Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Rinse November

Rinse FM

RINSE

Dusk and I were back on Rinse last Thursday. Since it's was the last show of the year, we were...

...only going to play slowjams and lovers rock, some country with a mid section focusing on tuba solos. Lock in for Dusk's live countdown of just how quickly our career is being ended

...going to get half way through the set when we get sucker-punched by super surprise guest, TRIMBALE!

"I heard my tune and some weird beats so I decided to run up here..." - Trim.

Then, it was ON!!!

DOWNLOAD the set here...

Rinse FM: Dusk + Blackdown ft Trim November 08

Wonder ft Kano "What Have You Done?" (Nu Era Music)
Basement Jaxx "Jus One Kiss (Sunship mix)" (XL)
Abacus "When I Fall In Love (El-B bootleg mix)" (White)
Ghost "Gritty" (Ghost white)
The Beard "Someday (Phuturistix remix)" (Inspirit Music)
Nude "Wake Up" (On Course)
Kode9 "Ping" (Rephlex)

Joker "Do It" (unreleased)
Keisha Cole "Should Have Let You Go (Rustie resmack)" (unreleased)
Rudekid "Spaceman" (unreleased)
Starkey "Gutter Music ft Durrty Goodz" (Keysound Recordings unreleased)
Zomby "Gloop (Starkey remix)" (unreleased)
Wiley and Bless Beats "Where's My Brother" (unreleased)
Joker "There She Goes" (unreleased)

Trim "Say It Aint So" (unreleased)
Zomby "Be Reasonable, Expect the Impossible aka Firefly Finale" (unreleased)
MC Trigga "A Little Darker" (unreleased)
Zomby "Earthbound" (unreleased)
Starkey "Strikenow VIP" (unreleased)
Zomby "One Foot Ahead of the Other" (unreleased)

Mount Kimbie "Maybes" (Hotflush unreleased)
Kuma "Mine" (unreleased)
Kryptic Minds and Leon Switch "One of Us" (unreleased)
...

**STUDIO DOORBELL GOES. SPECIAL SURPRISE GUEST TALIBAN TRIM IN THE VENUE! TIME TO ROLL WITH THE SUCKERPUNCH AND SWIIIIIIIITCH. NORMAL SERVICE WILL NOT BE RESUMED...**

Solar Constant "Phidiana Indica" (unreleased)
RSD "Accepted" (R8 unreleased)
Starkey "Gutter VIP" (unreleased)
DOK "Bigbang" (Aftershock)
DOK "Crossover" (Aftershock)
Joker "Digidesign" (unreleased)

Gemmy "Johnny 5-0" (unreleased)
Ikonika "Please" (Hyperdub)
Starkey "Pressure" (Planet Mu)
Jerzy "Outside Looking In (instrumental)" (unreleased)
Jerzy "Datski" (unreleased)
Wiley (Target & Danny Weed production) "Pick Ur Self Up (instrumental)" (Aim High)


I think we just had our "Kode9 v Wiley moment". I still feel dazed and giggly with hype. Given Trim's sucker-punch surprise visit, we have half a show's worth of upfront dark, percussive and rolling dubs. So time permitting, Dusk and I are going to put these together a mix for download. Hold tight for that...

Dirty Canvas 2009 Calendar

Dirty Canvas 2009 Calendar: D Double E
Dirty Canvas 2009 Calendar: JME

Ohmydays this is too much...

"London's leading grime night Dirty Canvas has teamed up with photographer Will Robson-Scott to bring you the first calendar of grime music's biggest and best loved stars. This limited edition A3 calendar features Wiley, Skepta, Tinchy Stryder, Trim, JME, Roll Deep, D Double E, Ghetto, Jammer, Chipmunk, Griminal, Tempa T, Badness, Ice Kid, Frisco, Double S, P Money and Lil Nasty.

With 500 copies printed available online at www.dirtycanvas.bigcartel.com this unique piece features never seen before photos, capturing your favourite grime stars in the studio, performing live, backstage, jamming on road, in the chicken shop, getting a haircut and even assaulting an 80's TV Star!"


What more needs to be said?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Dusk + Blackdown v MAH


Our mix for Mary Anne Hobbs' Radio 1 show went out late on the evening of Tuesday 18th. Here's the tracklist. Out to Ramadanman and Geiom for a nice clean fight.

Dusk + Blackdown mix

DOWNLOAD the mix here.

Starkey ‘Gutter Music ft Durrty Goodz’ (Keysound)
Starkey ‘Gutter Music VIP’ (Keysound)
Geeneus ‘Knife & Gun’ ft Riko, Wiley and Breeze (Blackdown remix) (Keysound)
Geeneus ‘Knife & Gun’ ft Riko, Wiley and Breeze (Blackdown Devil mix) (Keysound)
Blackdown ‘Beta’ (Keysound)
Blackdown ‘deFocused’ (Keysound)
Dusk ‘Focus (Blackdown VIP)’ (Keysound)
Geeneus ‘Knife & Gun’ ft Riko, Wiley and Breeze (Dusk & Blackdown remix ft. Farrah) (Keysound)
Badla Lata Ka ‘Badla Lata Ka’ [unreleased]
Starkey ‘Gutter Music VIP (cont.)’ (Keysound)

(Thanks to rob booth at electronicexplorations.org for the hosting).

PS Geiom and Ramadanman had had the cheek to start slewing us on the Dubstep Forum. Check the banter there.


Keysound Recordings 008

geeneus ft. riko, wiley and breeze "knife & gun"

a) "knife & gun"
b1) "knife & gun (blackdown remix)"
b2) "knife & gun (blackdown devil mix)"

**Out on 12" NOW.**

listen to the tracks audio on our myspace

keysights by Nicobobinus
mastering by transition
vinyl distribution by baked goods



Monday, November 17, 2008

The man who cycles through glass walls



The search term "Big Ben" into Flickr yields 134,706 results. By contrast the term "Crossways Estate," (aka east London's "Three Flats"), yields 23, three of them about maypole dancing at a village fete. It was in this way that I first found Nico Hogg, aka Nicobobinus' photos.

It was around two years ago, when the first ideas around "Margins Music" began to coalesce that I found great resonance with Nico's photography. Time and time again I would search on Flickr only to find a visual representation of the sounds I'd heard in my head or the environment I'd been inspired by. At first I don't think I clocked it was always Nico's shots I came back to, but then one day Stuart from Give Up Art, who designed our album artwork and does all the Tempa, Rinse and Applepips art too, emailed me a photo. On the surface it said "No Spitting" but, written in two languages, it also screamed "grime" and "London", while tugging at the respective definitions of those two words.

People talk about glass ceilings in UK culture caused by race and class, but London has glass walls. Throughout this decade I've found myself coming back to the realisation of how insane it is that people so densely geographically located in a city can pass so close without any meaningful sense of understanding of each other. People pass each other without contact, like planes stuck in parallel concentric holding patterns above Heathrow, unable to converse with those just a few hundred feet away from them. On the ground, the glass walls of class and race cause peergroups defined by vocation, education and affluence, forming pockets of self-reinforcing values (in analysis of how the London tube bombers were radicalised, experts point to the participation of training camps, not because the camps particularly gave them extra skills, but because by isolating them from the population, they were able to self-reinforce yet-more extreme viewpoints). "It's a small world," people say, acting surprised at finding commonality with a "stranger" who also happens to be their age, race, class, vocation and live in the same city as them. But is their world only small because the glass walls make it seem so?

Nico Hogg is a man who can cycle through glass walls. For me I have Wookie's remix of Gabrielle to thank for opening the door in the wall, because discovering garage taught me a shared language and showed me I had the appetite for finding common ground in places I didn't belong and in which my peers don't go to. But Nico, he just rides on through. His Flickr account is littered with Google Maps screenshots of east London cycle paths, locations he rides pro-actively into, shattering the glass, to take shots of. And by locations I don't mean Westminster.



I think it's safe to say that Flickr doesn't need any more photos of Big Ben. If you're the 134,707th user to upload a shot of the central London landmark, what incremental value are you really adding as a photographer? But by contrast, as serendipity threw me into Nico's photographs time and time again, it became clear that here was a man doing something, going places and recording areas precious few others were. "Three Flats" (above) was one of the first ever locations for Rinse FM. Who else has taken a shot of it though? For these reasons, long before I'd found a Keysound release by Rinse regulars Geeneus, Riko, Wiley and Breeze to use the "No Spitting" image on, I'd begun a long process of interviewing Nico about his shots.


In the first post, Nico explains in general about his approach to photography and his chosen subject, the margins of urban London. In a second post, to follow, I've presented him with his shots, often grouped in themes, and asked him to explain a little more about how he got himself there, why he took it.



Blackdown: So tell me a bit about you as a photographer: how long have you been shooting?

Nico: Years... maybe since I was about 8, but back then it was different – I'd drag a 35mm compact around with me and take photos of anything, anything at all. I was racking up these massive bills for developing reels of film containing, say, 25 wonky pictures of a reservoir on the outskirts of Edinburgh, shot straight into the sun so hardly anything came out properly. My family were going mental. Then I went over to digital when I was 16, got the internet, met other people taking photos and started taking it a bit more seriously... still working on that last point though!

B: what makes you want to pick up a camera? Why did you choose light as your medium?

N: I just wanted something I could pick up and use to express something. I can't play an instrument, I had a brief spell of writing when I was about 15 but didn't feel it was worth going on with, I can draw stick men but no more than that. It seemed like the best thing to go with. It's that easy, more people should do it. It's the days when I want to show people something new that I want to go and shoot most. Sure, in London people can be quick to match up tower blocks with poverty, inner London, but there are towers dotting the skyline in Twickenham, Kingston and Kew Bridge too. If the Brentford Towers were closer to Central London they'd be icons. I can see them on an album cover now, but that's off people's radars looking from the centre of town. Most of all I enjoy taking pictures of the things other people might overlook – try and show people something new, even if it is very ordinary. The internet is good for that, giving a bit of exposure.



B: Do you feel like you are documenting London? Is there also an underlying theme of social comment to your photography?

N: If I am, it's a funny sort of London. When I started I don't think I was doing it consciously, I just went for what took my interest, but as it unfolded it started to look like a documenting of sorts. The social comment aspect is not one I've actively pushed, but I have my own views and they must have leaked into it over time. It's as much a process of coming to my own understanding of London as it is the pictures telling a story.

B: I'm most excited about your coverage of the margins of London - you seem to cover a disproportional amount: east, south, north east, north. Do you find yourself in these areas or seek them out?

N: It's a bit of a mishmash of both. When I started travelling out to areas with the camera I picked on the places I'd spent time in as a young child: inner south London - Walworth, Burgess Park, Peckham. That was a bit of a personal mission, really. I've only got memories to go on from that period as there were few photographs and none of the people involved in my life at that time are in touch anymore. I wanted to try and grasp a sense of how things were at that time and get a better understanding, so I decided one day to just visit, to try and catch the essence of the place, see how it made me feel. I brought the camera to see how a photo would be influenced by that, and I was pleased with the results so I started broadening out to other areas I knew well; I live in north east London and have friends scattered all round that area, so that's where I've tended to wind up.

I find outer London interesting, heh, maybe too interesting. I think looking at the city by dividing it into travelcard zones is a good way of doing it – round the outside the zone 5/6 areas with their own identities separate from London, especially the ones off the tube map: Romford as Essex, London is somewhere 'that way'. Most of these are settled in themselves, in the grander scheme of things. In the middle, Zone 1 looks at itself, in a mirror, a self aggrandising project, while eyeing up zone 2 – inner London - with hungry eyes. Somewhere new to colonise, to the point that it becomes more akin to 'central' London in the classic sense, where there is this huge wealth, the towering office blocks of the Docklands and the penthouses that come with it. But the time has come where they're pretty stable now too – so expensive to live in that they only attract the wealthiest, while the scramble for council housing is so intense that nobody in their right mind gives up a flat once they've got one.

That leaves the middle belt, these 'ordinary' areas, and I think that's where the true London is now – where the 'old' inner city has been pushed out to, that's where the change is happening. And like the old inner areas that were given short shrift and ignored by the arbiters of hot-or-not 15 or 20 years ago, these areas further out now are too often forgotten, for their better and worse attributes. When the people with money to burn arrived in areas like Whitechapel and Bethnal Green they were force-fed words like 'vibrant' and 'diverse', a showcase model of how London came to be the melting pot that it is, but it's these suburban areas that are seeing the process being repeated now: Walthamstow, Woolwich, Barking, Thornton Heath, Edmonton, and it's like nobody is noticing. And it's worth doing so, because sometimes it isn't a pretty sight – friction between old and new communities, sometimes within the new communities, issues of the sort that the BNP jumps on in Barking & Dagenham, does its scaremongering and gets council seats out of it. But there's something worth celebrating in there too – above all, the fact that the diversity of these areas hasn't had a price tag slapped on it yet by estate agents. Yet. And that's why I like to go and see these places as they are now before it happens, because I think eventually it will.

B: In practical terms, how do you get in and out of these sometimes quite serious areas, often in the middle of the night, while carrying a camera?

N: The camera just sits in my bag until I need it. I like to get a good sense an area before I start going around taking pics of it at night – at least one or two daytime visits first, as much to know where I'm going as it is to see whether it's worth a trip at night in the first place. A good knowledge of where the night buses go from helps too. But most of all, knowing exactly where you are and what's round the next corner makes all the difference with how you carry yourself.



B: Many of your photographs are taken after dark. Do you like being out at night? How does it make you feel? How does it make your shots feel?

N: It's my favourite time to do it – the smallest hours and into dawn. There's something about an empty city, being the only person in such a vast, urbanised space that is very special. Even the scent in the air is different, there's that dewy pre-dawn moisture in the air. You hear more in the silence, you see more in the dark, all the senses are heightened, you become so much more aware of your surroundings, I like to see how that affects me. It's made me realise that the chaos of the daytime city can dull your senses from overload, that London can
be two completely different cities. Compare riding a bus at 5pm to sitting on a night bus coming out of the West End at 3am. Even if people are out of their heads and making dicks of themselves, it's a certain trueness you don't get with the hundred impermeable bubbles sitting around you on the way home from work.


B: Lots of your photos of are of signs, defaced signs, details of local identity, key signifiers: tell me about this theme in your photography...

N: I've always enjoyed exploring what counts as a key signifier for an area – a street name, a mural, a building, that signifies a whole wider area, the one thing that everyone will have an understanding of. The 50p building in Croydon. A pub, a kebab shop! A point of agreement in a divided area, or symbols of the fact that an area is divided, tags on signs. But more interesting is when there aren't any. Is it because the idea of defending a local identity by drawing on signs never caught on, or because it's passed beyond that and it's being done some other way. But what? A balance of power between two different groups built on spoken words? I think things like defaced signs are just a 'stage' in the maturity of a local identity, it isn't the ultimate point.


B: Many of your shots are either signs or buildings, but seldom people. I find myself doing this too, but it eliminates the whole side of portrait taking and of the myriad emotional/gender/age/cultural/racial nuances of the human face, leaving the surroundings to imply the culture and people. Do you consciously shoot this way?

N: One day I really want to get into taking portraits of people, but it's just something I've never really tested the water on. In principle I'd like to get more people into my shots, but I instinctively wait until there's nobody in the frame before I shoot – not sure why. But I like to think someone will look at a picture of a properly grotty tower block, look past the emptiness outside and put on hypothetical x-ray specs, and see the hundreds of people inside doing ordinary daily things, but it's up to them to form their own views.

B: To me, much of what makes London fascinating is not just the highs and lows, but their proximity and inseparability. Is this something you see too?

N: Yeah, I see that. It is the rule rather than the exception now, I think. The city is a pressure cooker of a million different causes and interests, slotted into a thousand different sorts of environments. But it isn't completely harmonious, and barriers are going up all the time – not just gated luxury developments, but regenerated council estates that get fortified round the perimeter with massive fences, and a concierge hut at the entrance monitoring all-seeing CCTV. Who are they keeping out? Who are they keeping in? It doesn't matter whether Londoners are willing to tolerate their neighbours or not if the authorities keep putting up things like that, because a new generation is going to become used to living one side or another of a fence.



B: Given London has both rich and poor, What draws you to the less affluent edges of london?

N: I don't find much of interest in the more affluent areas. I grew up on a council estate in Tottenham, so what happened in Muswell Hill or Highgate was of no interest to me as a child, and to a point that's still true now. I like visiting the parts of London that feel like home, where things are actually in the process of happening, the blatant playing out of different views and opinions, rather than places that are trumpeting about what has already happened, where it is done and dusted, mission accomplished – and they tend to be the more affluent areas. There is a voice in those areas, but it's an energy busy keeping things the way they are so you don't see much obvious evidence of its existence. There's very little different
to see in, say, Highgate from one year to the next, so I don't find myself there often.


B: Crossways estate, Broadwater, Stonebridge, Aylesbury - estates being demolished. You seem to have been to pretty much every estate with a reputation in the capital. These are very territorial places, such that people who live there feel very safe to repel or confront locals or outsiders. How does this affect you when you visit?

N: I've never had to deal with any confrontation! I tend to stay low-key when I'm visiting an estate, especially one with a reputation, but when I have ended up talking to people it's always been pretty amiable. At the end of the day, if you don't put up a front to people then 95% of the time they won't put up a front to you, and that's as true on an estate as anywhere else. But if I do see a situation coming from the distance, I will melt off round a corner... practically speaking though I like to get onto an estate early in the day so I can hit the 'tradesmen's button and get into the blocks, and it tends to be a lot quieter then. On a basic level, if I'm visiting an estate I want to respect that space and not rub anyone up the wrong way while I'm there, because I know I'm an outsider. On some estates, though, they must be used to people wandering in and out with cameras – I was visiting one in Poplar a couple of years ago and took a photo of a multilingual council sign of some sort, when a load of kids came up to me. "There's another sign over there!". I thought that was a nice touch.

The second part of this interview, where Nico talks through some of his shots, will be published shortly...

Friday, November 07, 2008

2008: "not boring"

November 2008: end of year round up

Soul Motive 001: Joker

My end of year round up for Pitchfork featuring the best dubstep, grime, funky and wonky releases. My brain still hurts having tried to remember and rank every record I've heard in 12 months. That said Dot Rotten, Joker, Darkstar, Crazy Cousinz and Hyperdub: stand up tall.

Here's what the rest of the year in dubstep, grime, wonk and funk looked like. 2008: it was "not boring..."


October 2008

Zomby: Forest Friend

This month on Zomby plus grime's inroads into the mainstream (on its own terms).

September 2008

kode9 and Spaceape

The rise of the boundary smashers aka The month in dubstep, grime, garage, funky, soca-grime, wonky, UK hip hop-that-thinks-it's-grime, grime-that-thinks-it's-trance, -or house, -or pop, plus chip tunes, vocoder funk or free (road) jazz. Here.

August 2008

JME

This month featuring LD and JME. Serious!

July 2008

Dot Rotten

The death of Young Dot and the resurrection of 2step by Grievous Angel here.

June 2008

the bug

On Rude Kid, The Bug and 2562. Check it here.

April 2008

Rustie

The Wonky special which features Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, Quarta 330, Ikonika, Darkstar, Zomby, Flying Lotus, Samiyam, Starkey, Dev79, Joker, Guido, Gemmy, Pinch and Trim. Probably my favourite column of the year.

March 2008


This month's ramblings about Cotti, Skepta, Spyro, Rapid and funky. All roads leading to funky.


Feb 2008

Oneman at Generation Bass, Maida Vale

Up for this month is Oneman, TRG, Wiley, Bless Beats, Flowdan, Jerzy, Kuma, Horsepower, Trim and more.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

"It’s special"

Obama

Today is an historic day, where the world basks in the energy from the people of the planet's most powerful nation instigating change. Dubstep DJ, Baltimore resident and long time election enthusiast, Joe Nice relays his reaction to an amazing night in American politics.

Blackdown: So Joe let's start at the top, did you vote in the US 2008 election and who did you vote for, or is that a silly question?

Joe Nice: Not a silly question at all…..I voted in this election and my choice for president was Barack Obama.

Blackdown: What was it about Obama that you think made them the man for the job?

Joe Nice: Obama was speaking to me. His politics were in line with what I was looking for in a presidential candidate. Obama’s candidacy was based on change. For years, the political scene in Washington, DC has been the same thing over and over again. Bi-partisan backstabbing, party-line rhetoric and wasted time. I was looking for change. America was looking for change…a change from the status quo and a new direction for the country.

Blackdown: It's seemed like a very unique election, with so much engagement and involvement from the US electorate: what's made it different for you?

Joe Nice: This election has been different for a few reasons:

1. This is the first presidential candidate I’ve ever believed in. I wasn’t alive when Martin Luther King or John F. Kennedy were around in the mid-to-late 60’s, but I’ve read enough history books and seen enough to know what each of them meant to America. When I hear and see Obama, it’s a mixture of the natural charismatic leadership of MLK combined with the hopes, dreams and aspirations that JFK wanted for America. Obama is a leader for our generation. I hope and pray that he doesn’t suffer the same fate as MLK and JFK.

2. The marketing of the Obama campaign. When was the last time you saw people wearing t shirts with the image of a presidential nominee on the front? Obama reached out to voters (new and old) where we are. Myspace. Facebook. Emails. His campaign has changed politics…..Obama has changed politics. He’s ended the mudslinging that’s taken place in years past. He’s raised the standards of politics by being honorable and truthful. Future elections will follow suit.

3. I felt like my vote really mattered. This isn’t like in years past…where you go to the polls and you feel the inevitable will take place. This election was different. I care about who wins….

4. The historical implications of this election. Long before Obama received the democratic nomination, he had to win the democratic primary…his opponent, Hillary Clinton….meaning you would have had either a woman or a black man as your democratic nominee for president. That’s never happened before. Additionally, Sarah Palin (provided a GOP win) would have been the first female VP.

5. The odds of anyone defeating Hillary Clinton. This can’t be overlooked. She’s a former first lady and currently a U.S. senator. Her husband, former governor of Arkansas and a former two-term president of the United States. The name “Clinton” in politics is a brand….a powerful brand…..not that much different than ‘Kennedy’. Americans know who they are and what that name represents. Obama vs Team Clinton is David v Goliath. David won. Obama won. One term senators from Illinois aren’t supposed to become president 4 years later. The odds of this are astronomical….but Obama said it best – “YES WE CAN”.

6. There’s never been an election that’s been so demographically different between the two candidates. You have a younger man running against, for all intents and purposes, a senior citizen. You have a black man versus a white man. You have a Harvard-educated lawyer against a career military soldier. The candidates are completely opposite…and that’s the reason this election is so polarizing – and so emotional. For every elated Obama supporter, there’s a dejected McCain follower.

Blackdown: In your lifetime, did you ever think you'd see a black President?

Joe Nice: Never.

Blackdown: As a black American, what does a black President mean to you?

Joe Nice: Martin – for me…this changes everything. A black president is a source of pride….for more than just black Americans or black people in America. His victory has been felt worldwide. The status quo has always been in place and there’s been a feeling of a glass ceiling for black people in the political arena. Sure…we can be congressmen, senators and members of the House of Representatives, but president is something that seemed out of reach…..every president before Obama has been a white male. No reason to think things will change, but Obama’s win – this changes everything. There will be more black people in higher political positions of power. 48 hours ago, I never thought there would be a black president. Now…I honestly believe there will be a black VP in my lifetime. Same for a black Speaker of the House. The glass has been broken….and this is more than just for black people. This is for all ethnicities. There’s every reason for a person from Hispanic descent (for example) to become president. It can happen. Obama’s win is also for women. I also believe there will be a female president in my lifetime. Look - there are more than a few people overseas that I speak to on a frequent basis and each of them are happy for the Obama victory. Obama has spoken about change and his victory proves it. The ultimate sign of change is having a black man as the “leader of the free world”. Having a black president – that’s progress.

As a side note….when it’s all said and done, you’ll see landmarks named after Obama. His win – it’s that historic.

I’d send my kids (when I have them) to Obama Middle School.
I’d live on Barack Blvd.
I’d fly into Obama International Airport.

Why not? It can happen……

Blackdown: What do you think Obama as a President will do for race relations in the US?

Joe Nice: Obama has challenged race to the highest degree. When he announced his candidacy, there were other black leaders that were saying that he wasn’t “black enough”. Naturally, there are going to be white people that weren’t going to vote for him because he’s black. Obama isn’t gonna rid America of racism…..that’s not happening anytime soon. Obama’s presidency will raise the level of tolerance and understanding among blacks and whites. That’s more than previous presidents can say for themselves. Once you start understanding each other – things change.

Blackdown: Describe the scenes and emotions in your neighbourhood in Baltimore?

Joe Nice: I’m typing this up and it’s after 1AM. I live on a major street in Baltimore city. Cars are driving by and horns blaring in the distance. People are screaming and shouting. Plenty of noise. Chants of ‘Obama’ and “YES WE CAN” are loud and clear. I haven’t heard people this fired up since 2001, when the Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl. You can feel the energy and electricity of excitement in the air. It’s special…..

Blackdown: Do you think Obama will implement real change?

Joe Nice: Yes, but the change he wants will take time. He won the election and the work starts now. There’s never been a president-elect with this much work on the table.
Here are the issues:

1. the economy
2. ending the war
3. healthcare
4. ending the dependency on foreign oil.
5. creating jobs.
6. finding renewable sources of energy

Joe Nice: If an incoming president had just one or two of those issues, that would potentially take a term to resolve…..especially # 1 and 2. America wants these issues resolved right away and there are just not enough hours in the day. Let’s not forget – there could be an attack on American soil or a catastrophic natural disaster that will also need Obama’s attention. These aren’t issues that require a Band-Aid and 3 days…. These are issues that will take time to heal. I fully believe he’ll get the job done. I’ve got faith in him. I was chatting with Martyn a while ago, just after Obama’s speech in Germany and he said something that struck a chord, “Obama isn’t just presidential, he’s a world leader.”

That statement made all the sense in the world and it got me thinking….is there more Obama can do for America and the world outside of the confines and constraints of the American political system? The answer is yes. I believe there’s a destiny for America and the world that he can fulfill. This world needs help – lots of it. Homelessness. Poverty. AIDS. Clean water. Education. Food. Environmental issues. The list goes on…..

There’s a worldwide humanitarian need and I fully believe Obama is the man for the job --- whatever job that is. I don’t know if he becomes an ambassador, the CEO of Unicef or if he starts his own foundation. Who knows what the future holds? I know there’s more hope the future with Obama as president.

Obama’s win has also changed the view of America around the world. America has lost a lot of respect from other countries around the world because of the past 8 years. Yesterday morning, I was awake very early and I was on AIM chatting with a few people from overseas. The topic of conversation wasn’t “how is the election” it was “when does Obama get elected”. A McCain victory would mean at least another 4 years of the same Bush tactics and neither the world nor America needs or wants that to happen. People around the world will relate to Obama. He’s seen poverty. He’s lived in a foreign country. He is real. He’s completely different than GW Bush. America is in a much better place now than they were 24 hours ago.