of the Alchemist's new 1st Infantry CD and a can of Miller High Life. There aren't any real guidelines as far as the entries are concerned other than to be creative (no ghostwriting!) and to communicate the worthlessness of Kanye West and his music. Possible categories could include essays, poems, short stories, album reviews, one-act plays, or whatever. Like I said, be creative. Remember, the future of hip-hop is at stake.

NOTE: Feel free to post you entries here or email them to me using the link to your left.

Operation: Slap a Dropout

I was worried that this thing would begin to peter out after the weekend, but it looks like it's still picking up steam slowly but surely. I got this in my email about an hour ago stating that the release has been picked up by some smaller but more music-oriented pr network:

I wanted to thank you for choosing Mi2N to promote your news release to the entertainment & new media industry. You can view your release at http://mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=74937 With a circulation of over 30,000,  and distribution through such brand name sites as Cantor Fitzgerald, Prodigy Communications & Ticketcity Mi2N provides an excellent opportunity to reach industry professionals worldwide, at NO cost. Simply submit your future news releases online at http://www.mi2n.com/input.php3, to also be considered for inclusion ini2N (indie net news) newsletter. You can subscribe to our free Mi2N newsletters @ http://www.mi2n.com/subscribe.php3. Please feel free to link to your news release from your site or by email.

If you click over to the release on Mi2N, you'll notice it's been made an editor's pick. Clearly, the  Kanye hate is strong with many people.

Workin' at the Big Gay Mart (no homo)

My bad about having to be gone for a couple of days during the best story idea I've had in weeks. I didn't get kidnapped by any angry black evangelicals or anything. I spent all day yesterday and Saturday dealing with irate cracka-ass crackas, working the so-called service desk at a Big Gay Mart. I was hired there as a holiday checker about 10 days ago, but promoted to semi-manager after only 4 days of working there, seriously. So basically, I get to stand there and process refunds and exchanges, hand out and get money back from the checkers, and carry around a key and authorize overrides on suspect-looking transactions. It's pretty awesome. I've never been so far over my head before in anything. Honestly, does anybody know how to tell the difference between a good check and a bad one, other than the numbers not matching up? Because I have no idea.