While previewing Wale’s official debut album, Attention Deficit, it only took one minute and twenty seconds for me to hear a a line that conjured up memories of childhood and my parents.  A sexist yet clever simile connecting oral sex to a $1,000+ vacuum cleaner: the Kirby.

Who else has childhood memories of the Kirby and remember having a door-to-door salesman sucker your parents into buying a vacuum cleaner that seemed to do everything except mow the lawn?

I remember being amazed and grossed out when the Kirby dealer vacuumed our carpet and then proceeded to show us how much dirt wasn’t picked up after vacuuming the same area with the Kirby G4.  All the dirt left in the cloth vacuum bag was disgusting and even more so after he vacuumed our mattresses.  This wonder of a vacuum picked up all the dirt in your carpet, shampooed the carpet, could sand wood, had an extension to work as a massager, could work as an air freshener, and cooked dinner and washed dishes as well.

How could any sensible person not want to buy something so amazing?  (Especially when you haven’t had the time to do some consumer research on the product.)

My parents were never particularly well off.  Thinking about it, I was probably on reduced lunch when my parents were co-opted by the flashy presentation into making this outrageous investment.  It was a ridiculous purchase, but I know my parents were not the only suckers.  I’ve walked into many of my friends’ homes and seen the shining metallic beast.

Thinking back on Wale’s line, I wonder if he is actually referring to the suckers who ended up falling into the salesman’s hype.

-Ninoy Brown

In May, UFC 98 featured a light heavyweight bout between Phillipe Nover and Kyle Bradley.  1 minute and 3 seconds into the fight, Nover was caught in a fury of punches, dropped to the mat but quickly regained ground.  Even though Nover appeared capable of continuing in the fight, referee Yves Lavigne thought otherwise and quickly called a TKO in Bradley’s favor.  The fans booed Lavigne’s decision.

Nover, considered by many to be the toughest registered nurse, faced a second disappointing loss in the Octogan; this time it was due to a questionable referee.  While Nover’s losses put a giant dent in his career, profiteer, Dana White, was probably the most disappointed as it placed another road bump in his plans for bringing a UFC fight to the Philippines.

In an interview soon after his The Ultimate Fighter loss, Nover remarked on plans for UFC to capitalize on the Filipino market by bringing a fight to the country.  This business decision reflects a trend seen, more evident in the sphere of professional fighting, whereby Filipinos are being seen as a viable market.  One needs to look no further than the success and marketing strategies being used to “sell” Manny Pacquiao.

Pacquiao has created a platform for many Filipino-Americans to identify with a mainstream figure; he matters.  It is with the loyal following that Pacquiao generated which allows sports industry heads to take notice.

A few weeks ago, Bob Arum, announced that he would not be able to hold a night of Filipino boxing featuring fights with Nonito Donaire and Brian Viloria at AT&T Park due to a scheduling conflict.  Arum acknowledges the strength of the Filipino-American community in the Bay Area, a community that sold out a Filipino Heritage Night for the San Francisco Giants.  It isn’t just in the Bay that these Filipino Heritage nights have generated big turnouts, as they have been successful at ball games in Los Angeles and San Diego as well.

It is evident that fight promoters have taken notice of this market audience.  Aside from this and dancing, what other segments of pop culture do people notice has began to receive a Filipino focus?

On March 7, at his UFC debut, Mark Munoz gave fight archivists footage worthy of being in a UFC top knockouts list.  Unfortunately for Munoz, the knockout came from Matt Hamill’s head kick.  The “Filipino Wrecking Machine” was seen as being too green to enter the UFC, but knowing Dana White’s plans, one wonders whether Munoz’s premature jump was a direct result of an attempt to create another Filipino-American fighting hero.  Folks seem to be quick to pay attention to a segment of the population that they had previously ignored but are now doing what they can to sell us a bar of soap by attaching an eight rayed sun and three stars.

-Ninoy Brown

(Re: The Graff Toy: Wii Spray)

There was Wherehouse and their return policy.

Last week, a study from the BI Norwegian School of Management found that those who download free music are ten times more likely to purchase online music.  I really don’t know the validity strength of the study, but I do know that it makes me feel better about myself.  The study reinforces my own personal beliefs.

Music nerds spend more time researching and utilizing the Google free music algorithm.  The belief that I tried telling myself is true: Because they wasting copious amounts of time downloading tracks and becasue of their passion for the music, they will purchase what they like.  There are flaws to this logic.  And one flaw that come to mind is what I’ll call the “Wherehouse Hypothesis”.

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Wii Spray:

Basically it is not about replacing real graffiti as a form of art. WiiSpray is rather to be seen as an interface to give graffiti a new virtual level outside of the real existing world.

Upon first finding out about a video game that utilizes the interactivity of the Wii video game platform, I acquire another reason why I need to invest in the Wii.  Then I realize that it is still a college project in Germany by Martin Lihs and Frank Matuse.  But with the potential that this holds, it is inevitable for it to be seen at the nearby Game Stop.

Of course the game presents taggin’ in a sterilized form that die hard heads might apply the “toy” label to any kid who would cop it, but seeing the controller should make some graff purists embrace this technology the way many djs have embraced Serato:

Watch the teaser of the final presentation.

Bonus track:

Tommy Tee - Aerosoul

-Ninoy Brown

Next up Hatton.  Followed by the first L in Pretty Boy Floyd’s career.  A third match with Marquez to give me some closure in that series.  Then he can retire as a GOAT.

Oh yeah, and in between all of this, happenstance will create a chance meeting with Joma and other pro-people leaders, thus beginning the growth of his progressive consciousness and critical attacks against imperialism.  This will in turn likely change my sentiments regarding his push towards politics.

Click on the pic above (or here) for more info about the Pacquiao edition of the Nike Air Max Bizness PE.

Shout out to Genesis for sending me info on the kicks.

-Ninoy Brown

Dear Young Gifted Black and Brown Folks, and their ill White allies,

Recently I’ve had the opportunity to get trained on Green Building, Permaculture, and hella other shit through work. Over the past weeks, coming home from these discussions I’ve then had the task of translating what these words actually mean to me.The official idea of permaculture in short is to take lessons from our ancestors and how they lived, combine it with our present-day technologies and find a realistic way for people to thrive? Permaculture also encourages a critique of trade laws, labor practices…But really yo, that ain’t the bottom line. You want more than just cleaner air, you have to go to a far bigger word - Revolution. But that’s for another day.

One of the most incredible parts of permaculture to me is the big picture. If I give in to a craving and I buy some red licorice, I am not just doing horrible damage to my brain (sugar), my blood sugar levels (corn syrup), and risking cancer (red 40 food coloring). I’m also using up plastic, paper, water, and other resources needed to make the candy and the packaging. Then whatever waste comes out of my body from that food - that same poison is going into the ocean and soil. And guess where that ends up - in the crops that someone else is going to eat. Crazy, right?

But beyond some candy I might eat, let’s get to whole way of life that permaculture is about. It’s really not that new of an idea. In the Philippines we make bags out of candy wrappers, houses out of scrap metal, and kitchenware from tin cans. While sitting on Bart I thought to myself…

-How can I live like recent immigrants do? How did Mom and Lola use resources when they first got here and were livin in somebody’s basement in Daly City?

- How do I live like a Filipino in the Philippines, even though I am now a Filipino in the States?

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Outsourcing produces negative economic consequences and is even exploitative, but for us at FOBBDeep, it allows us to let the folks, we respect as writers, bless the readers with their presence.  Today we have Miss Kristia, reppin’ Doorknockers, droppin’ science about that new-new: going green.  If this is your first time reading her words, make sure to hit up Doorknockers. -Ninoy Brown

Many people I meet consider me “environmentally-conscious.” I thought I was doin pretty good, then I did this activity called the Ecological Footprint. It’s a survey where you are asked about everyday things you do - how long your showers are, whether or not you compost, how much you recycle, what kind of foods you eat - and it tells you at the end how much of the earth’s resources you’re using up.

The activity tells us that there are 2 hectares available to each human being in the world. Yo so tell me why my co-workers and I completed it we all found out that we were using 6-8 hectares each. What you find is that when people who live in the West (North American and Western Europe) take the test, we’re usually using far more of the world’s resources than other folks.

I seriously encourage you to take the activity. Even for the treehuggers, it’s enlightening to be reminded of how much of an impact your everyday actions have. When you go shopping for those new stillettos or kicks, you’re not just contributing to fucked up labor standards, meanie corporations, you’re also using up natural resources. Water is needed to make practically everything from plastics to dyed fabrics.

So here I am, I use cloth napkins (99cent bandannas to be exact) in my house, I recycle like a muhfucka, but I’m still wasting so much. I mean 7.72 hectares?! Goddamn. So that’s it, I decided. We goin green yo. All or nothin. I live in the U.S. for now but still, what things can I do in the meantime? Well here’s a small list of shit I’ve changed this week since doing the Ecological Footprint…

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(Insert obligatory Eli Porter quote here)

Being that a few days have already passed, intentions to make a post about the Nike+ Human Race began to wane.  But upon making the daily blog rounds the past couple days, I saw little mention regarding the event that was boasted as the largest global run.  This was a reminder of the empirical fact that most bloggers tend to be lazy and out of shape [1].

2/3’s of FOBBDeep, Mark and myself, took part in the 10K run in Los Angeles, running from Exposition Park through Figueroa St to Washington Blvd to USC and back.  Beginning at 8:31:08 pm and with 12,000+ in attendance, Nike demonstrated how easy it was to sell $30 dry fit t-shirts.  As much as it was meant to represent global human unity, it was basically a free commercial shoot for Nike, where the extras paid to work.

Not to forget, the underlying theme of post-racial politics that was presented through the double entendre name of the event: The Human Race.  Nike wants us to forget the exploitation of third world countries, since we are all one anyways.  Kumbaya!  We can now all hold hands and eat granola together while we wear Nike products.

Okay, that’s enough cynicism, even for me.

Real talk, a grandly organized and fun event took place.  As a matter of fact, Mark lost his mobile and the human race came through to return it.  If this wasn’t a display that we should not lose faith in the human race, then I don’t know what is.  At the closing, Kanye performed for 45 minutes, even blessing the participants with an exclusive new cut.  Common came on midway through Yeezy’s set for “Get Em High” and did three solo tracks.  Even though he rocked the stage, just one word of advice to Kanye: Follow the lead of the runners you performed for and start running; your breath control needs hella work.

And don’t think I didn’t represent:

“Obama for mankind” -Young Jeezy [2]

To end: As a unit FOBBDeep = perhaps the most physically fit Fil-Am/Hip-Hop/political/pop culture blog posse.

[1]Actually, this might just be true for Hip-Hop blogs
[2]Problematic gender politics belongs strictly to the quoted rapper.

-Ninoy Brown

Spotted this shirt earlier at a site that I will get sh*t for checking (cough*Hypebeast*cough):

Initially, I thought it was an ill shirt. Even though Hip-Hop lyrics in Helvetica font (correct me if I’m wrong) are played out, a Tribe shirt will generally get a pass from me.

BUT, this tee should have gone through a proper quality control inspector.  The front is emblazoned with the opening lines from the opening song off of Low End Theory, “Excursion”.  Any Tribe head would know that.  Yet, the back displays the title to another ATCQ cut, “Lyrics To Go”, a track I would place in my top three Tribe songs but not the title belonging to the lyrics on the front of the shirt.

Maybe I’m nitpicking, but ever since I bought a shirt with the cover of NWA’s Straight Outta Compton on the front and failed to notice the small caption: “Hop-Hop Classic”, I’ve held an obsessive compulsive behavior when it comes to accuracy on gear I rock.

This shirt will apparently be sold on the Rock the Bells tour, but before you drop your $45 on the t-shirt, let these street wear companies know that they need to fact check their designs.

-Ninoy Brown