kneecap: the extacy popping Irish hip-hop trio starting who are starting a revolution

I'm a American and I'm not afraid to say this ....

OUR political climate is shit!  Not only is our president a cult leading racist pedophile, it seems both of the political parties in the US are more worried about assisting Israel in a GENOCIDE then the well being citizens in the country there supposed to help run.  When I was growing up you could always find music that spoke about the political angst people feel especially in hip-hop.  Artist like public enemy, rage against the machine and immortal technique to name a few kept music fans informed of the real political climate and issues within the country since mainstream media has been compromised by the government.  In the past decade, especially since Trump's first term it felt destined that unapologetic political criticism would make a comeback in the music industry yet for the most part it's been radio silence.  Yes artist like killer Mike have been on the campaign trail for Bernie Sanders and speaking up about the dozens of issues with America but outside of a few bars sprinkled thougout his work i wouldn't call him a political rapper.  Later last year though my yearning for true politically driven music had been cured in the most unexpected ways by the most unassuming group or sooo I thought.  I have always dabbled in freelance work and I was doing a article on the BAFTAS, which is the British film industry's equivalent to the Oscars and the most nominated film was kneecap.  Kneecap is a autobiographical film about a son of a prominent ira leader, his best friend and a school teacher who was pushing the use of Irelands native language in a country because of British invanders speaks primarily English who form a rap group who rap in both English and gaelic to fight the system.  After watching the film it was love at first sight a group fighting corruption within politics though music.  Consisting of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí kneecap is a Ireland based electronic rap group who's idgaf if I piss off authority approach especially in there live performances is reminiscent of acts like NWA in that sense with mo Chara getting hit with terrorist charges for draping himself in a hezbulla flag and shouting support for Hamas.  While not a American based band there extremely blunt pro Palestine rhetoric shines light on one of America's greatest flaws being a puppet state for Israel and while there music on the surface doesn't always seemed politically charged there use of the gaelic language in itself is a political stance to the British government for suppressing there identity and culture.  On top of that there constant support for Palestines freedom has opened up the eyes of plenty of people to the atrocities committed by Israel and funded solely by the US government.  No other band in  recent memory have been so controversial yet so inspiring to the majority of people who have come across them including myself.  Their set at this year's Coachella where they said "Israel commiting a genocide funded by the u.s fuck Israel free that got the British counter terrorism unit looking into them brings me back to the days of NWA performing fuck the police at a concert after being told they would be arrested if they did. The revolution will be televized and it's being mc'd by 3 extacy popping ira affiliated weed smoking degenerates and I'm here for it

roc Marciano and dj premier the coldest profession (review)

As hip-hop heads wait patiently over a decade later for the heavily rumored premier and nas album at least they got a pleasant surprise last week with the coldest profession. The surprise drop by roc Marciano fully produced by dj premier sees premiers production taking a nostalgic turn with beats heavily reminiscent of his earlier work apart of gangstar with the late guru, laying the soundscape for rocs lowfi vivid storytelling. At only 8 songs this EP doesn't overdo its welcom e and the few criticisms I have with especially the beginning of the album become irrelevant because it's short length has you like a junkie feinding for more. On a production level this is the best we have seen from premier since his master class work on group homes livin proof in 95. Yes I know that's a bold statement to make since the certified classic moment of truth as part of gangstar dropped in 98 but it could be the nostalgic vibes talking but in my honest opinion premiers production on the coldest profession is even better. At first I was worried rocs quite yet chilling vocal delivery wouldn't fit well with the smooth polished instrumentals premier laces here and while it did slightly bother me on the opening track Armani section rocs cinematic and complex rhyme schemes end up entrancing you. The second half of this EP is where I found myself less bothered by the more hushed roc over polished production with my personal favorite track on the album glory hole. Premier layers blaring horns over a sped up click track that perfectly complements rocs signature hush flow internal rhyme schemes and from there on it just clicks for me. After the album was done I wanted more and listened again immediately and my original nitpick with the first half vanished. As of now it's my album of the year and I'm pretty confident it will still be in consideration at the end of the year 

Rating 

9 out of ten

let me reintroduce myself

Just a little about me and my history to get any new subscribers caught up and familiar with me both as a writer and a person. I started taking writing seriously from a hobby to a side hustle about 15 years ago I started off as a freelancer with little success but did have one published article with the now defunct complex magazine. I was a college dropout who went for journalism and media arts after finding out I was having my first child so I never thought the journalism career path would be sustainable. I use to also dabble in music production, ghost writing and used to release rap music even though the quality was subpar lmfao it was my hobby making beats that finally gave me a in back into my journalism hobby launching the blog eastcoastunderground central on blogger after falling in love with the underground hip-hop scene in the tri state area. I used to always check out the independent rap charts on myspace since my production company Ill behavior production's always ranked in the top 5 unsigned artist in new Jersey and I always had a knack for networking always looking for new artists to produce for. I started as a hobby reviewing my favorite tracks and showcasing my favorite artist on blogger promoting myself though social media and starting gaining 2 very distinct following one I sadly didn't know about during the blogs peak. One was my local hip-hop scene. I'm from a small city in NJ called Phillipsburg which boarders Easton PA and is part of the greater Lehigh valley demographic area. r the Lehigh valley hip-hop scene started embracing me to the point my blog ended up becoming 80 percent a Lehigh valley hip-hop blog and I became a local celebrity of sorts. I was nominated for over 15 Lehigh valley music awards in 3 year's for music journalist, website, music supporter multiple times and once for local hip-hop album of the year for a mixtape I hosted featuring the best music I reviewed. The other following which I wish I knew about sooner was my blog had a huge European following failing to realize at the time Europe is the home to the biggest most loyal underground hip-hop fans. I know this intro is all over the place my thoughts scattered because of personal reasons which are also responsible for me relaunching my blog but everything connected lol. Any I didn't discover how big my blog had gotten due to overseas viewership until I had a expose on a local artist go viral locally and checked my blog stats for the first time only then realizing I was averaging around 10k a week racking over a million views throughout the blogs life that still gets a average of 1000 hits a month despite not posting in over five years. All thanks to the European hip-hop fans I truly had success as a writer but ended up dropping the blog after a few disputes with artists I covered that leaked into my personal life realizing as a fan of music it hurts your perception of good music knowing too much about certain musicians on a personal level so I backed away. So this relaunch I'm going back to my original vision of covering the tri state hip-hop scene and various other independent movements and hip-hop opinion pieces instead of taking a hands on approach planting myself as part of one particular scene. This substacks will be more than that as I will also be using it to launch and promote my debut novel free Janet fullilling a goal of mine or publishing a novel even if it's though digital outlets and posting unfinished and dropped projects I've saved over the years so I can get people familiar with my writing style and build anticipation for my novels drop so I'm hoping to regain a support and network on this soft relaunch while also networking and collabing with various substack and reddit communities.l 

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.