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CHRIS FARAONE

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Review: The Blind Side

Despite what you may think, it's not a Sandra Bullock movie
It’s tough for any self-respecting critic to refrain from joyously tackling a Sandra Bullock movie — so it’s a good thing The Blind Side isn’t one.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | November 17, 2009

Swollen Members | Armed to the Teeth

Battle Axe (2009)
I’m not completely sure why the mere mention of Swollen Members rubs so many underground rap snobs the wrong way.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | November 18, 2009

Dudley no longer square

House Party
Virtually desolate Dudley Square needed dining alternatives to deep-fried heart attacks, so in 2005, organizers with Haley House — the 43-year-old South End–based charity foundation — opened the Corner Shop Bakery Café.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | November 11, 2009

Letter Rip

The Phoenix discovers secret messages in Hollywood-connected political correspondence
Hollywood celebrities who fancy themselves pols and pundits don’t just bring impassioned everyman views to the legislative banquet.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | November 12, 2009

Allah people in the house

Blak Madeen stay true on Sacred Defense
“Muslim hip-hop is not like Christian rock,” says Yusuf, the Merrimack Valley half of the Allah-inspired Boston-Lowell tag team Blak Madeen.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | November 11, 2009

Review: The Box

David Kelly boxes himself in
First-semester social-science students would wince at the overreaching metaphors in Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly’s latest Rorschach test.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | November 10, 2009

Edan | Echo Party

Five Day Weekend (2009)
There are two ways to get intimate with Berklee-schooled track surgeon Edan’s latest throwback symphony.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | November 10, 2009

Boston rat rampage

Thanks to the global economic collapse, which has stalled initiated construction projects, Boston’s rat population is surging
Residents say that if you jam a leaf blower in the earth virtually anywhere in Allston, furry bottom feeders will be blown out of every crack and hole in sight and rain down like unsavory screeching meatballs. North Enders joke that something similar would happen if you detonate a Parmesan wheel in an alleyway off Hanover Street.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | November 09, 2009

Blind ambition

Brother Ali is more than just albino
The only thing less common than Brother Ali–caliber MCs are profiles that don’t credit dude as “blind” and “albino” in the first graf.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | November 05, 2009

Bekay | Hunger Pains

Coalmine (2009)
Bekay is that chip-shouldered scumbag from down the block whom your mom banned from the house after she caught him sodomizing your little sister’s Teddy Ruxpin.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | November 03, 2009

Hip-hop from Hell

Horrorcore salutes Ice Cube and Alice Cooper
Depraved hip-hop is the biggest thing to hit trailer-trash America since sliced meds.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 29, 2009

Event puts the 'dates' in 'candidates'

Kiss and Sell Dept.
In their quest to land one of Boston’s four at-large City Council seats, the eight remaining candidates have shaken more hands and kissed more behinds than anyone probably should in swine-flu season.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 28, 2009

Hip-hop is dead

. . . or undead, rather — just ask Zombie Death Squad
Depraved hip-hop is the biggest thing to hit trailer-trash America since sliced meds — and not just in redneck pockets, where rap music hardly reached before, but in suburban enclaves where acts like Twiztid and Tech N9ne sell out shows with ease.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 30, 2009

Interview: Warren G

Smooth hustler
Humble and nonchalant as ever, Warren G is cooler than Miles Davis smoking an Alaskan cucumber.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 28, 2009

Knight of night life

Taking on Boston’s biggest bully
The most feared man in Boston isn’t a crazy-eyed killer or a brutal street thug — he’s an elected official. Evidence? When was the last time you heard a disgruntled Boston businessperson publicly criticize Mayor Tom Menino?

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 26, 2009

Review: Astro Boy

Partisan politics rain down like meatballs
Five-year-olds who attend MoveOn.org rallies in between tee-ball and bath time are sure to love the new David Bowers–directed interpretation of Osamu Tezuka’s flagship character.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 21, 2009

Jaysaun and DJ Revolution | Game of Breath

Brain on Drugz (2009)
Jaysaun is my best proof that Jay-Z is mediocre, as well as the first MC I play for hoodlum friends who accuse me of favoring white-boy art rap.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 21, 2009

The politics of baseball in Boston

It's the Red Sox, stupid
You don’t need a fancy political-science degree to predict voter turnout in Boston city elections. All you need is a Red Sox postseason schedule (when applicable).

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 14, 2009

New head shop scores near BU

It's the Joint
Here’s a new way to tell when college kids are back in Boston: shelves at the Joint — a new Comm Ave head shop near Packard’s Corner — resemble electronic-store aisles during the Los Angeles riots.

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 14, 2009

Boycott Blues | Irony

Brick (2009)
Here’s one way to interpret the title of the debut disc from Boycott Blues: on one paw, he’s a street cat who says “fuck it” for a fast ducat; on the other, this Roxbury beast laments the residual effects that come from poisoning his people and advancing cyclical oppression in the “concrete Congo.”

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 14, 2009

Interview: Bill Maher

Bill Maher's new rules to live by
"If liberals act like pussies, then they are pussies."

By: CHRIS FARAONE | October 15, 2009

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