Subi's recent activity
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Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Subi LinkMy current rotation is, Cyberpunk 2077 - on my fifth playthrough as time has gone on, still one of my favorite games of all time. Heavily modded, this go-around, and doing a build and making...My current rotation is,
Cyberpunk 2077 - on my fifth playthrough as time has gone on, still one of my favorite games of all time. Heavily modded, this go-around, and doing a build and making choices that I haven't done before. Still astounding just how damn good the game is, and unfortunate that a messy launch on consoles will give it a bad reputation for years to come. I feel bad for people who won't give it a shot.
Space Marine II - well, my friends love Warhammer, I hate Warhammer, I skipped Darktide (terrible game) but figured I'd bite the bullet on this one. Setting is still really, really awful, but the gameplay is very enjoyable and rewarding, at least. Optimization could be a bit better, but I'm not going to complain when the game is rendering as many enemies at a time as it is - it's shocking it doesn't run worse, honestly.
Deadlock - I haven't actually played this in about a week because I'm a very progression-motivated person and there being no progession at the moment really hampers my enthusiasm, but damn this game feels so good. Looking forward to the full release. Same can be said of Marvel Rivals - two games that largely share a genre that I'm very excited for.
Fortnite - I got sucked into Fortnite a while back when they did the Solid Snake stuff and my buddy, who is obsessed with MGS, asked me to help him farm it out so he wasn't playing alone. At the time, I said "the only way they get me to play this game again is if they bring back Doctor Doom." Well, they brought back Doctor Doom. My dickhead friend is not reciprocating the favor and made me farm out the entire pass on my own. Not proud of this one.
Star Wars - Galaxy of Heroes - I'm not a fan of gacha games, but I am a fan of frivolous little time-wasters for me to occupy spare minutes otherwise just spent waiting and staring at a wall. As far as gacha games go, this one is incredibly generous, very easy to F2P as long as you aren't chasing all of the brand new stuff. I'm finally getting my account up on its feet properly after about a year of just kinda goofing around and I gotta say, the dopamine hits from completing long-term goals are VERY nice.
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Comment on Looking for chill horror lets players in ~games
Subi LinkI know when I say the name, you're gonna think of over-the-top screaming, but modern Markiplier is very chill, for the most part. He'll get hyped up and yell about something every now and again,...I know when I say the name, you're gonna think of over-the-top screaming, but modern Markiplier is very chill, for the most part. He'll get hyped up and yell about something every now and again, but a lot of his playthroughs are pretty standard and straightforward.
In particular, his 3 Scary Games series has him playing a lot of amateur games, most of which don't even get in the ballpark of scaring him, so there's not much to yell about.
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Comment on Artists you love, and are surprised are not more popular than they are? in ~music
Subi Link ParentYeah, her and Tiffi are kinda 'constant collaborators' the way Yung Gravy and bbno$ are. Not officially a group, but they're all over each other's work.Yeah, her and Tiffi are kinda 'constant collaborators' the way Yung Gravy and bbno$ are. Not officially a group, but they're all over each other's work.
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Comment on Can I just say that the 'label' function on this site is magnificent? in ~tildes
Subi Link ParentYou don't actively 'see' the other tags, they change the color on the left side of a comment, to more easily categorize stuff. Exemplary is a special case.You don't actively 'see' the other tags, they change the color on the left side of a comment, to more easily categorize stuff. Exemplary is a special case.
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Comment on Can I just say that the 'label' function on this site is magnificent? in ~tildes
Subi Link ParentI thought that was odd as well. It seemed to have some good engagement, but suddenly, nothing.I thought that was odd as well. It seemed to have some good engagement, but suddenly, nothing.
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Comment on Can I just say that the 'label' function on this site is magnificent? in ~tildes
Subi Link ParentSure was, and this is in direct response to that! Seeing all the positive reception has been really rewarding, even if I think it was totally lost on the person I initially replied to. Honestly,...- Exemplary
Sure was, and this is in direct response to that! Seeing all the positive reception has been really rewarding, even if I think it was totally lost on the person I initially replied to. Honestly, it just made me wish I'd done more, brought up more modern artists and provided video examples as I'd done with the previous ones. In any case, definitely glad to contribute, especially on a topic that I feel pretty strongly about; I grew up with people who could best be described as white supremacist adjacent, people who aren't actively racist but absolutely passively are, and so growing up I wasn't into rap at all, regurgitated that same 'it's not music!' BS.
Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly drew me in initially because of the jazz instrumentals fusing so well with his rap, but really listening to and understanding those lyrics honestly changed me as a person and gave me a new appreciation for the genre and for music. It's still tied for my favorite album of all time with Random Access Memories, and I think as far as a GOAT list goes, I'm pretty damn happy to have those two up there. All this to say, it's really rewarding to have people immediately recognize the work you do on something when you really care about it. I think the only time I got a similar feeling to this was when I wrote a very in-depth guide for my League main back on Reddit, seeing all the help it did for people.
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Can I just say that the 'label' function on this site is magnificent?
I'm coming as a Reddit refugee from the most recent API shenanigans. I've had a few people drop Gold on my comments over there, and it's a nice little 'oh hey, look at that' but it's never been...
I'm coming as a Reddit refugee from the most recent API shenanigans. I've had a few people drop Gold on my comments over there, and it's a nice little 'oh hey, look at that' but it's never been really particularly important to me.
I just made a comment on here the other day that I put a little bit of thought and effort into - nothing crazy, but really did my best to try to explain my perspective - and every single 'exemplary' that post has gotten has meant more to me than any of the awards or upvotes I would get on Reddit. Just the simple act of including a small message of appreciation with exemplaries makes it mean so much more; every one of them has made me feel more and more like I did a good job and maybe actually informed some people, did some good in the world and all that.
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Comment on Bungie wins landmark lawsuit against player who harassed Destiny staff in ~games
Subi LinkGood. Guy's a fuckhead and I hope he spends the rest of his life paying this shit off.Good. Guy's a fuckhead and I hope he spends the rest of his life paying this shit off.
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Comment on What's something you want to understand the appeal of? in ~talk
Subi Link ParentThis is how I feel about To Pimp A Butterfly. Don't get me wrong, I love Illmatic, but TPAB's jazz/hip hop fusion just screams to me, this is music. This is soul, this is artistry, this is magic.This is how I feel about To Pimp A Butterfly. Don't get me wrong, I love Illmatic, but TPAB's jazz/hip hop fusion just screams to me, this is music. This is soul, this is artistry, this is magic.
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Comment on What's something you want to understand the appeal of? in ~talk
Subi Link ParentKendrick, as far as I'm concerned, is responsible for waking me up to the realities of life in a lot of ways. The man is an incredible talent and the world will be a much worse place when he's gone.Kendrick, as far as I'm concerned, is responsible for waking me up to the realities of life in a lot of ways. The man is an incredible talent and the world will be a much worse place when he's gone.
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Comment on What's something you want to understand the appeal of? in ~talk
Subi Link ParentNicki is a good place to draw the line from 'pop rap.' She doesn't make thought provoking songs, she makes songs about being a bad bitch, shaking your ass, having fun, etc. so while they're not...incoherent
Nicki is a good place to draw the line from 'pop rap.' She doesn't make thought provoking songs, she makes songs about being a bad bitch, shaking your ass, having fun, etc. so while they're not exactly 'coherent', you are probably missing out on the intended meaning of the words said.
She transitioned from actually being good at rapping (her featured verse on Kanye West's 'Monster' is incredibly good) to just another pop rapper quite a while back.
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Comment on What's something you want to understand the appeal of? in ~talk
Subi Link ParentI think what you need to do is make a different distinction. 'Current' rap has a lot of people who have political messages and meanings in their songs. Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Childish Gambino,...I think what you need to do is make a different distinction. 'Current' rap has a lot of people who have political messages and meanings in their songs. Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Childish Gambino, Joyner Lucas, Dumbfoundead, Run the Jewels (and both pieces of it, El-P and Killer Mike,) Denzel Curry - all people I listen to frequently who are talented songwriters that have genuine messages in their music. Granted, they might do a 'party' song every now and again, but you look somebody dead in the eye and tell them that Kendrick raps about 'bitches and money' and anybody that's heard his music is gonna laugh you out of the building.
So, the distinction is incorrect - there are a lot of current people who are storytellers and activists. What you dislike is pop rap. People like Drake who make the most bottom-tier music to appeal to all the people that just want to listen to a tune that sounds good, or to dance to it, not to somebody that's really feeling, loving, and enjoying the music. You see this happen in a lot of genres - look at modern "country" music, which is 90% repeating the same progressions, talking about the same exact stuff as the last 50 songs, all sung with just about the same exact voice. There are people out there who make actual music, but then you've got 'pop country' that's trash and utterly indistinguishable one song to the next - sound familiar?
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Comment on What's something you want to understand the appeal of? in ~talk
Subi Link ParentIn a lot of cases, those 'incoherent' lines are really just slang you've not been made aware of yet.In a lot of cases, those 'incoherent' lines are really just slang you've not been made aware of yet.
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Comment on What's something you want to understand the appeal of? in ~talk
Subi (edited )Link ParentI'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and say that this doesn't come from a 'racial discrimination' place the way that a lot of these comments come from. I've seen thousands of the 'it's not...- Exemplary
I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and say that this doesn't come from a 'racial discrimination' place the way that a lot of these comments come from. I've seen thousands of the 'it's not real music!' comments and it always boils down to 'who is making the music.' Moving on, though -
I'd suggest looking to early rap first. Guys that were testing the waters with a new form of music that was just catching on. Bounce around that a little bit, see how they rapped - I'm talking stuff like Sugar Hill Gang, just to be clear here. Real early. This in particular - this is commonly misattributed as the 'first' rap song, which it's not, but it's certainly one of the first to achieve mainstream success. Listen to it, feel the music.
Then, jump into the 80's. RUN DMC and LL Cool J were real popular, until NWA came out and changed the game from tracksuits and bucket hats to gangster rap, where you see the quality of song really level up. That's when dudes started realizing that there's a lot more than can be done with the genre than the basic, slow, funky beats they'd been working with.
Jump ahead to the 90's, now you've got tons of quality - Nas releases Illmatic, widely considered to be one of the best front-to-back rap albums of all time. Biggie Smalls is in the prime of his career with the best flow that the game's ever seen. Tupac is helping to revolutionize the medium, using rap as a way to tell stories, talk about culture, make social commentary, becoming a national icon in just a few short years.
Come the turn of the century, Biggie and Tupac have both been tragically, senselessly murdered, and now you've got people like Eminem, 50 Cent, and Jay-Z blowing up, all with massive strengths of their own - but I'm going to highlight somebody else, somebody who is often described as 'your favorite rapper's favorite rapper,' MF DOOM. MF DOOM, whose career is criminally underappreciated, may very well be the best lyricist of all time; he died recently, of natural causes*, but he epitomized the belief that the aesthetic doesn't matter, the jewelry and fancy music videos mean nothing, all that matters is the music.
I've neglected these videos up to this point, because I want to really press the importance; think back to that Sugar Hill Gang song. Think back to the lyrics, how they'd only rhyme on the ends most of the time and were slow, bumbling, and generally amateurish (this isn't a dig at them - just how it was at the time.) Now, watch this, and really think about how much things must have progressed for MF DOOM to be able to rhyme like this - it's several orders of magnitude more impressive than anything released just twenty short years prior.
For another aspect of it, you could also look to freestyles; people having to come up with rhymes on the fly. Harry Mack is a fantastic example of this, showcasing artistry and skill by implementing words people have given him randomly, and he's considered at least top 5 freestylers of all time.
To anybody in the know - yes, I know I butchered a lot of rap history there, but I was trying to make it more digestable. In any case, I hope I've maybe helped you see the appeal a bit there and realize that it's a genre built on the bones of jazz and soul, lifting itself up to become an entirely unique entity.
Edit - and as mentioned in one of the sub-comments (awards? not sure) I didn't put a ton of focus on lyricism, but Killer Mike/Run The Jewels is a fantastic place to get started, as well.
*Extra edit - I've just learned that MF DOOM did not die of natural causes, but was murdered by medical malpractice.
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Comment on Group updates for July 2023 in ~tildes.official
Subi LinkI think Tildes could benefit from a place for professional wrestling. /r/SquaredCircle is literally the largest online forum for the sport, and I know there are a lot of people who migrated to the...I think Tildes could benefit from a place for professional wrestling. /r/SquaredCircle is literally the largest online forum for the sport, and I know there are a lot of people who migrated to the Discord that would like a better way to browse what's happened in the last week of wrestling; you are practically guaranteed tons of activity as people post links to clips that happened through the week and they get discussed. AFAIk SquaredCircle was also one of the highest activity non-default subreddits.
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Comment on Term deposits — are they worth it? At what point are they worth it? in ~finance
Subi LinkI mean, I'm no financial expert - I'm an idiot with barely anything in savings not investing my own money correctly. That being said, I found there was a WORLD of difference between saving and not...I mean, I'm no financial expert - I'm an idiot with barely anything in savings not investing my own money correctly.
That being said, I found there was a WORLD of difference between saving and not saving. I made a rule for myself - anything left from my paycheck that was above $100 would go into my savings account, but I would always put at least $40 before that next paycheck hit. So, if I only had $110, I'd run myself down to $70 just to make sure I put that $40 in.
I swear to you, it's like extra money just appeared in my account. Before doing this I'd almost always be a little strapped for cash by the end of the pay period. After doing so - and having done nothing significant to change my spending habits - I just found myself with more money. It still feels like it comes out of thin air.
All this to say, I think saving alone is worth it just for the act; once you're more aware of your finances things start to work out better immediately. My savings are always there, I can always grab them, but having that one single rule has literally improved my life.
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Comment on Artists you love, and are surprised are not more popular than they are? in ~music
Subi LinkCity Girl is an incredibly talented independent artist who makes some of the best music I've ever heard to just listen and vibe to, have in the background and enjoy. A year or two ago, she made a...City Girl is an incredibly talented independent artist who makes some of the best music I've ever heard to just listen and vibe to, have in the background and enjoy.
A year or two ago, she made a bandcamp campaign to get her first album printed in vinyl, with the goal being something like $3,500 in funding. You're goddamn right that it blew well past that goal - literally over 1000% of it, reaching roughly $36k - and now, that vinyl individually is selling for hundreds of dollars. Not that money is the only thing that matters, but an independent artist garnering that kind of attention and funding in a totally organic, grassroots manner is rather rare, per my understanding. My vinyl of Time Falls like Moonlight is sitting in a drawer right next to me, and I hope that it's joined soon by the Chroma Velocity vinyl; she put out a Twitter poll asking which one to do next and that was the overwhelming majority vote, so hopefully it'll be quick. I may even buy two, one to have and one to hold on to for a little bit and resell, because if I had kept my current one in the original packaging I likely would have been able to make several hundred dollars on it by now.
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Comment on Songs/albums that remind you of someone you lost in ~music
Subi LinkWell, this isn't in relation to death, thankfully - but rather, a group of (once) dear friends that I drifted away from and will probably never speak to again. We were a dedicated group that loved...Well, this isn't in relation to death, thankfully - but rather, a group of (once) dear friends that I drifted away from and will probably never speak to again.
We were a dedicated group that loved gaming; I was the oldest of us, but we were all middle schoolers and such who came from largely unhealthy home lives and were more often than not bullied at school. We were from all around the country, and had met with each other one by one during the greatest period of online gaming, Xbox Live, playing Call of Duty World at War.
To cut to the chase a bit, we all dabbled in Halo, but none of us had actually beaten it. We decided after hitting MP a few times that we were all going to marathon the campaign on Legendary at the beginning of summer break as a 4 man group.
Up until this point, I was always the quiet one who didn't talk much; I wouldn't find any semblance of confidence until high school. When we got to the Warthog Run at the end, we struggled quite a bit; the group decided to go three men to one Warthog, with myself driving the other one. Wildly inefficient and stupid, I know, but we were kids and they thought having a full car was cool. I didn't mind it. The first few times, we ended up dying; I would try to ram the large Flood out of the way for them and usually die as a result, but later they'd get caught on something and just end up screwed over.
By try number four, I was hitting my breaking point. I stopped ramming the large Flood out of the way, and instead I followed closely behind them. I'll link the music now, because this is the memory I've actually got it really linked to;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2NVJSJVGVQ
I'm following behind. They end up driving over a falling panel and die, and everybody assumed we were gonna have to restart yet again. I said, screw that, and I kept going. Having not made it past the point we were at I kinda assumed I'd get hit by something and die, but you bet your sweet ass I made it through probably 3/4 of the Warthog Run totally blind and on my own. I distinctly remember it as the first time I'd really felt somebody rooting for me - not just saying it, not while trying to make me do something I didn't want to do as parents often did, but literally cheering and screaming for me to make it.
Jack, my best friend from the group, ended up drifting away, and the last time we spoke wasn't on friendly terms; he'd changed quite a bit and not in a way I liked. David ended up turning on me mere months later, to the point where he actually stole his own mothers' credit card to buy a DDoS service online to attack me, he knocked out my internet at 10PM every day for two weeks. Randy and I, the only two that lived near each other, ended up having a huge falling out years ago, and I'm not intending on ever speaking to him again despite his attempts to make up with me. But for that summer, those kids made me believe in myself and began the process of fundamentally changing who I was as a person. Nowadays, my friends tell me I have a huge ego, and they're not wrong, but I always tell them jokingly that I earned it.
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Comment on Could we share some uplifting news? in ~talk
Subi Link ParentBad things will always happen, friend. So too, will bad people exist. Not allowing yourself to engage in endless pessimism, in my eyes, is more of a personal responsibility; similarly, being able...Bad things will always happen, friend. So too, will bad people exist. Not allowing yourself to engage in endless pessimism, in my eyes, is more of a personal responsibility; similarly, being able to acknowledge and stay abreast of the world around us is, too. Without proper attention being paid to these ordeals, the next generation of community leaders may very well fail to learn from the lessons that we've been given regarding indivuals like Spez, people who have allowed themselves to be corrupted away from the original message of their platform. It's dirty work, ugly work, to watch these things happen in real-time, but I've always believed that it's necessary work. Drown in the deep, or rise from it, as it goes.
Personally speaking, the feeling of being disconnected is significantly more concerning to me. I would rather know what's going on and what's likely to come. That being said, everybody's needs and wants are different; you and you alone can choose the type of content you wish to engage in. Social media is at its best when there's a variety of topics to engage in; you're never going to like them all, and that's perfectly fine.
I am trapped in the throes of the Kendrick Lamar/Drake beef, still.
It's a conflict I've felt since I was young, myself; I didn't like rap as a kid. Thought it was all surface level, glossy, bragging garbage. Then, I grew up, found out I was wrong, and realized that rap is an incredibly deep genre with some of the best storytellers music has ever seen. I just had to look past radio hits, look for real shit, people taking their life experiences and venting them all out on wax. Men and women baring their souls over a beat.
So yeah, still hated Drake, still hate Drake. And then, he had the nerve to try and put himself on the level of Kendrick Lamar, one of the greatest storytellers rap has ever seen, and he got absolutely eviscerated for it. The 'man' was torn apart sin by sin, leaving nothing but a talentless coward desperate for the world's approval, and who, for the first time in decades, wasn't getting it - at all.
My favorite pastime has been going back to older Kendrick Lamar tracks and realizing that he called all of this years before it happened - Black Friday and The Heart, Part IV in particular have some shockingly relevant lyrics.
The fact that the man was able to say the lines,
"The whole industry been in shambles
Everybody fugazi, I'm just changing the channel
Kendrick Lamar, the people's champion, I'm animal for analysts
Career damaging verses, meditating with candles lit,"
on a song with one of the people involved in the feud almost a full decade ago is shocking.
I am looking forward to the next chapter, where it appears Kendrick is going to go after all of the useless, shallow pop-rap and try to bring the industry back to what it used to be in the early days.