
Music writer, podcaster, amateur karaoke philosopher. Words in @nytimes @thedailybeast, @theneedledrop, etc
Joined January 2021
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For my @nytimesmusic debut, I wrote about the competitive yet deeply fraternal world of battle rap, which many believe is positioned to be the new frontier of mainstream hip-hop culture. Check it out!
nytimes.com/2023/06/14/arts/…
Just finished watching Roc vs Illmac and need to publicly air myself out. I underestimated @IllmacTV… and I estimated him very highly . Mac 2-1 clear. Need to see him against Danny next.
Criticism is an act of love! We love you Preme and we want you to be elite!
Comparing him to certified legends when he hasn’t proved half of what they have is the toxic positivity Docq was talking about
He’s undeniably talented, but URL is not the place to work through your 1 yr + choking issues. “He’s not good enough rn” is true when being clean in itself is a skill
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Hey ChatGPT, tell me if our voters turned out and why they voted Democrat and also if they turned out and pretty please why they voted Democrat. Cite pollsters and make sure they’re all credited as “the smartest guy I know”.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
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Can confirm all these battles went absolutely crazy. Maybe the best iBattle event I’ve been to. Salute to everyone there for a great night
First thing I thought of when I saw this announcement was when Illmac said to Rum that if there was footage of his non-black opponent saying the N word, Nitty probably wouldn’t say anything about it…. 👀
Breaking: NOME 16 3rd battle announced, Rum Nitty vs Dizaster
Another big name matchup, URL staple and another legend who doesn’t appear on URL often. How we feeling?
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Just watched Tay Roc vs Nitty and my main takeaway is that anyone who still says @RumNitty isn’t an elite pen should not be taken seriously
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So many great things about this. Love when URL lets itself get creative with their matchups, especially on a card this big. Not sure if the actual battle will be as exciting as the announcement (I think this will be a huge uphill battle for Mac) but I can’t wait to see it
BREAKING: NOME 16 1st announcement, Tay Roc vs Illmac
Illmac URL debut, insane 1st battle to follow the SM drops. How we feeling?
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I’m not at #sm16 but can someone tell me if we’re finally done trying to make Snake Eyez top tier?
I love A Ward but if someone disrespected me on camera while wearing creamsicle-covered overalls I’d also probably consider throwing hands too 😂
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I’m actually really interested in understanding how an AI trailer like this is coordinated. @Iam_AWard and @DaDonJohnJohn did you write for this/even know it was happening?
A Ward vs John John Da Don
made by @paralleluniversebars
SUMMER MADNESS XVI - September 27th in Atlanta
Dropping Exclusively on the URLTV App
Tickets:
axs.com/.../1576515/url-summ…
#youcantcopyrespect
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