Gateway Theory?

       Yeah, yeah the title makes no sense. I didn't have a clue as to what to make the title of this post concerning the idea of certain things being considered gateways or stepping stones. Mainly the illicit/prescription/legal substance known as marijuana(was that complicated or what?). Now I'm taking this opinion from a completely logical standpoint and I'm not here to make any conservative or liberal nut jobs happy(am I an asshole or what?).
     
       Many people believe that marijuana should be illegal because it's a gateway or stepping stone to harder drugs. I've personally never met a guy who smoked a joint and thought, "Hey, it would be cool to shoot up some heroin right now." but who am I to speak, I'm only a teenager. I consciously cannot accept that if marijuana were to be legal, people would be shooting up and smoking crack because they got bored with pot. It's just not plausible in my mind or any logical person's mind.
 
       If you really look at these "gateway theories" closely you'll notice that it is all based off of the notion that if you're buying cannabis from a "drug dealer" or "street pharmacist"(I like this one better) you are more likely to come into contact with harder drugs. Wait a second, it all loops back to if marijuana were legalized then you wouldn't be coming in contact with these harder drugs. So, in a sense, prohibition has actually caused these "gateway theories" and harder drugs to come into contact with people that never would have used these.
   
      I would like to write more; specifically about how ending the War on Drugs would be beneficial to our economy. But, that would take up far too much of my time and I don't think any of my logical ideas would change how people think.

Asher Roth

      I woke up today and thought "Hey, I should make a blog post that has to do with a certain musical artist or group.". So, here I am writing about Asher Roth. It was either him, Black Hippy, Gorillaz, or Florence and the Machine. And, well, I woke up to an Asher ringtone so it was probably fate(I actually don't believe in fate). Now, this isn't the same Asher that blew up four years ago with "I Love College".  No, he's like the poetic and matured version. Asher basically blew up, took a step back, and reevaluated his whole rap career. Compare "I Love College" to "Common Knowledge" and you'll see what I'm talking about.      

     
      Two of my favorite genres of music are jazz and rap that is more lyrical than "average rap". Take a listen to Asher's latest mixtape, Pabst and Jazz, and you will definitely find a nice mix of rap and jazz. I'm pretty sure that Asher is one of the only hip-hop artists I could listen to non-stop and not get bored with his wordplay, flow, or emotion.

      So, Asher's wordplay, I already showed "Common Knowledge" which some people say is his most lyrical song. There are honestly so many good examples of Asher's wordplay and lyrics it would be almost ridiculous to have to choose a favorite. I probably could not even make a list of Asher's five top lyrical songs if I tried. "A forest or scorched Earth, morphed into Steven Dorf. A touristy poor world, not sure what it's even worth. Even worse, my torso's torn, between the two doors endorsing the core source, which do I want more? Is it reality or fantasy? Xanax in my pantry, I supplant the frantic manic depression, utter insanity." ("Ampersand") How can you not find this incredible? It's not even rap, it's poetry. It's not even chepooka(nonsense or crazy in Nadsat) because this wordplay is seen in a single song, it's heard in almost every song off of Pabst and Jazz. Even his singles that Asher has been releasing are just as immaculate.

     Asher's flow is incredible. He makes it seem like each and every beat was made after he wrote and executed the verses. Not meaning to sound like a fanboy, but Asher just wraps the lyrics around the beats in a nonsensical way. Asher's emotion ranges from being very serious like in "Hard Times" where Ash is talking about how he struggles with fame and being called a sellout, to being a goofball, basically, like in "In the Kitchen" where it's Asher and Chuck Inglish basically just messing around with audio recording equipment in an actual kitchen.

The following songs are my personal favorites, even though it is quite hard to choose. 

Bastermating is definitely one of the least serious songs from Asher. I love the beat and the way each rapper incorporates his style into the song. Not to mention I'm a fan of ASAP Twelvy and Chip.

I absolutely love this song. It has that laid-back vibe that Ash's less serious stuff has, but Asher is talking about what's wrong with the world. He's really attempting to send a message to the people of Earth. 

I immediately fell for this song due to the way Asher raps(pun intended) his words around the beat. As I listened to it I noticed that Asher is rapping about how much bullshit is in the music industry. 

Normally the first song on any album or mixtape is kind of just the intro. Not "Pabst and Jazz", this song is one of my favorites on the mixtape. Asher uses a really clever flow and impecable metaphors to talk about how awesome he is. 

"More Cowbell" basically just consists of him shitting on other rappers and talking about how awesome he is whilst making it sound like any other song. 

Basically, the single best song to wake up to in the morning. 

There couldn't be a better song to end a mixtape. This song is just as good alone though. Such a chill song with some nice jazz to finish the song off. Asher just talks about getting back to his rap roots. 

      We should not forget that Asher is a fairly hysterical feller as well. Just watch an interview and you'll most likely laugh your ass off. This is one of my favorites. 

I'll probably finish this post off with some live music tied into an interview and a freestyle. Asher is a pretty intellectual guy as well as being comedic, which I find is something hard to find in white rappers. 

VInyl

           Vinyl is kind of an unfairly lost medium. While digital is a magnificent medium and all(my most frequently used music medium), vinyl just has this certain exuberant sound quality to it that nothing can really replicate. Digital is almost too detailed. It's comparable to the digital vs. film photography comparison. In my opinion more people should take advantage of vinyl. There are a good amount of artists out there still producing on vinyl. I actually just recently got a People Under the Stairs Highlighter record and I learned that they still produce everything via vinyl.

Religious Instituions

        I figured I would start out my blog with a largely controversial issue. This is also something I love to talk about since I was raised in a Conservative Jewish household. I attended public school until high school, I chose to attend a Catholic school. I realized about halfway through my freshman year that I was tricked growing up. Tricked into believing in a god. I wouldn't really say tricked though, I was brought up to believe in a god. I never knew any better. After sitting through a semester of Catholic, religious studies I realized how much bullshit religion was. If I wouldn't have attended a religious institution I don't think I would have realized this as fast. Not meaning to offend any religious folk out there, but I just started to understand what was wrong with organized religion. The exclusiveness and whole persona that my religion is better than yours is one of the main reasons why I'm an atheist now. 

        

        If there actually is a higher being, would he/she/it not prefer a morally right person that doesn't believe in him/her/it to a bigoted religious asshole? I sat through my religion class thinking this everyday. Well, shit I still do. The Catholic moral teaching is the most confound teaching I've ever been educated about. I'm not meaning to only pick on Christianity, but it is the worst of all the religions. At least Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and etc. are accepting of non believers. Christianity just has that feeling of superiority towards everyone else. Basically what I'm getting at is that everyone should be educated about all religions and that way would be able to make a consciousness decision based on knowledge about what their religion should be. Attending a religious school has been the worst and best decision of my life. 

        

         The pros to attending a religious institution largely outweigh the cons in my case. The only real cons in my situation have been having to attend religious ceremonies and being harassed about my religion(being Jewish and now an atheist). I honestly love learning about different cultures and religions, I also love laughing at the stupidity of some people. I've been able to do both whilst attending a Catholic institution. We also have superior access to technology and resources than public institutions due to donations and such. 

         On a side note, this blog will range from religious entries to music, to politics, to international affairs. Oh, and some food(I'm a big guy).