by Mario Aguilar on 20khz, shared by Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan to Gizmodo
It shouldn’t be all that surprising that Dr. Dre’s classic debut solo record would be on Apple Music, since Dr. Dre is employed by Apple Computer. But it’s actually very surprising, since The Chronic has never been available online—at least legally.
The musically-minded data analysts at the blog Rapalytics analyzed more than 1,000 albums and 150 rappers for their lyrics, and they were able to create a profanity index. Though it's missing some rappers and lyrics, it serves as a good broad look at the state of cursing in rap.
And the state of rap is Dr. Dre, cursing a lot. Even when you break down the profanity by particular curse word, Apple employee Dr. Dre leads for a wide variety of individual swears, including "f*ck" (though for overall sexual terms, he loses out to the always-romantic L'il Wayne).
On the other end of the profanity spectrum is the family-friendly Will Smith, with only 14 profane words uttered in his career of more than 20,000 words. MC Hammer and Wyclef Jean, unsurprisingly, are the next cleanest.
But the most interesting change might be generational.
Overall, the young generation of rappers curses less — and uses fewer racial, misogynistic, and homophobic slurs
According to Rapalytics,1995 and 1998 were the peak for profane rap, roughly coinciding with the "Gangsta rap" era. Rapalytics charted that as well. Since then, rap has become significantly more mainstream, and mores around certain types of profanity, especially terms that are misogynistic or homophobic, have changed. All these trends have become more pronounced as younger rappers entered the industry.
The most notable changes include:
In 1998, the "N word" was featured in 1.33 percent of all songs — by 2014, it had shrunk to 0.84 percent.
A homophobic peak in 2000, in which 0.025 percent of songs featured some homophobic lyrics, fell by more than half to 0.012 percent in 2013. Though there are many exceptions, you're less likely to find homophobia in the work of newer rappers like Kendrick Lamar (his curse rate is around 2 percent, but the ranker doesn't list him as using any typically homophobic words).
Some trends may be indicative of new rappers entering into the scene. The most misogynistic rapper, as ranked by her use of the word "bit*h": Nicki Minaj, who uses the word both as an insult and as a boast.
The Rapalytics ranker is far from perfect — to take just one example, it omits Odd Future and its many controversial, frequently profane members. It's also searching for particular words, so it might miss some of the more poetic profanity. But the datastill reflects rap becoming more mainstream and negotiating which taboos it will — or won't — continue to violate.
No matter what the weather is doing outside you can now have a personalized thunderstorm for one right inside your home whenever you like. This is Cloud, an awesome interactive light shaped like a cumulus cloud created by multidisciplinary designer Richard Clarkson. Clarkson’s Cloud simulates a thunderstorm using motion sensors (or a remote control) to activate lightning and thunder displays in response to the user’s presence. It’s a smart cloud!
“The Cloud is an Arduino-controlled, motion-triggered lightning & thunder performance, as well as a music-activated visualizing speaker. As an interactive lamp and speaker system designed to mimic a thundercloud in appearance, The Cloud employs embedded motion sensors to create unique lightning and thunder shows while providing entertainment value and inspiring awe. This is a kind of magic, not based on illusions and trickery, but on sensors and code. Featuring a powerful speaker system, The Cloud allows its beholder to stream music via any Bluetooth compatible device and can adapt to any desired lighting, color and brightness.”
Watch this video to get a better look at how the Cloud works:
Clarkson’s Cloudand a smaller version called the Tiny Cloud are both available for purchase via his online shop.
The Brain
Photo credit:
CLIPAREA | Custom media/shutterstock.com
Strokes are the fifth highest cause of death in the U.S., killing almost 130,000 Americans every year. More than 795,000 Americans suffer a stroke every year. For over half of those Americans, it's their first.
87% of all strokes are ischemic, which means that blood flow to the brain is blocked, causing the cells to die and the brain tissue to become irrevocably damaged.
“We decided to call it Hill Valley, which was kind of an oxymoron that nobody ever really gets,” jokes Back to the Future’s co-writer and producer, Bob Gale. Gale and co-writer/director Robert Zemeckis, both from the Midwest, wanted the film's setting to feel like an archetypal, middle-America town. To commemorate...
This morning saw the launch of iOS 8.4, and with it Apple Music . And even if you’re not a Taylor Swift fan, there’s still some joy to be had in the world: the Beats 1 radio station, DJed by Zane Lowe and free for everyone with an Apple ID, started its broadcast at 12PM Eastern.
Rainbow Guard Security by Kvelde
In honor of the US legalizing gay marriage throughout the country I, for some reason, made this pic of modern Renly and Brienne. I imagine modern-day Renly as a young lawyer pissed off by his homophobic mayor candidate brother who decides to run for mayor himself and founds Rainbow Guard Security, an organization focused on helping LGBT youth.
Serious question: Why are celebrities still doing Twitter Q&As? Especially controversial celebrities? Well, you can hop on #AskELJames and ask her, but she probably won’t answer, because she’s busy ignoring all the other questions she got today.
Welcome to the Dollhouse, the 1995 cult fave about the tormented life of an awkward middle-schooler named Dawn Weiner, is getting a sequel—sort of. Director Todd Solondz has started shooting the new film, titled Weiner-Dog, and has put together a cast that includes Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, Kieran Culkin, Danny DeVito, Brie Larson, Ellen Burstyn, Tracy Letts and Zosia Mamet. Gerwig will play the adult Dawn.
by Rich Juzwiak on Defamer, shared by Stassa Edwards to Jezebel
The stunning turnarounds just won’t quit. Elizabeth Berklev was once known as Saved by the Bell’s Jessie Spano and then as the actor who ran her career into the ground and thrashed around while she was down there via her feral performance in Paul Verhoeven’s notorious NC-17 rated 1995 flop Showgirls. Despite perpetual cackling from those who saw Showgirls for the masterpiece it is (regardless of intent), Berkley has never quite embraced the film in the way that her co-star Gina Gershon ultimately did , for example. Berkley called the response to the movie “cruel,” the experience “humiliating,” and said she quit dancing for a while as a result of it.
Streetsy recently shared these photos of a small, but awesome street art installation on a v-shaped support structure in Amsterdam. The tiny statue honors Belgian martial artist and actor Jean-Claude Van Damme and the truly Epic Split he performed between two moving semi trucks:
Unfortunately we don’t know the name of the artist responsible for this clever piece. If you know anything about it, please let us know.
i specifically chose animals that are (or believed to be) extinct due to human influence: thylacine, great auk, baiji, west african black rhino, golden toad, dodo, passenger pigeon, and quagga. there are many other species i could have included. the plants are also based on extinct species, but i found much less information about extinct plants, unfortunately.
the text doesn’t necessarily relate to each animal or their extinction. it’s all basically the same idea: let’s all be nice to each other, because today, the universe is vast and incomprehensible, we are all suffering, we are all going to die, and we’re all in this together. for today.
i’m busy for a couple weeks with conventions, but after that i’m considering a companion series with ancient extinct animals, so feel free to send me your favorites :)
This morning kicks off a week of humid and stormy weather around Southern California. [ 
N.W.A.'s "F--- Tha Police" is a timeless rap anthem, but it somehow sounds the most relevant right now—almost 27 years later. [ more › ]
