C O L O U R S - Best YouTube Channel for Urban Music?

I and 1,151,382 other people subscribe to a Youtube channel called COLORS, it's a music thing and it's fookin' wondrous. They've got this cool, trendy look to all of their vids; a hanging mic, an artist(sometimes accompanied, most times solo) in the middle of colourful empty space that's different in each vid.

Not something I'd usually care about sharing - the channel usually features up and coming artists which is good if you give a hoot. In the past week or so anyway, both Jorja Smith and Giggs have seen fit to drop some bombs(not debuts) on the channel!! Leading me to believe that the channel's reputation is growing or has already grown to a point where A-Listers may soon be interested. 

It's a band wagon that's worth jumping on, a good way of keeping 'current' and hearing new music 'n' artists.

Nevertheless.. Click the either of the two places I've written the word 'COLORS' to an subscribe to them to become there 1,151,383rd sub!!! Woo.

Here are the two aforementioned videos and a few others for your enjoyment..

'Jorja Smith - Blue Lights'

'Giggs - The Essence'

Others.. featuring.. Mahalia, JGrrey, Jacob Banks, Yellow Days, Flohio, MacDeMarco.

Thanks. Bye!

APRIL 3RD - 'PUNISH A MUSLIM DAY!'

April 3rd has always been nothing more than 'just another day' and probably will remain so despite the bat-shit crazy branch of British society's recent attempts to change this.

You may have missed it but a couple of weeks ago now a number of residents in parts of London, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have been the recipients of a semi-threatening/semi-childish letter titled 'Punish a Muslim Day, 3rd April 2018'.

The pathetic pamphlet which was posted 'anonymously' begins with a typically Islamophobic rant, featuring lines like "They have caused you pain and heartache. What are you going to do about it?" and calling those who don't hate Muslims "sheep" as much as they could in the 150 word limit they allowed themselves. The bullshit rant is followed by a backward point system where Muslim-bashers can earn themselves 'points' (which amount to fuck all in reality) for crazy-disrectful acts such as; pulling a headscarf off a lady, beating up or verbally abusing a Muslim, throwing acid at someone who looks like they may practice Islam and last but not least - nuking Mecca!

Only a tiny minority of the UK population will find this kind of proposal acceptable so the actual threat level is relatively low. That said, I live in Bow and work in Stratford (majority-Muslim areas) where a number of residents have received these moronic messages and community members justifiably have their backs up in anticipation of one or two d***heads acting up.

True Brits like Shahab Ud’deen, a man from Leeds in Yorkshire where a number of letters were distributed, launched the campaign urging people not to be normal, but to be special in light of recent plans to disrupt the Muslim community in the UK changing the name from 'Punish a Muslim Day' to 'Love a Muslim Day' - suggesting people should send families on a 'once in a lifetime' trip to Mecca instead of nuking.

Let's hope these freaks aren't successful in their hopes to disrupt all of us.

'3 DOCUMENTARIES THE GOVERNMENT DON'T WANT YOU TO WATCH!'

Earlier this week, I stumbled upon this photo..

I think I saw it on a jokes, super-left friend's instagram and have yet to thank her actually! But yes. The sticker photo'd above entitled 'These are films the government doesn't want you to see!' instantly had me interested as I live for good conspiracies - however cray! 

The 3 documentaries/films are;

- A Delicate Balance: The Truth

- Cowspiracy: The Sustainable Secret

- Earthlings

All of which are available for free on YouTube.

I've now watched two of the three suggested and probably (A Delicate Balance: The Truth & Earthlings) and have heard enough about 'Cowspiracy' to know that I'll cry through 70%. And I am FAR from a vegan/vegetarian.

All three films focus on the treatment/consumption/production of animals. A Delicate Balance: The Truth is a more informed look at how the consumption of certain foods is more killer than wars, famine, diseases etc.. featuring scientists and various experts - not as boring as it sounds. 

Cowspiracy follows an American environmentalist on his journey to finding out the truth about the impact animal agriculture has on the planet.

And Earthlings definitely explores the topic in most graphic way and if you're easily spooked, saddened or moved to tears watch with CAUTION. It is INTENSE!

Enjoy & click on some links - they take you straight to the respective film.

Finally.. Another Rhye album!

Writing music reviews isn't really my thing but when it comes to 'Rhye' I'll do almost anything!!!!!!! It's been five whole years since the act dropped their debut album 'Woman' (the best album ever IMO, highly highly recommended) and todaaay they just dropped another!! (yesterday)

If you haven't heard of them/him, here's some recent-ish news for you.

In the past half-decade the duo consisting of Michael Millosh, singer (Canadian) and Robin Hannibal, instrumentalist (Danish) has halved and become one with Hannibal playing zero part in the new album after splitting :( quite sad really.

Michael Millosh is now the sole member of 'Rhye'

Millosh explained to Billboard magazine that his former musical partner never toured with him labelling him a "computer-y kind of guy". He also touched on how they split, claiming Hannibal signed contracts that prevented the two from working with each other and calling him "self-destructive". Hannibal has since reminded fans of the part he played with Rhye in a heartfelt message in which he details his influence in the making of their amazing debut album before wishing his former partner the best of luck. Seems like a nice guy to me tbh.


To Michael Millosh's credit, the Canadian with the lungs of the legendary Sade, he has spent the last two years writing, producing and recording the entire new album entitled 'Blood' and there's very little difference in quality. Hannibal's tender instrumentals are missed eeever so slightly as Millosh has opted to be backed by a studio band, making the whole sound easier to categorise I guess? - the tracks however are just as frickin' good.

I've looped and fallen in love with the whole album already. My favourite track ATM has to be numero two, "Taste".. the opener "Waste" is also right on the money but  ultimately, after a shiteload lot of listening, as with the first album, I know that I'll end up loving 6 or 7 tracks equally.

Your lil Rhye' 'To-Do' list for you:

- Listen to the whole album on all major platforms (Spotify, iTunes, Soundcloud).
- Read Billboard or Rolling Stone's reviews - they're not crazy bias like moi.
- Find the first album, also available on all major platforms.
- Check out Robin Hannibal, he's worked with loads of cool artists and will definitely have produced one or two of your favourite tracks! (if you're an indie/soul/'alternative' music fan)

'OOPS, MY PHONE'S DEAD OFFICER :((' - FREE DLR TRAVELLING FOR LIFE/FOR NOW.

The wonderful Docklands' Light Railway (DLR) celebrates its 30th birthday this year and it has been nothing short of a blessing for Londoners, especially myself. My uni's situated aaaall the way out in Beckton, E16 (far east) and if not for the DLR getting to uni would be a nightmare.

The line conveniently links you up with some of London's best areas.. in my opinion; Lewisham, Stratford, Canary Wharf, Canning Town, Greenwich, Tower Bridge to name a few and the best thing about it is.. IT'S TOTALLY FREE OF CHARGE NOW UNTIL FOREVER (for some 'daredevils' lol). Of course, it's not, but it is barrier-less at least for now and if you're a 'train station opportunist' then yeah, it's basically always free.

No barriers means you can choose not to tap your oyster or buy a paper ticket as there is a 90% chance that the DLR station you're heading to is also a barrier-less one. Things do heat up a lil' as once you're on the train you've got to emulate the fantastic Mr. Fox in your attempts to read and avoid the ticket man. Look out for signs and signals that tell you what his or her next steps are going to be.

NOW. Most people are already fully aware of this and therefore all the above isn't really relevant to you. Sorry for not saying earlier :)

BUT I'd like to make people aware of something they may not already know..

When the inspector comes towards you armed with his needlessly chunky, card-checky-thingy and there's absolutely nout you can do WHACK OUT YOUR APPLE PAY. A friendly Nigerian conductor once informed me that by law conductors cannot reprimand you if your apple pay fails. This is simply because your payment can fail for a multitude of reasons, usually network/3/4G related and obviously sometimes we can't help these things from happening..  therefore it is unfair to be charged a penalty fare. IT'S NEVER FAILED ME OR ANYONE I KNOW, AS OF YET. 

Photo by Zach Ekpe.

I am, however, pretty certain that TFL are already working on this - if they're not already planning to install barriers at every DLR station. It's just too big a loophole for them to ignore. So if you find yourself in the common situation of being asked to present your ticket and you haven't paid for once pull out your Apple Pay and let them scan that I promise you they'll walk on. It's fool-proof.  Either that or you can always say your phone died and it's the only method of payment you brought out with you. Nothing much anyone can do/say about that either.

DISCLAIMER: Out of the 45 stations, on the 7 different lines, 4 (to the best of my knowledge) will always have automated ticket barriers, these stations are; Stratford (not Stratford International, that's free), London City Airport, Canning Town and Bank - tap your oyster prior to travelling to or through any of these stations. Unless you want to be squeezing through the barriers behind an unsuspecting stranger whilst it squeals out this vile tone in desperation to see you caught by the TFL staff member(s), the barrier not the stranger.

Again, if you're a regular fare dodger you've probably already worked out the effectiveness of the 'my phone's dead' line. But for those who haven't tried their hand a bit of free travel for whatever reason, spread the word for them, so they may travel as freely as the rest of us!

Bye!

MET POLICE 'CBA WITH INVESTIGATING ASSAULT, SHOPLIFTING, GTA & BURGLARIES & MORE'

2017 has been truly loopy and you are 100% forgiven for not being to keep track with all the madness. Today, however, the Met police have made some pretty big changes that I feel we should all be aware of.

"On Monday, it was reported that the UK’s largest force would no longer look into many reports of crimes, including burglaries, thefts and assaults, where there was judged to be little prospect of identifying a suspect."

London's Metropolitan Police announced earlier today that they would be looking to save around £400m on their budget in the next four years as a result of over-spending and immense pressures caused by the current terror threat. Firstly, that's a huge sum. The fact that we're ready to reduce funding for our national/domestic security but happily increase our military budget is beyond crazy.

As a result of these cuts, police will now be investigating far fewer crimes, essentially giving free-reign to some criminals, some think. Nothing's been decriminalised so every crime is still worth it's weight in jail time.. What has changed are attitudes towards certains crimes, with less time being spent on the investigations of them.

Police will now be looking into the following a lot less;

- shoplifting

- burglaries and thefts

- assault (where the attacker isn't instantly idenitfied)

- car crimes

- criminal damage

The deputy commisioner of the Met Police, Mark Simmons said;

“With the pressure on our resources, it is not practical for our officers to spend a considerable amount of time looking into something where, for example, the value of damage or the item stolen is under £50, or the victim is not willing to support a prosecution.

The 'pressure' on their resources that Mr. Simmons is referring to is the supposedly ominous and looming 'terror threat'. 

“We need our officers to be focused on serious crime and cases where there is a realistic chance that we will be able to solve it. We also want them to be available to respond to emergencies and go to those members of the public that need our help the most.” 

He also added;

“Of course, we are not talking about things like homicide, kidnap, sexual offences, hate crime or domestic violence, but the lower level, higher volume offences such as shoplifting, car crime and criminal damage. 

Obviously, he's obliged to say everything he's said above, he has to do a job. However, I'd say that the Met Police are playing a risky game. They are fully aware of the mentalities the 'criminals' they have to deal with on a day-to-day and must surely know that the opportunist mindset of a potential wrong-doer is only going to see this as an opportunity?

This supposed 'let-off' is weirdly coupled with an announcement earlier in the week that the Police would now be looking to clamp down on people for the possession of corrosive acids/liquids in the wake of a recent rise in acid attacks, the most being one in Stratford's old shopping mall. All smells a bit contradictory to me.. 

The police are basically saying they're going to be harder on assault because that's what an acid attack is... at the same time as investigating it less?? I can only think that this will result in more people trying to get away with acid attacks and other assaults if they believe they can remain faceless, resulting in more people from that demographic being jailed. 

The Met are hoping to save this huge some of money over 2020, which is the tiniest bit more encouraging. Imagine if they forecasted themselves a year to save £400m we could be looking at a completely different story. Personally, I hope that these cuts of this nature don't continue. After all we fund the police through tax. If they do continue, we could be looking at a lot more 'leniency' on more severe crimes and that definitely wouldn't be good!

What do people most fear? (TWITTER POLL)

On my Twitter page, I've been conducting a series of polls - oo don't I sound scientific!? I've been doing so for a couple of months now and will probably carry on indefinitely! Given that I study Journalism and am looking to do things of this nature more in the future.. it wouldn't hurt starting now, on a smaller scale and less formal platform.

One of my first (I think my 4th or 5th) poles was targeted at everyone and posed the question, 'Generally speaking, what do you most fear being..?', the possible answers were; A Victim Of Crime, A Victim of Terror, Poor or Lonely.

I wasn't actually going to post anything on it, but yesterday, I mentioned to my mum that I'd polled this question and her reaction reinforced the significance of these findings.

These were the results..

Of course, there are a huge number of negatives that could be drawn from this data as well as one or two positives. This polls suggests that on average people in the UK fear being 'A Victim of Terror' less than crime, poverty and loneliness. The only positive from that is that people (or at least my Twitter seemingly aren't buying into the shit in the media. People, as you can see, most fear being lonely.. closely followed by poor.

My perrrrsonal opinion is that our 'system' is to blame for such a high number of people fearing for the financial stability. It's purely a reflection of the complete uncertainty surrounding employment for over 18s. Zero-hour contracts, poor wages comparably to the price of life, lack of jobs various reasons, poor education system that doesn't prepare you for 'adult life', discrimination (racial, gender etc), lack of motivation, anxiety, lack of confidence... the list sadly is endless! But all of these are indicators of a failing system. Now obviously a number of people have flourished in the same system but again, in my perrrrsonal opinion, that's a kind of luck of the draw thing. Either you were luckily instilled with the right mentality to help you succeed (upbringing/life xp has resulted in good money management, high motivation, innate dislike for laziness etc) from a young age - whether you were raised poorly or well. Either that, or your from a rich/connected family blah blah blah, you know the story.

Now, people most feared being lonely in the future. That's quite telling. I've found this to be true in life tbh; people aren't too scared about terror unless a bomb goes off, people utter the odd word about being the victim of crime but I don't hear it often, people are alllways talking/worrying about money and people genuinely all want to be accepted. It's just important that we speak to people often and if you see anyone looking like they could potentially need a friend, be the friend!!

Follow my Twitter for more polls!

Happy Sunday!