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CJLO hosted the 2010 CSU Elections debate this past Monday on Watercooler Talk hosted by Paul Aflalo.

CSU candidates duked it out on air, describing their platforms, promises and ideas. If you missed it and still want to get informed you can listen to the audio here. If you're an undergraduate student. be sure to paya ttention and go out and vote in the CSU elections next week!

Read by Erica Fisher.

Produced by Ayesha Hasan and Nick Fiscina

Stories written by:

Jonathan Moore, Jose Espinoza, and Corentine Rivoire

If you were on Twitter or any hip hop blog last Thursday night there was no avoiding it. The moment so many people have been clamouring for ever since So Far Gone dropped finally arrived. Drake’s first single was now making rounds online. The question was: did it live up to the hype?

The curiosity to hear the song was there. Blog sites were feeling the heavy traffic, and within 30 minutes Drake became a Trending Topic on Twitter. Not to mention that one song completely overshadowed Fabolous’ long-delayed There is no Competition 2 mixtape which dropped only minutes prior.

Now, the subject matter in the song does not stray very far from Drizzy’s comfort zone. He touches on haters and women, and does it admirably. He does however show off his knowledge of the culture, with his third verse flow reminiscent of dead prez’s “Hip Hop” record. The Boi 1-da produced track does not lack in energy and will be a surefire radio hit within weeks.

 
However, when listening to "Over", one becomes slightly curious whether or not it has true “single” potential. In general terms, the answer is no. There is no infectious hook, and no real party vibe to it. In today’s market, without those two ingredients, it is hard to catch a hit in the hip-hop world. Nevertheless, the people are so ready for a Drake album the buzz and anticipation alone should be enough to carry it.

“Thank Me Later first week I’m taking all bets, because a million copies isn’t really far fetched,” Drake rapped on "More Milli". The buzz is there. The moment of truth arrives in May.

My walk to "Le Salon Vert” was an interesting one.

Walking on upper St. Laurent, being distracted by all the really cheap Indian restaurants, my senses were cut off by a mass group of interesting people gathered outside a gallery exploding with indie music and laser lights. For a brief moment I thought to myself that this concert might actually be pretty exciting, with all the glimmer and interesting-looking people.  

Unfortunately, this awesome venue was not the Green Room. I continued walking down the street and then I recognized a tiny group of smokers, clad with punk attire that always reminds me of Middle Ages garb. The Green Room is a grungy bar with a tiny platform for performers. The place wasn’t even filled and it reeked of body odor, I badly wanted to unleashed an Axe-spray bomb into the crowd.  

The two opening bands, Unfun and another whose name I couldn’t wrap my ears around, because the music, if you can call it that, blockaded my eardrums and prevented any sound from entering. A slight exaggeration yes, but these two opening bands were unbearable. I have no clue how anyone around me could even make out the lyrics, if they even had any, or could relate to the angry smashing and ghoulish screams they were making.  

What was nice about the Green Room was that they close doors at midnight, the opening bands started at 9:30, I couldn’t wait for Pierced Arrows to finally get on that stage, so I could get the hell out of there.  

Finally Pierced Arrows on the stage. Pierced Arrows was originally a band in the '80s that combined garage rock, punk and country and originally called themselves Dead Moon. The original Dead Mooners, singers/guitarists/songwriters Fred Cole and Toody Cole, which have reached a prime age of retirement, still kick it in Pierced Arrows with Kelly Halliburton on drums. These veteran artists know how to excite the crowd. I found it interesting that there would be a rock/punk band, in which the lead singer is married to one of the members. It totally goes against the image of the life of a rock-star who sleeps with all his groupies.

As happy as the crowd was to hear this veteran band, I couldn’t decide what was worse, their terrible combination of genres that came out sounding like garbage or their saggy skin flowing back and forth on stage. I do give them credit for fighting the years to stay young, but their uncouth appearances just gave me the feeling that I was watching a group of junkies ranting on and making a racket.

After a few songs, I could not take this genre of music anymore. I decided that I would sacrifice the chance of seeing them eating a vampire bat or resurrecting the dead, I quickly ran to the door and went to Reggie’s bar, anticipating the cheap beer and slightly quieter music.

-David A.