I'm Gonna Go Get Some Belts After This

Last night on American Idol, 62-year-old underground rapper GENERAL LARRY PLATT out of Atlanta, GA performed his original song Pants On The Ground. Now you have got to see this mess.


After a remarkably humble introduction to his act in which GEN. PLATT explains the message of his original song ("people need to pull their pants up"), the man bares his soul for the world to see.

Pants on the ground,
Pants on the ground.
Lookin' like a FOOL with your pants on the ground.

You got the gold in your mouth,
Hat turned sideways,
Pants hit the ground,
Walkin, talkin,
Thinkin' you're a cool cat,
Lookin' like a FOOL with your pants on the ground!!

Note the sick breaking GEN. PLATT pulls while spittin' the truth.

Old people have been telling hip hop fans to pull up their pants for more than two decades now, from driveby fist-shakings, to the swift upward grandmotherly thrusts to white suburban belt loops, to quiet laments around the bridge table over the kids these days. How it took until 2010 for a senior citizen rapper to write a song on the subject and perform it on American Idol I don't think the world will ever know. But there was something special about GEN. PLATT. He wasn't just some jackass who wanted to be on TV, which is what most shows today feature. GEN. PLATT had a mission, a message that was crying out to be heard by the American socio-cultural landscape. You punks need to pull your pants up. You look like a fool.

Within minutes of this being on TV, the internets went positively bonkers. It was the trending topic on Twitter the entire night and most of today. The fact that I heard about this mess as fast as I did speaks volumes, as I don't watch television anymore. That didn't stop me from watching the above clip on Youtube like 15 minutes after it aired, because it was uploaded just that fast. They don't call it the worlds most powerful communication tool because it looks good on Al Gore's resume.

So word to GENERAL LARRY PLATT. You have not seen the last of this guy, I guarantee it.

Jonesin For More

As I stand right now, my strongest cultural influence comes down to one word; internets. But I suppose I should start at the beginning.

When I was around 14-15 years old, I had a revelation of sorts. It was at this time I realized a lot about who I was, what was right for me, what truly made me happy, priorities, goals and aspirations, all that kind of coming-of-age story noise. For the first time in my life I was comfortable with myself, and for the most part I've stayed that way. That being said, I'm 18 years old now and if I'm lucky there's still a whole hell of a lot in store for me in the future, but I do maintain a sure-of-myself state of mind I like to call 'an old soul', or sometimes 'being from the future'.

One of the things I came to discover as a part of this revelation was that the world all around us is a wonderfully alive and interesting place for those willing to look hard enough. Contemporary guys like Anthony Bourdain and old school guys like Jean Shepherd nurtured my appreciation for the everyday extraordinary, but more on them some other time.

I became a much more involved internets person. At first I mostly just BS'ed with people on forums and whatnot, which had its own charms, but when I found the iNternets Celebrities, it changed my mentality about what the internets were really for. These guys spoke my language.



I really dug the idea of two guys going to McDonalds and having an adventure, and that same spirit runs through almost everything these guys do (together and apart, I might add).

When I joined Twitter I was able to start being creative myself. I know creative is probably a generous term for an extended series of smart remarks and goofy life commentary, but it was still mine, by George, and it's good for my spirit to twit things out. But every once in a while I wish I could more fully express an idea in regular blog format, so that's what's gonna go down here.

This was kind of a lifes story post, and I don't plan on doing that many more of these. I'll be back to my usual ish of music, movies, cultural effluvia, all that next time, I promise.