Late last month, we got everyone together and sold out The Bell House in Brooklyn, blah blah blah, you know about all this, we already put the episode up!
Things that we couldn’t include in the final edit: Styles launching Strains for Life’s packaged pre-rolls into the crowd; Sheek wondering if he had time to order food before we hit the stage (he did not); and the clip at the top of the page.
To take you back, a few months ago, our friend Joe Scudda asked a legendary question: “You are the lead character in a movie. You’re in a red convertible, night time, Hollywood Hills, lights reflecting off the windshield. Director says you can pick the song playing. What song is it?” That moment led to the creation of Karate Man.
In putting together this show, Eric wanted a follow-up moment. For this Scudda Q, Joe asked us how we would score our own personal Reservoir Dogs scene, where Michael Madsen (RIP) puts on 70s AM radio classic “Stuck in the Middle With You” while dancing around, his opp tied to a chair and nervously awaiting whatever moves this crazy man with a knife is gonna pull.
And so we chose our five songs — which means that I need to rank them, one by one, on a scale of 1-most menacing.
Styles P — Talking Heads, “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody).” 9/10 Richie Thumbs. An off-kilter pick from an off-kilter dude. Imagine you’re tied up, your life on the line and this delicate melody starts playing. Styles P, a nutcase if there was one, comes out Nike’d down: black tech suit, black Forces, a gentle swing in his hips, puffing on something and twirling around to this gentle ditty. Like, even onstage in Brooklyn, he pulled a switchblade out and started yanking on my ear. I’d be sweating.
Jadakiss — OT Genasis feat. (RIP) Young Dolph, “Cut It.” 8/10 Richie Thumbs. I am absolutely not hating because I also thought about using this song for the show, but Eric said Kiss had taken it off the board. “Cut It,” I dunno, it’s straight to the point, which takes a little bit of the danger out of it? Without the mystery hanging over your head, it’s just a bop. I’d probably want to rap along, if Jada put it on. Honestly, that’d be a pretty good way to go out: “He died doing what he loved.”
Jeff — Quad City DJ’s, “C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train).” 9/10 Richie Thumbs. In my unbiased opinion, amazing pick. There’s whistles, there’s trains, there’s a Barry White sample. Your blindfold comes off, and you’re thrown straight into the fire. Is this a club? Is this a warzone? Energy on ten million, whatever’s about to happen, either kill me or let me out of the chair. Get it over with. Please. God, please.
Sheek Louch — Fleetwood Mac, “Dreams.” 6/10 Richie Thumbs. Where Talking Heads was a hypnotic and honestly strange pick from Styles, this feels calming and meditative — Sheek is trying to get you to think about what you’ve done that’s led you to this place; real reflective hours. Look at yourself in the mirror, think about your life choices, as directed by a knife-wielding Don Don. There are scary things about Sheek getting me to that place — from personal experience, imagine giving a movie he loves a 2 and having to defend your opinion — and so I’m giving this a 6 off the strength. I just think he could’ve gone a bit harder here. If he really wanted win the BK crowd over but kept the same vibes, he could’ve done Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song” — that would’ve gone crazy.
Eric — Case, “I’m Missing You.” 10/10 Richie Thumbs. Is it menacing? Not really, but whatever Eric is dealing with definitely. is. This is a man on an emotional tailspin — his heart isn’t just on his sleeve, it’s on the table at the food court and freaking everybody out. Do not put a weapon in his hands, don’t pass go, send him straight to Arkham.
We’re talking to our booker tomorrow about where we can take our show on the road next! Leave a comment, letting us know the closest and furthest cities you’d go to.
Also, we made merch specifically for the Brooklyn show. Not enough of it, to be quite honest! Sorry to everyone who wanted mediums, sorry to everyone who wanted the blue Is Jadakiss Italian? hoodies, we’ll do better next time. We sold out of everything in every colorway except for size XLs for Karate Man and What’s Sheek Mad About. So: we’re gonna try to do an XL-Sized Pop-Up at Styles’ shop, maybe in the next few weeks. I need to talk to Styles and Omar to figure out a date that works, though. Or if you don’t live in the NYC area and want to buy one, email me and we’ll figure it out.
Friday, we’ll be recording our next episode: my pick, No Country for Old Men. Everyone seemed very excited about it on the phone, but we’ll see how the Richie Thumbs shake out in person. Will Sheek be furious and seek retribution, now that I had notes on his Fleetwood Mac pick? Will Jada be psyched for the movie, until he finds out I’m the one behind it? Will Eric come to my defense? We’ll see!
In any case, No Country is available for streaming on Paramount and Hulu, and for rental on Amazon. There’s also a free trial to exploit on Fubo, which I thought was a Tubi or Pluto-like service but I guess not anymore. Now Fubo’s making you pay (if you don’t quit first). Oh well. Everything stinks.
As always, you can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Instagram, TikTok and right here, for our weekly newsletter. Also, here’s our merch shop!
Feel free to suggest movies for us to review here! People hit us every day for us to review movies, and the only way for them not to be lost is in the Google form, linked right there.
The latest suggestions have been Zodiac, Silence of the Lambs, American Psycho or Seven (because I’m an alleged serial killer, hahaha); Attack the Block — which Sheek suggested we do if we ever do a London live show; and Black and White (with Robert Downey Jr., Brooke Shields and various members of Wu-Tang). Had never heard about it, apparently Brooke Shields wears fake dreadlocks in the movie. Wow.
Eric and I recently saw a Korean film (No Other Choice), which we thought was okay; and an Iranian one (It Was Just an Accident), which was uneven but strong. Rewatched Wolf of Wall Street last night and I’m sure we’ll be watching The Rip on Netflix, with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, which comes out next week.
Also, I’m gonna see if any of the guys want to join Letterboxd. See you every Monday!
