Saturday, December 31, 2011

Black Breh's Best of 2011


Photobucket

What up Brehs and Brehettes.

I bet you all thought I had died and disappeared. Not so. I spent the holidays enjoying my break with my family, being an idiot on Twitter, and not doing anything too intellectually taxing. 

But I'm back now! *brushes shoulders off*

2011 was a record year. There were moments of unparallelled hilarity, and moments of deep sadness. Among all of these events, quite a few things stood out to me, and made 2011 one of the most memorable years of my adult life. Hopefully this doesn't get too ratchet, but if it does y'all will forgive me, right?

Let's go:



Politics:

2011 was an extremely political year. For most of the year, GOP candidates squared off against President Obama, while the President himself struggled to stay politically afloat. Here are some of the standout political stories from 2011.

The Iraq War Ended - The war in Iraq started ten years ago, and lawd did we waste a lot of money and shed a lot of blood. Troops are still straggling home, many of them borne down with disorders and scars that may or may not heal. Still, it's better for them and their families that they be home, right? Right? Moving on...

The Republican Party elected a bunch of idiots to try and topple the Tower of Obama - No, seriously. Michele Bachmann. Chester the Molest---I mean, Herman Cain. Rick "Niggerhead" Perry. Not to mention state officials (looking at you, Jan Brewer). Many of these people obviously graduated from the school of hard knocks to the head. While I'm not the biggest fan of political theatrics, I do enjoy to see qualified candidates spar, both rhetorically and in the polls. But, as anyone who watched any GOP debate saw, qualifications and rhetoric were both mostly absent.

Arab Spring/Occupy Wall Street - 2011 seemed to be the year of the rising of the people. The paradigm was challenged worldwide, causing subversive ripples that shook many a dictator from their thrones. Speaking of...

A lot of Dictators and Terrorists Died - Mubarak, Kim Jong Il, Gadhafi, and Bin Laden all took the final L this year. *starts to pour some out on the curb for them* *reconsiders*

Music:

Too much awesome music came out this year. 2011 was a good year for Hip-Hop, and a good year for expanding my musical palate.

Best Hip Hop Album - This is a Tie between Charity Starts at Home and Camp. Tough decision, as there was a lot of good hip hop this year. Honorable Mentions: Undun (The Roots), Digital Lows (Cities Aviv), The Young Chris Freestyles, and my new favorite rapper, Action Bronson.

Best R&B - I don't listen to a whole lot of R&B, but this year I thoroughly enjoyed Jhene Aiko's tape, Thinking About You (Frank Ocean), Teedra Moses, Eric Roberson, and Rochelle Jordan. Apparently Goapele also released an album, but I didn't hear it. :(

The worst R & B song this year BY FAR was Kelly Rowland's "Motivation". STFU, Kelly.

I don't know a lot about musical classification, but let's just say that some others that rocked my world were SBTRKT, Onra, Machinedrum, Onyx Ashanti & Blaktroniks, The Raveonettes, M83, and Ellie Goulding.

Comics:




I did a Best Comics of the Year post on Facebook (see above). I gotta say, though, I really enjoyed AQUAMAN this year. Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis have done a fantastic job redefining nobody's favorite superhero. Also, check out MGRNTS, a webcomic currently in progress with words and art by my breh Bryan Rollins. It's dope.


Gaming:


Come on, son.






Beer:

Sadly, I didn't drank as much beer as I wanted to this year. I particularly enjoyed the Howl, the Magic Hat winter brew. Howl's full body, heady flavor and chocolatey undertones definitely made it the standout beer of the year. 

Food:

I have an upcoming food post that is going to rock y'alls socks, but in the meantime, the best place I've eaten at this year is the Trolley Stop Market, a local food place in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. The highlights: The Pimento and Bacon Sandwich, Shrimp and Grits, Pizza, and the locally sourced beef that goes into the burgers. It's like you know you're eating MEAT. Yes, the caps were necessary.


The Pinnacle:




Okay, brehs and brehettes. The best thing that happened to me this year: Picture it, Late summer, Downtown Memphis on a bluff overlooking the mighty Mississippi river. I got married to the most beautifulest, most brilliant, most middle of the road between hood and academic girl that I could ever have met. She's the perfect balance of sexy and cute. By far, the highlight of the year. Shouts out to all my brehs that fell through and helped me make the transition.

There are only a few hours left in the year. A Breh Wants to Know, what are your highlights of the year 2011?

No comments:

Post a Comment