Tokyo ghoul live action (film review)

due to its limited run in America I know most of you haven't had the chance to see this yet well at least not in hd I'm sure theres bootleg cam versions going around the internet, but I was lucky enough to catch the Tokyo ghoul film in theaters last week and my first impression was FINALLY!!! A TOP NOTCH LIVE ACTION ANIME FILM THAT SURPASSED THE ANIME.  I know the anime is beloved by many but to the people who have read the manga the Tokyo ghoul anime especially Tokyo ghoul root a were left disappointed do to how much of the manga plot points were left out of the anime and it became a basic battle anime in root A and ruined the well written and character development plus the phycological downfall of ken kenkai.  The anime just didn't have the same impact that the manga  did but the film corrected a lot of the flaws that the anime had and was a more faithful adaptation of the manga.  The film covers the first 3 volumes of the manga series from his initial transformation to a ghoul by rize intill his first confrontation with mado and Amon, and for the most part its faithful.  The only real deveation I noticed was the actual fight between ken and Amon in the source material it was one sided with Amon destroying ken, this was before he went though the turner with Jason and was still a whimp.  Here ken holds his own well before finally getting defeated.  Its a film so top notch action sequences are neccesarry so I understand why they did it and if theres a sequel which I'm sure there will be  the only thing it hurts is a little bit of the character development in ken since he didn't come more aggressive and more intune with his ghoul abilities and was more of a annoying crying whimp of a character intill the gruesome torture at the hands of Jason. here he's more hardened already when he first encounters Amon  but its something that I could easily look past.  The acting here was superb masataka Kubota nailed every aspect of kens character to a t.  Visually stunning and even though it wasn't  perfectly done I was thoroughly impressed with the cgi when it came to the kagune, it didn't look to out of place and looked like it could be a part of there characters instead of just shittly cgi that usually used with things like these that just make it look out of place.  Overall even though I like it I disagree with a lot of the reviews I've read that have called this the best live action anime ever that title for me still stays with rurouni ken shin and its two sequels but this was defiantly one of the better ones in recent memory and it won't disappoint neither the fans of the anime or the manga.  

overall grade

8.5 out of ten

neko majin z (manga review)

Akira toriyama is a legend in the manga community even before dragon ball z he was a highly successful manga writer with the critically acclaimed and top selling dr. slump series. Known for his unique sense of humor back in the dr. slump era people forget Akira toriyama is essently a comedy manga artist who got pulled into the battle shonen genre by the rapid success of dragon ball z. Today where gunna take a look at Akira toriyama's lesser known manga Neko majin which is essentially a parody of his own work dragon ball z and from beginning to end this product showcases the true nature of who Akira toriyama is as a magna artist.  The first two chapters known as "neko main" focus on a anamorphic cat like creature named neko majin who is a mischievous yet childlike creature who helps others, and its also established he's a budding martial artist. Its obvious from the first introduction and by his name he's a parody of majin buu something that is eluded to later in the manga. Typical toriyama comedy gags remenisint of the dr. slump days are sprinkled thought the first two chapters, but where this manga really picks up is during chapters 4-8 known as nekko majin z which is a dragon ball z parody written by the creator itself, and its highly enjoyable while adding more characters into the overall dragon ball z lore.  in chapter 4 Neko majin is fighting a local celebrity while he is distributed by  kuriza who is the son of freeza to a fight kuriza goes into his final form while neko powers up before the fight begins neko majin becomes self aware there no more pages left to cover the fight in the manga so they give up and walk away.  I thought this was very cheeky and a enjoyable read small subtle humor toriyama was known for before the dbz days nothing outlandishly funny or complex but tongue and cheek and enjoyable for what it is. Like I stated earlier neko is essentially a caricature of majin buu and when theres two meet I find it hilarious, I love how this manga is self aware of what it is a parody.  When buu finally meets neko he makes fun of his squinty eyes for neko to point out they look the same and act the same and challenges neko to a fight which buu destroys him.  Like I said theres nothing complex about this manga and its fairly basic with not much outlandish humor but its a call back to the style toriyama was known for before z and its refreshing.  Is it a masterpiece no but its only 8 chapters and its a entertaining read and anyone who is a fan of older toriyama or even dragon ball z for the parody of it should at least check it out and give it a once over read.

ajin-demi human (anime review)

 I just finished ajin-demi human. The show revolves around kei nagai who just found out he's a ajin a human/demon world who can never die and can summon black ghost and his trials getting used to being a ajin as well as avoiding the government and stopping another ajin Sato from committing terror attacks in Japan. This show was well paced and dived deep into the phyci and struggles of the main characters. What I enjoyed the most it felt like a well written strategy based war drama with strategic planning. Kei teaming up with the anti ajin government group to stop Satos quest at world domination had me on my feet and glued to the screen. The end was a little disappointing since instead of one of the plans working Sato Is finally stopped by a flood of black ghost that kei didn't even know he can do, a sort of asspull you see in a lot of shonen battle anime. Another thing I didn't like was the CGI animation. The characters lagged alot especially while walking feeling like Netflix was buffering but was just the shitty CGI which hurt the overall quality of the show for me. Another for the plus column for me was the opening sequences and music music was top notch and the animation was stellar fitting perfectly with the music. Overall between the fleshed out characters strategic war like feel and the phycological aspects of keis character development I really enjoyed this show even if the animation wasn't to my liking.  Overall id give ajin a 7 out if ten

TOKYO GHOUL RE: CHAPTERS 144-146 ANALYSIS ken kaneki's decent into full anti-hero territory when the hero becomes the villain for the sake of uniting all

You try your hardest to change the world for the better but no matter how hard you try nothing's changing so you make yourself a martyr go against your strong moral code and become the enemy, a enemy so powerful everyone has no choice but to unite to stop you. This is a character trope that we have scene in comics, manga, and anime for years from Batman in the Dark knight film to leleuche in code geas and it's always been a trope I've loved if done right. If something like this is foreshadowed if the main character has already dwelled in some morally grey moral areas for the sake of Justice then the turn from hero to villian or anti hero from the eyes of the viewers or readers is emotionally satisfying, and ohh was it heartbreaking yet absolutely necessary as well as a long time coming for ken kaneki,s heel turn to the ultimate evil for both human and ghouls. Ken kaneki was been one of the most fleshed out, emotionally damaged, tragic  characters in recent times in manga. From the time rize turned kaneki into a ghoul he was determined no matter what to still keep his humanity, determined not to embrace the ghoul inside him joining up with antieku the ghoul equivalent of vegetarians since they won't feed on humans to survive, and even though he's been slowly losing grip of his humanity he still tries to unite humans and ghouls into peacefully living together and still holding tightly to the little shread of humanity he has left.  His descent into the more anti-hero territory had started during his torture by yamori (Jason), while trying to hold on to his sanity and escape the pain he started having mental conversations with the embodiment of rize who was still a part of him.  Taunting him for being weak and fragile, phycolologically toying with his sense of self righteousness she pushing him to stop only caring about himself and worry more about others, which in logic is a good think but in the fragile mind state kanenki was in during the torture it pushed him into a more darker character with a punisher mentality save the ones you love at all cost no matter what you have to do.  In a matter of chapters ken went from a shinji from neon genesis evengalion character, a whiney emo teenager that was annoying into a more brutal more give no fucks as long as I save everyone vigilante character but despite this he still tried his hardest to stay a good person even if he was riding down a morally grey path at times, a example of this was his joining of agori tree.  Slowly thought the manga he started suffering from dissociative identity disorder while not hinted at much in the original Tokyo ghoul manga in RE. it slowly started coming full circle.  Having developed a more brutal emotionally broken second him in his mind a mental construct of himself still as "Jason's" prisoner who taunted him daily to embrace the more darker side of himself, a mental fight between his two selves he tried his hardest to win. eventually developing a third personality in the form of hide who helped him stay out of the moral grey areas.  This takes us to now starting with Tokyo ghoul re: chapter 144 when juuaza has taken ken down at he's at the bring of death.  Some might say what happens next is his final decent into darkness and fully embracing his full ghoul I intemperate the last three chapters we have so far as the most human he has been in the longest time ever if he fully transformed his kagune into full centipede form.  While slowly dying his mind turns to touka, how he won't be able to say goodbye to her, how we wants to see her one last time, fretting over the fact they haven't even named there child yet, and how he won't be in his Childs life since he believes he's dying.  Then he snaps the rize personality comes into full circle and tells him to kill everything in his path to survive no matter human or ghoul, then he transforms completely into his kagune and starts reaking havoc all over Japan. Yes the rize personality was domininate here but the most proment think that brought him to this state was protecting his wife and unborn child and creating a world of peace and humanity for his unborn child something any human would do anything to protect even diving into morally grey areas or completely psychotic actions to protect.  Its human nature to protect the ones you love and even though ken has fully embraced his ghoul side in appearance his mental state has not been more human since his turn into a ghoul.  Thats why I love the direction Tokyo ghoul is going and by the looks of it its slowly coming to a end but Len's full anti-hero decent is unique from every others I've seen for the fact its personal, its to see his wife one last item to hold his child, its the things that make us human the most that turn us to are darker selves and its a poetic visuals that mirror real life emotions.

the music industry and the explotation of troubled youth for a quick payday. a issue no one is talking about but should be capitalize

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

the fatal flaw of dragon ball super: taking the Naruto approach and writing villains so overpowered they have written themselves in the corner (Multiple times)

While watching dragon ball super the last two weeks one thing that has come to my mind and I'm sure to the mind of everyone else watching is how in fucksakes will goku defeat jiren.  They have written this character so overpowered it seems almost impossible that he will ever get defeated shit goku learns ultra instinct a ability that even makes the gods of destruction and kioshins tremble in fear, even making beerus sweat and yet jiren within a matter of seconds figures out his movements and manhandles goku with ease!!!  This has gotten me thinking back to naruto specifically Madara, and how even the writer of Naruto masashi kishimoto didn't even know himself how his main characters where gunna defeat him to the point he basically just gave up wrote another character in kaguya who was more powerful but had flaws Madera didn't who defeated Madara with ease but because of the flaws in kaguya nararuto and sasuke were actually able to defeat her.  It got me thinking has the writers over at dragon ball super writing them selves into a corner they can't come out of without completely switching antagonist or have to pull a ending out of there ass then I remember JUST ONE ARC AGO DRAGON BALL SUPER DID EXACTLY THAT and that doesn't give me high hopes for the end of this arc or how jiren will be defeated.  Remember back to the future trunks arc after goku black and zamazu fused into one being, he was unbeatable shit even goku and vegetarian fusing into yegito or even trunks Genki dama sword couldn't even end him for good, it took a cop out ending of goku hitting the Zeno button and Zeno erasing the whole future timeline to put a end to zamazu.  Dragon ball super has so far been having a good run at least since they got past the movie retellings and got into original material but the one major flaw and it has been since the beginning of super there writing there antagonist so overpowered there legitly no way for the heroes to win so they take a cop out ending. They even actually did this in the battle of gods arc based off the movies BEERUS JUST BECAME FRIENDS WITH GOKU WHEN HE COULD OF EASILY KILLED HIM, in the universe six arc hit could of actually killed goku but they handicapped him so there was no killing involved limiting hits strength, future trunks arc Zeno had to interview to end merge zamasu I'm afraid to even think what cop out there gunna have with jiren I mean dragon ball z was guilty of this a lot I also saw the spirit bomb as a cop out ending they'd power up transform can't defat the enemy fuse still can't defeat the enemy then magically kill them with a spirit bomb which they could of done the whole time.   Supers issue is the spirit bomb can't even be used as a cop out ending any more because it didn't kill merged zamasu and jiren just tanked it away with ease. While trying to please the fans with overpowered fights and transformations and stronger villains they have gotten to a point that Naruto did that there writing villains so over powered the heroes of the story can't even defeat them anymore and dragon ball super is only in its THIRD original arc and not ending anytime soon and this if not fixed will ruin this series

OCTOBER 2017 IS THE MONTH OF WU (DOUBLE REVIEW): WU TANG CLAN THE SAGA CONTINUES AND MASTA KILLA LOYALTY IS ROYALTY

THE SAGA CONTINUES


As a die-hard wu-tang clan fan even myself has to admit that the quality of music wu tang has released over the past decade has been sub-par.  Ever since 8 diagrams rza has been pushing a more experimental production style on new wu-albums a lot of hit or misses more misses than hits and albums so all over the place many fans including myself agreed that wu-tang needs to drop rza from main producer or stop releasing group products because what they were releasing was hurting there stellar legacy as one if not the greatest group in hip-hop history.  Apparently the cries of wu-tang fans were heard and even though most won't consider a saga continues as a (wu-tang album) its more of a compilation of songs that feature members of wu-tang clan) its still a step in the right direction for the group.  Rza here steps away from the production chair and lets long-term wu tang affiliated producer mathematics take full control of the soundscape of the saga continues.  The reviews so far have been polarizing some fans up in arms that the production style is to crisp and have them hating it just because it doesn't have that gritty stripped down  sound like 36 chambers, wu-tang forever or the w, and other fans praising this as the best wu-tang album since the W and commending mathematics for brining the real gritty wu-tang sound back.  Now my opinion yes this album is more polished production wise than there older work but the production on this album is still gritty and dark while being crisp and clear having a more lox sounding tone to it but it fits perfectly for the wu-tang sound, and as far as there best album since the w I have to disagree I believe iron flag is better (and HIGHLY HIGHLY SLEPT ON GETS MORE HATE THAN IT DESERVES  ITS ONE OF THERE MOST VERSATILE ALBUMS SOUND-WISE THAT DOESN'T MISS A STEP) but overall I really enjoy the sage continues and its a step in the right direction for wu-tang dropping a product that is reminiscent of there earlier work while sounding more polished than there older sounds. The lead single the people say which is the only full wu-tang song on here featuring redman is a soulful hip-hop track with some of the strongest lyrics by there members in a while. The best song on the album and the reason why I think aloof people can't appreciate this album since not every song is up to this caliber and few even come close.  People say is such a classic throwback style wu-tang track that had fans clamoring for more and while the rest of the album Imo is amazing none of it stands up to people say or the 2nd single ;lessons learn'd with inspectah deck and redman.  And thats this albums main flaw it showcased its two standout tracks way to early and gave people higher expectations for the album and while this album isn't bad the quality besides one other song on here doesn't come close to the singles.  The track Imo that does stand toe to toe with the lead singles is the method man track frozen featuring Chris rivers and killa priest.  This track is pure vintage 356 chambers wu-tang kung fu samples gritty stripped down beats with lyrical prowess and destruction by top tear emcees. I loved seeing chis rivers on this track who held his own with two legends because it gives him more exposure and even though he is the son of the legendary big bun he's still highly slept on.  Overall like I said I enjoyed this album a lot but the album isn't perfect, id compare this album to a smoke dza or chuuwee album while there are no bad tracks on this album most of the tracks are good but not expectational and nothing that stands out heavy besides 3 joints there just good while not providing those ear-gashing moments we expect from older wu-tang and while this is a step in the right direction for wu-tang its still not up to par with there older material which is sad especially since solo projects by wu tang members have been some of there best work yet especially ghost face kills and as of recent pasta kill which leads into the next review

 wu-tang clan presents the sage continues rating: 7.5 out of ten



MASTA KILLA LOYALTY IS ROYALTY

Masta killa has always been on the lower end of the talent spectrum in the wu-tang clan and on solo releases.  While no one can deny master killa is talented when you have a group who has 5 members who I could easily put on the top twenty of all time list master killa just takes a back seat. Though with his latest release loyalty is royalty he shows that most including me have been sleeping on him way to hard and his name should be mentioned with the likes of the higher rung wu members like ghost,rae, deck, and meth.  The album starts off with the track "return of thee masta) a track that has the same sound and vibe as anything on Raekwon's classic only built 4 cuban linx) With asian woodwind sounds setting the mood the opening track is the most wu sounding track out of any wu-tang releases in recent times, bringing back nostalgic feelings of when I was first introduced to wu-tang back in the second grade when wu-wear was all the age and c.r.e.am was in the lexicon of every person young and old black and white in America.   The albums standout track by far is therapy which samples the 1985 soul classic mr. wrong by r and b legend Sade, along with reman and method man this track not only has some of the best sample work I've heard all year on a hip-hop release it has three strong verses by three veteran emcees that prove they haven't lost there step.  Another stand out is the Sean price assisted down with me a song that shows homage and love to one of the most slept on yet relevant group of people when it comes to why rap music became so popular in the late 80's and early 90s and thats the mixtape dis and more importantly the college radio personalities such as mr. magic stretch and bonito that gave most of the 90s rappers there first major platform to be heard.  Even though how amazing this album is this album does have flaws while the flaws aint lyrical its more trying to fit in with times.  On the title track to this album a love song over a soulful instrumental that while lyrically strong feels off especially since ml's hard gritty delivery feels out of place over a beat that has the makings of a classic hip-hop ballad. Regardless though this is defiantly master kills best solo album and so far IMO my favorite album this year and defiantly a contender for album of the year

BLACK CLOVER ANIME: FIRST REACTION AND REVIEW EPISODES 1 AND 2

black clover is the most anticipated and talked about anime series that debuted in the 2017 fall anime season. Based off the manga of the same name from weekly shonen jump black clover might be the most polarizing manga to come out in recent times. A story about a young orphan named Asta growing up in a world filled with magic while not having any magical abilities himself.  A trope we are currently seeing in my hero academia and a plot device we have seen in plenty of shonen before a antagonist with nothing special about him striving then becoming the strongest individual in its series.  Black clover has been criticized for combining every possible shonen trope and stealing ideas from every popular shonen series ever (one piece, Naruto, bleach, dragon ball, fairy tale my hero academia etc.  Personally as I do see similarities between the two black clover isn't doing anything every shonen series doesn't do already, take inspiration from previous popular shonen magna while putting there own unique touch to the story.  I actually really enjoy this magna and as soon as the first episode of it was uploaded on crunchy roll I immediately clicked and watched it. The episode started off the same cliche way every other shonen series does introducing you to the main characters briefly establishing there back stories and goals while focusing on the main characters lack of skills and showcasing the typical rival character as a prodigy thats leagues spun leagues stronger then anyone else.  while all leading up int he last five minutes to the character gaining in some shape or form a ability he lacked before.  The difference to me in episode one unlike most shonen was that even though Asta did not have magic whatsoever his rival yuno during the fight that lead to Asia getting magic still believed in Asta's ability to help him out of a diary situation and was not shocked one bit when Asta finally received his grimoire and new abilities, and with in the second episode went into detail why yuno help Asia to such high regards minus him not having any magical powers at all.  Most reviews I've seen on this show bashed the fact that after only 2 episodes black clover was dwelling into (filler) territory for me though someone that appreciates a well written dwelled out story enjoyed the second episode that except for the last five minutes was a flashback because it explained the mind state of the characters during that situation and within two episodes already stablished two well written characters and gave them More character traits and dwelled into character development more in two episodes then some shonen do in the first arc of the series.  Yes this is going to be a typical shonen battle series but I appreciate the anime's take of dwelling into character backgrounds so early on.  yes its deemed filler because its not "in the magna" but to me filler has always been a episode of a anime that does nothing to expand or add to the main plot which the second episode does well. after two episodes of black clover I'm already hooked and so far am actually enjoying it more than the magna which is a rare thing since the source material is usually better, and if this series keeps  dwelling into character backstories and fleshes out the characters well like its already doing then this might end up being my favorite new anime of 2017 and so far based off what I've seen is already looking as the front runner as best new anime of the 2017 fall season

police brutality in America IT ISNT JUST A BLACK PROBLEM IT ISNT JUST A WHITE PROBLEM AND IF WE DONT RELISE THIS THIS IS A PROBLEM THAT WONT SIEZE TO EXIST IN AMERICA

I've always been a blogger that has been deemed "controversial" by many do to my no holds bar reviews and in general a no holds bar take on everything including think pieces I've done on this blog. A title I haven't earned because nothing I've talked about on this blog has been controversial it's just been weak minded individuals not agreeing with a music review or view point on a music industry critique. Intill now that is, the subject I'm about to discuss now is controversial in so many lights and the approach I'm going to be taken here will stir up even more emotional outrage than the subject matter itself, and this subject matter is police brutality and corruption, I'm specifically gunna go into detail on how the use of excessive force by law enforcement isn't just a issue the black community faces but a issue most Americans especially Americans of a lower tax bracket and who have mental illness face daily in this country. Before you crucify now just by this introduction let me go into a summary of points this article is about to cover, one I'm not going to go deeply into nationally known stories on this subject matter that will prove my point, two even though this article is going into police brutality I do wanna say this NOT ALL COPS ALL BAD AND NOT ALL COPS ARE IMMORAL POWER HUNGRY NOR USE A STEREOTYPED RADAR ON INDIVIDUALS, but just because a vast majority don't doesn't mean this isn't a huge issue that doesn't need to be discussed, thats like saying just because a lot of people with mental illness or most gun owners don't go on mass killing sprees when one does we should not discuss the issue of gun control or reforms in mental health treatment, and three the main reason I'm writing this article national media has portrayed a cops vs black war going on in this country and yes there are some examples where its clear the victim of police brutality was profiled for his race does not mean every instance of police brutality is race based, and if we can't realize this then this issue will never be handled. In this article I'm going to be discussing TWO LOCAL CASES of police brutality from both sides of the spectrum, the discrimination of a black man (who was my best friend and a story thats so tragic it still hits me hard emotionally daily" and a case of police brutality towards a white male (which ended tragically) and I'm going to go into details of the similarities in both cases trying to hammer the point that this is a issue that ALL AMERICA FACES AND IF WE DON'T UNITE ON THIS COMMON FRONT THIS IS A ISSUE IN AMERICA THAT IS JUST GOING TO CONTINUE TO GET WORSE.  First off I wanna briefly go into detail of a recent personal experience I recently had with excessive force with police that got me in the mindset to write this article, I've actually have personally dealt with two difference incidents of excessive force by law enforcement but this article is not about me so I'm not gunna go into details about the first but just a brief summary of the recent one to jump start this actual article. Three days before writing this article I was walking down the main street of my home town, me and my fiancé were getting into a heated argument over the phone which caught the attention of a undercover vice squad detective who was conducting surveillance on a suspected drug house in town. This detective without warning darts towards me picks me up by my shirt though me against the wall picks me back up by my short carries me about 20 feet and hurls me into the grass of a near by pocket park asking me to empty my pockets which I do he takes the contents of my pockets my wallet, cigarets and light and tells me to go on my way, I called the police since I didn't actually believe this guy was a deceptive who eventually got my possessions back well my wallet after a shitty explanation as of why he did this to the officer. A common citizen getting into a heated argument with my fiancé something everyone has done at one point or another targeted by a power hungry officer of the law, which leads me into the first story I wanna get into, a story of a disgruntled lover emotionally unhinged after a break up who filed false charges on my best friend and how he was convicted and falsely imprisoned for 5 years without a trial and in the end took his own life just because he was a large athletically but black man being accused of horrendous crime by a skinny white female with no evidence at ALL OF ANY OF THESE OUTRAGEOUS CLAIMS but convicted and held purely based off his race. My friend terrell at the time 23 years old had just broken things off with his girlfriend crystal of 4 years and not only did he break things off with her he filed for adoption of her son who child services was about to remove from her care for neglect. This fact itself makes this story even more sickening not only was his accuser a white female but a white female who child services was actively investigating to the point one of her kids was being removed from the household, and what makes this sickening is the charges he was accused of were extreme forms of child abuse and torture with no evidence backing up none of these claims.  After the break up crystal had filed charges on terrell with accusations such as slicing a 8 year olds finger nails down the middle with a knife, pulling there deaths out with a claw hammer, putting out lit cigarettes on her Childs faces and even rape and sodomy, again ACCUSATIONS WITH NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER on accusations thats clearly should of left permanent physical scaring. Police had looked into her claims for SIX MONTHS before arresting him finding no evidence whatsoever.  A individual the local newspapers deemed  MONSTER wasn't arrested intill 6 MONTHS AFTER THE ACCUSATIONS as the police spent 6 Months investigating the claims finding nothing.  Yet 6 months after the accusations they arrested him anyway with no evidence and this is 100% a case of racial discrimination leading to a arrest.  5 years he sat in prison while getting sexually assaulted and tortured and beat the the point of loosing eyesight by other inmates do to the nature of his charges not once did he go to trail since the trial kept getting delayed.  5 years later he had went to trial and was released on time served with 2 years of probation for one account of simple assault on a child because the cops used there typical lying tactic if you admit to this you will be bale to go home today ordeal on the lesser of the charges which was slapping a 6 year old in a face.  A individual deemed a monster by local media released after 5 years despite being crucified and falsely painted as a mentally unstable child abuser walks free after 5 years this doesn't add up, and sadly this story doesn't end here and the discrimination of the police sadly doesn't end here.  2 weeks after his release terrell was suicidal and had signed himself into a local psychiatric facility because he couldn't handle the real world after his release 3 days later police arrest him for probation violation for NOT BEING AT THE ADRESS HE WAS RELEASED TO EVEN THOUGH HE INFORMED HIS PROBATION OFFICER HE WAS GOING INTO THE PSYCHIATRIC hospital.  terrell did another 6 month for probation violation and 2 weeks of being on the outside paranoid and rightly so that the police discrimination and harassment on him would never end hung himself all because of police discrimination towards him.  A pure tragedy which helps the case of the people saying police ONLY TARGET BLACK INDIVIDUALS.  The next story happened to a mentally ill WHITE MAN who's downfall and eventual death was sadly started by his cry for help and his call to the local crisis center to help him though a mental breakdown.  Might not be as tragic and heartbreaking as the previous story but heartbreaking none the less. A white schizophrenic man who did the right thing by calling a crisis worker to get help for himself instead of harming others tragically gets gunned down by police officers while not causing harm or even threatening harm on anyone but himself. A man in need of mental health help actually calling for help before he did something he regretted getting his life taken by him by the people he called to help him. a group who's Moto is to PROTECT AND SERVE kill someone who called for there help. Thomas read a 36 year old aspiring musician struggling with schizophrenia who's girlfriend just left him and was suicidal had called the New Jersey crisis center because he had SUICIDAL THOUGHTS. I wanna stress this right here Thomas reed was a man calling a crisis center not because he had intentions of harming anyone nor threatening violence on no one at all but himself, a guy suicidal reaching out for help. Protocol for crisis is that a police officer accompany the crisis worker incase the individual in need of help becomes violent, in this case though the police officer had arrived before the crisis worker and approached the individual even before the crisis worker was on the scene which is in direct violation of protocol in this situation.  The officer approached the door asking to come inside Thomas said no he wasn't gunna speak to no one but the crisis worker the cop then gets aggressive in tone threatening to kick down the door if the officer did not allow him in which Thomas reacted by putting a knife to his own neck threatening to kill himself if the officer didn't back away, instead of the officer backing away he fired two shots though the window of his apartment one hitting and killing Thomas.  By the time the crisis worker arrived Thomas was murdered by police, the official story by the cops and the one in the paper is that Thomas lounged towards police with the weapon and that they had calls of him making treating remarks to another individual.  Both statements here have been proven false the first one by neighbors who had witnessed the whole ordeal including his upstairs neighbor that was in the backyardDEFENSELESS at the time and saw Thomas put a knife to his neck and the other statements were proven false by the crisis worker.  In this case a DEFENSELESS WHITE MALE WAS KILLED BY POLICE WHO THEN COVERED IT UP WITH LIES.  In both cases both victims of police brutality and corruption were portrayed falsely as violent mentally unhinged men by police falsely when evidence proved otherwise, in both cased police not only used illegal tactics to save there own asses but also do to this lead to the deaths of both individuals.  Both cases ended tragically by either the cops pride to solve a case that didn't need to be solving or the impatience to deal with a individual, and both cases law endowment officers went against there code of 'PROTECT AND SERVE" AND INSTEAD OF HAVING INDIVIDUALS FEEL SAFE AROUND POLICE OR FEEL SAFE CALLING POLICE FOR HELP THEY TURNED THEMSELVES INTO UNRELIABLE PEOPLE AND ACTUALLY MADE INDIVIDUALS IN THE COMMUNITY FEEL UNSAFE AROUND THE POLICE.  Two men of two different races lives tragically ended by the actions of law enforcement and this was only 15 miles apart from one another.  If two incidents hitting two different nationalities of people happened within 15 miles from each other PROVES THAT IN THIS COUNTRY THIS TYPE OF POLICE BRUTALITY AND CORRUPTION HAPPENS TO EVERYONE REGARDLESS OF SKIN-TONE IN THE United States. Again I'm not stating that there aren't direct incidents of racial discrimination by police because there are I'm trying to Hammer the point that its not just a black thing its just not a white thing this is a ISSUE  THAT AFFECTS EVERYONE AND IF WE AS A UNITED COUNTRY DOESN'T RELISE THIS THIS IS A ISSUE THAT WILL NEVER END.

ASUN EASTWOOD- NIMBUS REVIEW

Canadian hip-hop once was a hot bed for up and coming underground rappers with swollen members leading the forefront but everyone else since them thats blown up in the canadian underground scene sound exactly like swollen members, and in the mainstream scene everyone from canada is sounding like the face of canadian music drake, thats why asun eastwoods debut e.p nimbus is a breathe of fresh air for a canadian rapper. Is his flow style delivery and contact original no, it sounds like the current go to sound of the nyc underground scene the low monotone flow visually mesmerizing gritty almost cinematic lyrics about the ganglife and drug trade made popular by acts like roc marciano and kA. That doesn't matter though since what he spits about he lives and with a different production style besides the minimalistic soft no drum instrumentals that allow listeners to curly focus on the lyrics he has a more crisp yet still gritty production style that makes this album sound refreshing.  Tracks like "asuns story" a autobiographical masterpiece describing his struggles his pain the sorrow and emptiness that the loss of his brother at a young age caused him to unsettling truths about getting stabbed shot and left for dead  delivered with pure emotion that you can feel though your headphones make ASUN one of the best storytellers and visionary emcees in the game today. Even when he's sharing mics with some of the best rappers into like sky zoo and conway this up and coming rapper proves he deserves to be rapping with the best.  This is defiantly one of the best debut's I've heard from a new artist in a few years and I'm highly looking forward to new music by him in the upcoming future

EMINEMS B.E.T CYPHER VERSE mediocre lyrically but the much needed shot in the arm the music industry needed

Unless you live completely off social media and tv, just a hermit so disclosed from society that you don't here any current events at all which doesn't imply to anyone reading this since this is a blog on the internet, you have watched or at least heard everyone and there mother talking about eminems cypher verse from this years b.e.t awards. The verse that shook up the nation 100% being directly aimed at the sad excuse of a president we currently have in office. When trump first took office everyone in my circle said the only plus side of him being in office is the revival of punk music and hip-hop with a politically charged message.  So far though there hasn't been much in the terms of a revival, sure rage against the machine minus zach de la rocha teamed up with chuck d and b-real to form prophets of rage whose debut e.p was nothing but anti-political fueled lyrics but reception wise didn't make much of a impact. Run the jewels specifically killer mike has been the voice of social anarchy and had a huge impact not only during the 2016 election but still is making a impact off his bold statements today but besides two tracks off run the jewels three and not even full tracks a couple of lines off the few tracks even direct the views he was campaigning either on can on the election campaign himself with bernie sanders or on social media, which was little disappointing. Still nothing mainstream that would have a direct impact on society music wise was released making anti-political statements that most of america was thinking would happen once trump came back in office, intill now.  Eminem is considered one of the top 5 greatest lyricist of all time by many and is one of the highest selling rappers as all time and after closing in on a 20 year career is still one of the most popular names in hip-hop today, so if he goes on a five minute freestyle directing towards trump the whole world is paying attention, the impact in the music scene we have been waiting on.  Only issue its eminem who is a amazing lyricist don't get me wrong but goes from goofy to serious in the blink of a eye and while making some valid points it isn't a verse thats gunna lead to a political revolution in music like the sex pistols in the 70's public enemy in the 80's rage against the machine in the 90's and green day in the early 00's. A artist that has such a big format to make his change i found it lack luster that his first bar started "thats a awfully hot coffee pot/ should i drop it on donald trump? probably not? the same juvenile diss humor that eminem is known for doesn't scream political revolution to me. He did spit some very politically driven factual bars touching on disturbing but true current events and actions by OUR PRESIDENT some that hit heavy to me as a listener such as



"but we better give obama props

cause what we got in office now is a kamikaze

that';; probably cause a nuclear holocaust

and while the drama pops

and he waits for shit to quit down hell gas his plane up

and fly around till the bombing stops

intensities heightened tensions rising

trump when it comes to giving a shit your stingy as i am"



"plus this is his form of distraction

plus he gets a enormous reaction

when he attacks the nil so we focus on that in

stead of talking puerto rico or gun reform in evade

all the horrible tragedies and he's bored and would rather

cause a twitter storm with the packers

then says he wants to lower are taxes"



lyrics with a real message yet for eminem who's earlier work is known for sharply executed multi's the flow was a little off going at times for extended bars where the flow don;t exactly match to his normal machine gun-multi style flow. a lot of it lyrically wasn't bad but for eminems caliber fell short still the message and the impact this message will have due to his high profile name should lead to similar song for verses by more mainstream names and I'm hoping just hoping eminem's verse in this cypher leads to that anti-political music revolution we have been slowly waiting on ever since trump got into office

THREE ongoing manga recommendations that do not have a anime as of yet

Anime is one of the fastest growing international trends to Sweep though America with titles such as dragon ball z, narutu, bleach, one piece, death note and more recently sword art online,fairy tale,attack on titan.my hero academia, becoming such big properties that non anime fans even know what they are. Most any though is based off of manga the Japanese equivalent of comic books which in America doesn't have as big of a following as the animated version of the same product.  In this article I'm gunna discuss three of my current favorite ongoing manga series that are still releasing new content weekly THAT DONT HAVE A ANIME ADAPTATION AT THE MOMENT.




THE PROMISED NEVERLAND WRITTEN BY Kaiu Shirai for weekly shonen jump;

At first look at the cover art for this series this manga looks like a typical shonen adventure series about positivity filled with coming of ages slice of life content and comedy.  Read the first chapter of this series and you will notice how wrong you actually are.  The promised Neverland is the darkest thing to come out of weekly shonen jump since the chimera ant arc in hunterxhunter.  What is the promised Neverland you ask well the promised Neverland is a magna about children under the age of 16 in a orphanage with a loving caring mother figure and how they find out everything they thought they knew about there life was a complete lie.  In reality there basically farm animals groomed to be Mensa levels of intelligence and when they come as age there sold as meat for demons who enjoy the taste of brains from the absolute smartest children, and that loving mother figure is a sadistic survivor doing whatever she has to do to survive grooming these kids with a false sense of hope to personally hand them over to there deaths.  Yes this isn't your typical shonen magna, but theres another twist.  You might asked what can be more shocking then the premise of this whole manga well by this premise you might think this is a horror manga and you would be wrong.  The first part of the promised never land is on the same lines of another series that by the initial premises before reading you might think is a horror manga then after reading it you find it to be a phycological thriller focused on the mind games of genius's trying the outwit each other i.e death note.  The children find out the truth about there seemingly perfect lies by actually seeing a demon scoop up a child who they tried to give her stuffed rabbit back to after they believe she's being adopted, then plan there escape.  They have to keep all there plans secret from the "mother" who is on to them and it becomes a phycological cat and mouse game between the kids trying to escape and the "mother" trying to make sure the next shipment of children doesn't get interrupted.  the second half of the manga as of now is on the lines of a adventure novel after they escape focusing on how they survive and adapt to the new world witch there the only humans in and try to follow clues left by a mysterious man to a human safe haven in a different dimension.  This is one of the very few manga I have ever read that has delivered week after week and week after week each chapter end sin a cliff hanger that leaves you screaming and feinding for more.



JAGAAAAAAAAN WRITTEN BY KANESHIRO Muneyuki for big comic spirits

This might be one of the most disturbing most graphic most wtf magna I have read in a long time especially the first 20+ chapters before the tone of this magna goes from a complete horror seinen series to some weird gross out super sentii style series about grossly disfigured half humans that have been taken over by parasitic demon like frogs that team up to take on humans completely taken over by these parasitic demon frogs one who which is a mentally unstable stalker series rapist who as soon as he sticks his tongue into a female they immediately wanna have sex with him.  This series starts out with the main character Shintaro Jagasaki who is a cop with the mind of a school shooter, he pictures in his head mass murdering everyone he arrest and pictures murdering his own finance, in a normal magna you would view someone like this as the ultimate villain in this series he is actually the hero. One day his arm gets taken over by some parasitic demon frog  but is able to somehow stop it before completely turning him over turning his hand into a weapon and those criminals and civilians he wants to murder so bad well they end up getting completely taken over by these parasitic demon frogs and its up to jagasaki to kill them to safe the day turning his eager desire to kill everyone in sight into something positive in the blink of a eye.  This magna is a mindfuck with some of the most disturbing scenes I've seen in magna since berserk and Gants. Also this magna is extremely intriguing and has me waiting each week to see where this magna goes

PLATINUM END WRITTEN BY TSUGUMI OHBA FOR JUMP SQ

If you were a author how would you follow up one of the most commercially successful while critically acclaimed and beloved series of the past decade that also had a completely original plotline that hasn't been seen in anywhere else before?? for death note author tsunami ohba he took a few concepts from some popular magna series (future diary and his own death note) and put them into one concept.  Platinum end starts off with suicidal high school student Mirai Kakehashi who tries to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of his school only to be rescued by a angel, yes a actual angel since in this reality angels safe suicide victims and put them in a last man standing battle Royale with 13 other suicidal people all equipped  with magic arrows to decide who will become GOD AFTER GOD RETIRES IN 999 DAYS. Only in Japan would of concept like this even exist and yet it works so well. The only thing I don't like about this manga is that its a monthly release so the pacing is extremely slow since you get only one chapter a month and its just a prolonged chapter in the same situation instead of progressing more than one story lines in a chapter but overall this is a amazing series that I highly recommend 

Next2blow: ren thomas

One of my most popular segments when the blog was at its peak was my monthly next2blow articles that showcased a underground artist who was gaining major buzz, aligned themselves with major co-signs and were making moves to elevate there passion for music into a actual career.  The first artist I'm covering in this relaunched segment has made more progress in this past year career wise then most of you will in your lifetime and I'm talking about clark, nj native ren Thomas.  Rapping since the age of ten ren has always had a sharp skillset but it wasn't intill 2012 that ren started to gain huge momentum as a emcee specifically on the battle rap circuits.  That year ludacris was hosting a battle rap competition at MAGNUM CONDOMS LIVE LARGE PROJECT 2 which ren made it until the semi finals. A year later placed third at the prestige end of the week us championships placing second just two years later, then in 2016 he WON TEAMBACKPACKS MISSIONUNDERGROUND MUNY cypher championships. After that he released his first single off his long anticipated debut album I been nice that was produced by none other than hip-hop legend Pete rock and the album itself was hosted by lord sear. With this much acclaim as a battle rapper one might ask how is he next2blow he already seems to have a highly admirable resume as a battle rapper and his name is already known throughout the underground rap scene? Yes that is indeed true but ren Thomas has recently done something that intill westidegunn and Conway signed with shady last year was basically unheard of for a underground artist, getting mainstream shine. In July vh1 aired a reality show entitled signed where big time moguls a@r,s artist, and executives brought in inspiring rappers and singers to see who had what it took to be signed to a major label.  In a mix of Nicki Minaj wannabes, soul singers, and carbon copy's of mainstream rappers like migo's there was one emcee than stood out amongst the pack that was ren, a master lyricist who rick ross actually used as a weapon to test the rapping abilities of other contestants. A true lyricist with actual talent in a pool of gimmicky rappers he stood above the rest so much so vh1 though clever editing actually had to falsify his performance in the final rounds to make it look like he slipped up since he was portrayed as the clear cut winner. Infact he as actually offered a deal if he switched his sound up since the moguls didn't know how to market and make money off a old school pure lyricist and no gimmick, and to this I say they were wrong.  Yes real lyricism is all about dead in modern day hip-hop but go back and re-watch his performance of no chaser during signed and seee how the crowd reacted even receiving a call and response during the chorus.  A track like that which had so much energy could easily be a mainstream single and yes the rest of his material is more gritty underground than no the high energy of no chaser, but the format of a mainstream friendly single for a album of pure hiphop has worked and has seen platinum album sales for artist like big pun, Eminem and recently j.cole and kendrick lamar.  He could of easily been marketed in the same light and been a success.  Even though he didn't get signed on the reality show ren Thomas has shown no signs of slowing down and after already 6 years of success in the music scene hasn't seen his peak yet.

DRAGON BALL SUPER THEORY: GOKU HELPS FRIEZA IN HIS QUEST TO SURPASS THE GODS

I have and always have been a huge anime fan especially of the dragon ball franchise, and covering anime is something Ive been wanting to do for a few years now. On Saturday dragon ball super aired a one hour special featuring the heavily hyped and promoted fight between goku vs jiren and it was beyond amazing especially episode 110. While everyone is theorizing and talking about goku,s ultra instinct technique (yes it's a technique not a transformation but I am not gunna be arguing that now) I wanna discuss a huge possible plot point that got overshadowed and hasn't even been mentioned in the dragon ball community and that is pertaining to freIza. As goku was emerging from the brink of death in the ultra instinct state the show cuts to the reactions of other participants in the tournament of power to goku,s massive change in power. During this a sequence you see every last god of destruction, kai, angel visibly shaken at the pure magnitude of power goku was emmiting. Then it cuts to freiza's reaction he looks intrigued and gives a very menacing smile after its stated and visibly clear the gods are even horrified by this new state goku is in.  Now let's cut to the ending cliffhanger of freiza standing over goku with a energy attack ready to fire making the viewer believe freiza will kill goku. Freiza mentions he never forgot about nanek which doesn't pertain to goku almost killing freeza but the fact that goku healed freiza. Now you're the thinking why would freeza heal goku and it's not just for the fact goku healed freiza. freeza NEVER does anything for anyone that doesn't benefit himself. Since freiza resurrected in the universal survival arc he has made his motives clear to pull one over the gods and rule over all. Freiza just saw the gods frightened of goku's new increase of power which intrigues freiza. I theorise one way or another freiza will or at least try to trick, or even blackmail Goku into helping him surpass the gods and I actually could see this happen. One possibility of this outcome comes with freiza winning the wish in the super dragon balls for having the most eliminations if universe 7 wins. Goku will want to revive everyone who has died and been eliminated in the tournament of power something you know freiza wouldn't do.  Remember though freiza is a very cunning very calculative manipulator he could suggest to goku he will use the wish to revive everyone back if he helps freeza overtake the gods. Now before you say goku won't do that one hie whole mindset since the original dragon ball is to fight strong opponents and with how much jiren and hit evolve and adapt and get stronger with every fight goku might actually contemplate and agree to freiza's offer. The second scenario of this happening is darker more sinister and something freiza would do in a heartbeat out goku's family in mortal danger INTILL he agrees to help him take out the gods. You might say but goku is more powerful then freeza and even if he wasn't with the help of Vegeta and gohan they could end freeza for good. Yes that's true but your forgetting freiza's most powerful and useful technique his mastery in the art of manipulation. Remember from the beginning of this arc to the gods goku is the ultimate evil the mortal who put all the universes at risk of destruction what if freiza manipulated the gods of destruction or the angels into thinking he's good or at least the lesser of two evils to help him take out goku for once and for all by targeting the ones he loves.  The angels actually fit better in this scenario since if universe 7 wins no other go of destructions will be alive but the angels will and could be salty and upset that there god of destructions have been erased from the face of existence. they could target gokus family forcing goku to align with freiza into helping him achieve total multiversal domination. now remember this is just a theory that I came up with bu a theory none the less I think has a huge possibility of becoming reality towards the climiax of this arc. leave your thoughts on this theory below and lets have a civil discussion about why or why not this can possible be a possible upcoming story plot

The blog is back up!! But in a different format

I haven't posted on here in well over five years and still to this day I get asked on the streets will the blog ever be back up and my answer is always no. When I first started East coast underground central it was ment to be a blog covering the indie music scene on the east coast as well as having think pieces about the music industry, current affairs, and my views on a variety of subjects that could mold the content of music such as politics, gun control, the drug trade, just current worldly subjects that real musicians touch upon in there music. After a few months the blog grew a huge local following in the Lehigh valley and slowly molded into a local hip-hop blog covering the Lehigh valley hip-hop scene. I was fine with that supporting local music something no one else was doing but me at the time but eventually it just because too much. I'm a very blunt critic and alot of local musicians couldn't take the harsh criticism eventually leading to violence directed at me in person, gross memes portraying me in a false and disgusting light, and was even sued in court for libel on a article i did on a local rapper. (A case I won because i had all my sources in order to prove my story true) so I quit blogging but never quit my passion as a writer gaining a fairly successful life as a freelance journalist for Various some of them well known publication's. I've decided to bring the blog back but before the excitement this blog is going back to my original vision for this blog and will no longer be a Lehigh valley hip-hop blog but a indie culture blog covering a variety of topics as well as covering artist of every genre in the East coast music scene who have a strong buzz or I personally like. Will also be posting anime theories and reviews and magna reviews, maybe some profiles on some upcoming skateboarders, cigar reviews. I'm just going to be covering a wide variety of my interest. I was just going to create a new blog INTILL i realized despite being absent of new content for five years this blog still averages 500 views monthly and has a lot of following still so decided to relaunch this instead do to the still high traffic volume. So do not message me for reviews write ups ect. Because that's not what this blog is anymore and if you enjoyed my older content outside of my harsh criticism of local rappers then I hope you enjoy my new content and for everyone else good day

The slow but inevitable end of the music industry part 1: double standards in artist signing

Throughout the various mediums of the music industry I've dwelled in though the years (blogger, promoter, producer, manager and even as a low intern) I've noticed many double standards when it comes to why or why not they won't work or sign a artist, a lot of flawed logic when it comes to the perception of success and the sad decline of physical sales and support by fans. So I just wanna talk about and discuss the current state of the music industry though the eyes of a very perceptive blogger that has taken alot of mental notes throughout the years. I will be doing this in a six part series of articles. The first matter I wanna discuss is the double standards of signing a artist.  When I was first coming up as a writer and started to get a following as a blogger I built a business relationship and friendship with a budding rapper who was gaining a big following on the battle rap circuit including being one of the biggest names on the now defunct mtv2 show fight Klub. He was being pursued by alot of labels and had sit downs with the likes of def jam, shady records, Atlantic, and was even signed to the hip-hop indie label phycological records that is very acclaimed in the underground hip-hop scene.  This artist however had a major drug problem as well as a long criminal history of burglaries and stick-ups. This was the same reason he was let go by phycological records, one night at the age of 20 itching for a fix broke into label headquarters and stole recording equipment to sell for a bundle of heroin. He was blackballed for life from the music industry eventually cleaning his act up getting cleaned and five years later his career is bigger then ever recently being featured on ghost face killa's critically acclaimed 36 seasons but still to this day because of his pass is still blackballed and will never secure a recording contract even with a independent label. You might be wondering how this story pertains to double standards in the signing process of labels but if you look at the headlines on website's like xxl, ambrosia for heads, hip-hop early, mass appeal, ect. then the answer should be pretty obvious. For those who can't piece it together yourself however I'm give you a few examples starting with one currently in the headlines now and is the reason I'm even writing this article, a artist who has a top 50 on billboard hit who label's are pursuing rigorously despite looking at the death penalty do to 4 capital murder charges. I'm talking about tay-k, a 17 year old rapper who went viral for a video shot while on the run on the murder charges. Labels are hungry and desperate to cash in on this kid Even though he will never see the light of day again and will never be able to record another track or hit for the label, another young underaged artist who label's are trying to cash in on for there bad behavior exploiting misguided kids (examples are xxxtenation, Bobby smurda, and DANIELLE bregolli now know as bhad bhabie) to line there pocket's with easy money, but the exploitation of misguided children spiraling down the wrong path by older music executives that a discussion for another article. Back to my point is that a label will pursue a artist looking at the death penalty for FOUR counts of Capitol murder with ONE SONG and will never be able to record another one in his life but won't give a second chance to a artist who cleaned his act up and reviving his career do to mistakes now close to a decade old that,s what I call a double standard. Yes MONEY is the reason for the double standard happening but it's still sickening and is one of the many reasons for why the music industry is in steady decline.