Dildo Fire

Everyone is ok! That's the good news. Fire on the second floor apartment above baohaus today. Everything's fine, but kinda nuts. Best part was when things got thrown out of the apt and a fucking dildo was in the pile. In a LES fire, leave the gun, bring the dildos. (photos by Ben Fractenberg)

a-wah and gentrification

Congrats to A-Wah on their NYTimes mention! The homegirl, Victoria (CCC), took me and Emery to lunch here 2 months ago. She's always up on that division/east broadway/catherine street chino scene under the bridge haha. Emery and I aint Cantonese so we don't hear as much about the new joints popping up down there (OMG we aint all the same? lol) but Victoria and Steve's Grandma let us know what's good.

Randomly, Steve's grandma kept trying to explain to Steve this restaurant he should go to. She kept saying "hot rice with cover, hot rice with cover!" haha. I liked the joint the first time I went with Victoria. But we didn't pour their soy sauce all over the rice. I was like, that's some gringo shit to order a bowl of white rice and eat it with soy sauce.

But I went back last night wit Steve and the owner told me to use the soy sauce. BONG. Mind mofuckin blown. Get the red sausage and preserved duck rice casserole. Of all the Chinese cuisines, I think Cantonese has the most in common with Taiwanese. Both are island-ish spots and we both like to use dried shrimps, dried scallops, preserved meats, cured cabbage, and funk. We got stinky tofu, they got king of fruits durian haha. Hong Kong is like Harlem and Taiwan is the rockaways. Renegade Island LOL.

ANyway, I'm happy when joints like A-Wah that people in the hood actually go to get press. I always shit on Joe's Shanghai cause its a wack tourist joint. Its harrible. I went to A-Wah last night cause I knew people would start coming and there was a wait. I won't be back for a while cause its gonna be packed but I don't care. I wanna see these people get paper and come up. I hate gentrification more than the next guy, but my perception has changed. My dad said it best. I came back from Beijing 2 years ago and was like, "Dad, its wack man, they are tearing up everything for the Olympics. All the hu-tongs are being destroyed." And he had the best answer, "Chinese people in Beijing aren't zoo animals. Hu-tongs aren't an exhibit that they need to maintain so you can always go see it." I understood it. We cant see these neighborhoods like fish bowls we put on a shelf like lonely planet books. We like visiting those neighborhoods, we like to see the old school shit, but its easy cause we don't have to live in concrete boxes with no plumbing. We can come back to a/c, laundromats, and poland spring. But they need to come up too.

The important thing is to just make sure we own the land our businesses are on. Lines and wack people coming to your hood are small potatoes. Its annoying, but its a battle, not the war. You want to make sure you don't get displaced but I think overall, Chinese people frequently own the property so I like to think we'll do aite defending chinatown. Where my horns at?

New Xiao Ye Playlist

Shouts to the homie Terry Urban for this playlist. Met him at agenda the other day and traded a potato pancake for this crack... Terry kinda got robbed LOL. Pork buns on the house next time my dude! (baohaus > vinyl ... lol)

Gap Band-Outstanding 

The Clash-Guns Of Brixton 

Curren$y Feat Stalley-Address 

Amy Winehouse-You Know Im No Good 

Roy Ayers-We Live In Brooklyn 

Aloe Blacc-I Need A Dollar 

Mayer Hawthorne-Maybe No, Maybe So 

MGMT Feat Q Tip-Electric Feel (Terry Urban Remix) 

Stevie Wonder-That Girl 

A Tribe Called Quest-Luck Of Lucien 

Feist-I Feel It All (Diplo Remix) 

Michael Jackson-Baby Be Mine 

Breakbot-Baby Im Yours 

Pointer Sisters-Automatic 

Talking Heads-Psycho Killer (Live) 

Raze-Break For Love 

The xx-Crystalized 

Chaka Khan-Aint Nobody 

The Rolling Stones-Under My Thumb 

Yacht-Summer Song  

Drake Feat Peter Bjorn & John-Lets Call It Off 

I don't know how he knew Gap Band is my shit but he did. First time I saw the "You Dropped a Bomb on Me" video was while waiting for my mom to try on shoes at bloomingdales when I was like 12. Gap Band can make women's dress shoe shopping bearable. That's something even Al Bundy couldn't do. 

Jazzy Belles

I saw this article in the Times yesterday and was mad konflicted bout it. On one side, you know Magic Dong Huang likes to rowdy roddy pipe-her but I hate thinkin that these the future mommas of our children (Jaffe + 3 stacks). I mean, in America, when birds get out of pocket, we get PTA Meetings, "Keep Ya Head Up", or Oprah speaks. Its crazy that in China, when producers make Pigeon Programming, Big Brother just shuts it down.

I started thinking.... Wouldn't it be dope if Obama just pulled the plug on NBA wives? Or all the fucking housewives? Sex and the City, I can recognize the "cultural contribution". Desperate Housewives? Ok, you can have that, but only cause Eva Longoria is the jump. But, do we need every channel flooded with this Cougar/Golddigger shit? Can we get a Big Cat Salary Cap? Like, only so many scallywags and snaggle pusses can get made for tv gold digger gigs?

There's a limited amount of air time and we should recognize the issue of scarcity. I was at the crib last night and at 12am, I couldn't even get a straight news show. It was all Hannity, Glenn Beck, Joy Behar type-ish. Everything has a spin, an angle, an agenda. I like BBC, but I have to tivo it to watch every night. Its sad when Comedy Central has the best news programming in your country. Its fun to watch Jersey Shore and Tiny/Toya, but how much is enough? China is OD with the censorship, but they may have it right with this one.

I'm all about freedom of speech, but I think we all have a mentality that filtering our culture is someone else's job. Or we leave it to the market. The market has no conscience and its a problem. Someone gotta do sumthin....  Holla at 3 Stacks

New Playlists from Victoria and DDPESH

I've been swamped and didn't have a chance to do a new playlist but luckily Victoria Howe and DDPESH held it down. In between taking her cat to the islands, Victoria sent me this list:

At Your Best (You are Love)  - Aaliyah
Planet Rock -   Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force
Naughty Girl  -  Beyoncé 
Strobelite Honey Remix   -  Black Sheep/Edan remix
She Ain't Got The Boom Like I Do -  Blaque            
Pass The Courvoisier (Part II)   -  Busta Rhymes Feat. P. Diddy & The Neptunes
Oh Boy -  Cam'Ron
Ain't Nobody -   Chaka Khan
Ridin' Dirty -   Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone
Eye Know  -  De La Soul
Freaks of the Industry  - Digital Underground           
Cool Like That  -  Digable Planets 
Summertime   -  DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince               
Torture Chamber -   Edan
Shimmy Shimmy Ya  -  El Michels Affair
Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)  -  EnVogue  
Strictly Business  -   EPMD       
Gold Digger  -  EPMD   
I Ain't No Joke -  Eric B. and Rakim  
Work  -  Gangstarr
Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta  -  Ghetto Boys
Back Like That   -  Ghostface Killah
Cher Chez La Ghost   - Ghostface Killah 
Pony  -   Ginuwine
You Can Do It  - Ice Cube
Realms Of Junior M.A.F.I.A   - Junior M.A.F.I.A
The Jump Off  -   Lil Kim
Going Back To Cali  - LL Cool J
Feels So Good  - Mase     
Baby I Got Your Money -  Old Dirty Bastard ft. Kelis    
Frontin' -  Pharrell Williams      
What'cha Wanna Do - Pras
Gangsta Party (w/ Tupac) - Snoop Dogg   
Fresh Pair of Panties On  - Snoop Dogg
Can We Get Freaky Tonight - SWV
California Love - Tupac


And DDPESH sent this:

ddpesh Baohaus Playlist II - July 2010

80 songs, 5:10:26 total time

Back & Forth -  Aaliyah 

Burial (DJ Mehdi Remix) - Miike Snow 

C.R.E.A.M. -  Wu-Tang Clan 

Charlie Brown (DJ Mehdi Remix) -  Ghostface Killah 

Here Comes The Hotstepper -  Ini Kamoze 

Hold Yuh (Major Lazer Remix) - Gyptian 

I Wanna Be Your Lover - Prince 

King of New York - Dan the Automator 

Kiss (Extended Version) - Prince 

Lovely Day - Bill Withers 

On tha Block - Lil Wayne 

Travellin' Man (Featuring Mos Def) -  dj honda 

The World Is Filled (feat. Too Short) -  The Notorious B.I.G. 

Around The Way Girl - LL Cool J 

Broken Safety Featuring Jadakiss -  Raekwon 

Candyman - Cornershop 

Devil's Pie -  D'Angelo 

Dwyck (With Nice & Smooth) - Gang Starr 

I Got A Man - Positive K 

I Got A Story To Tell - The Notorious B.I.G. 

I'm Not A Player - Big Punisher 

If I Ruled The World (Imagine That) - NaS 

It's All About the Benjamins (Remix) - Puff Daddy & The Family 

PLO Style - Ratatat 

Mr. Big Stuff - Jean Knight 

Nas Is Like - Nas 

On The Mic - dj honda 

On-Line - Gnarls Barkley 

Passing Me By - The Pharcyde 

Rico 0:07 - Goodie Mob 

Scarface Wiggle - Armand Van Helden 

Soulful strut - Young Holt Unlimited 

STD Fury - Javelin 

Summertime - Armand Van Helden 

Summertime - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince 

Surgical Gloves - Raekwon 

Ya Mama - The Pharcyde 

Ya Playin' Yaself - Jeru The Damaja 

You Gots 2 Chill '97 - EPMD 

Above the Clouds (feat. Inspectah Deck) - Gang Starr 

Booty Man - Craig David 

Bring The Pain (The Chemical Brothers Remix) - Method Man 

Brooklyin's Finest - Jay-Z 

The Contender - Menahan Street Band 

Fix Up - Ratatat 

Do It, Do It - Disco Four 

Every Party (w/Prefuse 73) - Erlend Oye 

Fasta Blade - Ghostface Killah featuring Raekwon 

Fresh (12" Remix) - Kool & The Gang 

Fu-Gee-La - The Fugees 

Go All Out (No Doubt!!!) - 9th Wonder & Buckshot 

Home Again! - Menahan Street Band 

The Influence -  Jurassic 5 

It Was A Good Day - Ice Cube 

Juicy (Pete Rock Remix) - The Notorious B.I.G. 

Let Me Ride - Dr. Dre 

Maybe So, Maybe No - Mayer Hawthorne 

The Message - NaS 

My Summer Vacation - Ice Cube 

Nic's Groove - The Foreign Exchange 

Nuthin But A G Thang - Dr. Dre 

Royalty (feat. K-Ci and Jojo) - Gang Starr 

See Me Now - Cassius 

Soul Limbo - Booker T. & The MG's 

Space Talk - Asha Puthli 

Stylo - Gorillaz 

Wanna Get To Know You - G-Unit                        

'93 'Til Infinity - Souls of Mischief 

Bad Man! - Murs 

Crush On - Notorious B.I.G., Lil Kim, Ceaser 

D. Original - Jeru The Damaja 

Hot Butter - Armand Van Helden 

Push 'Em Up - Armand Van Helden 

Right Here (Human Nature Mix) -  SWV 

Roc Raida Intro (Featuring Roc Raida) - dj honda 

Shimmy Shimmy Ya - Ol' Dirty Bastard 

'Shrinking Balls' - Vinnie Jones 

Strictly Business - EPMD 

Suntoucher (featuring Jeru The Damaja) - Groove Armada 

You Know My Steez - Gang Starr 

Jeremy Doin it BIG

Jeremy, sign with the Rockets and play with Yao. Then maybe we can all get along too LOL. Naw for real, Lin is gonna be pretty dope in the NBA. I just hate the lakers/mavs/heat..... knicks? rockets? magic? come on dude!

Dinner @ Andrew Buckler's

Sunday was the shit! We cooked a 5 course dinner for Andrew Buckler, some other designers, and the press. We all got Buckler V-necks. I don't think i've ever worn a v-neck..... wasn't so bad. haha.

The menu went: cold dumpling salad, five spice beef shank baos, mom's cold noodles, salt baked chicken w/ lotus leaf fried rice, and dessert was Mantou Bread pudding w/ Soy Caramel. Above is the salt baked chicken!

This was the main dining room, there was also another dining area in the living room.

Here I am making the soy caramel.

Steve stayed busy poppin bottles for the ladies haha.