Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire: Def Il ft. A-Team Kill A Motherf*cker

Certainly one of the more obscene track titles in Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire; I was assuming that the track would mainly be bluff and fluff hiding behind a shock-tastic title, but its actually quite solid.  New rapper (to me at least) Def Il begins in quadruple time over a plunking piano.  Its a relief to hear them trade off stanzas in the intro-you worry they'll do damage to their mouth rapping so fast.  This is a great intro track to Def Il and I'm excited to see more from him in the future.

Props to RapRock.Az for the post



Previous on Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire: Ado

Its Basically The Week Before Christmas

I'm not a big list maker, but right now to my immediate right are two sheets of paper filled with items and checkboxes, acting as a hovering boss, reminding me of everything I need to do before Turkey.  Choosing to have this vacation the very first week I'm out of school was probably the 2nd best decision made for this trip (right after deciding to rent a yacht with 15 friends and family).

But in this week approaching, a lot of very 'peace-corps volunteer' things are crammed.

Today, North Finger PCVs and community leaders held a Jr. Counselor Training.  18 kids from Guba, Xudat, and Xachmaz came to a day filled with games, arts and crafts, and leadership training to prepare them to help put on a camp.  Something we learned last summer was we needed to to train the Jr. Counselors and it worked out wonderfully.  It recreated a day of camp while at the same time explaining and reviewing the responsibilities that Jr. Counselors were committing to.  And the training will benefit 3 cities, instead of just one-which always makes me feel more productive.

School also officially ends this week.  Now technically, kids have already received their grades and books have been handed in.  For an education tradition focused on teaching exclusively from and by the book, once the book is out of their hands, the learning segment of school has ended.  But this week, the actual closing ceremony Son Zeng (Last Bell) will happen, and all AZ8 TEFLs will collectively exhale a sigh of relief strong enough to extinguish the eternal flame on Martyr's Lane.

Finally, on next Sunday we have our first away game for softball, in Baku.  Our team has been waiting for this tournament for a long time for one main reason-to defeat Khachmaz Maximum arch-rival: Bilasavar.  Bilasavar is good, really really good and the hyper-compteitive Maximum finish a tournament only to immediately plot for the next one.  At the Baku tournament in fall last year our team was most excited by the fact that they lost to Bilasavar 8-6, an improvement upon the previous defeat of 11-4.  I definitely will have the camera ready for this game, to capture the sweet joy of victory or bitter taste of defeat.

So, a lot is happening in these seven days.  Whether in school, at Apple, or in the Peace Corps, I've always had to earn my vacation most in the final stretch.  But that certainly makes the prize that much sweeter.

Ultralight Traveling in Azerbaijan

Just this for a week.  And if you can pack for a week, you can pack for a month

Once you accept it, traveling light is extremely easy to do.  No matter if you're in the US, or backpacking around the world, or hopping on and off mushrutkas in Azerbaijan-if you accept the ultralight traveling mentality you can do it anywhere.  The basic assumption of this style of travel travel is that you will enjoy your journey more by having less stuff to weigh you down, both literally and mentally.

So, for my trip south, I experimented with some ultralight travel, choosing to limit myself to a gym bag that normally is used to hold a pair of shoes and a workout shirt and shorts.  It was liberating to have a bag smaller than Glendene's purse, let alone her backpack.  Hurriedly hopping on and off mushrutkas and buses was a breeze, and I was able to easily traipse through the various cities we visited unencumbered by a heavy load.

Keep in mind the following when preparing for an Ultralight Trip:

1) You will do laundry.  I did laundry twice, once by hand and once in a machine.

2) To get rid of weight: buy and borrow.  I purchased 2 mini-soaps (total: 80 gepik) and borrowed shampoo and telephone chargers.

Here's my list for a week of travel that included hiking in the Talyish mountains, swimming in hot springs, and partying till 4 in the morning in Baku.  We were in very conservative areas and more progressive areas, and we hung out with Azeris and Americans.

Gotta Stay Fly:
Jeans
3 shirts
1 undershirt
3 pairs of underwear
2 pairs of socks
1 pair of shorts, for swimming and working out
sunglasses
sneakers

Of these items, I wore my jeans, a shirt, a pair of socks and underwear, and my sneakers on departure (so I only had 2 shirts, 2 pairs of underwear, etc in my packed bag)

So Fresh, So Clean:
toothbrush/toothpaste
floss
razor/blades
deodorant
travel sized lotion from a hotel
travel towel
mosquito repellant that plugs into the wall
earplugs
lip balm

Bring Da Ruckus:
iPod touch/charge/headphones
camera/extra battery
notebook (with two ripped out crossword puzzles-great idea!)
pen
kindle
2 phones (one for psn)
wallet
keys

Bag:
Nike gym bag

This worked out very very well for the week and will probably serve as the skeleton for my sojourn through SE Asia in 2013-though with some different clothes.  I'm glad I brought the iPod Touch instead of the iPad, I didn't need the screen real estate of the iPad-the iPod served me fine for my internet needs.  The mosquito repellant was a little bulky but a godsend.  I hardly had any bites throughout this trip, and Glendene would wake up covered if we weren't sleeping in the same room.

Traveling in-country is nice, people are cool with sharing toiletries and everyone has extra bedding.  The next time I won't even bring my kindle, I picked up a book at the first stop and didn't open the kindle once.  I also won't bring my razor.  I usually shave about once a week in country, maybe twice, and it would be simpler to just buy a disposable for about 50 gepik.  I do need to add a scrubby cloth to this list, which I ended up purchasing midway through and really is a necessary item.

I purchased water throughout the way, and would fill empty water bottles at volunteers' houses.  In the very beginning I also purchased a manat worth of almonds, which gave me a much needed something to munch on throughout the trip while waiting on mushrutkas.

My upcoming trip to Turkey will be decidedly much less minimal, but more glamorous.

Hip-Hop From The Land Of Fire: Ado - Soz Verirem

Well, there's been a bit happening in the Azeri Rap micro-universe to catch up on after having been gone for a week (I can't imagine what coming back from Turkey will be like..)  Uran released a solid video, Remo and Hell Resident each came out with new singles, and Faust and Ramirez of Kavkaz Klan are busy doing more and more to promote their new album.

But, perhaps more consequentially, Ado, the first female Azeri rapper I've ever come across, released her first single (that I've been able to find) this week.  Simple production compliments the soft but strong voice of Ado, whether when she's singing or rapping.  Check it out below.

SEO love to RapRock.Az

Ado - Soz Verirem (which means 'I Promise')



Oh alright, here's the new Uran Video since you asked so nicely.



Previous Hip-Hop From The Land of Fire: Enemy & Black

Lets Take A Trip Down South

Martyrs Lane and Flame Towers as seen from the Boulevard

From family, from email, from school-I've been a bit MIA this week.  School is coming to a close and I've got a pretty bomb vacation coming up.  Yet even still I found I couldn't get that far without taking a break or losing my mind.  So Glendene and I decided to pack our bags and take a mental health vacation to the south for the week.

Traveling through my own Peace Corps country shows me everything good about Azerbaijan.  Its incredibly easy to travel around the regions-even when we ended up taking the wrong way when trying to get to the out-of-the-way Saatli we were able to eventually flag down a mushrutka headed in that direction.  Travel costs can add up when tripping around, but its costs like 4 or 6 manat-not like the 30 or 40 dollars that can easily get into a tank of gas.

Additionally, traveling in country really shows how much of an understanding of the culture and language I actually have.  Thinking of my first trip during PST, I was afraid I would either a) not get there, b) be unable to use a bathroom in a time of need, or c) get on the wrong bus.  None of those things happened, and none of those things ever happen.  The same language level that frustrates me in my community is the level that allows me travel with ease and make friends along the way.  Its great.

No region city really has a week's worth of sights and activities to do, but when visiting PCVs you get a nice highlights tour.  Its great to see the best of a city or village, whether its their friends, parks, or surrounding nature, with the American living there.  In Bilasuvar we visited the PCVs beautiful magnet school where he works and saw the Talysh mountains in Iran.  We hiked in the mountains and enjoyed the mineral hot springs before feasting on a southern speciality-levengie chicken in Lenkeran.  We traveled off road for about 3 hours to visit Saatli and saw some of the most extensive rose gardens in Azerbaijan.

And we got to see Baku in all its Eurovision glory on a beautiful weekend.  As winners of last year's Eurovision, Baku will be hosting Eurovision this week and it has spent millions, and possibly billions, preparing a week-long coming of age ball as it unveils itself to the rest of Europe.  They've expanded their boulevard, invested heavily in public art, built new entertainment centers and museums, and renovated hundreds of buildings.  At night we saw fireworks over the Caspian, animated displays on the LED filled flame towers, which tower over the city, and reinterpretations of Baku's Maiden Tower from artists all over the world projected onto the 1200 year old Maiden Tower itself.

To be honest, I was skeptical of Baku's ability to pull off an event like Eurovision in a way that would leave people inspired and impressed with the city, but they've done an excellent job.  Azerbaijan has a lot to be proud of in the way they are presenting themselves and Baku is frantic and beautiful right now.  I hope they maintain some of this creativity as Eurovision ends and I look forward to enjoying the city even more.

Photos coming soon.