The Blessing of Philadelphia, Vol. I

My friend Kelly came up from Charlottesville this weekend to visit me, and, more importantly, Philadelphia. So we went to the city and I showed her around and I noticed that there were two things that kept coming up in regards to the city: first, I kept describing it, in a positive and proud way, as filthy, and second, that we ate. And kept eating. And ate some more.

The blessing of Philadelphia is in its food. You can get anything you fucking want here. We have ballin-ass Chinese, Indian, Ethiopian, southeast Asian, Mexican, Cuban, Italian, sushi, anything. And that isn't even to include our junk food, which is probably the best on earth. The cheesesteak is the pinnacle of a sandwich. There is nothing more to say about it. Our pizza, wings, hoagies, hamburgers, and roast pork sandwich (which if you haven't had, get at or get out) rival anywhere else/are better than anywhere else. We win.

I think what really made me realize this was going to college in the culinary void that is the Midwest. Okay, maybe it's not a void, but it cannot compare. They do breakfast well and there are some dope burritos but that's it. So when I went to college and found that people in the Midwest are talking about Domino's when they order pizza, well, I almost died, and then decided to keep going just so I could have that real jawn from Philadelphia again.

This is the first of many, many posts about how much I love food in Philadelphia.

Anyway, last night I had the good fortune to see the Extraordinaires in their warehouse in North Philly. They are some stand-up guys- Jay, the lead singer/guitarist, is one of the friendliest and most magnetic people I have ever met. You just want to be friends with this guy. So check out the website (linked above) because I think they have some songs to download and you won't regret listening up. Buy shit from them too, it's worth it.

In rap-related news, I love Lil' Wayne again. I mean, I never stopped loving him, but I just re-realized the other day how fucking good he is. He is insane, a full-package rapper that kills shit so consistently, mixtapes, major releases, guest spots, anything. Plus he is one of the coolest looking rappers since Biggie was on the scene in his mafia suits. Every rapper nowadays just puts on some Bapes and dangles a dozen chains off his neck, which Weezy does too, but in a much different way. Maybe it's due to to his dope dreads and his full-body gangster-ass tats, and his weird sneer, but he just looks better than anybody else.
In addition, he's insane. For evidence download this song. It's "I Feel Like Dying" off of his upcoming album Da Drought is Ova Pt. II. In it, he pretty much just breathes into the microphone about how high he is all the time. The sample is creepy as shit. At this point, he probably goes through a key a day straight to his nose. Also, the song has caused some drama due to the fact that if you play it backwards, it apparently has some subversive message about being dead. I don't know if Weezy would take that much time to write (barely) intelligible lyrics that are also intelligible when played in reverse (which is not an insult, just a testament to the fact that Lil' Wayne freestyles almost all of his shit.) Regardless, check it out here and make up your own mind. Cop it.