Put on a Powdered Wig, and Hit the Dance Floor

Team Facelift

Wow. The official rap group of Y2K broke loose this week as they were featured on MTV as the station's Artist of the Week.

I got in to Team Facelift in the winter of my senior year of college (2005). These were the days when a young and fiery A.F.O.M.G. had a fire in his belly and an itch in his wallet, compelling him to play Texas Hold 'Em every chance he had.

This brought me down to the legendary apartment where Sip lived his first year out of college. The massive pad in the shadows of Madison Square Garden always had a game going, and in the background blaring over the speakers was an up and coming rap group called Team Facelift.

One of Sip's roommates was the manager of the group for a time. I understand that ended badly but never got the details. I did get a copy of Mix Tape Vol. 1, however, and in no time me and my friends were singing along to "World Tour", "New York is Dead" and "BFFAE".

Did I ever imagine someday this ridiculous rap group that rhymed about "wearing bulletproof vests and riding horses" would amount to anything more than that rap group my friend used to manage? Well, yes and no.

The way I feel about Team Facelift is this: their product is genuinely unique. I don't listen to a lot of rap music, but I have a general sense of what's out there and as far as I can tell Team Facelift is a completely different type of rap group. They're as boastful as other rappers, sure, but when you boast about being the Jewish Derek Harper, well, it strikes a different note.

The question then for the Facelift Gang was whether there was an audience out there for three white guys who rapped about being kiddie porn producers ("Ding dong/ I'm a kiddie porn producer/ White suit/ Black tie/ Unshaven loser/ With child abuser hair/ I'm looking for a kid for my next film/ It's entitled/ 'Slut in the Booster Chair'"), richer than God ("When sweat builds up on my balls and my palms/ I don't use Gold Bond/ I use old bonds") or David Dinkins.

If there was an audience for that kind of rap music these guys would fill the vacuum, if for no other reason than that absolutely nobody else could.

So here's hoping they really build some momentum off of this MTV appearance. A friend of mine compared Team Facelift getting featured on MTV to Y2K getting featured on ESPN; and besides, Fat Jew's a big Mets fan. Congratulations guys, best of luck.

Cam'ron

Caught this 60 Minutes segment earlier where Anderson Cooper, the Silver Fox to you and me, investigated the rap game's "No Snitching" policy.

Honestly, this shit is completely insane. I appreciate that African-Americans have been the victims of unfair police harrassment and that every community has its own values, but when Cam'ron says he would not report a serial killer living next door to the police, it's like, something is seriously, seriously fucked here.

New Shea!

Caught the Mets game from home on Friday, got depressed. Before that though I was really impressed with the music I could hear them playing over the loud speakers at Shea. Except on exceedingly rare occassions, I don't listen to any FM radio at all, so I really have very little concept of what music is actually popular right now.

That said, I never would have guessed that Peter Bjorn and John would be popular enough to get a spin at Shea, but sure enough, there they were between innings the other night. The Mets played their song "Young Folks" between innings at Shea the other night. The album that song is off, Writer's Block, is really solid. If it's good enough for the Mets what are you waiting for?

Old Mets!

Just more of the same ho-hum kinda ball being played by our boys right now. It's likely that they'll make the playoffs, but up 3 and 3.5 games on the Braves and Phillies, they're by no means a lock, and sometimes when you watch them play you wonder if they're aware of that.

All season long it's been a bit like watching regular season basketball where teams go through the motions before turning it on in the postseason. That's all well and good in basketball, but here, you know, you actually have to be good to make the playoffs, and the Mets haven't been good in quite some time. If I'm not mistaken, they're actually a sub-.500 team the past two months (or right around .500 anyway).

That doesn't cut it. Hopefully they find that higher gear again soon. They had it the first two months this season but it hasn't been seen in quite some time. Injuries and all, it's all very strange.

- A.F.O.M.G.