Artificial Flows
Art by
We’re back at it. People are protesting in France, the cashapp founder was stabbed to death, and the Federal Reserve rolled out FedNow right after this event (Coincidence? I think not). The external world is wild while my inner world is in a state of peace, harmony, and creative expansion.
A.I. seems to be rapidly developing across all fronts. One of the strangest developments is the case of A.I. music covers. I never heard Kanye or Playboi Carti sing this well, but it is entertaining to play with these alternative timelines. And some turn out to be good to the point they surpass the original creator’s limits…
There is a lack of those subtle human touches though. Many of these artificial covers are missing laughs, breaths, and those times a note hits a little wrong, but still sounds good. These flaws add authenticity to music that A.I. hasn’t been able to replicate quite yet. I mean A.I. art programs are improving in the hand department.
These A.I. verses from a random music artist alarmed Young Guru and 9th Wonder to a large degree. It’s becoming easier and easier to imitate people’s names and likeness. I wonder what type of laws will be rolled out to protect music artists, and if the music industry will exploit this technology to their own benefit.
Who puts the art in (art)ificial?!?
Twitter gets on my nerves. I can’t embed tweets on substack anymore and blue checkmarks have been rendered meaningless.
I whipped up a new essay over at Bestseller focused on reading bad reviews and taking punches. A nice mix of my boxing experience, and some seasoned advice on the writing game. Check it out here.
I finally posted a pt. 2 of The Louis Vuitton Diaries. It’s behind a paywall so sign up. Things are starting to heat up at LV in more ways than one. You can read that here.
I took somewhat of a writing break this week to recover from the writing marathon. Gotta let the muse relax. Instead, I’ve been handling a lot of behind the scenes stuff for Melancholy’s Finest like back cover copy, blurbs, etc. The front cover is done, but I’ll unveil that in the future.
Here’s another blurb to get you hyped for The Hum of the World & Other Stories.
"A common theme here is the shedding of skin. Short story collections are essentially that—a bundle of shed skins, remnants of a writer's past lives, and often you can see how much they've grown from one story to the next. Grant Wamack is a fucking viper, writing lines that sink deep, fucking you up for days. The Hum Of The World is how he came to be" —William Pauley III, author of The Bedlam Bible series.
Izzy Adesanya is fighting Alex Pereira tonight. This match has me stressed out since they have a long history through Muay Thai and MMA. Izzy has a habit of winning every round until Pereira’s power overwhelms him. I’m holding out hope this exchange will be different since Izzy is rocking the dog collar like Jet Li in Unleashed. I love it.
But then we have the monster/champ himself cutting weight in a hyperbolic time chamber, waiting to defend his belt.
Currently Watching: Love, Death & Robots Season 3 & Lost Season 1 & Yellowjackets Season 2 & Castlevania Season 3
I’ve been burning through Castlevania and I’m really loving the show. Season 3 they’re introducing alchemy and occult symbolism. Such a cool adaptation of the classic videogame.
Also, watched Creed 3 and I thought I was good, but I was expecting more. The hype was through the roof, but I personally thought 2 was much better. It’s cool to see Michael B. Jordan directing now, but it felt kind of safe. I’d like to him do something a little different.
Currently Reading: Sing Behemoth Sing by K.E. Wolfe & Blame! by Tsutomu Nihei & Gleipnir by Sun Takeda & The Reyes Incident by Briana Morgan
I finished reading The Reyes Incident by Briana Morgan earlier this week. Very solid mermaid story that hits the right notes. It’s told in a somewhat unique way, hopping between the mermaid incident, the police station, and notes. Highly recommended.
Currently Smoking: Blue Tarantula Pre-Rolls
Listening: Black Tapes Podcast & The Danny Brown Podcast
“Some people can’t piece life together, it’s really puzzling…”
Larry June rapping over Alchemist beats is an unstoppable combo. June spits about Irish sea moss juice straight from Oakland, Porsches, and 1k spent on candles at Saks Fifth. Big Sean actually goes off with a dope ass verse. The Great Escape might be one of the best albums that dropped this year.
Billy Bapper floats over the dizzying WE DAT instrumental and disses the opps in amazing fashion. Dancing with guns, rolling weed, and twerking really adds a nice touch to the visuals. The GDs are highly underrated and highly offensive, and shit like this makes me continue to root for them.
If you find Kendrick Lamar to be too preachy, but you’re looking for something in the same lane, but darker, look no further than ICECOLDBISHOP’s single “D.A.R.E.” It’s flips the anti-drug campaign on its head, exposing the dark side of drugs, corruption, and the streets. Elite storytelling, cadence, and inflections.
Part of me can’t believe Tyler the Creator left this song off his album. It’s a beautiful messy yet honest apology channeling all of his rap personas over 3 minutes and 23 seconds. Saturated visuals with a compelling ending. Man, I love this song.
Until next time…