HOT OR NOT? Conspiracy Steve's Pop Culture Rundown: July 2016

By: Steven Ngati (aka Conspiracy Steve)

THE HOT LIST

• Schoolboy Q – The Blank Face LP was an awesome summer treat. Q’s boisterous rhymes are sharply paired with some cool authentic West Coast production. While it’s probably not better than Oxymoron, it’s an excellent follow up album for him. My favorite track is "Kno Ya Wrong" featuring TDE newcomer, Lance Skiiiwalker. I love how they sampled Kool and the Gang's "Summer Madness". Terrace Martin meshed the saxophone and keys perfectly with the baseline on the 2nd half of the song. "Neva Change" featuring TDE member SZA and "John Muir" are some of my other favorite tracks. I’m a huge TDE fan and I’m waiting for three things from them by the end of 2016:  

1. Another Kendrick album (most likely won’t be until 2017, but I know I’m being greedy here.                                                                                                                                
2. Isaiah Rashad’s debut album. His incredible Clivia Demo Ep dropped at the beginning of 2014 and we’ve only heard a couple tracks since. Rashad has as much potential as anyone in hip hop, but it seems like his talent is being held hostage. I pray that hip hop fans are blessed with a Rashad debut album by the end of the year.                                                                                                       
3. A Black Hippy album. I’ve asked for this every year since 2012, and it’s highly unlikely with all of their busy schedules, but I’m not giving up hope!

Schoolboy Q is one of the best gangsta rappers alive, and he's also been one of the most consistent rappers in the hip-hop industry over the last eight years. 

• Power Rangers – I’ll admit that I was very skeptical when the new Power Rangers movie reboot was announced. My skepticism has turned to optimism based on the news, casting and money being poured into this film. I’m an OG Power Rangers fan, and nothing would make me happier than a mature Power Rangers film. I’m not expecting a dark, only for adults Power Rangers movie like the short film that came out last year. However, the short film was very well received and showed just how many people still love the original Power Rangers. I love the fact that they’re taking the casting of this seriously with Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Banks headlining the film. The young actors look the part, so I’m hoping they can act half as good as they look. The posters and updated suits revealed at Comic Con look incredible. Hopefully we get a trailer by the end of summer, but I love what I’m seeing thus far. GO GO POWER RANGERS!!!!

That Black Ranger suit is straight fire! Calling it now, that's going to be the most popular Halloween costume October 2017.

• Kim Kardashian West – Kim isn’t the hero we wanted, but the hero we needed! In all seriousness, as much as I loathe Kim K. I was happy to see Taylor Swift publicly humiliated and shamed for her blatant lies. I normally don’t reward snitching, but we can make an exception here considering that I knew Taylor had been lying about talking to Kanye since the night of the Grammys. I applaud Kim for doing what a true ride or die chick is supposed to do, defend her man. I’m sure she’ll say or do something dumb over the next couple months that will make me go back to hating her, but for now you have rightfully earned your spot on the Fanatic Perspective Hot List!  More on Taylor later…..

• The OJ Simpson Case – How many people get two extremely well done television specials made about them in the same calendar year? FX’s The People vs OJ Simpson: American Crime Story was probably the best miniseries of the year, even though my man Cuba Gooding Jr. looked nothing like OJ whatsoever. They received 12 Emmy nominations and more importantly provided a brief career revival for a bunch of has-been actors and actresses. Shoot, even David Schwimmer got an Emmy nomination out of it! Courtney B. Vance killed it as Johnny Cochran and if he doesn’t win Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, I’ll be shocked. As good as American Crime Story was, OJ: Made in America was even better. Not only was it the best documentary that I’ve ever watched, it was freakishly timely based on the issues we’re presently dealing with in our country. I expect director Ezra Edelman to reel in some serious hardware come early 2017. Made in America may be in the Oscar discussion for Best picture. It was THAT GOOD.

Yes, Pokemon GO  has taken over the world. I'm chalking this up to an election year where we get to choose from Trump or Hillary. Nintendo has taken full advantage of society loosing it's collective mind. 

• Pokémon Go (THE REAL MVP OF JULY) – Every few years some sensation, toy, collectible item or activity sweeps the nation. I remember Beanie Babies being huge in the late 90’s, but Pokémon Go has become that on steroids.  Our country has lost their minds playing a game that many people my age probably haven’t played in over 15 years. The genius integration of weaving Google Maps with the Nintendo staple has created a monster unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Nintendo’s stock has risen over $18 billion dollars in the last two weeks alone. Some businesses are offering discounts to those who are playing and looking for Pokémon at their establishments. Children and adults are out in the streets in droves searching and battling one another in Poke gyms. This has been glorious for folks like me who love to people watch. (I saw a grown woman at Trader Joe’s bust her ass on the curb trying to throw a Poke ball at an imaginary creature.) The airport still has the number one spot in the people watch rankings, but Pokémon Go is gaining steam and already up to the two spot in my opinion. Congratulations Pokémon Go, you’re our inaugural Fanatic Perspective Real MVP.

THE NOT LIST

• The Current Season of The Bachelorette Following Chad’s Departure – Rodgers family drama aside, this season has been incredibly boring since we last saw Chad getting sent home in the middle of the woods. As much as people hated Chad, he kept the show interesting by verbally and sometimes physically bullying guys. I really like JoJo and I was very happy when they announced her as the Bachelorette this year. Her season has been a disappointment thus far because majority of the men are whack as hell. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten to know a whole lot more about her other than the fact that she probably hasn’t gotten over Ben and she is really big on physical appearance, based on who she decides to keep around. I don’t want to say she’s shallow, but she knew how ridiculous Chad was and still kept him around half the season because he could do weighted pullups off a door frame with fully packed suitcases. Personally, I hope she picks Luke or Robby because Jordan is the most charismatic guy and would make an excellent Bachelor for next season. Jordan can’t win, he has a greater calling ABC! Anyways, we’ll see how the fantasy suites and finale wrap up, but for now I have to put this season of The Bachelorette in the NOT column.

Jordan and JoJo look good together, but I'm sure the ABC producers would prefer to see Jordan as the next Bachelor instead of the Bachelorette winner.

• Desiigner – There was a lot of back and forth about whether Desiigner deserved to be named to the prestigious XXL Freshman Class list for 2016 because of his small body of work. (Shoutout to Dave East who was a high school classmate of mine and also made the list!) Ultimately, Desiigner made the list because the Panda song went number one on the Billboard charts which is definitely no small feat for a brand new artist. Fast forward to the BET awards where Desiigner gave an over the top, noisy, talentless performance in which he was awkwardly juggling his microphone while on stage and in the crowd. (Fabulous’ facial expression in the crowd said it all.) He instantly became an internet meme, but I forgave him because he’s only 19 and it was his first nationally televised performance. Unfortunately, he topped himself upon release of his “Timmy Turner” XXL freestyle. The internet went nuts with parodies and memes of his disturbing, harmonized, and slightly mumbled chant. Yes, it was a chant and it’s totally unforgivable. You know that feeling you get when you hear an ironing board close and it sounds like Satan entered the room? That’s feeling I get when I watch the Timmy Turner freestyle. Desiigner has become the 2016 version of Trinidad James.

Bananas and Sarah are putting up one of the most dominant seasons in Challenge history.  We're witnessing Shaq and Kobe 2001 dominance here folks. 

• The Challenge Rivals III (MTV) – This season of the Challenge Rivals III started off great. I loved the mix of veterans and new faces, as well as mixing the Rivals into co-ed teams. Unfortunately, as the season progressed the show became marred by quitters, bad challenge events and unbelievable stupidity. My favorite cast member, Leroy got sent home with a bad back after only one challenge. We had one of the “Are You the One” guys quit because he missed his girlfriend after only 4 days, even though there’s $350,000 on the line! Are you kidding me? Why did you volunteer to be on the show? Even worse another fan favorite, Thomas leaves prematurely because his girlfriend was in the hospital. With so many people leaving, the MTV producers decided to (unfairly) bring back the previously eliminated Devin and Cheyenne who are worse than the Sixers. Fast forward to the current final four of Bananas and Sarah (who are the Shaq and Kobe of the show, they hate each other, but they know they’re way better than other teams, so they suck it up on game days.) Vince and Jenna who are only around because Vince is Bananas’ cousin. Vince is the definition of, “looks like Tarzan and plays like Jane”. Vince is actually the most overrated dude I’ve seen on the show in the last 10 years. He’s the gum beneath the park bench in my eyes. Dario and Nicole/Devin and Cheyenne are going to get smoked in the finals so it’s not worth my time talking more about them. This will be the first time that I have no one to root for in the Finals as I despise Bananas and Vince. I wish the new guys actually studied the show to understand that you have to align yourselves together and target the veteran players early in the show instead of making deals with them. Rivals III took a huge step back from Bloodlines which was a very good season earlier this year. TJ deserves better than this MTV!

My birthday is August 26, which is next month. That t-shirt is literally the only thing I want for my birthday this year. Somebody make it happen!

• Taylor Swift (Worst Behavior Award) ­- This is an easy one for me. Taylor Swift is a Pop “Con” Artist. My BS meter has been through the roof with this chick for years and Kim K’s heroic actions finally validated what I had always suspected. Look, I understand Taylor Swift is one of the most successful musicians of all time and this controversy will most likely help her sell even more albums in the future, but she is no longer the victim. The Swift brand is built on lies and deception. She’s a con artist for selling the public a lie when accepting the Album of the Year award during the Grammys. The reason she won the award was the reason she lied. Popularity sells. 1989 was the most popular album in 2015, no doubt. In my opinion, she didn’t deserve to win the award considering, To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar and Traveller by Chris Stapleton were significantly better albums. She played the victim card perfectly during her acceptance speech, but as I learned a long time ago, what happens in the dark, must come to the light. Taylor Swift fans won’t ever admit this, but she’s an overrated artist. She flourishes because of fabricated controversy and lack of competition. Her main competition in the female pop star space is who? Katy Perry? Ariana Grande? Rihanna? Selena Gomez? If we look outside of the pop genre and compare her to other elite female performers, I’m taking Beyoncé, Adele, Carrie Underwood, and Jennifer Hudson over Taylor Swift. Nobody in today’s music is better at cranking out catchy hits than Taylor, but being a big fish in a small pond isn’t impressive to me. I look forward to what direction Taylor goes in once the dust settles, but for now I’m proud to present her our inaugural Worst Behavior Award for the month of July. No worries Taylor, I’m sure you’ll shake it off soon.