That’s Right Nate

Gentle readers, I thank you for you patience from our usual format as we honor that which is truly special about the world of blogging.  I am proud of my contribution to political discourse in the country.   There were over 50 Natie awards this year in our biggest Natie awards yet.  The vast majority of these awards were for technical things like typography and layout and were awarded in a separate ceremony earlier this afternoon. The remaining two Naties are for video production and for contributor of the year.

Video Production: This year, we’ve been fortunate to air a large number of videos on this blog.   We’ve shown everything from music videos to campaign ads.  No, actually we’ve really only shown music videos and campaign ads.  Here are this year’s nominees for video of the year.   Double clicking on them will give you the video in full size:

Bye Bye Bush – Nate Peele Director

House Salute – Nate Peele Director

Republican Delight – Nate Peele Director

Texas Hold On - Nate Peele Director

Kimble for Congress Ad #2 -Larry Appleton Director

Kimble for Congress Spanish Ad – Larry Appleton Director

And the Winner is…Republican Delight.   When Michael Steele first put the word out for an edgier more urban Republican party, we were on it like Rush Limbaugh at an Old Country Buffet.  The resulting work gets across Republican values with the hip hop beats that keep it real for today’s urban youth.

The Natie for contributor of the year was difficult to award.  2009 was the first year when we have had guest commentators and Jack Kimble certainly has done more than his fair share of contibruting.   Some of our favorite commentators haven’t been around in awhile.  Zenyenta who was our first fan is no longer on the internet, Gina, Fraser, and Wrecks haven’t responded here in awhile.  Shannon has gone away, she’s drifting off to sea.   Steve has moved to Texas and doesn’t post nearly as frequently as he once did.   We’ve had some recent additions to our family in Cecily and Kodauzhf McJim, but neither of them have really had the sheet volume of posts needed to qualify.

We’ve had some tremendous followers on Twitter and I hate to mention them all for fear I’ll forget a few.   That’s the reason I’ve stopped doing Follow Fridays.   However, these people stand out for their support in Retweeting @chloebeetle @Kbenninato @KennethLibby @Dasani_01 @Aliceinthewater @Csmith2471 @Tab42 @Gottalaff.  Yeah, I knew I’d leave off people.  I’m trying to think in terms of retweeting instead of just basic support.

The winner for contributor of the year is Lola.  She’s been with this blog from very early on and she is largely responsible for my popularity in Brazil, which I understand is daunting.  She’s always been great about linking to my columns which she finds particularly interesting.  So there you have it the 2009 Natie winners.   For those of you who didn’t win this year, now you have something to aspire to for 2010.

Wow!  I can’t believe the support you have given my rap video.  While it has not been the runaway YouTubes hit that my Aerosmith video was, at nearly 500 hits Republican Delight has become one of the biggest hits in the history of  the YouTube.  Among the legendary artists that my rap song has beat are Bing Crosby, The Beatles, and Bruce Springsteen.   It is one thing to be in such distinguished company, but kicking their ass is even sweeter.  Again, thanks to all my fans for helping to make me a YouTubes sensation.  If the reception continues to be so huge, I will look into a potential follow up and possible Summer tour.  If you haven’t given it a look yet, check out Republican Delight.

As I mentioned last week, RNC Chairman Michael Steele has called on us to change as a party.  He wants us to “convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”  Well sir, I have taken this call to heart and while I am no MC Rove I was amazed at how easy this rapping is.   First off, sampling is amazing.  Republicans love using songs without permission and now I can do it legally.  Now, I’m the first to admit that I’m no MC Rove, but this rapping is really just talking.

For my regular blog readers, I know that some of you may be frightened of rap.  Don’t be.  We need to reach out to people in all communities who share our views and frankly most of you are too old to really get the vibe on the street.  Even my daughter Emily pleaded with me not to post this video which she called an embarrassment, but you see she doesn’t know the urban experience–in fact I’ve spent most of her life protecting her from it.  If you don’t get it, don’t worry.  I’m trying to reach out to young black men and anybody else who is part of that hip hop culture.  Please appreciate the video for what it is.

It occurs to me that there are a lot of things that unite us Republicans to rappers.  For one thing, we love our big cars and for another we’ve both been accused of mysoginy.  Now that I have this video on the YouTubes, my next goal is to get it on the Itunes.  I’m not going to be happy until I’m in my car and I hear somebody next to me cranking it so loud that the bass is shaking my car.  That will be success so crank this baby up while I lay some dope rhymes on you.

UPDATE: There is an issue with the video sometimes showing up as not available.  At first I thought it was the man trying to keep me down or Steven Tyler again, but it is just a glitch with the YouTubes.  If you get that message try again in a few seconds and you should get it.

I’m sorry for the delay in posting.  I have been rather busy this weekend with CPAC and everything, but as I promised you last week, I am taking up Michael Steele’s challenge.  Tomorrow I hope to release my new video that takes our core conservative values and places them in a hip hop urban-suburban setting.  I’m hoping to be dropping some fresh rhymes in the AM so check it out tomorrow. Peace out

It was a proud day for the Republican Party when Michael Steele was named as chairman of the RNC.  He had plenty of experience before this as Maryland Lieutenant Governor and before that as bass player for the Runaways and Bangles  in the 1980s.  Now, Steele has issued a challenge to the Republican party.  In an interview in the Washington Times Steele said, “We need messengers to really capture that region — young, Hispanic, black, a cross section … We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”

All I have to say to Mr. Steele’s challenge is “Fo Schizzle”.   Now that I have become a Youtube celebrity I’ve been looking for a followup video and what some of you may not know is that I wrote an amazing rap that was the hit of the Great Lakes Region Independent Self-Storage Operator convention for 2006.  If I can make self-storage hip by mixing it with a little somethin’ somethin’, just think what I can do for the GOP and I’m not the only one.  This is a job for MC Karl Rove.  Michael Steele is right, it isn’t our ideas that are wack, its the way we’re frontin.   By this time next week I hope to have a followup video that captures the potential of the Republican Party for the hiphop community.

You down with GOP?
Yeah, you know me!

Denny Blaze  the Average Homeboy was a pioneer among white rappers in the late 1980s.  He was a contemporary of the Beastie Boys and Vanilla Ice, but what seperated him from early white rappers were his raps about white middle class issues and his penchant for wearing sweaters.  Unfortunately, the music industry in the 1980s wasn’t ready for a white rapper laying a rhyme down about mowing the grass and eating fruit loops, but when an MTV intern was going through their inventory, one of Hazen’s old tapes made its way onto Youtube and like happenned with Emily Dickenson he was finally appreciated for his earlier efforts.  Blazin Hazen has his own website at www.dennyblaze.com.  He continues his quest today for that elusive major record contract at 32 years old.