MC Paul Barman interviews Wu-Tang Clan's RZA

1. roger
   June 24th, 2008 at 12:46 pm

   Wow, I hate to be a downer all the time, but this guy is awful. He has a voice made for writing graduate research papers.

2. issacsullivan
   June 24th, 2008 at 3:22 pm

   I am a long time fan of this man. Rapping is less the attraction than the genius of his rhyming words. In an early work, he rhymed in the Fibonacci sequence. He also had many many palindromes in his last full length. In fact, there was one huge verse that was a palindrome. His albums are interesting for anyone who wants to listen to an artistry of the English language.

3. Adam Stanhope
   June 24th, 2008 at 5:44 pm

   Isaac:

   I've been a big fan for years and years, too - I guess since his first single "Joy of your life"?

   Paul Barman is responsible for the world's greatest hip-hip lyrics, bar none:

   Can I chime in?
   I'll still be rhymin'
   When I'm in your hymen

   It doesn't any much better than that, does it?

4. "A.J."
   June 24th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

   comment deleted

5. roger
   June 24th, 2008 at 7:56 pm

   your hymen? Now that's clever! Its a good thing we don't toss around the word "genius" loosely nowadays, and apply it only to the true masters of the English language.

6. issacsullivan
   June 25th, 2008 at 1:04 am

   Roger, if you take the time to check out his body of work, you will see why genius is a good word to use in this case. It's also worth checking out his comics as well as the detailed rhyming puzzles he made for Puzzle magazine and his American Sign Language instructional video.

7. RM
   June 25th, 2008 at 1:18 am

   Haha he´s horrible.

8. issacsullivan
   June 25th, 2008 at 2:32 am

   Sigh

9. Adam Stanhope
   June 25th, 2008 at 3:29 am

   That comment was uncalled for, AJ. I'm deleting it.

10. roger
    June 25th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    Isaacsullivan, I acknowledge that he is talented at constructing puns and other verbal gymnastics, but I like to reserve superlatives like "genius" for art that has a little more depth. Seems like something just a couple of notches above a novelty act.

11. roger
    June 25th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    Adam: I like it when blog owners aren't afraid to step into the fray every once in a while and delete a comments that are racist, extraordinarily rude, etc. --But notice I didn't call what you just did "censorship". But why do you rush to delete a relatively mild anti-semitic ethnic joke, but use the very same blog to defend Al-Jazeera, which helps propagate anti-semitic views which are much worse? I don't fault you for "censorship" Adam, because it is your blog. If people choose not to host Al-Jazeera, its not censorship either. "...there are people like that"

12. Adam Stanhope
    June 25th, 2008 at 3:14 pm

    Fair enough question, Roger.

    First - I'd like to stress that I am not this blog's owner. This blog is owned by Alex. I do not receive remuneration for posting here on this blog. I do it because I enjoy it.

    The anti-Semitic joke was in poor taste, but I let it stand for several hours because it wasn't beyond the pale.

    What you *didn't* see is that the same person left a number of other totally unacceptable comments that I don't think anyone would disagree with having deleted. The comments all come in to me via email, and they are all identified not just by the name and email address chosen, but by the ip_address of the computer that is being used to place the comments.

    If somebody as obnoxious as this fellow showed up at a party you helped throw, you'd want him tossed. You've clearly been around long enough, Roger, to understand how unpleasant some people can be through the course of posting blog comments.

    If you wish to pursue this issue with me further, feel free to contact me directly via email - I am a s t a n h o p e at g m a i l dot c o m

13. roger
    June 25th, 2008 at 5:00 pm

    Adam, you absolutely missed my point! I wholeheartedly approve of you deleting the comment. The purpose of my post was to draw a comparison between this situation and your previous post about the Al-Jazeera controversy. Just as it is your legal right to delete obnoxious comments from a blog, I feel the citizens of Burlington are within their rights to refuse admission to Al-Jazeera if they so choose, for the exact same reason, without being accused of "censorship".

    I think you would find it absurd if someone objected to your deletion on the grounds of "hearing all sides"; but that is the specious argument (in my opinion) raised by some defenders of Al-Jazeera. Certainly Al-Jazeera isn't as crude as the individual here, but I consider polished anti-semitism to be no better.

14. Thomas
    June 25th, 2008 at 8:08 pm

    Now I kinda want to know what he said.

15. issacsullivan
    June 26th, 2008 at 3:15 am

    Roger I wish we could hang out for an hour so I could take you through his work. He's pushing poetic boundaries and I do find this art to have considerable depth. He is far from a novelty act, but I would agree that his body of work is novel.

16. roger
    June 26th, 2008 at 11:59 am

    isaacsullivan: if I have the occasion to listen to his work in the future, I'll try to put my first impressions aside.

17. issacsullivan
    June 26th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    You the man Roger.

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