When the fandemonium hit the fan, and every stan had their say, Twitter was filled with a bevy of tired AARP inspired insults. Forbes Magazine’s Liz W. Garcia’s put it best, “But in spite of the fact that Madonna is 53 years-old and lept from a kneeling position to standing, over and over whilst wearing spike heels (go ahead, try it, and when you’re done icing your knees, read on) and keeping pace with her twenty-something backup dancers, the focus was on her age.”

Why does this matter? It probably doesn’t. But for me it poses a legitimate question, how old is too old for pop music? A question seemingly only coerced on to pop and hip hop artists. You don’t see anyone begging U2 or Bruce Springsteen to sit down and get off the throne. Even though they should, no one tells Steven Tyler or Mick Jagger to act their age.

“…Once you reach a certain age you’re not allowed to be adventurous, you’re not allowed to be sexual….I mean, is there a rule? Are you supposed to just die?”
- Madonna at 34, defending herself at age 53.

Pop stars have a tendency to die very young or grow old very slowly. The parallels between Madonna and Jay-Z are uncanny. Both have made a career out of being cool. Both have a strangle on the music scene of their respective genres, and both are unwilling to past the torch to their younger contemporaries. As long as you got moves like Madonna, or wordplay like Jay-Z you should keep on rocking, keep on rocking. Our king of pop may be dead, but our Queen is well and alive. 90′s babies may be born this way, but legends like Madonna, legends like Jay-Z basically raised them. Jigga said it best, Bye-byes are not for legends.

“Fear not death, I’ll be alive for a million years, Bye-byes are not for legends, I’m forever young, my name shall survive.”
- Jay-Z on “Forever Young”

Watch This Space: Because I’m not young enough to know everything. But I know, today’s pop starlets always become ghosts of pop past. Now that’s a bit reductive.

Oh that Madge… I can’t help it, I’ve got the biggest Cheshire grin plasted above my chin right now…

See the thing about it is, I wanted to not like this video – hear me out: I wanted to not like this video because after the hoopla and hype, after the media blitzes and reductionism, this era was gearing up to be the bark of Confessions with the bite of Hard Candy #notgreat then, there’s the distractions and the white noise pulling attention from the product at hand and towards the peripheral gossip… in a nutshell: I was ready to not like this video for the same reason I was gearing up to not like Born This Way – because people were going GaGa over Madonna; but lo and behold… Pop never lets you down.

First things first: 2012 – We’ve got Madonna dropping MDNA *and* going on World Tour, and then we’ve got GaGa Born This Way Balling out of control *and,* y’know, Hauskeeping: these are facts. Head-to-head we have the Greatest Generation and the Re-Generation. Brass tacks: beyond all of the Madonna homages, there is the very apparent, clear, and present situation at hand: this is the first time Madonna is presenting a new product to the market, Anno Monstrami, since GaGa. Thus far, Madonna has battled GaGa on laurels – yes, they are some beyond-laudable laurels, but laurels nonetheless. Madonna’s past has fought her way into the future, and now she has to make good on said greatness for the first time since ever. Madonna is proving not only to herself, nor the market, nor to Universal, nor to GaGa, nor to Warner, or to LiveNation, but to Pop Culture that she is still the Franchise Player. Madonna has not faced GaGa on VEVO or the Billboard charts with new material. Madonna has not toured against GaGa. Madonna has not entered the Pop blacktop with her Jumpmans on tight and right against GaGa – until today.

Pop 2012: because this used to be my playground.

SnappIt: Madge… I can’t help but smile… This is a great video, because, well, it’s just a great video. It’s so tongue-and-cheek kitschy… it’s so literally symbolic, it’s so unironically artificial, it’s so amalgamated Pop past, it’s so hollow Bubblegum Pop pastiche, it’s so now, it’s so then, it feels… reductive – it feels so… GaGa. #notlikethat

This: is Madonna on GaGa on Madonna.

So, since Hov didn’t actually write that letter to Blue Ivy, Madonna took up a pen to draft a lil’ something for the next generation – in the form of a music video (before videos became filmhouse shorts) entitled “This Used to Be My Playground” ”Give Me All Your Luvin’”

L-U-V Madonna / Y-O-U You wanna
I see you coming and I don’t wanna know your name
I see you coming and you’re gonna have to change the game
Would you like to try? Give me a reason why
Give me all that you got
Maybe you’ll do fine , as long as you don’t lie to me
And pretend to be what you’re not

When I first saw her, I saw her performing at a very small club in Manhattan a couple of years ago, maybe it was like three years ago, I was actually really impressed by her. I thought she was really cool and she did remind me of me back in the day. I liked her rawness and there was something fresh about there and ballsy, and when she spoke to the audience, she sounded like she had a similar sense of humor to me, quite ironic, and I liked her.

Don’t play the stupid game 
Cause I’m a different kind of girl 
Every record sounds the same 
You’ve got to step into my world 
Give me all your love and give me your love 
Give me all your love today 
Give me all your love and give me your love 
Let’s forget about time 
And dance our lives away

It feels… reductive.

Right so, lyrically, it’s quite clear where we’re at #sufficetosay but the kicker here isn’t the lyrics (c’mon, it’s Pop – lyrics are 10 percent of the battle, if that)

Madge runs the gamut from Hollabackin’ Harajuku Loving Jabbawokee dance crews, to Amy Seeking sideglance suburban chic sets, a splash of the Hold It Against Parisian Nagger dubstep bridge, and more bricks than Jeezy and Rosay sprawled on the “Edge of Glory” wall. Where she goes H.A.M.est in the paint though, is through her own videography – in an ADD, campy, “Generation Too Broke to Pay Attention” way, which is kind of the point. This used to be Madge’s playground, “until these whippersnappers moved in with their constant flow of derivativeness leaving me feeling… reduced.” So, Mo reduces the reduction to a premier production: she runs the gamut from eponymous early days to Dick Tracy and well through Like A Virgin (including ”Material Girl” Monroe nod – in one fell swoop – in, yo’ car bar)

She’s being reductive if only for the sake of showing what it means to be so. Unlike 90% of the Pop playing field though, Madonna is not serious about it… which is kind of the point. MDNA is fun Pop, throwback mixed with a bit of contemporary smoke, mirrors, and synth… so as far as “Luvin’” goes, if this is any early indicator for the album as a whole: “If it’s gapless, she’s golden.”

Random triviality: So… collectively, Madonna shrugs off haters – and, like any Pop figure worth their weight in print, said haters fuel, support, and carry said Pop figure through their careers #loveallmyhaters…

next time you’re watching this video, remember that Madonna went to the University of Michigan, whose bitterest rival is none other than the Ohio State Buckeyes #pauseforlaughter the Buckeyes whose team colors are *gasp* scarlet, silver, and black? like *gasp* the players carrying Madonna through the video, and who inevitably get decapitated by said Pop mistress? #doublenosetap

Watch This Space: Pop comin’ out of my ears today, man #lifeisgood … M.I.A. on the side coming through #hard with THIS #hitemwiththehee

Live fast, die young, bang on the dashboard #kalashrug

“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everybody I’ve ever known.”
– Chuck Palahniuk from “Invisible Monsters”

“If feels a bit reductive…” “What does that mean?” “…Look it up.”

Originality is a big lie that artists tell themselves. We like to think our intellect is so great that everything we think is solely our idea. But we fail to realize, all art comes from art. Can we even be ‘original’ in the first place? No. The true masters have made magic, by combining two, three or four or more previous ideas to create something totally new.

Artists are the closest thing to gods on earth, and even we can not make something out of nothing. Everything evolves from a base idea. You can define originality two ways, one which one argues originality is coming up with a whole new concept while the other one is more of a compromise that one is original if one can take shreds of existing ideas to form one of your own. I think the latter definition is more reasonable. And If we adhere to the latter idea, then it is quite a paradoxical idea of originality. We have more of a reason to believe in creativity than originality.

Anything you think already exist because you are thinking it, all art is theft. Picasso said it best, “bad artists imitate, good artists steal.” What would Jay-Z be without the old songs he sampled? Or Big Daddy Kane and Biggie for that matter? Before GaGa there was Madonna. And before Madonna there was Marilyn Monroe. That’s a bit, reductive. Call it Blonde Ambition or not, but Madge isn’t the only one who’s got a bone to pick with Mother Monster. Colette Justine, the legendary downtown performance artist who often simply goes by “Colette,” is accusing Lady Gaga of stealing her ideas in a new video titled, “Looking for Lady Gaga.”

Dear Colette, you are unique, just like everyone else. ;-P

Watch This Space – Pop: because maybe, it was born this way #kanyeshrug

The Haus was decent… like the States it was in a transitional point this year #inatumultuouskindofway yet, still churning out presumed epochal signposts

The Haus is a favorite every year because through the turmoil and tumult it has evolved into an even more Warholian Factory for the 21st Century… The Haus sans Dada, sans Laurieann, heavy on the Nicola… #ohnico Ian, Michael, Asiel #werethedancers… in 2011 became a home for non-commercial commodified culture…

2009 The Haus could do no wrong, still cryptic, still creative, still cranking out cultural signifiers in their sleep #butnevertodream 2010 saw the Haus become a castle, and 2011 saw a reality check #andmate … presumably, 2012 will see the Haus get biblical #popgoesthekingdom

I called all my coolest art friends and we sat in a room and I said that I wanted to make my face light up. Or that I wanted to make my cane light up. Or that I wanted to make a pair of dope sunglasses. Or that I want to make video glasses, or whatever it was that I wanted to do. It’s a whole amazing creative process that’s completely separate from the label…” – Lady GaGa

Seventeen of 2012′s Highly Anticipated Albums to look forward to.

1. Madonna – MDNA
Her twelfth studio album will be the first since 2008′s ‘Hard Candy’ and is set for release in March. Her new single ‘Gimme All your Luvin’ was leaked late year and will be performed at the Super Bowl alongside M.I.A and Nicki Minaj both of who are also releasing new albums later this year.

2. Brandy – TBA
After her not-so-successful fifth album ‘Human’ released back in 2008, Brandy Norwood’s return to music is highly anticipated and so has called upon names such as Frank Ocean, Timbaland, Sean Garrett and Jim Jonsin to ensure she comes back with a bang.

3. The XX – TBA
The group gave listeners a snippet of what they’ve been working on, on their blog entitled ‘Open Eyes’ and if Jamie XX’s production on Drakes ‘Take Care’ ft Rihanna is anything to go by this should be a great follow up to the Indie Pop trio’s first self entitled album released in 2009.

4. Kanye West – Good Music
Kanye’s compilation album which features, wait for it…Big Sean, Mr Hudson, Kid Cudi, John Legend, Pusha T, Common, CyHi Da Prince, Malik Yusef, Mos Def, Teyana Taylor, D’banj is set for release early this year with Mr West putting the finishing touches on his Getting On with Our Dreams MUSIC label collaborative album in London.

5. Lady Gaga – TBA 3rd album
One female on a mission is Lady Gaga, with the success of 2011′s Born This Way selling over 8 million copies worldwide she just wants to keep going and giving to all her little monsters…

6. Air – Le Voyage Dans La Lune
The 16 minute French short film released in 1902 entitled ‘Le Voyage Dans La Lune’ (A Trip To The Moon) is the inspiration behind the duo’s album which is released in early February

7. Of Montreal -Paralytic Stalks
Since the seven-piece’s birth in 1996, ‘Paralytic Stalks’ marks their eleventh album in fifteen years and is due for release in early February.

8. Sleigh Bells- Reign of Terror
The duo’s second album is due in February with rumors of a Valentines day release. Check out their teaser trailer for Reign of Terror below.

9.Lana Del Rey – Born to Die
She managed to mesmerize everyone with ‘Video Games’ which now boasts over 15 million You Tube hits. Set for release at the end of January, the 25 year olds debut album will definitely be a must have of 2012.

10. Santigold -Master of My Make Believe
Her 2008 album titled ‘Santogold’ which included the hits ‘Creator’ and ‘L.E.S. Artistes’ blew us away and it looks as though the 34 year old who signed to Roc Nation last year is set to do it all over again. Her new album includes collaborations from Switch from Major Lazer and Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s to name but a few.

11.The Killers -TBA
Anticipation for this album is high. Front man Brandon Flowers released his solo album ‘Flamingo’ back in 2010 but nothing has been heard from the Las Vegas band since 2008 with ‘Day and Age’ which brought us the hit ‘Human’

12.No Doubt -TBA
We haven’t heard from Gwen, Tony, Adrian and Tom since 2001′s ‘Rock Steady’ but over ten years later the gang are finally back, good things come to those who wait right?!

13. Major Lazer -TBA
Diplo and Switch are back. The new album is said to include the likes of No Doubt and Vybz Kartel. Check out their single ‘Original Don’ below.

14. Janelle Monae -TBA
Fans are in for a real treat as Miss Monae is set to release not one but TWO albums later this year following the success of her debut album Arch-Android in 2010.

15. Kanye West/Jay-Z -Watch The Throne 2
Both have their own solo projects out later this year, but have also managed to jam in a collaborative project to further the success of the first album.

16. Frank Ocean -TBA
With the success of his 2011 mixtape Nostalgia-Ultra and having worked with the likes of Beyonce, Jay-Z, John Legend, Kanye West and Nas on his new album ‘Life is Good’ out later this year. It would seem safe to say we can all expect good things from the OFWGTKA singer’s debut album which is set to be released in the Spring.

17. D’Angelo- James River
Having heard nothing from the Neo-Soul/RN’B singer since Voodoo in 2000. Finally D’Angelo breaks his twelve year silence with the help of ?uestLove, Cee Lo Green, Q-Tip and Raphael Saadiq as well as producer Mark Ronson to give fans his third studio album entitled ‘James River’ In the meantime here’s his cover of Sound Gardens ‘Black hole Sun’
D’Angelo ” Black Hole Sun ” (Demo) by FUNK★U

As much the Four Evangelists as they are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Britney, Jay-Z, Kanye, and GaGa – our proud and prestigious pillars of Pop – stood tall and held rapturous court this year as the cause and cure for our ailing culture…

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John… Jay, Ye, Britney, and GaGa these four testified in an entirely new way on behalf of the perceived social savior. They worship the abstract, The Throne, The Fame, The Monster, The Femme Fatale, whatever it is they boast on behalf of, and simultaneously battle against is irrelevant – as that vice and vise is always internal first… They are their own Christs and Anti-Christs… The Throne is post-colonial, it is secular, and so very sacred and religious, it bows before the masses and any true messiah, and much as it blasphemes with every waking breath… In this time of unparalleled turmoil, tumult, wealth, weariness, fatigue, fortune, unions within innumerably layered divisions, The Throne articulates body, soul, rhythm, and rhyme what it means to be alive right now. Beyond any shadow of a doubt these four human institutions embody contemporary royalty. They are the belly of the beast, they are the Good Word on the street, they are ingrained in society, and somehow detached but never removed from the lips of any prep or priest… They are the scribes which will tell the history of our generation… This former generation of red herrings has evolved a bit, traded in flippers for boots, grabbed themselves up by the straps, and stepped onto dry land… Steve Jobs sold you an Apple, and with that first gigabyte this consumer culture fell from grace, but it was okay – because we gained knowledge… we gained that carnal knowledge of ourselves… we tasted that luxury, that divine ability to know and have everything – virtually, without having anything at all in reality… we lived in this spectacular place of nothingness, we live now in a cloud… everything became so clean, so pristine, so lily white, and yet so bleakly trademarked beige… but lo and behold we were taken back to the depths… we moved Eastward again, to Chicago, to Kentwood, to Marcy, to Manhattan… we moved away from the machines… we did not want to be part of those machines, we wanted the machines to be part of we… we had no where to unplug though… and then… we decided Pop Music would Never Be Low Brow, we decided we would no longer mail it in… we decided to put a nail in the coffin of that cloud culture… Ignorance is no longer bliss – ignorance is a myth… and within that magnificent mythology lies the future – from plastic to perilous to pre-eminent… from ordinary to organic… from wired to weathered

Gorillas in Chinchillas (Slaves in Paris) by GREATeclectic

What does any of this mean? What does anything ever mean? It means what you make of it… and here we have four broken barons and baronesses… We have four apostles of the apopcalypse: Matthew the Hova – the former tax collector turned Savior’s scribe, the former dealer turned voice of the Biblical business, man; Mark the Kanye – the follower of Peter, the son of the Roc boy; Luke the Spears – a figure of sacrifice, service and strength… representing the sacrificial Passion and Crucifixion, the simultaneous deification through self-denial; John… and John the GaGa – on one hand, the youngest of them all, the metamouthpiece, the supernatural scribe, thee who writes into fruition the human capability to transcend the physical world in an unyielding move towards divinity, on the other “The gospel of GaGa, as told in Born This Way, goes something like this: Humanity will be damned by its own self-doubt until Gaga the Savior delivers us with the might of her music.” #ew It means we’re riding in on the backs of our Four Evangelists of the Apopcalypse – it means the Good Word Goon Squad never beasted so bad.

For twelve months… twelve, months – The Throne reigned supreme this year. From January through December, the sun never set on the crown #splendidisolation.

The Throne does not care about the now because this is then, and they’re on to the next one. The Throne owns Pop Cultural capital – period. They are not specialists, but polymaths of Pop.

“We’re going to stick to one song, and one song only.” This year the throne came home – and by home I mean industry royalty reflected “those ones.” You know… the ones who shouldn’t have been here at all – The Help that helped themselves to a seat at the table. When banks are broke, the broke make bank #namely. At this juncture it’s safe to say we’re all slaves to the throne… some of us, say it better than others #namelythus That said, it’s safer to say we’re all slaves to a throne of indentured servants, who may or may not even belong at said royal table…#kanyeshrugsandotherthugs

We have Hov and Yeezy, both the bumrusher and the bumrushed from 2009 – back with a vengeance. We have Britney #thatstearsnotglitter Spears – forever back from 2007, off the heels of 2008‘s reign, and still… still letting you hold it against her that she allowed you to hold her down for so long. Britney, Kanye, and Jay-Z: three the “Parisian, please” way. Hailing from Los Angeles by way of Kentwood, Southside Chicago by way of Atlanta, and Manhattan by way of Marcy – these three are why you lock your doors at night, why Tipper brought Parental Advisory labels to light, and the embodiment of Naggers in Paris, chimps on the Champs, the low-brow to which you cow-tow #taxbreakandpaytribute – the American definition of fright. Hov balled so hard, he’s shocked too; Britney bald so hard, she cut the crew; Yeezy walled so hard, he throned you, all supposed to be locked up too – if you escaped what they escaped: you’d be in your house getting throwned out too. Yet… still all slaves to the throne. All three are slaves to their own power, their own success, and therein lies the throne of indentured servitude… it is the detachment, the ego, the gold, the glitz, the glam, the superhuman persona keeping the hierarchy from humanity that is their debt. Abstract theory notwithstanding, the blood of the hustler, the blood of the bayou, the blood of the college dropout is what fuels the throne… and in that reality – the lasting pantheon of social prominence is a place none of those kings or queens will ever feel at home – for everything else: there’s making lies truths.

And, naturally, Lady GaGa emerges as the sonic second-coming of the Sans-culottes – pants, politics, and pop, tears and hegemonic fears on tap: Á votre santé, Watergate.

#truthiness

What Wall Street was literally to capitalism, Paris was symbolically to the creative cultural class this year… #getoccupied #nagon They were not just art for Michelangelo to carve, he could never rewrite the aggro of their furied hearts… so, they waited on mountaintops in Paris cold … #everybloodylovesmary #workitblackjesus … and strutted into Paris Fashion Week – runway workhorses:

Lady GaGa – Government Hooker Live at Paris Fashion Week 2011 F/W 2011

Kanye West – DW S/S 2012 Collection at Paris Fashion Week 2011

Lady GaGa - Black Jesus † Amen Fashion Live at Paris Fashion Week 2011 S/S 2012

 

For The Throne, Paris was the hallowed mirrored hall to which they would see themselves infinitely reflected upon royalty, and to which they would call home – against, any, other, and all wishes.

I’m sitting here about to get my next tattoo at a popular tattoo shop in downtown Atlanta. This next tattoo is the one with the most meaning. It’s maktub. Maktub is Arabic for ‘it was written’. A strong, spiritual sentiment that eludes many to think of faith and destiny, all heavy religious concepts automatically once the denotation is learned. I picked up the phrase from one of my favorite books, The Alchemist. But I’m getting it tattooed on me. So, a religious thought is becoming a fashionable trivial decoration on my body. This trend is not rare in our society. I’m participating in seemingly the bastardization of a sacred world. Making things that are of God be also in vogue, no matter what the eventual results may be. Even when those results are most commonly breaking the sacred and holy.

The needle is drilling into my flesh, the blood drips on to my skin, running down. The pain of this tattoo is a right of passage. The more pain, the more you can later gloat about how you overcame it and got a cool piece of art on your skin. The needle drills harder, blood runs faster. The outlining is becoming almost complete. The thought that is going through my mind is a common one; when the fuck will this be over? The thought that followed isn’t as common. I thought to myself; is this how Jesus felt? His body being in pain, but his mind knowing the end result because was all-knowing. That fine balance of knowledge that it will all be okay, despite your body being put through torture by someone else’s hands.

No, I’m not Jesus but perhaps subconsciously I want to be? Of course, most Christians want to be Christ-like, but are we jealous of Jesus also? The perfect one? God’s son? The attention he gained, the magic he made, the lives he changed, the followers he garnered. Jesus was the first pop star and it seems like we’re all trying desperately to catch up in our own ways to prove that we can compete with his celebrity. Michael Jackson might have moonwalked, but Jesus walked on water. Wiz Khalifah and Kanye might have had Amber Rose. Jesus, however, was the first to turn a hoe into a megastar with Mary Magdalene.

Picture your favorite performer on stage. Her hair is flowing, the lights are glowing, and she’s probably levitating on stage like some holy angel or resurrecting from underneath the ground like some born-again holy crusader. Beyonce in her angelic, glowing silver dress singing about halos or Lady Gaga birthing a universe through her kaleidoscope of a uterus and singing about how Judas betrayed her. Are these just findings of a conspiracy theorist gone mad with too many ‘People’ magazines? Or are these ladies highlighting what’s in all of us? We all want to be closer to God, but how scary is the thought that we are actively envious of our savior, as well?

We’re a generation of bosses, superstars, leaders, and iconoclasts. We try our best to make it seem like we’re alphas of whatever endeavor we’re getting into. How many of us want to be the alpha and omega, though? How many of us won’t be satisfied with any level of success because the true control and attention we need and desire is ungodly (for a lack of better words). Jay-Z has millions of albums sold, prestige in most creative circles, and a type of fame that is almost tangible and sticks to your fingertips like dried-up glue. Is it really surprising that a man who desired to achieve that level of notoriety would refer to himself as God? Is it really surprising that our pop stars have formed religions around their brands that go beyond fans? We’re living in a world full of monsters, barbies, and love muffins. We use to live in a world full of Christians, Muslims, and Jews.

Sure, I might be crazy or do too many drugs and listen to too much Pink Floyd while reading Alice Walker books (try it!), but it’s a discussion that needs to be ignited in order to really find out the motivation behind today’s pop culture that usually reveals the motivation behind the people consuming it which is you, me, and them. Why are people falling so easily for these false idols that are ideally American? I have a theory. Hope was killed in 2010 and faith hasn’t been exciting since Ricki Lake has aired. We’re living in a society thirsty for something to believe in, something to praise, and something to pray to. But this time we’re choosing our own God. The Ancient Greeks did it. Our Gods just have catchier choruses, fake eyelashes, and expensive wigs. More important than that, our new Gods are tangible. We can see, feel, and hear them for a fee which is proving to be a better alternative than the blind faith we’ve been settling for free. It’s a scary thought, but it is a mentality that is encompassing the world like the sun above.

The blood from my drilled flesh is wiped with a stark white cloth and ‘maktub’ is being wrapped in regular, tattoo fashion to avoid infection. My tattoo is done. The pain is over and like I knew from the beginning, the end result is something beautiful. I made an appointment for my own personal crucifixion that was perfectly packaged, timed, and made for mass consumption. Nothing is holy.

If you knight it then you should’ve put a ring on it…

BlinkkIt: #bam Manhattan’s Pop monarch came back after three betrayals to bring Brooklyn’s Finest’s line to fruition… closing out Born This Way with a single that slays the sanctimony of matrimony and raises a glass to the twice-kissed sinners… “Birthdays was the worst days, now we sip champagne when we thirstay;” here’s to all of your future pain being champagne. #cheerstotearsontap

To marry the night means, among other things, to wed your dreams; here we consummate with the subconscious, conceive a reality, and bring fantasy to fruition.

When I look back on my life it’s not that I don’t want to see things exactly as they happened, its just that I prefer to remember them in an artistic way; and truthfully, the lie of it all is much more honest because I invented it. It’s sort of like my past is an unfinished painting, and as the artist of that painting, I must now fill in all the ugly holes and make it beautiful again.

For instance, those nurses, they’re wearing next season’s Calvin Klein – and so am I; and the shoes: custom Giuseppe Zanotti. I tipped their gauze caps to the side like Parisian berets because I think it’s romantic and I also believe mint will be very big in fashion next spring.

And that girl on the left, she ordered gummy bears and a knife a couple of hours ago -they only gave her the gummy bears; I wish they’d only given me the gummy bears…

This video brings us back to the beginning. Classic GaGa, tailor-made indie-style instant cult classics. So many memes, so many beautiful nuances… so much noir – so much polyamorous monogamy. Forget about The Fame, or its Monster… leave the dial tone for Alejandro… this is the beginning, and yet simultaneously the future. Again, GaGa is her own gauge… constantly creating a time and space void of twain. Enter vintage Bellevue, allude to the Poor Little Rich Morphine Princess – the sullen Sedgwick – all while donning next season Calvin Klein, while wearing inevitably 2012 du jour mint hair net berets, reminiscing and reproducing past lies into future truths…

The phonograph is the heart monitor, fueling the IV, bedside maintaining technicolour lived dreams, drowning monotony… the crazed clinic mates are dazed dancers, thought to be insane only by those who could not hear the music… the sinner’s birth comes from the sainted mother… and this is just the first three minutes… nothing to your name means nothing to lose, and all that’s to gain is The Fame…

The vignette, the interspersed dialogue underscored by classically crafted soundtracking, like Miles Davis of the modern video, making the most of the negative space… golden silence on the quicksilver screen… more than a video, this continues to be a challenge to modern Pop – you. will. never. be. low. brow.

Naturally, there’s the heartbreaks and dance breaks… #butimanartist … this video… is why… L.A. Reid… nor Def Jam will find their way off the island of misfit boys any time soon… Hell hath no fury like a dropped woman’s scorn: Honey Nut Cheerios can vouch for that.

Her hair, her crown, her coif is her conscious… back to black, on to true blue, and eventually golden locks of bombshelled blonde… everything is so everything in this video – as always with signature GaGa… it seems as if she lost herself somewhere, not dead and gone lost… but distanced from that which created this… she was on the edge of glory with you and I… but, it wasn’t real… it was just practice… and now… now we have the premiere…

You walk into Fame a nobody… until Debbie Allen tells you you’re a somebody #ohwait #wrongmovie #butnotreally Ballerinas on balconies stonefacing and hyperextending legs – and egos #becauseminesbiggerthanyours – nothing but bedazzlers and Rivington Rebelled patches to keep you going…

then, you channel Aunt Viv in the face of young, fresh, nouveau, put in work and put on a show #upandout… here, conceptually we have GaGa’s backup dancers #irl as her peers and assumed superiors – see what she did there. Slowly but surely, with the help of love and art, she – forever the Aronofskian Black Swan – ascends above the rest, from the ground up, because real girls get down on the floor… #gottagetuptogetdown

The heart, the soul, the running theme and meme of GaGa was, is, and forever will be: “I am a lie and everyday I kill to make it true.” From The Fame as a starting point, to the death and rebirth of said Monster and Mistress, there is no hyperbole with GaGa – only materialized mythology…

We are nothing without our image, without our projection, without the spiritual hologram of who we percieve ourselves to be, or rather to become, in the future.

FAMEKILL$, a conceptual mixtape presented by GREATeclectic & Swiper Bootz which, intertwines the music of Kanye West & Lady GaGa is finally available for free download now.

“For some people, fame kills their passion and becomes more powerful than the music or the performance.” -GaGa

“There is no astronaut training for this whole celebrity thing… even though this whole life is so outer space” -Kanye

They shot the lights out, hid until ’twas bright out… and though it was just another lonely night, they birthed life in the sinful sacrifice.

Leaning on the Fall, in the wake of of Pop’s crystal ball looking back, looking ahead, looking down, and looking point-blank in the face of the Post-Apopcalypse – where The Fame killed fame.

Paws, processes, cacti, credenzas… follow down the Pop path, a Monster’s memory lane where the Glitter Way meets Elm St… where Fame Kills was not a concert, but rather an immaculate conception…

… where the greatest show you couldn’t believe, became the greatest show ever conceived – and just as swiftly became the greatest show never to see the light of day – only to become the most glorious mourning, and the greatest show money could never buy. The tandem didn’t cancel the concept, they canceled convention, and soundtracked culture.

Watch This Space: Art Lives, Fame Kills, Revolution Resurrects.

just dance, to the beat with ye…

“It’s like Born This Way candyflipped – which is fatal fame’s genesis..”

- Swiper Bootz

Art Lives, Fame Kills, Revolution Resurrects.

Watch This Space

“bad POWER” is taken from the GREATeclectic & Swiper Bootz presented mixtape “FAMEKILL$” which intertwines the music of Kanye West & Lady Gaga. “FAMEKILL$” is set to be released Nov 30.

Sometimes… my heart, sometimes, feels so black… in the dunes of sand… and other days, my heart feels like rainbows. Mugler. Mugler. Amen. Jesus is the new black. I am Mugler woman. I am quiet; I am strong. Amen. Mugler. GaGa. I am Mugler Woman. Don’t f*ck with me. Don’t f*ck with Mugler. Don’t f… f… Don’t f*ck with Mugler woman. Mugler. Scheiße. Take me, Paris. I am; we are Paris. Do not anger a Mugler woman; she will eat you. Mugler. Jesus is the new black. I am Mugler woman. I am quiet; I am strong. Amen. Welcome to Paris. It’s Fashion Week. We are Paris.

Sometimes you can’t… sometimes you can’t reiterate properly… sometimes you can’t summize the perfection of creation… sometimes the white shadow looms forever overhead… and in the midst of blissful suspension… you let go of assumed need and purpose… you relinquish any and all allegiance to divine creation… the assumed necessity of highlighting significance… the reflexive response… the need to convey your own rediscovered sense of self and space… time and place… to your fellow dimmed vessels… sometimes you simply fall to your knees… and bask in the glory in the gruesome… and from those depths… your lids open… your eyes focus from just beneath the brow… your crown no longer bows… your porcelain grin clenches from beneath your pursed lips… your buck no longer a front… the slain… the slave… the savior… the self… the dame… the stranger… all the same in the face of danger… Monsieur Mugler’s lone name uttered six times… the greed, the pride – I am, I am, I am, fashion… the insatiable lust – take me, Parisian passion… the subdued sloth – quiet, I am… the predatory glutton, the resting wrath – don’t anger the strong, she will feast before long… greed, pride, lust, sloth, gluttony, wrath… sometimes the heart… it feels so black… sometimes Jesus resides in that… Mugler, Mugler, Mugler, Mugler, Mugler, Mugler… Welcome to Paris. It’s Fashion Week. GaGa: envy she. Amen.

DOWNLOAD: Lady GaGa – Black Jesus † Amen Fashion (Mugler PFW S/S 2012 Remix)

Watch This Space: #blackjesus #inparis

Natalia Kills has seemed to be quite the presence overseas, and it’s truly a shame that the US has not been fully exposed to Perfectionist, her debut pop album. While she seems to take herself a bit too seriously, especially considering the type of music she is making, Natalia delivers some very solid dance-pop here.

While none of the songs break new ground, Natalia has a commanding presence throughout this disc. It’s her music, and she never allows the listener to forget that she’s the one singing. While several of the cuts may seem a bit similar, with their percussion-heavy starts, there are enough standouts to offset this.

Some of the best songs include “Mirrors,” a powerfully seductive song that nearly eclipses the entire record. Thankfully there are songs like the threatening “Break You Hard” and the cringe-worthy titled but surprisingly good “Love Is a Suicide” that shine all on their own. Natalia takes a break from her dominant woman stance to deliver the beautiful “Heaven,” detailing the loss of someone special. It’s a refreshing moment, one that every ‘smart’ pop album needs to separate itself from the ‘dumb’ pop albums that permeate the market. “If I Was God” is another very good song, with its meaty backbeat that allows the song to run nearly 5 minutes without getting old.

Natalia delivers a strong debut, one that signals toward a strong career in her future. Songs like “Free” and “Acid Annie” are overshadowed by the other more superior songs. The Lady Gaga comparisons are inevitable, but If you’re looking for a good electro-pop record to sink into, this is a great choice.