My 2 Cents Are Priceless

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: 7.0: One Year Later

2011-01-29T15:30:00.000-05:00

For many people, it takes an event of tragic measure to open their eyes and see the plight & oppression of others. They never showed the piles of garbage or the 6 year-old kid working a strip from sunup to sundown begging for food & money. You won’t see the conditions that they live in unless you go down there and walk thru Port Au Prince yourself. Last year, on January 12th, the eyes of the world were on Haiti & everybody saw with their own 2 eyes the destruction & despair they faced on that dark day. Amongst the rubble & within the images which were being projected to us, the hardships they face on a daily basis came to the forefront to remind the world of the country with the poorest infrastructure, with this earthquake making matters worse.

One year later and not much has changed. Most of the cameras are gone. Less than half of the money donated by Americans hasn’t been spent on recovery efforts. Over a million Haitians are still without adequate shelter, still dwelling in tents that resemble shantytowns in South Africa during apartheid. Rapes in these tent villages happen at a rate which cannot be ignored. Starvation is giving way to child prostitution. Rubble removal has been executed at a snail-like pace. NGOs have taken the place of the unstable government, exerting their presence on the rebuilding efforts. And a cholera outbreak has plagued Port Au Prince & the surrounding areas, claiming up to 2,000 lives thus far. To make an iffy situation more tentative, Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier has made a return to the island he once ruled with corruption & human-rights violations.

Baby Doc coming back to Haiti brings an already hostile nation close to the brink of civil war. He says his return is out of concern for Haiti’s democracy receives the illest side eye. Really? Don’t be surprised that some Haitians find this very hard to believe. It looks like somebody forgot about the millions taken from the national treasury & those tens of thousands who were murdered during his reign. And during that same reign, the United States let him run rampant. Now, with the political unrest rising by the day, seeing Baby Doc back on the island makes one wonder how he is being used by imperialistic interests as a pawn. In what way will he help further their agenda? No way is this guy reformed. His Swiss bank account is STILL open! Believe that. If one cannot come around to even suspecting him of having ulterior motives, ask why is former Congressman Bob Barr is alongside Duvalier as they attempt to convince officials to let the reconstruction money be funneled thru them? Most of the current population is too young to remember the days of his reign. Memories of a peaceful Haiti where it was safe remain in the minds of those old enough to remeber that administration. According to my relatives who were in Haiti at the time, they confirmed that there was peace in the nation while he was in office. However, does that mean that his past sins should be forgiven due to the turmoil in the country?

The situation down there will get worse before it gets better. The people know this. Yet, they still wake up to handle their buisness. Do what they gotta do to survive. Unbreakable souls know how to persevere thru ANY type of tribulation. That's the signature characteristic of the Haitian people. We can weather any storm. God puts a challenge in front of us, we'll find a way to overcome. And when it comes to our freedom, we don't play. Ask Napoleon. So, whoever is down there tryna capitilize off the backs of the oppressed & exploited Haitians, take heed to this warning: When one has their back against the wall & have nothing to lose but their lives, they fight with much more to gain. Don't underestimate that hunger. Look at Egypt & Tunisia. The will of people who want to be free usually wins at the end.

They WILL rise. They see this as an opportunity to start fresh. Once they realize the power they have to determine the destiny of their lives, the spirit of Toussaint shall take the forefront.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Let Me See Some ID, Sir...

2010-06-04T19:00:00.001-04:00

In this new age of progressive productivity, there are many new & different issues we have to deal with as a society. In a post-9/11 America, one of the biggest issues is national security. The “War On Terror” got a multitude of American citizens looking over their shoulder & keeping their eyes open for the next attack. These “terrorists” are affecting dam near every foreign policy & national security legislation that makes it to the floor of our congressional floors. One of the issues which were a hot-button discussion amongst representatives was the issue of National ID cards.

If you ask me, we don’t need a National ID CARD. We have enough forms of identification already! School, work, driver’s license, passports (which already includes the RFID chip in newly issued American ones), social security numbers, and government-funded programs that require a process of protocol to prevent forgery & falsification of documents. Foreigners are the primary threat in post-9/11 America. So training local, state & federal law enforcement officials on new security procedures should be a top priority. One can make the argument that this is being done. However, the next step shouldn’t be passing legislation which violates our Bill Of Rights. That’s taking the easy way out, along with neglecting the God-given rights of the American people. It can also be viewed as a covert tactic for some of the power-hungry figures behind the curtain to obtain some of the unconstitutional authority to create a society in which the minority can rule over the majority.

National IDs are claimed to be no different than state IDs. Nevertheless, a potential national ID would contain a computer chip that matches the fingerprint of the recipient. The Real ID Act of 2005 specifically states policies pertaining to updated national security protocol post-9/11, that by May of 2008, all US citizens will be required to carry this form of identification around, which include a barcode with all the personal information of the recipient. In conjunction to the Real ID Act, in 2004, the Food & Drug Administration approved radio frequency identification chips (RFID) to be used for ID verification, access to medical records & other personal data which may be useful to whoever needs access to this information. The chips work by use of radio frequency, which tracks the every move of the card holder. These two events aren’t coincidental. Outside of the medical field, the only other profession that is expected to require access to this info is law enforcement & civil services. Combine these ID cards with the unconstitutional Patriot Act, and you have a recipe for a democratic police state.

Pending political backlash & public outrage, this has been written law that has been kept quiet for the past few years, explaining why the May 2008 deadline has come & gone without a majority of our citizens knowing this or willingly cooperating with the Department of Homeland Security (unless you’ve been issued a passport or a ID from the DMV in the past year & a half). Maybe they understand that the American people aren’t as dumb as they thought. Common sense tells any US citizen who know their rights that a federal ID is more than likely to lead to more invasive actions that will invade the privacy of most, if not all American citizens. It’ll be done all in the name of national security. The understanding that terrorists will stop at nothing to commit heinous acts against America is only a scare tactic used by warmongering politicians to instill fear in the masses & convince them to forget their constitutional rights.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Looking Ahead

2010-06-01T22:30:00.001-04:00

This piece was written for my US History Class. Got an A for this paper.

My mother arrived in this country on February 23, 1980 from the island of Haiti. And just like any immigrant who migrated to America in the past 200 years, she arrived here seeking an opportunity for a better life. The American Dream was, and is, a convincing selling point to citizens of other countries around the globe. Being no stranger to hard work & sacrifice, she felt in her heart, with an opportunity & the right tools, success & progression would inevitably find their way to the good fortune of her & her family.

5 years later, she was married, with two baby boys (my brother coming first in 1983 & me arriving in 1985). She went on to get her degree a few years later, and a well-paying job at a hospital, which provided security for herself & her family. As a child, I can recall her stressing the importance of getting an education, along with having a solid work ethic. She believed that those two things working together side by side equaled the formula of success for making it in America, especially for me & my brother as black boys who would eventually grow into black men.

The outlook for black people in America has always been optimistic in fantasy, while in reality, the situation was always a case of 2nd-class citizenship, permanent crisis & internal conflict created by outside forces. For the hip hop generation (urban youth who were born in 1964 or later), our outlook on our future in America all depends on how we press forward with our agenda as a community & put it to action. With the dominance of hip hop culture in the mainstream, along with the development of a cross racial, class, gender & social coalition within the culture, the future of this country rests squarely on our shoulders. I can willingly say that I’m ready to carry my share of the load. I can only speak for my generational peers who have displayed a sincere concern for the future of our country. I cannot speak on the behalf of the sheep that let mainstream dominance dictate their thoughts & actions. Only thing I can do is do my best to enlighten them on the importance of their individual role in shaping the future for our kids & grandkids, and hope they’re open-minded enough to learn how we all must work together today for a better tomorrow.

We have had the burden & privilege of growing up in a post-Civil Rights America, where the issues & events of the times are directly in front of us, ready to be discussed. The dialogue is constant amongst us, with no taboos in the closet. Everything is open for deliberation, with nothing being held back. I can’t say if this is any different from previous generations, however, the passion we approach these debates with are proudly worn on the sleeves of those who strongly believe in their freedom of speech. Sometimes, we let our emotions dictate our actions, which limit our effectiveness. Other times, we tend to put our train of thought in a closed box, with no way of escape. Yet, even thru all this, what lies beneath it all is an unwavering desire to progress forward. The ambition is there. However, the only things holding us back are our organization & individual mindset. In order for us to fulfill our destiny as a generation, there are a few responsibilities that we must hold ourselves accountable for.

The 1st responsibility should be for us to improve our financial decision-making & be more economically literate. If we do our homework & understand how our money works for us and our fellow taxpayers, and exercise financial responsibility, we’ll see the direction of this nation turn the corner for a new era of capitalism. 2nd should be for us to take more of a civic interest in local & city politics. Find out who you’re local congressman is. Know who is sitting on what boards in the community. Keep up with what they’re doing to make sure your voice is heard when they’re representing you on in the city council, the state capital or on Capitol Hill in Washington. The constituents we elect on the local level make up one branch of government (House of Representatives). They’re the foundation of our government & we’ve ignored them for too long. We’ve been more concerned with senators, mayors & governors, not realizing that from a grassroots level, we can control who’s speaking out on behalf of our interests. Change comes from the bottom-up, not from the top-down. President Obama’s movement was so grassroots, showing us the power of the people is still in heavy affect. Let’s take that energy from his presidential campaign & keep it within us to do our part on the local level. With time invested, determined individuals who can put aside their differences & work towards the same goal & patience, Change will not be a matter of “if”. It’ll be a matter of “when”.

Overall, my outlook on the future of this country is optimistic based on the potential of my generation. The reality leaves me much room for doubt, yet I feel as if I’d be letting down the future if I didn’t have something to believe in. No one ever said it would be easy, especially with all the “isms” in our society (racism, sexism, etc.). But once people understand that race, gender, religion & political preference are all vices used to distract us from coming together, I expect a steady change for the better.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: From Culture To Scapegoat?

2010-03-23T20:30:00.001-04:00

I don’t want to sit here & justify the violent lyrics in hip hop. Although, let us be honest for a minute: Rap music is not 100% responsible for the violence in America. Yet, it seems like it gets all the blame. Yes, it’s the preferred choice of music for the youth. Yes, there’s an unexplainable feeling of living vicariously thru the lyrics of a Jay-Z, Nas, Jadakiss, or Lil’ Wayne. Their music gives us a sense of empowerment for the sole reason that this is the only genre of music that talks directly to us, as adolescence who are offspring of an oppressed people. And yes, the violent bars we listen to are a means of income to most of these rappers, so they really could give a shit about the message in their music. As long as the Lyors & the Iovines cut the check, they’ll keep droppin’ this watered down hip hop for the masses.

That’s for another blog. Or is it?

My point is this: These inner-city poets only kick the facts. They report on the streets we walk thru. The world we occupy on a daily basis, where the government has implemented an anti-youth policy since the Nixon Administration, in which used the Kerner Commission report as a contraceptive & fucked over the children of the ghettos across America. Where gang violence reemerged in the 70’s & hasn’t really seen a decline since. Where J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO operation, in which the objective was “to prevent the rising of the next black messiah by any means necessary”, is still in effect. Those means were in the form of guns & drugs being flooded into the hood. This is the America we live in. Hip Hop was created in the Bronx off of the lingering effects of federal tactics & benign neglect. It was created in the spirit of trying to enjoy their lives, despite the subjugation they lived amongst.

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 created The Message to let those who were willing to listen know what time it was in the inner city. Before you ever heard of a terror alert, Melle Mel let you know that the terror alert was ALWAYS on red.

NWA took it to the next level. By portraying life on the streets of Compton from a 1st person perspective, it was a reality check for some, but for others, Compton could’ve easily been Chicago, New York, Philly, D.C., Miami, Houston, Detroit, or New Orleans.

Gangsta Rap was Reality Rap at first.
But once the label heads saw how much profit they could make off this kind of rap, they began signing similar acts at such a blitzkrieg pace.

And the rest is history.

Violence is as American as racism, baseball & apple pie.
Once we as a society move away from destructive imagery & legislation, and begin using the minds that God gave us then a movement can commence.

And this movement will be spearheaded by the hip hop generation.

Don't Believe The Hype: Propaganda & War

2010-03-23T11:00:00.000-04:00

The primary role of propaganda is to sway public opinion on a certain issue. Usually, the publisher of such work shows no type of journalistic integrity. Distortions are blatant; exaggerations are greatly stretched, overstating a false sense of urgency. The subjectivity screams favoritism, the inaccuracy & fabrication is obvious, and the creator shows no shame in using flat-out lies to support a position on the issue at hand. The purpose of such a media tool is to rally public opinion to support what the author feels is “right”.

In times of war & conflict, the battle is fought on mainly 2 grounds: the battlefield & the public lobby of opinion. Political cartoons are a primary source of propaganda for the media outlets. Usually, there are “good” guys and “bad” guys. Depending on the issue at hand, some cartoons may contain solely antagonists or protagonists. However, most of these cartoons will have both antagonist & protagonist at odds with each other. Either way, the creator can be found guilty of misleading the people & distorting the facts.

“In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.”
-Winston Churchill

The harm that the infamous warning poster did to Asians & Germans alike created an intense dislike for both demographics in the United States. The poster depicts a Japanese soldier creeping up from the Pacific side of the globe with a bloody knife onto the United States, while on the right side of the poster, a Nazi officer with his pistol drawn creeps up from the far Eastern side of the globe. Both “enemies” are shown descending upon America with the intention to “attack”. ”. At the top of the poster, the word “WARNING!” in bold letters, bring attention to the whole picture. At the bottom, the message “OUR HOMES ARE IN DANGER NOW!” along with a description of what America is supposed to be doing as their job (KEEP ‘EM FIRING) plays up America’s role as the “good guys”. The Japanese soldier looks darker than his yellowish tan skin. This caricature of him was most likely intentional, in order for Americans to easily identify who the villain is. The swastika on the Nazi officer is an obvious representation of Hitler’s fascist regime, rooted in white supremacy.

German-Americans felt the backlash of their home country being portrayed as ruthless terrorists. Then again, any country who preaches extermination of beings who aren’t blue-eyed & blond haired, won’t be viewed in a positive light. However, their treatment paled in comparison to the harsh action of the US government against a wide demographic of Asian-Americans. It’s common knowledge that during the war, Japanese-Americans had their assets taken from them. Their homes, communities & businesses were destroyed. All in the name of national security & patriotism. They were placed in detention camps that made FEMA look like Disney World. The racial prejudice against them was so prevalent; it resembled the treatment of the Jews by the other enemy on the poster, the Germans (Minus the genocide). This comes as no surprise in a country that’s rooted in racism & overt discrimination.

If one wants to realize the power of media in how they project media in the mind of the masses, look no further than this poster. The poster was an obvious attempt to gain control on the emotions of Americans, who were still fuming after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The stereotypes being slung about the Japanese & Germans were so dehumanizing & blatant. Any individual with an open mind would be disgusted by these schoolyard bully tactics. We can afford to be honest as an advanced species of progressive beings. Not all Americans in the early 1940s had a broad view of other nationalities & cultures, so more than likely, they believed what they read in the papers and heard on the radio. Sources of information were very few, compared to what we have at our disposal today. Commercial radio broadcasting was barely 20 years old & TV didn’t become popular until the war was over. The internet wasn’t even an iota in the atmosphere. If they say to trust them, what other choice did the people have? The architects of the media and government realized this & used it to their advantage. Looking at public opinion polls, along with actions from the FDR Administration during that time says the propaganda which was published did exactly what it was intended to do.

Even if we are a nation at war, there is still a moral law called human dignity. Anyone who says the opposite & is extreme with their view without hearing all sides of the conflict is a narrow-minded elitist, who’s easily swayed by what’s being put on their plate. To co-sign the term “keep ‘em firing”, without knowing WHY we’re shooting is a primitive action, which only digresses us to animals in the jungle. Most primeval being has no sense of objective. And that’s how warmongers act. If all’s fair in love & war, I guess the supporters of this conflict had no problem seeing atomic bombs being dropped on children & women in Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

If they felt they had the right to posses no remorse for the innocent, then I have the freedom to wish them an untimely demise. Yet, I believe in having patience and compassion for those who do not understand how to separate facts from distorted half-truths.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Play Yor Position!

2010-01-02T15:30:00.000-05:00

It's only right I start off the New Year with an important message:

Play Your Position!
Be A Team Player!

Everybody wants to be The Star.
Everyone wants to be the Top Shotta.
Everybody wants to be in The Limelight.

But nobody wants to work for it. They want accolades to be given to them. Why? They’ll tell you that they deserve it. And some will have the nerve to say it with a straight face on their grill. Instant gratification has become the main force behind most people’s ambitions in life. And who can blame them? They’re being brainwashed by mass media. Mainstream got the majority chasing false prophets. This majority consists of 85% of the masses to be exact (If you know your 5 Percenter math, I see no need to elaborate any further). This is why we’re living amongst all this fuckery.

Ok, I can save this soliloquy for another blog. Gotta stay focused on the topic….

In this world, you can only get so far by yourself. There will come times when you need a helping hand. That assist at the right time or that block you need to get to the end zone. You think Michael Jordan won those 6 rings by himself? He had players around him who understood their roles & put individual accolades aside for the sake of the team. You can say the same for just about everyone who has had any measure of success in their lives, sports or otherwise. They’ll be the first to tell you that they didn’t get there on their own. They had a support system that held them down thru thick & thin, pushed them to improve the abilities they were trying to perfect & did the duty of giving out constructive criticism when it was necessary.

I go by the mantra of team first. The abilities that God gave me can be used to achieve individual goals. However, I prefer to harness my skills in a team-oriented environment. It’s more logical to work with like-minded people who have similar goals as you & can clearly see the big picture. The workload is lighter, which liberates team members to focus on what could be their strengths. Meanwhile, they can also improve on their weaknesses by reaching out to their teammates that are stronger in categories they’re trying to improve in. With the proper investment in time, energy & forward progression coming from each member, the team will become a more powerful force. Like Jay-Z said:

If every nigga in ya click is rich, ya click is rugged
Nobody will fall, cause everyone will be each other’s crutches

That’s the position you want your team to be in. Everybody in a position of stability, so if one member descends, the rest of the team will be able to pick up his slack & collectively help their teammate until they are back at the level of the rest of the team. To make things even better, when you don’t have to worry about the performance of your teammate, your performance elevates & puts you & your coalition in a better position to accomplish the main objective.

The principles of Kwanzaa promote teamwork & collective collaboration. Umoja (Unity), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) & Nia (Purpose) are the three primary principles which I can directly associate with playing your position. With these at the forefront on an everyday basis, I consider myself prepared to handle any task that comes in front of me, whether as an individual, or in a team setting. And I understand that according to each situation, my role will vary. Sometimes, it will be required of me to spearhead the project, and other times, I’ll have to play a secondary or complementary role. It’s all the same to me. As long as we achieve our objective, I could care less if I started it or finished it. As long as I played my part & helped out my teammates, it’s all good with me! We win as a team & we lose a a team. PLAIN & SIMPLE.

Now, just like anything else in this life, this comes with hard work. Getting everybody on the same page, communicating with individuals on a regular basis, investing time to make the team stronger & creating a blueprint for present & future progression is far from easy, but each member must be willing to partake in all these activities if they want the end result to be in their favor. If one person even strays away from one of these activities, they jepordize the success of the team. It’s like that one cat on the court who’s concerned about how many shots he’s gonna take & how many touches he’s gonna get in the game. Once a player begins to think about how he’s gonna get his numbers, it increases the chances of having a weak link who’s gonna take away from the concept of Ujima. That’s a cancer that can spread if not addressed as soon as it become a problem.

Don’t get me wrong, ain’t nothin’ wrong with doin’ for self. Yet, at the same time, you have to know when it’s time for you to step up to the plate, cause when you’re on a team with other players who can put their stamp on a game, there’s no need for you to carry the squad on your back. Someone new will step up every night. That’s the benefit of playing with a team with the right pieces! Even if you’re not the main feature, you can still can contribute! Set up your teammates, do the dirty work, roll up your sleeves & get to work! At the end of the day, if you win, that hard work was worth it. If you lose, you walk away with your head high, knowing you did everything in your power to help your team win. Even though you came up short, you played hard & there’s a lesson to be learned with every loss.

Team success can turn into individual accolades without one even knowing. Yet, it doesn’t happen overnight & it doesn’t happen when you chase glory for selfish reasons. Put in the time, effort, energy & passion, and in due time, you will reap the benefits of your grind. Not everybody can be Lebron, Kobe or DWade! Your moment may come when you get to show your potential to the masses, but if doesn't come when you want it to, don't sweat it! That time will come when you least expect it & you'll be ready.

So, in 2010, we should all sacrifice a little for the sake of the team. Don’t do something for someone & expect instant gratification in return. Do it because it’s the right thing to do! That karma comes back in many ways, along with the feeling that you gave a helping hand to a person who really needed it.

Playing your position puts you in a better one. Don't believe me? Ask Derek Jeter.

Teamwork makes the dream work!

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: The Problem Within The Problem, Part 2

2009-11-24T11:00:00.001-05:00

*This 2-Part Series Was Completely Based On The Black Male/Female Connection written by Dr. Maulana Karenga, which was a chapter in the book Crisis In Black Sexual Politics by Nathan & Julia Hare.

As the world evolves & new technology takes its place in our daily lives, the politics of the traditional male/female relationship remains a confounding journey of joy, grief, stress & confusion.

Male/female relationships are vital to our existence as a species.

I left off saying that both black men & women are guilty of using inadequate connections as the foundation of their relationships. It’s not our fault though. We live in a capitalist system where we base everything we do on how much we can receive for the time we invest. Now, there’s nothing wrong with getting what you put in. But at the same time, we let this capitalist state of mind make us turn our relationships & parts of it into commodities & utilitarian arrangements. Instead of being driven by morals, values & principles, we’re driven by selfish, self-destructive engines which will drive us down the road to destruction & pure fuckery. Instant gratification is the cancer that’s preventing us from building constructive relationships with one another.

A quality relationship is a long-term, stable alliance which is defined by a mutual investment in each other’s happiness, well-being & growth.

Yet, we are being weighed down by four insufficient connections:
• The Cash Connection
• The Flesh Connection
• The Force Connection
• The Dependency Connection

The Cash Connection is probably the most significant factor out of the four, along with the Flesh Connection. This association is the result of living in a capitalist society, where everyone has a price & can be brought. This is why you see a large amount of ladies putting a price on their coochie, exchanging sex for economic security & calling it marriage, guys who feel as if dinner & a movie entitles them to sex because they came out their pockets, and more men who ruin the lives of their families just because they bring the money in. A person’s self worth cannot be measured by how much is in their bank account. Sean Combs is a multi-millionaire & he’s still a prick. I’ll go on the record & say any woman who gets with him at this point in time is only with him because of his net worth. That wouldn’t last long, just like any relationship that’s based on financial ramifications.

In a culture where sex sells, The Flesh Connection is right next the Cash Connection in its emphasis in this culture.Since we all enjoy sex (including myself), it’s very easy for use to lose sight of other important characteristics & focus on the body & all the diverse things we can do to it, or selected parts. While we go on & do this, we turn the opposite gender into objects in which we can have at our will, use whenever we feel like it, and dispose of it when we’re bored or want to move on to someone else. This is a very destructive train of thought, being that it rejects the completeness of human character by making the holes in the body more important than the whole body.What makes it even worse, is the fact that people foolishly attempt to create meaningful relationships from lustful emotions & believe it’s gonna last! I can’t think of one person who’s had success doing such a foolish thing. Maybe if it was a mutual agreement with both parties getting sex out of it (Friends With Benefits). Yet, it takes two mature individuals to make that work, and that in itself is rare.

The Force Connection speaks for itself. It merges with the Flesh Connection in the act of rape, which is more psychological & physical than sexual. For men, this union is based on the template of manhood in this society, conquering & dominating, taking for himself what he feels he’s entitled to by fantasized nature & principled ownership. To make this flight of the imagination even more warped, these men think that she not only deserve it: she wishes for it to happen. You see this executed by primitive, chauvinistic men who are ideally stuck in the Stone Age & narrow-minded women who like guys those “bad boys” who are just downright niggerish. We all know in an abusive relationship, one is gonna have to take the abuse. Why would one subject their own well-being to such a fucked-up situation?

Now, after a person is turned into a commodity, reduced to just body parts & mentally/physically altered into obedience, they become reliant upon others. And even in the face of the most detesting conditions, they’ll remain exactly where they are. Since they’ve been stripped of their character & their sense of worth, they‘ll stay in their relationships, all for the sake of not being alone. They’ll even go as far as justifying their treatment. This is the last connection which fuses all 3, The Dependency Connection. This connection is most closely linked to slavery, as the abused takes on the mannerisms of a slave in bondage, becoming a set of reactions based on the actions of their abuser. Even if they do get out of that one relationship, dependency becomes part of their character, thus lowering their standards & expectations. When that happens, the search for a mate becomes more like a search for a new master. And one settles for anyone who will accept them in their current state of being.

Regardless of what connection a person uses, it all adds up to the same quotient: Using a false pretense to create a situation in which neither one can guarantee a progressive relationship being built. Each union that comes from force, dependency, sex or money is settling & bringing down the standard of what was once a fruitful relationship between males & females. Now, with everything the way it is, it’s vital for us to take a step back within ourselves & analyze who we are. These connections are a result of the society we live in, which is maintained & controlled by humans. Therefore, they can be changed by humans. However, we must first become the change we want to see. Our potential decreases & increases with what we put at the forefront of our lives. If we value material items, sexual desires & instant gratification, we’ll continue to go down this destructive highway & forever be at odds with the opposite gender. The destiny which was supposed to be fulfilled will be betrayed.

I want to end this by directly quoting the man in which these last 2 blogs on the Black Male/Female Connection is entirely based on, Dr. Maulana Karenga. His piece, which is included in the book Crisis In Black Sexual Politics, has been the main component behind this 2-part series.

The key crisis in Black America is the cultural crisis. It is a crisis further defined by our lack of a system of views & values which give us a moral, material & meaningful interpretation of life on the seven basic levels of culture: religion (or spiritual value system), history, social, economic & political organization, creative motive and ethos.

A people who slavishly imitates its opressor & refuses to take its destiny & daily like in its own hands has little or no possibilities.

Peace & Love.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: The Problem Within The Problem Pt. 1

2009-10-23T17:00:00.002-04:00

The Black male/female rift is the offspring of the black family crisis in America.

Man v. Women was the probably the single most important factor in the Willie Lynch experiment. And now in 2009, YouTube has been somewhat of the frontline in the Blackman/Black woman saga. Both sides can bash all day & point out their flaws, and only a selected few can actually put in the sincere effort to improve this strained relationship. And for too long, parties from both sides have depended too much on white society to define & solve our problems.
This is only the tip in the iceberg....

• Teenage pregnancy
• Unemployable & socially irresponsible young males
• Broken marriages
• Never married or no-longer-married single mothers
• Latchkey & neglected children
• Growing illegitimacy
• High dropout rates
• Difficulties in the discipline of the children in the fatherless families & inner-city public schools
• Chronic welfare families
• Low academic & socioeconomic achievement among black youth reaching proportions which no longer could be denied, simplified or tolerated.

This outline fundamentally explains the plight of the Post-Civil Rights/Hip Hop generation. All of these issues stem from one root: The lack of employment & racial discrimination (covert & overt) from the institutions of American society, primarily against Black men. A higher percentage of unemployment can lead to a swift increase in crime & different forms of social decay, such as poverty, prison, substance abuse & high dropout rates. It’s been well documented that most white men (the ones who call the shots) are intimidated by black men & are afraid to compete on an even playing field with them. Cause it’s these same white men-from an economic, political & military standpoint who run this world. The concept of shared power has always been a question for them, especially if it involves sharing that power with men outside their ethnic group. So, its cause of this fact that in order for brothers to be accepted by the mainstream (the ones who are willing to integrate); they have to give up their blackness (act white). With that blackness, come their pride, dignity & respect from fellow peers. Many brothers will be tempted to cross over for the sake of acceptance by mainstream, while the others hold on to their blackness & fight an uphill battle against an oppressive structure.

Throughout these years of bigotry, mental & economic slavery, the Black woman has been riding shotgun, with the patience of a Buddhist monk. Her scars are as deep, if not deeper than the Black man’s. As a matter of fact, her being disenfranchised from the Black man put a burden on her shoulder in which she was in no position to carry alone. So, we cannot blame her if she becomes frustrated. It’s been too many years of pain & suffering for her. She has every right to feel this way. The Black man is equally frustrated that the Black woman doesn’t get the respect she rightfully deserves. We can even say that his primary motivation as a man is to take care of the Black woman he holds so near & dear to his heart. However, too many sistas are liable to criticize the brothers on a consistent basis, which is the wrong way to vent their dissatisfaction with their place in society.

She thinks he is using racism as an excuse when its racism being the primary reason he’s out there struggling to provide for himself, his family & community. Maybe out of dissatisfaction, she forgets that harsh fact. And when she overlooks that cruel reality, she is more likely to blame the Black man for both of their troubles.
From an economic standpoint, you can easily see what makes money a major issue. In the 1970s, when the White female entered the work force, black males were being pushed out of it. These White women (who were mostly middle class & married) got 70% of the new jobs created & put their new income together with that of their husbands, which resulted in the economic gap widening between them & the Black, single & poor. The money that could’ve made a difference in our communities were spread out among White women, while the Black man & woman only inherited more stress, which amplified the social & emotional separation between the two.

To make matters worse, the White feminists, with their unisexual, anti-family movement took the grievances they had with their men & poisoned the minds of a few egotistical/disruptive black women & projected the negative white male qualities into black men. Instead of taking up their grievance with the man who calls the shots (and keeps everyone who is not white or female underneath them as far as status & respect), they go on & provoke an already agitated Black woman into believing the Black man has put them thru centuries of pain & suffering. So when feminism wanted to ascend the Black female, our sistas looked around & saw no one standing next to her. With her dissatisfaction at an all-time high, anger affecting her judgment, and no one else to blame, she indicts the one person who had the least to do with her current position in society: The Black Man.

He has never oppressed the Black woman. He has never reduced her to menial status & locked her in a role as a wife & mother. He’s never took away her right to vote. He never decided to pay her less than what she was worth. These are gripes that White women have with their men. They just created the illusion that Black men should be held responsible for failing to obtain the masculinity they were being denied, the same masculinity these feminists scrutinized & discredited.

And this is exactly what the main power structure wanted. Being that Man v. Woman is most likely the single most important factor in the Willie Lynch experiment, putting them at odds with each other, while covertly holding back both from attaining some type of status (economic & social) can create a situation where resentment & hostility can be handed down from generation to generation.

The Black man is doing all he can to take care of his family, despite the obstacles in front of him. Some of these brothers are mentally tougher than others. The ones who leave the sistas to fend for herself are the pathetic ones who feel as if all hope is lost & she can take care of herself & a child (or children) better than when he was in the picture. Not the case. While this is happening, you have outside influences telling our sistas that they don’t need him. They don’t need to depend on a man for anything, it’s a privilege to work (just as she was about to gain access to the home as a housewife), get her own & ascend up the pedestal. She goes ahead & listens to this rhetoric, climbs that ladder & when she thinks she got to the top, they ridicule the same ladder she was climbing. So, you got the same outside influences persuading both sides to execute actions which aren’t parallel to their development as a family unit & as individuals.

In a world where men rule & clash for control of their part of the globe, Black men are fighting a powerful enemy whose interest is to neutralize, eliminate & keep us economically illiterate. By tearing down the Black man, it creates an irreplaceable void in the household & forces our women to walk in both pairs of shoes. And in America, the system works overtime to keep the Black man in a position of disadvantage.

• Making them think in similar fashion to that of the oppressor, making them white in thinking & reaction. Now, you have brothers working only in the interest of their teacher. How can a brother realize what being a Black man is all about if he’s thinking like his master?

• Driving Black men out of the economic segment of society, making it difficult for them to take care of themselves & their families. Brothers got mouths to feed & clothe. If they can’t get that 9 to 5, they’ll resort to a life of crime just so those mouths won’t starve & get cold.

• Distributing harmful resources like drugs, alcohol & unrestrictive sex, making it easily available & accessible.

• Push the Black man to the point of insanity, thus making them turn their backs on their community & themselves. That only leads to black on black crime, a mental hospital or suicide.

• The ones that do crimes are led away to prisons, in which no type of help is available to them in the form of counseling & rehabilitation. They usually come out worse than they were when they got tossed in, and when they get released, they’re back in the same neighborhood to prey on other members of their community.

Add all those factors up & you have destitute males of color in a world ruled by the force of men. And when any people do not have tough, imaginative, vigorous, courageous, innovative and fighting men in this society, those people are in a heap of trouble, not to mention the progression & development for those people will be damm near impossible without men of integrity & vision.

Instead of fighting together against our social & economic plight, we looked to self-improvement & single-minded selfishness to better our condition. The mentalities we see in these times will do nothing for the future of our communities. The system has us believing that making it in America means getting as much money in the shortest period of time. Building a foundation for our family & community takes a back seat to “I gotta get mines.” The investments we must make for our future give way to instant gratification. We look for this temporary fulfillment amongst each other, and when we don’t find it, we begin to point fingers, blaming each other for our problems. To a degree, both sides are guilty of the same thing: using inadequate connections as the foundation for our relationships.

These connections are painfully obvious. What do we base our lives on? Money & Sex! Then we have the nerve to force ourselves to be with someone all for the sake of NOT being alone. Or even worse, we force somebody to be with us against their will. Like really, do we truly believe in these tactics? Or are we just so far gone, these are the only ways we know how to approach each other?

This is only Part One.

Inadequate Connections will be explained further in Part 2.

For right now, This Knowledge Right Here Should Feed Your Mental...

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: I Hear The People Talkin'...

2009-09-15T23:22:00.004-04:00

There's been a target on my back since the day I was born.

I’ve been called many things in my lifetime.

• Racist
• Anti-Semite
• Narrow-minded
• Ignorant
• Prejudiced
• Biased

This comes along with the praise that I’ve heard from colleagues, teachers & generational peers.

• Open-minded
• Intelligent
• Knowledgeable
• Limitless Potential
• Great work ethic
• Mature beyond his years

I’ve learned from an early age that one must learn how to take praise & accept criticism, cause most of the time it is served on the same plate. And me, being the foodie that I am, was taught to never waste rations. The old heads would tell us, “You might not like the taste, but it’s good for you.” Hence, I eat it willingly. Scrutiny is something that no human is immune to. Even our Savior Jesus Christ got stones thrown at him during his time on earth. Many greats of history have been subjected to the worst kinds of treatment & words, just off the strength of them putting together a thought for themselves, formulating an opinion & standing by it, no matter if their opposition tried to hurl the kitchen sink at them. So, I don’t like being labeled & stereotyped, but I ingest the side order which is denigration. It gets thrown by way of my morals defending my words & actions.

And before you detractors & narrow-minded opinionated assholes start to nitpick this paragraph, let me say for the record that I’m in no way, shape or form trying to compare myself to Jesus. All I’m saying is He wasn’t immune to criticism. So I’m not either. As a matter of fact, I accept it & embrace it. Here’s why:

I know who I am & what I stand for. I’m aware of my history, my struggles, along with my triumphs. I’ve been real ALL MY LIFE. And nobody can say any different. They can feel free to try, but more than likely, they’ll be nowhere near the truth. They may think they are, for the reason that they’ve known me for an extended amount of time, although that “fact” means shit. Most of them can’t even name 5 things about me without saying “Uhh….” This right here goes to show you that a person can be around another individual, but won’t know a damn thing about them. Why? Because one individual is so immersed into him/herself, they can really care less to find out about the other persons likes, dislikes, pet peeves, opinions, philosophies & ethics. Nevertheless, they’ll be the first ones to notice the flaws of said individual! And they’ll use that flaw to make asinine assumptions about the individual who they didn’t even give the significance of getting to know. What makes it even worse & insulting is that person who’s talking live from the corridors of their ass actually believe what they’re saying is “right.” Then they got the nerve to accuse you of being sensitive when you subliminally insult them! Like really? I wasn’t supposed to catch up on that?

An opinion is an opinion; therefore I’ll never knock a human being on this earth for having one. Most outlooks are based on sound principles picked up along the journey of life. And much credit is due to the people who stand by what they believe in, regardless of what backlash they face. The only exception is if that opinion is based on one-sided logic & selective senses, along with the reluctance to accept diverse viewpoints, subsequently, this opinion will be tossed in the toilet like a bloody tampon & flushed.

From my experience, I’ve learned that your viewpoint on what someone else has been thru is as valuable as a pair of bootleg Jordans from Canal Street. Unless you been down the same exact path as them, you have no idea how they think, where their state of mind is at & the events in their life that shaped who they are and why they think the way they do. The most you can do is hear them out & do your best as a human to understand the many ingredients that make them whole.

Yes, you can read a person thru their body language, what they say & how they represent themselves. That’s why they say first impressions are the biggest. Cause those impressions can carry thru a whole relationship. I, myself, am very aware of this. However, I don’t put all emphasis on it. I like to get to know a person & have dialogue with them, see how they think & interact with others before I make an astute judgment on them. I’ve been blessed to have an exceedingly low tolerance for bullshit, so I can tell when somebody is trying to put a cloak over my eyes or slip something in my Kool Aid. My gut never steers me wrong (Plus, I know how to read between the lines)!

At the end of the day, we breathe the same air, but in different regions. Some inhale the same, others more or less distinctively. The only thing that separates most of us is how we choose to function on an everyday basis. If you comprehend this, you’re more open-minded than most would be willing to give you credit for. If you don’t, what can I say?

I can only say what I tell my detractors who try to come at me without any idea of who I am & what I been thru:

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: The REAL Reason Why The Quality Of Hip Hop Music Has Been Lowered.

2009-08-19T20:27:00.007-04:00

Ever since I saw this video on worldstarhiphop.com, I’ve watched it over & over, took mental notes, read the Kerner report in detail & I’ve spread the exact same message that Wise Intelligent spoke about on the current state of hip hop.

So, lemme start this off by presenting a link to the Kerner Report, which was released in 1967.

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6545/

This document was a product of the National Advisory Commission created by President Lyndon Johnson, which sole purpose was to find out the cause of civil disorders that were going down in the hood during the summers of the mid-60s. Intelligent Wise doesn’t get into detail on what’s in the Kerner Report, but he states the focal point of the Commission’s findings. And those main points are intricately linked to the social conditions of the post-Civil Rights generation.

All in all, this is the reason why hip hop is in the state it's in.
Watch & listen.
Learn.
And spread the knowledge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV4mhxpaEmk

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: A Definiton Of Black Manhood

2009-07-16T18:55:00.002-04:00

This has been taken directly out of the book Crisis In Black Sexual Politics by Nathan & Julian Hare. I agree with many of the points brought up in the book & trust, this won't be the last time you see a blog based on their work.

By defining Black Manhood, this gives young brothers an idea of what to strive for to be better boyfriends, husbands, fathers, uncles, and overall upstanding role models in the community.

Teacher.
Father.
Husband.
Fighter.
Warrior & Statesman.
Soft/Strong.
Patient.
Understanding.
Sensitive to Black women's needs & aspirations.
Realizing that it is not necessary for them to completely absorb themselves into us, but that nothing seperates the communication between us.
A brother to brothers.
A brother to sistas.
A lover of life & all that is beautiful.
A quiet strength.
A listener.
A student.
A student of peace & war.
A historian.
A seeker of truth.
A challenger of the known & unknown.
A practical idealist.
A questioner of the world.
A direction giver.
A worker of the first order.
A builder with vision.
A builder of the necessary.
The positioning of oneself so that observation comes before reaction.
The first to admit that he does not know what he seeks to find out.
Where emotion is not seen as a weakness.
Love for self, family, children & extensions of self are beyond the verbal.
Making our lives accesible to children in meaningful ways.
Able to recognize the war we are in.
Doing anything to take care of family so long as it doesn't harm or negativly affect other African-Americans.
Willing to share resources to the maximum.
Willing to struggle unrelentingly against the evils of this world, especially evils that directly threaten the race.
To seek & be that which is just, good & correct.
Properly positioning oneself in the context of our people.
One who is able to provide as well as recieve.
One who develops leadership qualities & demands the same qualities of those who have been chosen to lead.
One who is able to solicit the best out of self & others.
One who is constantly growing & learning from mistakes.
Example of what is to be.
Maintainer of the I can, I must, I will attitude towards African-American struggle.
Sees material awards as means towards an end & not an end in themselves.
Clean-mentally & physically.
Protector of Black weak.
One who respects Black elders.
Culturally sound
Spiritually in tune with the best of the world.
Connects land with liberation.
Always & always in a process of growth and without a doubt cannot be bought.
A winner.

This is a long list. And with what's listed, one may seem to think that all of these qualities are hard to obtain for one man. Nobody ever said being a black man was easy. Living with a target on your back every day of your existence is a burden which no human being should have to endure, but with very little choosing in the matter, we have no choice but to strive & do our best to lead ourselves out of the position in which we inherited from our forefathers. With us being able to survive as long as we have, with the powers that be in this society bent on our destruction, there is hope for the future. It's just a matter of putting fourth an agenda to follow, working to meet the standards, excced it, and then keeping it as consistent foundation for the betterment of our people.

And once we get to that point where we can postively contribute to the world at large, our focus will go from a racial pespective to a moral one.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: These Damm House Negroes!

2009-05-12T13:59:00.005-04:00

So, I was browsing youtube, looking for something to spark my train of thought, and I came across a video audio called "I Am Embarrased By Black People" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Cpj3HApvM). Intrigued by the title, I decided to give it a listen. Now as I was listening to this, a few things came to me. First, his accent. His accent told me that he had to be from the West Indies. And the story he told about the brotha comin' on the train with the mean mug. Homeboy was so terrified of this cat mean muggin', he puts his PSP away! This guy is talkin' about why young men of color always walk around with a hard look on their face? This question is so easy to answer, I'm not even gonna complicate it: New York is known as the Concrete Jungle. The way we move up here is very aggresive & fast, so you gotta be on your Ps & Qs. You see a cat with an ice grill on, so what? Why does it bother you? You think he's tryna "look hard"? You don't know what the next person is goin' thru. Son probably had a bad day. Sometimes you gotta put on the asshole face so people won't test you. Especially in the hood. And there's a chance that the mean muggin' won't work, cause there's gonna be one cat who's gonna try & see if your actions back up that look. It sucks, but that's how it is growin' up in such a dog-eat-dog environment.

And what's even more pitiful is that Homeboy (I'ma call him Shook One) was scared...I understand bein' embarrased, cause we all have that one person in our lives who act or look foolish. But we usually don't shy away from it. We'll be like "That's my (insert title here)...." How can you be scared of another human being who breathes, bleeds & hurt like you? How can you be an Brotherman & be scared of another man? Shook One bein' scared just enforces the stereotype of the "Scary Black Man" that the Anglo-Saxon created...

Then Shook One goes into detail about how he was shoppin' at a discount store, and this young girl (emphasis on the word young) was makin' fun of the fact he was shoppin' at said store...A woman with a walkman who was playin' her music too loud...Wild teens scrappin' at the mall...

I'm not gonna justify each situation, because I know what he's talkin' about & I been in the same situations. Between the shoppin' & those kids scrappin', I expect that from teens in the hood. Give that up to youthful igorance & lack of parenting.
As far as the lady blastin' the music, she's enjoyin' her tunes. Let her be. She's not concerned with what everybody else is doin'. When I'm on the train, I don't give a fuck what everybody else think I look like. I'm in my own zone, iPod in my ears, ice grill on my face. I got my fitted low, my headphones on blast, and I'm rockin' to my music. So I guess I'm an embarrasment to my race, right?

Everybody does have a right to speak their mind & are entitled to an opinion.
But Shook One sounds like a fuckin' idiot.
That's my opinion.

The only thing I got out of his video was he's one of those feet-shuffling negroes who'd easily take the follower's route of talkin' down about his own race, but won't stand up & solve the problems of his community, if called upon to do so. Frontin' like he's down for change, but ain't doin' shit to uplift. I bet he ain't nothin' but good things to say about the other man, but can't find a positive in his own Brotherman...

Seriously, we can do without these types. No matter if they were born here, or emigrated here, they're one of the cancers that's killin' our community!

I'm done...For now.

I'ma House Negro's Worst Nightmare.

Peace & Love to my brothers & sistas who are down for something positive for ALL Afro-Americans, including the niggas. Cause they're our kin, also!

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: You're ALL Appreciated...

2009-05-10T17:13:00.002-04:00

I wanna take this time out to wish all the wonderful mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day. Much love & respect is given to the mommies out there, who have the hardest job in the world! Your love, sacrifice, hard work & dedication are greatly appreciated. More than a Sunday in May, we need to appreciate your contribution every single day, for you are the rock, the foundation & without you MVP performance, the children wouldn’t….I don’t even wanna talk about what would happen if y’all weren’t around. I love all mothers, because I understand what y’all go thru & the love you give to your children is your greatest asset.

I can’t wait till I get older & become a father, since I know the mother of my child will nurture my seed just like my mother nurtured me.

It’s been almost 15 years since she’s been gone. But she is still with me everyday. Today, it’s the hardest. Wishing she was here so I can tell her how much I love her. She knows. She’s watchin’ over me & James.

And she’s watching the amazing job her sisters (my aunts) have done raising us since she’s been gone. We’ve become fine young men, and for that, we salute them for making your absence seem like you never left…

I’m really not in the mood to open up right now. The heart & the pen starts to feel heavy, which disables my mind from projecting my thoughts. So, I’ma take this time to bow out gracefully & reflect on Momma, mommies all over the world & appreciate the underestimated contribution that women make on a daily basis.

Peace & Love….

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Another Smack In The Face: Fuck You Very Much, Judicial System!

2009-04-29T18:15:00.002-04:00

This past week marked the 1-year anniversary of the Sean Bell verdict. And it seemed like a lifetime ago, but I still remember that morning, finding out that those 3 cops were gonna walk. I was so pissed the fuck off & was ready to get shit poppin'. That day made me realize that people are gonna have to wake the fuck up & ride for what they stand for!

And after the verdict, I've been thinkin' of ways to immobilize my peers. I was protestin' on the streets of NYC for the next month, and then people stopped caring. It pissed me off to the point where I was like "I gotta come up with a way to get our generation out of this party & bullshit mentality that we have a majority of the time." Besides a small percentage, nobody else is givin' a shit about what's goin' on. You can't come off preachy, cause niggas don't like to be told what they should do. I guess another life is gonna have to be taken for people to realize that there's alot to be done.

So I post this, the blog I wrote after the verdict last year. I edited a few lines & added some links, but it is pretty much the same...

Not Guilty. Acquitted on all charges. The news left me stunned & numb for a few moments. In those few moments, all I could do was think about the victims: Louima, Diallo, Dorismond, Stansbury. And if you want to take it back further, Clifford Glover, Michael Stewart, Eleanor Bumpurs. The list is long & endless! If we don't take a stand against this elitist regime, more names will be added to this tragic list. It's about time for the people to let politicians & the judicial system know that we won't allow them to gun down innocent civilians (who mostly are African-American) like their lives don't mean shit!

You would begin to think that this was it. This was the case where justice would prevail. After years of gettin' played & gangbanged by the judicial system, the circumstances of this case had us thinking that justice was a reality, an inevitable occurrence. 50 shots at 3 unarmed men is straight-up murder! An execution of barbaric proportions! The only argument was how much time the cops would recieve. The facts of this case was enough evidence to get a conviction from the people's perspective.

The police not identifying themselves or showing their badges with their guns drawn, ready to fire, is clearly a violation of police protocol (Nobody has to be in the force to know that!). Their own commanding officer said that the officers were allegedly drinking inside the club that night (which is very believable, being that the cops were undercover, so they had to blend in with the patrons, thus not raising any suspicion among the patrons. People in the hood have a 6th sense for knowing who's a cop), but you don't hear too much about that, thanks to Michael Palladino & Ray Kelly. No breathalyzer test was conducted on the officers on the scene of the incident (another violation of police procedure), so there is no concrete evidence that they were under the influence. However, their actions do speak for itself. If they were sober, they would've followed standard procedures, instead of firing 50 wreckless shots into the car & surrounding area. One bullet got all the way up near the AirTrain! What if a innocent bystander got shot? Faggot-ass Michael Oliver reloaded his gun after the first clip of emptied! They thought one of the brothers had a gun...Ok, so let's ask ourselves this question: If you're firing shots at someone & they're not shooting back at you, what does that tell you?

If someone had the advantage of havin' a gun over me & they rammed me with THEIR car.....I'm unarmed. My survival instincts would kick in & tell me to escape by any means necessary. And the strip club argument is useless. Just because you go to one that has prostitution & drug transactions (which just about every strip & gentleman's club in the NYC area has, even the most affluent ones), does not mean that you're involved in those activities.....And it has always been civilians vs. cops in NYC! Clifford Glover (1972), Michael Stewart (1983), Eleanor Bumpurs (1984), Anthony Baez (1994), Yong Xin Huang (1995), Abner Louima (1997) , Gidone Busch (1999), Amadou Diallo (1999) , Patrick Dorismond (2000) , Timothy Stansbury Jr. (2004), THE LIST GOES ON.....I don't know about anywhere else, but in NYC, I've seen brothers in suits get harassed by DT's. I, myself, got arrested simply for walkin' down the block, and I see examples of this every single day. If you don't know anyone who has gotten harassed by police, it's a good thing, believe me! Cause I've been getting that kind of treatment from them since I was 13....And I never was in a gang or doing anything illegal.

From my point of view, and the court of public opinion (cause best believe I'm not the only one who feels this way), a punishment is necessary. But with all the facts, testimony from over 60 witnesses & numerous violations of departmental policies, Judge Cooperman figures that the shooting was "justified". Those are not his exact words, though his verdict clearly stated that. His verdict was 100% political, not judicial! I have no idea what kinda political benefit he can get from rendering this type of verdict. Maybe he's tryna get his rep up in the world of government. I never heard of him before the trial & I don't give a fuck about him now! He said that the witnesses who testified on behalf of the prosecution, all had contradicting stories. So did the defense's witnesses when they were called up to the stand. And if you didn't notice, the defense changed up their story midway thru the trial. First, one of the victims had a gun in the car. Then, one of the victims was going to the car to get a gun. How could you not notice that obvious contradiction? Obviously, the judge didn't. It's either that, or he had his mind made up before the trial, thus raising some type of suspicion that the DA took a dive on this case. The system does work on these type of favors, so I wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be true.

Judge Cooperman justified his verdict, determining his decision based on the demeanor of one of the victims in the courtroom. That victim was Joseph Guzman. He was shot 16 times. If you're getting insulted when they call you up on the stand & ask you questions that don't have nothing to do with the trial, you'd be defensive also! He also said that their not credible because the victims have been arrested in the past. Also, he said that Trent Benefield's testimony wasn't believable because he couldn't remember whether he was shot inside the car or as he was running for his own life! Ok, so you tellin' me cause I got arrested in the past, the justice system will not give me the time of day? Bullshit! Anthony Rico, one of the defense lawyers for the 3 cops, did a masterful job of putting the victims on trial, assassinating the character of a deceased man & making the 50 shots the cops fired look like spilled baby milk.

As far as Richard Brown (the District Attorney of Queens who led the prosecution) is concerned, he's gonna have to answer some questions. Why the hell didn't he call up the defendants to the stand? He reads their grand jury testimony into the record, helping them avoid any type of cross-examination. And he could've easily got a criminal negligent homicide charge to stick, which doesn't stray too far from the prosecution's case. He led a laid-back prosecution....And regardless of what he says or does from this point on, he'll never escape the suspicion that he took a dive....

All in all, I ain't the only one who feels this way...
50 Shots = Murder.....

I used the following articles as reference to this blog:
Village Voice (Tom Robbins: Sean Bell's Legacy Apr. 30-May 6th 2008)
Revolution (Voice Of The Revolutionary Communist Party) (May 1, 2008)
Our People (Vol.9, 8)

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: An Ode To Summer

2009-04-26T11:40:00.003-04:00

This weekend was magnificent! God & Mother Nature came together to give us a preview of the upcoming summer. And it made me dig into the archives & pull out this classic. It's one of my favorite pieces. I hop you enjoy it!

Summer, summer time, what can be said about my favorite season? Alot comes to mind when I reminisce about past summers, good times & the hope of creating new memories between Memorial Day & Labor Day. Ain't nothin' like summertime in New York City! But right now, I'd like to take y'all down memory lane. Think about it for a minute....

Niggas in front of the corner store, rockin' wife-beaters & fresh kicks
Ladies struttin' their goods up & down the block in short shorts, tank tops & Chinese slippers
Cuties with the open-toe slippers (Pretty Feet Only!)
Little kids ridin' their bikes & playin' in the park
The Mr. Softee truck playin' that melody you can hear from way down the block
Italian Ices from the pizza shop
$.50 Ices from the corner store
Frozen Kool Aid in the ice trays
Coney Island boardwalk on a Friday (or Saturday) night
Holdin' court on the steps with ya boys, blunts goin' all around, Corona bottles half empty
Chuggin' down a cold one with the local firefighters in front of the firehouse
Watchin' that late sunset with ya shorty
Summer flings
Backyard BBQs, with the jerk chicken on the grill
The little baby playin' with a half-eaten drumstick
Family Reunions
Fireworks goin' off during the 4th Of July
Gettin' those fresh kicks just in time for the block party
White Air Force 1s

Straw Hats
Fresh mangos & watermelon
Auntie growing those fresh peppers & tomatoes
Blending fresh fruits to make hood dacquris
That summer banger you hear comin' out of everyone's speaker

The Summertime Playlist on my iPod

Reggae music. It just goes with the warm air perfectly.
The summer blockbuster you saw @ the movies 20 times & got it on bootleg
The free concerts @ Central Park
The hot-ass E train
That 5-day heatwave
The old ass fan that blows hot air
Turning on the fire hydrant in the middle of the day

Hosing yourself down for no good reason (and hosing kids who walk by, lookin' @ you funny)
All the soldiers doin' time upstate, cause I know the homesickness gets worse during the summer (Keep Ya Head Up!)
Six Flags
Jones Beach

Atlantic City

Road Trips
Afternoon games @ Yankee & Shea Stadium
Park Tournaments
Public pools
Stickball
Skeley in the schoolyard
Union Square during lunchtime
Sunglasses that go with every outfit
Calling out of work, just to get drunk on the beach
Putting a fresh batch of flowers & black coffee by Mommy's grave (I can't even begin to describe how much I miss you)

Making new memories every summer....

It comes & goes every year. And even thou the heat may irritate us from time to time, it's usually eveyone's favorite season to enjoy good times & live their life to the fullest!

It's only April, but I already know this summer is gonna be poppin'! Just like it is every year...

Train Of Thought: Questions That I Ask Myself

2009-04-22T23:13:00.004-04:00

I'm a heavy thinker. I always got something on my mind. An idea, a blog, some lines, my brain is always in constant motion. And being always in this train of thought, some things do come back around to the forefront. So, here's some questions that I usually ask myself :

Why do people want credit for things that they’re supposed to do? “I got a car, a job, I pay my own bills, I go to school, etc….” That’s called progression! You’re supposed to be taking steps forward in your life!

Why do some people think it’s ok to be ignorant? Like, it’s cool to not know something?

Why can’t you have an opinion or a preference without being called a hater?

Why when you keep it real & let your feelings be known, the people that can’t handle your honesty gotta misquote you & make it into something that it’s not?

What do niggas get out of making it rain in the club? You’ll hurl 2 weeks of hard work into the air for just one night of temporary satisfaction & attention. Something about that doesn’t make sense….

Since when was being gay a trend?

In 2009, why do some people still expect a fuckin’ handout? Get up off your lazy ass & do something! You got nobody to blame for your failures but yourself! Stop playing the role of victim!

Why are these parents nowadays doing a very poor job raising their children? Just clothing, feeding & sheltering your kids is only the beginning! Stop sending them out the house with no type of home training! And you wonder why the police are so swift to snatch them out of school & the doctors are quick put them on medicine…..

Why do some Afro-Americans have $60,000 cars, but still live in the projects?

Whatever happened to doing something for the love, not for the money?

Why is this whole light-skinned/dark-skinned argument still goin’ on?

Why do some minorities always claim to have some Cherokee Indian in their blood?

Why the hell do some people want/expect Afro-Americans to get over/forget about slavery? You don’t see Jews being told to forget about the Holocaust!

Why when you disagree with a Christian on anything, all of a sudden, you’re going to hell?

Why do girls dress like a Hunt’s Point sales associate & expect to get treated like a classy lady? Wanna be treated with class? Cover your ass!

Why do people generalize a gender because of the actions of a specific being?

Why are Haitians the funniest West Indians? I’m Haitian & I make fun of them!

Why is facebook & twitter so addictive?

Why can't I think of anymore questions to put on this blog?

Train Of Thought: The Bottom Line

2009-04-17T18:22:00.002-04:00

This is another gem from the wall of my office. Had this up since high school & reading was a wake up call at the time when I really needed it. I was lost & still fighting to figure out who I was & what I wanted to be.

I still read this every now & then when the motivation isn't there.

But that's rare nowadays....

The Bottom Line

FACE IT, Nobody owes you a living.
What you achieve or fail to achieve in your lifetime,
Is directly related to what you do,
Or fail to do.

No one chooses his/her parents or childhood,
But you can choose your own direction.
Everyone has problems and obstacles to overcome,
But that too is relative to each individual.

NOTHING IS CARVED IN STONE.
You can change anything in your life,
If you want to badly enough.
Excuses are for losers:
Those who take responsibility for their actions
Are the real winners in life.

Winners meet life’s challenges head on,
Knowing there are no guarantees,
And give it all they got.
And never think it’s too late or too early to begin,
Time plays no favorites
And will pass you whether you act or not.

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE
Dare to dream and take risks…
Compete.
If you aren’t willing to work for your goals, don’t expect others to.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!!

Train Of Thought: The Strength Of A Man

2009-04-15T13:43:00.003-04:00

I had this poem on my wall since my high school days.

And I still get that same rush of pride & ambition when I read it.

The Strength Of A Man
by Jacqueline Marie Griffiths

The strength of a man isn't seen in the width of his shoulders.
It's seen in the width of his arms that circle you.

The strength of a man isn't in the deep tone of his voice.
It's in the gentle words he whispers.

The strength of a man isn't how many buddies he has.
It's how good a buddy he is with his children.

The strength of a man isn't in how respected he is at work.
It's in how he's respected at home.

The strength of a man isn't in how hard he hits.
It's in how tender he touches.

The strength in a man isn't in the hair on his chest.
It's in his Heart...that lies within his chest.

The strength of a man isn't how many women he's loved.
It's in his ability to be true to one woman.

The strength of a man isn't in the weight he can lift.
It's in the burdens he can carry.

© July 15, 1999
Jacqueline Marie Griffiths
All rights reserved

*I personally would like to thank Mrs. Griffiths for sending me her copyright to this poem & giving me the permission to keep it posted on this site. Just like any writer who picks up a pen, her intention was to reach out & inspire others. That's what she did for me & by me re-posting this, I hope I did this for you.

Peace & Love .

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: We Want Some Brothers On The Wall!

2009-04-14T15:41:00.008-04:00

Man, listen: I know I’m supposed to drop the last edition of Chronicles Of A Journey, but due to a number of discrepancies that came up during the past 3 weeks (a minuscule bout with writer’s block, relationship issues), the memories of my first trip to the homeland were somewhat wiped out of my mental. At this moment, I can’t remember the play-by-play of my vacation like I did before these concerns came into play. So, I shall put Chronicles Of A Journey on hiatus, until further notice. There’s no need for me to sit here & force the words out of my pen. When it comes to me, I shall write it down & present it to the world.

Besides, I got a lot of other things cookin’ in the lab right now.

Like the premiere of the new blog, Jam Session, which shall be hosted by yours truly & my right hand/co-defendant, Yah The F****n Great. Me & this cat go back like Ryde Or Die Vol. 1! This is actually the 1st time we're collaborating in 5 years, So I'm hella excited about this project. We got alot of shit to say, so be on the lookout & be ready to join the discussion!

Also, it looks like some institutions need some airing out.
Shots shall be fired!

I'm on my Buggin' Out shit right about now....

Ok, peep the manuscript: I work in a federal building. And just in case you didn’t know, every federal building by law must have a portrait of the current president in the lobby. Now, it’s been 2½ months & still, no picture. The portrait of Bush didn’t even come down until the day after the inauguration. Not to mention, it took for a number of employees to be vocal about it for them to take it down! I came to work on the 21st to see a bare wall in the lobby. I expected to see Obama’s cool ass smilin’ @ everybody who passed thru. However, according to a few of my co-workers, they said that his portrait didn’t come in yet & it would be hanging in the lobby within the next 3 weeks. Well, that was 2 months ago & still, no picture! The wall looks bare as a mah’fucka! If one was to walk past it, they would notice that something is missing.

You see the picture up there. Look closely & tell me if it isn't obvious....

So, when I heard it was gonna take 3 weeks, I thought that was some bullshit. The work of some salty Republicans/covert racists, I said to myself. However, giving them the benefit of the doubt, I waited to see what would happen after 3 weeks. Then 3 weeks turned into a month. Then 2 months. At this moment, as I write this, I’m staring at the same bare wall which displayed President Bush’s stupid smirk. And I haven’t heard anybody say one word about it (except another guard I work with).

Now, as we all know, politics in the workplace is something that cannot be avoided. No matter how much some people try to keep their views & beliefs to themselves, it has a way of coming into the room & making its presence felt. Especially if said workplace is as diverse as the building I work in. Given the very assorted conglomerate of employees who share different opinions, you would think that this would be a smack in the face to some, and a way to express their outrage & dissatisfaction to others. To me, it’s spitting in the face of this country. In a federal building? No picture of the current president? What does that say? And I know that this isn’t the only building who’s doing this, cause according to some of the other guards who work in other federal buildings around the city, Obama’s picture isn’t up in those lobbies either.

Me being the conspiracy theorist, I hypothesized that this is the work of some salty-ass Republican who can’t stand the fact that Obama won. I mean, it’s a reasonable truth. Ever since the day after election, I’ve seen some bitter heads let it be known that they’re not happy with his victory. Some (Rush Limbaugh being the most vocal) even want him to fail! Like they don’t even care about the future of this country! How can you NOT realize that if the President fucks up, then we’re fucked! When Bush was in office, I hated a majority of his policies, but I didn’t wish him failure. He managed to do that on his own. Voters who selected the latter had to swallow their words & accept it, even when he stole the 1st election. Of course, they let it be known that they weren’t happy with the outcome, on the other hand, you didn’t see anybody come out their mouth and say “I hope Bush fails” (Even though there were a few who DID wish disappointment on his cabinet). This display of childish behavior goes to show you that politicians can act like feuding rappers/wrestlers/high school kids.

Well, my whole point is this: America got a whole plate of problems to solve. Domestic & foreign, most importantly domestic. A small gesture like not putting the President's picture on the wall of a federal building shows a sign of not accepting progress. And that's what is needed in these times! Shit is too hard for cats to be salty about the ethnicity of anyone who's qualified for the highest office in this world. Cause wheather the Obama is half black or full white, he is the leader of this country. Live with it! Fuck alla dat bitter shit.

Let that slot remain empty for 1 more month. I'ma have to holla @ Michael Baisden....

A Journey To The Homeland (Part 2)

2009-03-20T19:20:00.004-04:00

The drive to the hotel for me was like watching a National Geographic documentary or articles come to life in front of my very eyes. My aunt was in front, providing me with commentary & answering all the questions I was asking. The inquiries weren’t coming @ a blitzkrieg pace. I took in the visuals & let my brain process those images. And what I saw on my way to the capital is etched in my mental. These images would be the recurring lesson of my experience in Haiti. There were the grim expressions on the faces of the people who were walking by me. A sense of urgency was in their walk, their dialect & their words. That didn’t surprise me at all. Being that this country is one of the most poorest countries on this planet, you can’t expect to see people walking down the streets with ecstatic grins on their faces, like shit is all Leave-It-To-Beaver-ish. It’s survival of the fittest, Darwin’s theory of evolution come to life! Grindin’ for the love of the game doesn’t exist in Haiti. Out there, you’re grindin’ just to eat & stay alive for another day! Whatever opportunity is available, whether it’s a good job or a chance to pursue an education, it’s not being taken for granted. Seeing the school kids walking along the streets in their uniforms, they were the only ones who had an expression that resembled a smile. Maybe it was the promise of tomorrow, I can’t tell you. But I know this: Mentally, there not on this island. I could feel it as I drove past them…

Speaking of driving, riding in the car was an experience unto itself! All those bumps & hard stops had me feeling’ like I was riding on the Van Wyck during rush hour! None of the cars I saw made an attempt to indicate when switching lanes, driving like a graduate of the John McClain Wreckless Driving Academy, while talking on cell phones & cursing out whoever was in ear’s distance of their profanity-laced tirade. Sounds like New York, right? I guess so, but the side streets were sloped to the point where I understood why Haitians like to drive jeeps. Cause in Haiti, you need 4-wheel drive for them hills! With stick shift! Every vehicle I was in (except one) had stick shift. And they were handling it like it wasn’t a problem. Driving around those huge ass craters in the street that make potholes in NYC look like minuscule in comparison! I saw a SUV buried in a deep-ass crater in the street! It had to be @ least 3 to 4 feet deep, with so much garbage & sand in it! I have never seen anything like that before!

I was in Haiti for a week & a half, and I didn’t see many streetlights on the roads. To make matters worse, I only saw 3 STOP signs! Crossing the streets is like playing Russian roulette, seeing as you’re pretty much putting your life in your own hands! And not to sound surprised, they DO have car insurance & a functioning DMV, from what I hear. I bet it goes something like this:

DMV Rep: You know how to drive?
Driver: Yes.
DMV Rep: Ok, sign here, and let me take your picture. Then wait on that line over there & you’ll get your license in 20 minutes…..

Nah, lemme stop playing & get back to the PO….

So, by the time we got to the hotel, I lost 15 pounds by sweating in the back of that hot ass truck! Didn’t matter to me, because I knew I was gonna gain all of it back, being the glutton, food-ass Negro that I am.

The hotel wasn’t anything special. It had 2 beds (a queen & twin), a bathroom with running cool water (which I assume are considered luxuries in Haiti) and an a few dressers to put clothes in. The ceiling was hella high, and the water in the bathroom was cool & cold. A brother felt like he was about to jump double dutch in the shower, cause I had to do the 1-2-3 hop & then run up under the cold water & freeze my ass off, all in the name of keeping the body clean! Fuck it, it doesn’t mean shit to me! If I was gonna complain (which I don’t cause it’s a waste of time anyway), I would’ve kept my latchkey ass home!

Jet laggin’ like a mug, I decided to get some shut eye. My aunt fell asleep shortly after & we both knocked the f out on our respective beds. But while I was sleeping, those bugs were eating well off my fresh Yankee flesh! I spend so much time scratching my skin while I was sleeping; I woke up looking like I was trying to break Michael Phelps world record on concrete!

After resting & scratching for 6 to 8 hours, me & Auntie both woke up to loud music & people on the street. At 2 in the morning. No need to be surprised, because Haiti is in Juvie mode. It’s only 3 days until the Carnival, and who is sleeping? Nobody, that’s who! So, we both go outside to the front of the hotel to watch the activity on the streets behind the hotel gate. As I looked upon the streets, in the heat of the night (literally), everybody who was on that street was looking for something to get into. You know how the saying goes: Only thing that is open @ 3 in the morning is fast food & women’s legs. Down in Haiti, that cliché is no different (you can just subtract the fast food!). Streetwalkers were seriously on the prowl, looking for a john to make some money off of. A few of them even asked me if I wanted a massage! Of course, I refused, being that who knows what new STDs may be discovered in their cooch….

While all of this was going on, I was rappin’ with a local drifter, who was basically giving me the rundown on street life in Haiti. It isn’t any different than in the States, but you can add a higher element of poverty, which is too obvious. He was droppin’ some serious knowledge, tossing some gems at a young buck such as myself. Regardless of geographical location, anybody who’s been around the block a few times got something to pass on & plenty of stories to tell. With a spliff in his mouth! Classic….

And so do I. This is only Part 2. I may have a few more of these up my sleeve. Stay tuned, and hit me up on facebook if you want to see the album from my vacation..

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=709668982

Pt. 3: I don't even know what to call it. Just stay tuned!

A Journey To The Homeland (Part 1)

2009-03-05T17:57:00.004-05:00

Back from Haiti, with stories to tell, a more humble attitude (when I thought I couldn’t be more down to earth) & so much on my mind. A life-changing trip, if I ever had one. Furthermore, I had the chance to experience it with my 3 aunts & one of my favorite cousins by my side…..

I almost didn’t make it, because the passport people done fucked up & lost some of my paperwork that I sent up to them! Then, they’re gonna try & cover their asses & tell me that I didn’t send the proper ID…I sent everything they asked me to send! Luckily, I went down to the immigration spot on Hudson St., and got my passport before lunchtime….

So, before I proceed, I’d like to heave a Fuck You Very Much to those Fed employees in New Hampshire. If those incompetent workers were doing their job right, they wouldn’t have had to experience the verbal bashing they received on my own behalf….

Anywhoo….

Besides those two little Goya babies who were crying’ ALL thru the flight down to Miami, I was just quivering with anticipation for my very 1st trip outside of America. And what better way to break my intercontinental cherry than a trip to the home of my ancestors? In all honesty, I didn’t even expect my 1st trip to Haiti to come so soon. But with a conflicting schedule & a part-time fear of heights, I told myself “Later on down the line”. But when my aunt offered to put up ½ my ticket, I started packing the next day!

When I got off the plane, the heat snuck up on me & smacked me like Maino slapped Young Berg! I was dizzy for a minute, but when I got myself together & adjusted my Yankee fitted, the first thing that caught my attention was the mountains. They were sitting right under the bluest skies & the whitest clouds. And those mountains extended all across the horizon. It looked like it never ended. I’ve never seen scenery so beautiful in my entire life!

When I got into the airport, the line was hella long & the AC was deciding whether to propel out cool air. I ain’t really care, since I was so hype to finally touch down in Haiti. Customs wasn’t that difficult, it was finding my luggage, along with my aunt’s. I thought we were finna get jacked for our shit. So, feeling like a tourist, I made sure we both got our luggage & I let my aunt go find us a taxi…..

Meanwhile, I decided to grab my turkey sandwich out of my North Face & observe the atmosphere & maybe get an idea of what I was going to see for the next week & a half. As I looked around the airport, I probably saw more hustlers than employees. They were offering to help passengers with their bags & hopeful that there was a tip in it for them. This one guy was like “You better give me a piece of that sandwich if I help you with all those bags”. I gave him the “Nigga, please” look & kept on eating! I’m used to seeing that type of hustle go on in front of me, being that I used to work out of the very same terminal @ JFK that I flew out of that morning. But son was more brazen in his demand, as was everybody else who was trying to get in on their own kind of hustle. Well understood, for the reason that cats out there hustle hard just to put some food in their mouths (Not to mention, they’re greedy). And to make my observation more interesting, a fight between an officer & a passenger that was on the same flight as I was broke out. The cop pulled out his nightstick & tried to swing @ dude while he was being restrained by his buddy. At that point, I engulfed the rest of my sandwich, drank my juice & got ready to get the hell out! In due time, she came back with our taxi driver & I helped him bring our luggage to his truck. Now the same dude who tried to strong arm me for his service, comes alongside of us with 3 of his boys. When we got to the taxi, they move me & my aunt out of his way to help the driver put our stuff in the trunk. As soon after they were done, all 3 put there hands out! My aunt was like “I didn’t ask for your help, so y’all ain’t getting’ nothin’ from me!” They started getting real hostile, but me & her was like, fuck it, we out! So, we got in the truck & drove off…

To Be Continued....
Part 2: The Hotel, Driving Thru Haiti & Conversation With A Local Drifter

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Welcome To Heartbreak

2009-02-09T04:16:00.008-05:00

Fuck Valentine’s Day! From the bottom of MY heart! I honestly have no reason to even acknowledge this “holiday”. I don’t know anything about getting with the person you REALLY want! It only happened ONCE (maybe twice), but that relationship crashed & burned before my very eyes. And the rest of my Valentine memories consist of rejection, heartbreak & bullshit. Yeah, I know I come off bitter & irate, but fuck it, I’m just being real! You'd be tight also, if every girl you asked out around Valentine's gave you the same excuse: "I like you Kay, but I only see us as just being friends." Then proceeds to give you one of those sideways hugs/pat on the back, walk off with a smile on her face, along with the card & candy you brought her. You'd be tight also if you made plans to suprise your girlfriend with flowers, a gift set & reservations for dinner @ a 4-star restaraunt, but she brushes you off like a dust bunny & then turns around and blames you for her problems & makes YOU believe it's YOUR fault for the problems in the relationship. You'd be mad as hell if all of your effort & hard work went to waste, year after year after year....

Let a brother vent…..

The commercialization of this holiday has people doing all kinds of things, just to have somebody, for that ONE day. The way they promote it, it’s like they’re subliminally saying to you, “If you’re alone on this day, you’re either living under a rock, or worthless.” Fuck that, if one chooses to be alone, there’s no type of marketing that will steer that person one way or another.

All I see this day as is the day for the guy (cause let’s be real, he has to do a majority of work) to make-up for whatever shit he did during the past year. Kind of like the last day of school, when you hand in all of the make-up assignments you missed & the extra credit work for insurance of a passing grade. If you were doing what you had to do thru the semester, you wouldn’t have to cram @ the last minute, just to get that passing grade. Furthermore, the same thing goes for Valentine’s. If you put in the time & max effort into the love that’s being built, the 14th of February will be more of a celebration than an obligation.

Not to mention, that just shows me, that there is a price to the most sacred possesion that Allah has created: The human heart, filled with feelings & emotions. **If someone only requires a material item that is easily obtainable, then what kind of respect does the recipient expect, if she (or he) is easily wooed by gifts?

**NOTE: I'm not knocking, but to promote material objects as a way into your heart is straight-up selfish, narrow-minded & will only leave you empty as the years go on! Only way I can condone it, is if that gift comes from the heart, with no pre-conditions.

If you’re with someone you care about & love, you should do your best to show that person that you care everyday. It’s not easy, but who said love was ever effortless? It takes a lot of time & hard work, but in the end, I believe it’s all worth it. Because @ the end of the day, when you find somebody that's gonna ride with you & hold you down, not to mention you'll do the same thing for them, even during the arguments, disagreements & hard times, you'll say to yourself "I wouldn't want to be nowhere else".

Valentine’s Day is more catered to the woman, anyways. Now, I am in no way against the lovely, hard-working women getting spoiled. They put in the work & they undoubtedly deserve the TLC. However, you do have some women who use this holiday for materialistic purposes. You know who I’m talking about fellas; the chick you know, but you’re not messing with. Y’all cool all thru the year & that ain’t a problem. But when February 14th is approaching slowly, they got the motherfuckin’ nerve to ask you:

“What are you getting me for Valentine’s Day?”

I give her the “Nigga, you buggin” look. “Since when did I have to buy you something for Valentine’s Day?” I ask her. “We’re only friends.”

Then, she’s gonna say:

“Well, friends buy each other gifts.”

My rebuttal is plain & simple. “Ok, so what am I gonna get?”

Her answer:

“Why do I gotta give something just to get something? You just can’t buy me some flowers & candy?”

That just means I’m only getting a pat on the fuckin’ back.

This was happening to me all thru junior high & high school. Shit, even up to this very day, I still hear the same bullshit coming from the mouths of certain people! I heard a few guys say it, and that made me go “What thee fuck?” Lemme find out dudes got the Sasha Fierce album in heavy rotation, on their “Diva” shit! Now I understand why the old heads be talkin' shit, about our generation has no type of morals (we do, but they're only for us to understand), cause we put a price on everything, from what we wear, how we act, to who we choose to show love to. From what I remember, the older heads stuck with each other "for better & for worse". They worked on their relationship every single day & they reflected first on the 14th of February, then celebrated later. Meanwhile, in today's day & age, in order to get a date, or a "Valentine", hollow boxes & cards, with no meaning behind it run rampant, all for the sake of not being alone on this day.

And if you're single, like I am, the 14th of February is just another day. You don't send out cards to anybody or buy gifts for "friends". Go about your buisness for the day & try not to look like a "hater". Cause if you don't like the holiday, for whatever personal reasons, then you're labeled jealous or bitter. How fake would it look if I walked around with a plastic smile on my grill, tryna act like I'm happy on a day with so many painful memories? I gotta open up old wounds for the sake of not being called a hater? No thank you! Y'all can just go on & call it whatever you want. I'm content on remaining this way on February 14th until I find a new reason to be happy on this day.

I know it can be hard, cause I'm speaking from experience. All humans have a natural desire & need for companionship. However, if one can handle being alone on the other 364 days of the year, why does 2/14 have to be any different? It may be hard, but who I'm with doesn't define who I am. It's only a reflection. And if the reflection is bare, so be it. It won't be that way forever.

Train Of Thought: Bomb 1st When I Write

2009-01-30T17:43:00.007-05:00

Before I begin, I would like to send a big shout out to the beautiful & intelligent Empress Journee' for givin' me the ammuniton for this Train of Thought. I just suscribed to her blog last week & it's already one of my favorites! Turst me, it's something worth reading. She doesn't come off preachy, like I be doin' sometimes (In my defense, I just try to enlighten with the knowledge I've gained all thru my years of existence).....Yeah, I admit it!

So.....

Hip Hop v. America. This is a battle that's been fought since I was in my Mama's belly. Now, in 2009, I am a front line soldier for my generation, the hip hop generation, and I'm always ready to bomb first on anybody who wanna talk down about a culture they don't even care to understand.

Oprah. Much respect for her accomplishments, cause she been makin' power moves for years. However, for her to come out of her face & shit on the black youth like that, and not even attempt to uplift them....Cater to those married white women & keep gettin' that money. I ain't even mad @ her, cause she bears a striking resemblance to my Mama, God Bless Her Soul...

Those hypocritcal Spellman women who were sittin' in on Oprah's "town hall meeting". Actin' like they never heard a rapper use such vulgar language. I bet they weren't gettin' offended when they were @ The Underground, shakin' their uppity asses to Hot In Herre....

Stanley Crouch (replace the "u" with a "t" = Crotch. Cause he ain't nothin' but a conservative dick)

Black leaders who spend more time attacking the hip hop generation than tryna come together with us to help solve the problems that we face today. Instead of molding us to take on roles of leadership, they decide to join their enemy, attempt to lynch us & hand us over to the wolves. To be honest, some of those older heads don't want us to take their pulpit away from them. They see the power in our movement. And they know, once we focus our enerygy towards social & political movement, it's a wrap!

Women who still don't understand that rappers aren't calling all females bitches. Listen to Jay-Z's "Bitches & Sisters" & you can clearly listen to him explain the difference between a real woman & a bitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7LjYEYs09o

Rush Limbaugh (a right wing med junkie who cums on himself when he hears his own voice)

Bill O'Reilly (Tryna act righteous, when he busy tryna get some ass from a staffer....)

Michelle Malkin, that political prostitute. I know she had to bless a few mics to get some airtime on that network....

Sean Hannity....As a matter of fact, FOX News....

BET (Cause they've been the main culprit in the dumbing down of the hip hop generation)

The editorial staff @ Blender who called 2Pac "overrated". Just beacause they're fans of Kanye doesn't mean they know anything about hip hop music. I stopped reading their magazine shortly after reading that bullshit article.

Those are all the targets I can think of....For Now.

I ain't waste my time beefin' with ignorant people since I got out of high school. Why waste time with opposition that you can easily put in place?

If I'ma fight for something, it might as well be against a foe that can put up a fight, right?

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Yes WE Did....

2009-01-25T22:17:00.006-05:00

I can honestly say that for the 1st time in my life, I'm proud to be an American. Barack Obama is a supplementary ambassador of this country & the rights they claim to give all their citizens.....

I can start off the most difficult piece I ever had to put down in many different ways. Like, I thought I’d never live to see this moment. Or this is a sign of progress in this country. How about the fact that this election victory for President Barack Obama will reveal so many hidden truths & expose every citizen’s true colors? Sure, I can say these entire statements; however, they’ve already been said. Exhaustive to the ears, yet true. As for myself, when ABC announced @ 11pm on November 4th, 2008 that Barack Hussein Obama will be the 44th President of the United States of America & the first Afro-American (he’s mixed, but from what I saw during the campaign, he got treated like both his parents were blacker than Wesley Snipes), one slogan entered my mind: NO MORE EXCUSES!

This was one of those rare moments that leave a brother who always has something to say, at a loss for words. As a young black man in America, my peers & I have felt the heat from all sides. It came from White America, Conservative America, Black America (the Civil Rights generation), and anyone else who has had a voice to call us out with. What this election meant to the hip hop generation, for us, to see Obama take all those hits, all that criticism & so much hate, and still rise to victory, brushing off his detractors along the way & sticking to the agenda is inspirational. This is the 1st significant victory for our generation. And mark my words: We’re NEVER gonna let it go.

*President Obama. I like the sound of that.

The morning after was a mixture of shock, exhaustion, and emotional reminiscing. I have never cried tears of joy till that morning. Just thinking about all we went thru, from the Black Holocaust of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, getting split apart from our families & robbed of our culture, to being enslaved for 200+ years, fighting for our freedom along the way. We were set “free” after the Civil War, still worked for free during Reconstruction, tried to build & empower ourselves with the whole system against us & the KKK lynching us. By the end of the 19th century, with the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) provided the legal foundation for the Jim Crow era (“separate, but equal”), which only ended 45 years ago. From then on, after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, you can say things went underground with COUNTELPRO, covert & institutionalized racism & the war on drugs. Even with all these obstacles that have attempted to hold us back, we have kick down doors & destroyed barriers all throughout our history. The election of Barack Obama was no different.

Authors’ Note: I wasn’t there for the struggle. Nevertheless, learning about what my descendants went thru was one of the most difficult & hardest experiences I ever had to endure. I had no choice but to put myself thru that raw trip thru Black history. How am I going to know where we’re going & which direction to take, if I don’t know what it took for us to get to the present?

Countless people across the globe said that this event in history is a realization of the dream Dr. King had. And I won’t disagree with that. However, his dream isn’t 100% fulfilled. This is a big step, but we still have a long way to go! Don’t get it twisted, because things won’t change overnight. He’s not stepping into the Oval office and all a sudden, jobs will be plentiful, wealth will be wide-spread, the wars will be over & all the other problems that were created in the last 8 years will be gone. Each & every issue has a sub-issue, precautions, risks & consequences if it doesn’t go as planned. President Obama has inherited a country in shambles. The economy is in the shitter, that isn’t new to anyone. Wall Street is in full panic mode. People are losing their jobs & homes. The cost of living is going up across the board. And I didn’t even mention the other domestic & social issues that still need to be taken care of (education, health care, social security, etc.) on a local, city & state level. Oh yeah, and how can I forget the two wars in Iraq & Afghanistan? Furthermore the potential threat of Iran, Russia & South Korea...

Party time is over. It’s now time for all of us as Americans to back up our vote & words with action. President Obama is a smart man to understand that he cannot do this job of turning this country around by himself. So, he is constantly reminding us that it is “We”, not “He”. That he, President Obama is a part of us, the community. The people put him in office, nevertheless all of us have the power to change & reform, and we must take this power seriously. You know what they say: “Along with great power, comes great responsibility”. And we all should take that to heed, as voters in a capitalist democratic system. Cause at this point, a majority of Americans only get up off their ass on Election Day & do their customary routine 364 days of the year, instead of putting pressure on these elected officials & holding them liable for their dealings. If you think all that is necessary is to pay your house note, all your bills, go vote during an election, then sit back during the rest of the year & watch as the country you live in make decisions that affect YOU, in which you don’t speak out on these decisions or take action & be an active participant, you are guilty, because you, cause of your silence, invite tyranny & oppression. Let us keep going in this direction: We’ll be fucked.

In his inauguration address, he said it himself, dark days are ahead. But in times like these, we have a history of sticking together & helping each other get back on our feet. And that’s what we as people need to do in order for us to persevere in these hard times. Now isn’t a time for any of us to sit back & weep about our tribulations. Nobody has ever accomplished anything with this method. Each person has a duty to focus on. No More Excuses! Americans need to be held accountable for themselves before they can hold anyone else liable for their current condition. Sure, they made these decisions. But in America, where there is freedom of choice, a majority of Americans followed the piper down the road of ruin. They didn’t exercise restraint & took on more than they could chew. Buying a house or car that you know you can’t pay for. Same goes for applying for those credit cards & loans. If you can’t pay it back on time & make the payments, why the hell would you apply for one? Former President Clinton did fuck us up with that, giving people easier access to that, without putting certain regulations on such an expenditure that can easily backfire (which it did). Then Bush made it worse, NOT regulating what Clinton put into affect (he had his chances on more than one occasion) & spending a surplus like he was making it rain @ a strip club. But, I’m not playing the blame game. I rather focus on the solution(s) than gripe about the cause of the problem.

With that being said, the 1st responsibility should be for us to improve our financial decision-making & be more economically literate. If we do our homework & understand how our money works for us and our fellow taxpayers, and exercise financial responsibility, we’ll see the direction of this nation turn the corner for a new era of capitalism.

2nd should be for us to take more of a civic interest in local & city politics. Find out who you’re local congressman is. Know who is sitting on what boards in the community. Keep up with what they’re doing to make sure your voice is heard when they’re representing you on @ the state capital or on Capitol Hill in DC. The constituents we elect on the local level make up one branch of government (House of Representatives). They’re the foundation of our government & we’ve ignored them for too long, more concerned with Senators, Mayors & Governors. Change comes from the bottom-up, not from the top-down. President Obama’s movement was so grassroots, showing us the power of the people is still in heavy affect. Let’s take that energy from his presidential campaign & keep it within us to do our part on the local level. With time invested, determined individuals who can put aside their differences & work towards the same goal & patience, Change will not be a matter of “if”. It’ll be a matter of “when”.

And finally:
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__________________________________________
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The rest is up to you. I leave the rest of this document to you. What should we ask of ourselves to support our community & country?

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: In Martin We Trust

2009-01-15T16:48:00.001-05:00

Originally posted on MySpace on 1/21/2008

As you all know, The 3rd monday in January is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. No school, no work, an extra day to rest is what people think they get out of this holiday. But I remember the sacrifice he made not only for black people, but for all people. Regardless of who you were, if you wanted freedom & equality, he was on the front line, forcing the issue in a non-violent way & paying for his beliefs with his life. Some blacks didn't agree with his non-violent morals, being that the oppresor used many despicable tactics to keep us down & we had to fight for freedom in the way of the Old Testament (eye for an eye). We had many weapons at our disposal, and I'm seeing that Dr. King was using one of the most strongest ones.

This was in today's Daily News. It's from his famous letter he wrote while he was in Birmingham Jail in 1963. While he was in there, he noted:

"I guess it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, 'Wait.' "
And in this part of the letter, he explains why us as a people couldn't just "wait".
But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, brutalize and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity; when you see the vast majority of your 20 million Negro brothers smothering in an air-tight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your 6-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky, and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a 5-year-old son asking in agonizing pathos, "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness"; then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.

We made significant strides since then, but there is much more to be done. I think we're still waiting for the next Dr. King to show up & lead us to the promise land. Why wait when everyone can get together & do thier part to get there?

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Hip Hop Lives!

2009-01-14T18:02:00.003-05:00

*Originally posted on MySpace 8/14/2008

The 5 basic elements of hip hop (MCin, DJayin, Breakin, Graffiti & Knowledge) are the foundations that this culture was built upon. It remains as strong today as it was 25 years ago. Everything that hip hop is now was built on that foundation, and we can't forget that!

If you know me, you know that hip hop is more than music. It's my life! I talk with more ebonics than anyone else I know. I walk with that New York diddy bop & carry myself with such a confident swagger. From my fitted to my kicks, I am hip hop. This culture enabled me to express myself in many different forms. Even if I didn't listen to rap, there would be no way possible for me to escape the vice-like grip this culture has on today's society. It's all around me! From television, to radio, to print, to the streets, hip hop culture has made it's way to the forefront of this modern day & age, and best believe, it has made it's presence felt.

How amazing is it? Something that started from nothing, a movement created off the energy of individuality & ethnic pride, has now invaded all corners of the universe (If Jay-Z is global, I know there's a Martian out in the galaxy with a copy of Reasonable Doubt). And this movement of hip hop culture is expanding every second, minute, hour, day, week, month & year. With one eye on the past & the other on the future, we're not even thinkin' about stoppin' anytime soon. There are always new doors to break down, new challenges to take on & new ways to evolve ourselves thru hip hop.

With all due respect to Nas (who's one of my favorites & a Top 10 MC, hands-down), hip hop ain't as dead as you think. Sure the quality isn't as good as it was 10 years ago (cause 1998 was one of the greatest years in hip hop. You can argue that things kinda went downhill from there), but we'll save that discussion for another day....

What you see now is capitalism in alliance with the most popular & dominant culture. It has turned such a sacred art form into a multi-billion dollar-a-year business.So many opportunities are being presented thru hip hop. It's feedin' alot of people right now! Wheather they're selling ringtones or givin' out their music on MySpace, or still going the traditional route of gettin' with a major label, many heads are reaping the benifits of hip hop expansion Am I proud of this fact? Damm straight! The fact that we turned intentional neglect & struggle into success for us & future generations is something taht can't be taken away from Planet Rock. No matter what attacks Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity attempt to execute, the congregation of Kool Herc will not fall victim to any of these conservative, mainstream, sellout, Uncle Tom-ass haters! And in due time all these haters will be enemies of mine within the next 10 to 20 years. I got my ammo ready for those mothafuckas.

Let's celebrate hip hop, all day, everyday, cause we progress & break new ground every 24 hours! Our population increases by the minute (Every 60 seconds, a hip hop baby is born). We get stronger & bigger, rollin' deeper that Verizon dude! No matter what sector of the hip hop nation you rockin' with, at the end of the day, we're one big, diverse group of intellectual, ignorant, hard-headed misfits. United We Stand, No Way In Hell We Fallin'......This movement is sucker-free.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Log In At Your Own Risk!

2009-01-11T22:11:00.004-05:00

Originally posted on MySpace on 10/3/2008

It's only entertainment! I heard Hova say it at the end of Ignorant Shit (American Gangster, 2007). But when I log onto myspace, blackplanet, crushspot, or any other social network where interaction takes place, that line echoes thru my head. Then, a permanent smile apperas on my face. Really, I can't help myself from laughing at the monitor! It's amazing what people will do for a little attention. They'll even throw their integrity out the window just for a few extra hits on their page. Compromise? Not one bit. It seems as if the morals & principles that have been acquired during their time on this earth were merely tossed to the side like an old pair of Uptowns & sweats. Good women turn into jezebels & niggas dumb themselves down, tryna be gangsta, or some othe shit they're not....

I wonder if this is what's goin' thru their mind when they create a profile:

"Lemme bend myself over & take a thrust up the ass so everybody can know who I am."

Tragic, but somewhat understandable. The spotlight is like a Maybach, everybody would love to be in it. Addictive once you get it & when it's not around, you'll see yourself do just about anything to get it back. Fame, or any type of attention or acclaim, is very addictive. You can ask your favorite actor/rapper/entertainer. Watch as most of them get older, they'll lose themselves & chase that spotlight they thought would have forever.

Now, let's go back to the mind of the attention-deprived, desperate for praise individual....

"Nobody knows who I am, therefore, I'll hype myself up, throw a few white lies up there, and see what happens. Let's just hope I don't bump into someone who knows the real me. Even worse, one who can read my profile once, and sence fraudulency in my words."

Well, I can say that I'm the latter. But I don't spend my time on the internet, spotting phonies. I just laugh at it, and remember that false truths will catch up to these individuals. Corrupted minds sittin' in front of the keyboard need to wake the fuck up! It's the internet, but still, that don't give people the reason to act like they ain't got no home training. Honestly, what do people get out of NOT being the human that God created them as? So what nobody can't see who they are! That gives them no reason to lie & be something they're not. Even if the 'net persona is pulled off to perfection & has everyone who comes across it convinced that this individual is who they say they are, at the end of they day, Lookin' in the mirror would deem to be too overwhelming. At least that what I think. Cause I can't envision puttin' up a front, just to impress people that I may most likely never see in my lifetime. If I have to do that, there's some inner emotions & self-esteem issues I better deal with! Or they'll be alot of baggage to carry around in this lifetime.

If you want to feel good about yourself, learn to love yourself. You can't expect anyone else to respect & love you if you don't have have love & respect for yourself!
If you feel the need to portray a certain character, be an actor! They do have classes for it!
If you like to create alter egos & fake personas, start writng short stories or a novel! As a writer, I can personally vouch that this is the best way to expand your creativity & push it to new heights.

But really, all I'm tryna say is this:
When you create your page, type your foolishness & press that enter button, or click that mouse, you're presenting yourself to the whole world. And wheather you like it or not, the whole world is gonna judge you by what you said & how you portray yourself. Are you sure you want to come off as a complete ass? Think about that the next time you type & click that mouse.

Train Of Thought: iLoveMusic: The Road To 30,000

2009-01-07T16:25:00.004-05:00

If you know me by now, you know that I'ma addict for music, breakbeats & soulful sounds. And iLoveMusic (which is the name of my iPod) has been my driving force in my life since she came around....

Right now, I'm @ 4500 tracks, with my 1st goal of 5,000 very near! Even after I accidently deleted all the tracks (like a f****n idiot!) on Friday night, I managed to recoup & get back on track in a matter of 4 days....Then again it's easy to get 4000+ tracks when your homeboy got one of the dopest & diverse music folders this side of the Northern Hemisphere. Fortunately, we share the same taste in music, so I had my eye on his music folder since iLoveMusic & I got together.

Yeah, I jack libraries of music. So what! Take it as a compliment if I want to run up in yours! That just means you got good taste & music!

A few peeps & associates of mine got some joints I'ma need to get my hands-on. And they gave my the green light, so in due time, I'll be @ 10,000 in no time!

120GBs is a blessing. Yes, It is.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: The '08 Wrap-Up

2009-01-01T21:38:00.002-05:00

This year went by faster than Usain Bolt in Beijing! It only seems like 6 months ago, I was sittin' @ home, broker than Young Buck after payin' his debt off, doing damm near close to nothing. and now, it's the end of the year, and I got a job that pays me to do the exact same thing (As much as AmeriKKKa is corrupted, it does have it's perks!)!

A lot happened this year, man, I don't even know where to start. The election wore everybody thee fuck out even before Nov. 4th. But it was all worth it, since we now got a black man in the highest office in this country (and let's not get all technical & say, "He's biracial", Cause most people wasn't sayin' that before the election & he was getting his named dragged across the mud, receiving verbal shots thrown in his direction, from corner to corner, like he was 100% black. So ask him what side he most identified with when non-believers were tryin' to throw dirt on his name!) That alone will make 2008 a year to remember. President-elect Obama is 1 on everyone's Man/Person of the Year list, with Michelle Obama takin' the crown as Woman of the Year. Damm near everything else that happened in '08 took a backseat to Obama & the movement that put him in the White House (thanks largely to the hip hop generation!).

I don't wanna get too political on y'all, so I'ma go more in-depth on the victory of President-elect Obama in the next blog. Yep, the next blog is gonna be serious! Therefore, get your subscription, so you don't miss out on the knowledge....

Ok, so besides the election......

Top 10 Albums Of 2008 (Not In Any Particular Order)
Nas – Untitled
Q-Tip – The Renaissance
Lupe Fiasco - The Cool
Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak
T.I. – Paper Trail
Ludacris – Theater Of The Mind
Snoop Dogg –Ego Trippin'
N.E.R.D. - Seein' Sounds
*Lil' Wayne - Tha Carter 3
**Re-Up Gang- The Re-Up

*Tha Carter 3 was a good album, but not better than his mixtape material. He did move that milli in the 1st week. And he was one of the most talked about artists in '08. Regardless of my opinion of him as an artist, I can't ignore the obvious.
** The Clipse, along with the Re-Up Gang has the most-slept on album of the year. The Clipse (who are the most underrated MCs of this decade) knock another street heater out the park. Plain & simple.

And since we're on the subject of hip hop, I'd like to applaud Soulja Boy & Young Berg on being 2008's most dumbest & ignorant rappers. They'll make a slave master proud. You got one who's the Sarah Palin of hip hop & you got another whose fan base got the 99% of Word-Up magazine subscribers (The magazine hasn't has credibility since 1997. It's just a pullout mag of teeny bopper singers & rappers who'll never see past 2½ mics in The Source). And both these dudes think they're the hottest shit since, hot shit. They make music for a specific audience, so I can't condemn them for that crime. But I can condemn for possessing no type of lyrical skills, below average pretentiousness & dreadful interview skills. Put all 3 together & you have a ringtone rapper! You already know how I feel about these sucker MCs. Make money off those tones, I ain't knockin' that. Just make some quality music, first & foremost! Learn how to do an interview, so you won't get misquoted (Berg, I'm talkin' to you! Dark butts? What the fuck was that about, son? How are you gonna alienate a piece of your only fan base? You ain't doin' numbers outside of the ladies, cause niggas don't even rock with your shit like that! Chain robbed, Maino givin' you the son treatment, so no street cred for you, potna. Those ladies are your only way of eatin', so treat 'em right!). Take time out to know what you're talking about & understand what you're makin' money off of (Soulja Boy! Gettin' at OGs like RZA & Ice T isn't a formula for success, especially when one of them revolutionized the production tools you used on your album. And if you don't know about any type of hip hop before 2000, then you don't even deserve to be mentioned as a rapper. You're non existent!) Both of them, with their poor quality of music alone, bestow them the title of '08's worst rappers...

"Hipster" Rap....the new young heads who attempt to bring hip hop music back to the Golden Era of Hip Hop ('86-92) in their own, individual way. I understand they don't wanna hear that gangsta shit all day, everyday. Diversity for us in this culture is a must. We've been hearin' the same artists & the same shit on the radio for too long. If you peeped XXL's December cover, a few of those new artists are be labeled as hipsters. With Kidz In The Hall, Cool Kids, Charles Hamilton, and other young new artists comin' thru with a new sound for the radio & with 80s hip hop fashion back in the forefront, you can see how easy it is for them to be given that label. I wouldn't even say all that. Their audience I would label as a percentage of hipsters & young heads . And music, especially hip hop music, has various different types of compositions that can usually correlate between the artist & the listener. So, with this "hipster" rap, its nothing more than hip hop going back downtown to the Village, where Fab 5 Freddy brung the Uptown scene to the bohemians & punk rockers in the early 80s. We're just seeing an updated version of hip hop music expanding thru social & class barriers. How exciting will 2009 be, with these Leaders of the New School bringing diversity & individualism back into the music? It'll be interesting to see what unfolds as we move forward in our culture…..

Public Service Announcment
"It's not even the use of the word that bothers me; it's the abuse of the word that bothers me." –Styles P.

"I mean, ain't nothing wrong with having style, swag and all of that, but I think all the guys are starting to be so focused on the look and the way they are so much, that it almost make them like girls." -Adam Fleischer

Courtesy of xxlmag.com

Swagger (Definition courtesy of Webster's Online Dictionary)
1. To walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others: "He struts around like a rooster in a hen house."
2. Discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate.
3. Act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner.

Swagger (Definition courtesy of urbandictionary.com)
1. How one presents him or her self to the world. Swagger is shown from how the person handles a situation. It can also be shown in the person's walk.
2. the confidence exuded as a reflection of one's dress, shoe game & attitude

Now, take a moment to read both definitions & the two quotes. Can we truthfully sit here & say that we didn't destroy a 16th century, English word? Like, we didn't overuse the word & utilize it unnecessarily?

The word "Swagger" has met its unfortunate expiration date. Not strictly because of the track, which is one of the dopest tracks of '08, but the fans of the artists who blessed the sickest verses of the year (Including Lil' Wayne. Yes, I said it!). The word has been in Webster's for God knows how long! But once it came outta their mouths, everybody jumped on it, from puttin' it in their already unoriginal, clichéd, garbage-ass nicknames & aliases. To make matters worse, they're naming duos, trios, groups & crews with "swag" in it. If I bump into another crew called The Swag Twins, or Swagger Boys, or some other banal shit of the sort, they shall be lined up & stoned in front of the whole village. Oh yeah, and remember this: Not too long ago, we used to call jump-offs & loose girls, swags. So we redefined the word overnight, and now everybody is makin' swag a requirement in their daily lives.

Now, don't misunderstand my rant over the word for hate. I don't have a problem with the expression. I used to use it before it was coming' out of everyone's mouth. I think the word & the definition fits the times perfectly, and we all have our own individual qualities that make us unique. However, it doesn't need to be used so excessively! Swagger is appropriate for certain times & places, but the way people are using it, I think it diminishes the strength of the word. Being that there are two different definitions, which have some similarities & differences, it's necessary to find a balance between the original definition & the hip hop description.

Furthermore, we all got our own style & taste, in which we should never be afraid to put on display for the whole world to see. And at the same time, we should take into consideration, that just like any other substance or word; we must use it moderately, and in the right context. For example, dudes who overuse swagger, usually come off like women & teenage girls. Why is that? Scroll up & re-read Urban Dictionary's definition. And while you're at it, re-read the quote from Adam Fleischer. Get the picture? Men are supposed to look presentable, be confident & walk with their heads high. A concern for our look should be minimal. As long as a brother is fresh, clean, and not smelling like he's been slap-boxing with Latin Kings at the Puerto Rican day Parade, it's all good. Although lately, I've been seeing' a lot of dudes getting feminine with the way they dress (which I can vent about for a whole blog) & looking at themselves every time they see their reflection. On top of that, they're bragging' about their swag the same way chicks brag about how good their pussy is. Not cool at all, bruh….Half of y'all are already wearing your sister's pants with the buttons in the back, letting your drawers show for the whole world to see. What's next? Y'all gonna start carrying those wallet purses? And getting your toes done? That is not swagger! That's geigh, dude…..

Basically, this is the 2008 Wrap-Up. We're concluding this year on a high note, and counting our blessings for limping out of this year with our very lives intact. Our pockets got hit hard; some of us lost our 401Ks, jobs, homes & sanity! But you know the saying: What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. As cliché as it sounds, it holds much weight. If you're breathing on December 31st @ 11:59, you got a lot to be thankful for. Reflect on the highs, lows, triumphs & mistakes from this past year & learn from each experience. Take each lesson learned into the New Year & line them up with your goals & resolutions. Cause in '09, we got no choice but to shine! Oh yeah, and there's NO MORE EXCUSES!

To Our Fallen Soldiers Overseas: Hopefully the powers that be will learn the lesson that love & respect is the cure for all the evil in this world…..

And Rest In Peace To All The People We Lost In '08

2009: No More Excuses!
Death B4 Dishonor/Proving*Everybody*Wrong*.....More Than Just Words: It's Life!

Big Shoutout To: Maine Attraction, $hawn Breezey, 254 Crew, Plan8 Yah, Bad Newz Drew, G. Ness, Reg-E-Reg, Cash, Sache, N.Kia West, GhettoProud, Notebook, Destini, Rudy, *ChriStar*, Rawry, Shay, Bri, and all my comrades across the board who have influenced/inspired me one way or another....

Much Respect & Best Wishes In '09.
Peace!

Untitled # 1

2008-11-26T20:04:00.004-05:00

I write with my heart on my sleeve.
And on the other sleeve, my emotions decorate the cotton.
My New Era tells you what town I represent.
On most days, the jeans I wear bear no brand name.
That just means there isn't a price on my ass.
My kicks are a representation of me walkin' thru life, getting to where I wanna be.
That's why I got Nikes on.
Cause I Just Do It.
What Is It?
Writing.
Grinding.
Striving.
Surviving.
Breathing.

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Keep Them Close? F**k That, Let Them Go!

2008-10-19T18:36:00.002-04:00

I got another side I never show to you: The side where everybody is disposable. Relationships are never a threat, cause I'll erase the history & act like we never met.
Joe Budden: Dear Diary – Mood Muzik 3

No matter how hard it may be to realize, just about everybody in your life is replaceable. Even if you thought different, the eyes & mind will open up to reveal the truth. Loyalty is tossed aside, because you gotta look out for self. If they're not helping us when we need it, whether it's for a few bucks, or words of encouragement, why do we keep them around? What's their purpose? Are we that insecure of ourselves, to the point where we're around people who barely give 2 sh*ts & a flying f**k about us?

I'm at the time in my life where I won't hesitate to cut someone loose. I got my inner circle etched in stone. So when I say Death before Dishonor, y'all know what time it is! Anybody who thinks it's a fad, or some type of gang or "clique", is a f****n' idiot! I ain't sayin' it cause it sounds cool or gangsta. I actually believe in it. Those 3 words are intertwined with my morals & beliefs. It's a state of mind above all. The mentality that no matter what, you'll hold it down for your team. If they need anything & you got it, it's theirs, no questions asked. Hungry with no money & no food? I ain't gonna let my ace starve. Got beef? I'm there, so if anything goes down, it's on! Doing some time? I'ma hold my n***a down, write those letters, send some books & put some scrilla in their commissary. Fall on some hard times? No way I'm turning my back on my right hand. If I can be around for the high times & party life, why can't I be there during the period of struggle? It's hard to see someone close to you suffer thru tribulations; however, those moments build character within us. You will realize who your true friends are when you're down on your luck & seein' no ends meet. Trust me, I know!

I've had doors closed on me in my hour of need by people I thought were my "friends". Maybe they're reading these words. I don't know & I don't care. They're not around me anymore, because they showed me their true colors. Either they showed disloyalty, disrespect, or had an ulterior motive that they we're attempting to execute without my knowledge & consent. I don't sleep on what human behavior is capable of. Just because I don't say anything, doesn't mean I'm unaware of what's going on! Actions speak much louder than words ever can. That intuition aka my 3rd eye is analyzing what these "friends" are doing, and that ear I got to the streets keeps me informed on what words are being said when I'm not around! Those "friends" gonna try to get my own inner circle to ride against me. And they think my right hand ain't gonna tell me what's going on?!

Kay Jay doesn't need those types around him. As a matter of fact, he doesn't need friends, period. I only got associates (people I hang out with on occasion, but not on some everyday shit), acquaintances (people I know, but don't necessarily hang out with) & peeps (a notch above associates, but not in the inner circle). It's important to know what type of people you keep yourself around, being that you're judged by the company you keep. Even if you're an open-minded individual that is willing to look past what you see & look deeper into a person, it is human temperament to judge what's in front of you. If you're around shady characters, then you'll be branded as one, off GP. Remain in the constituency of upbeat & positive influences; you'll be looked upon as someone who's making' moves with their life. If your will is strong, conforming to the people around you won't alter the foundation of your individuality. However, if it isn't, and you have a problem with your own self-acceptance, you'll be prone to going out of your comfort zone just to be accepted. Why seek acceptance from people whose opinions really don't determine anything except their ability to give a biased opinion? They ain't providing food for the stomach, clothes for the skin, shelter over the body & support for character growth! As a result, I don't need 'em!

At the end of the day, all I'm trying say is in this lifetime, we can't go back & change events, or the people we're around. When you live for in the present day, you got the power to determine who you associate with. Time waits for no one, so why waste it with phony & dejected motherf*****s who want to see you below them? You know the sayin', "Misery loves company." If n****s don't like to see me better myself, go on. Feel free to be a hater! That s**t is overrated anyway! Go on & waste time throwing dirt on a name for havin' the guts to do the things they only wish you had the heart to do! I'ma be laughing my way to happiness & a comfortable life, while those despondent, no-ambition havin' motherf*****s are still gonna be miserable, broke & suicidal. And I'll get them some fresh rope to hang themselves with. Let them Rest In Pieces.....

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Let’s Celebrate Genocide!

2008-10-12T15:56:00.005-04:00

Originally posted on MySpace 10/8/2007

Tomorrow is Columbus Day. Obviously, I don't need to tell you that. More than likely, you're enjoyin' the 3-day weekend by way of partyin', hangin' out, or just catchin' up on some much needed rest. If you're like me, you probably found a way to do all three. And you would be clearly aware of the fact that when we're enjoyin' this day off, we're doin' it in the name of genocide.

With that bein' said, Christopher Columbus can eat a d**k & forever burn in hell. This man gets no respect from me (but good lookin' out on the day off. At least he's good for somethin' positive), no admiration, and no appreciation. The school system in this country has brainwashed all of us to believe in the myth of Columbus, this "great" man who "discovered" America and the "New World". He ain't discover s**t! The man was one of the last explorers to make his way to the Americas in 1492. The Indians were already centuries deep all around North & South America. What these history books don't tell us, is that explorers have been venturing to the Americas as far back as 70,000 B.C.. So, it's evident that the "discovery" of a "New World" was just Europeans comin' here for the first time. The world wasn't new when Columbus got here. It was around way before him. And answer this for me: How can you discover what somebody else already owns?

The main reason why they leave that information out of the history books, is for the fact that many Europeans can't sit comfortably with the possibility that America was discovered by someone other than their kind, most notably Black People. They don't want to even admit that there maybe sufficient evidence of this statement. History teachers will quickly hop on Columbus' nuts and defend him to the death, sayin' "Well, it hasn't been proven yet." Historians say the same thing, claiming that we're trying to distort history to raise the self-esteem of young brothers & sisters. How are we gonna distort something that has sufficient evidence, along with the facts to support it? And for them to straight-up lie like that can show you how they are reinforcing their history in our minds! On top of that, to add injury to insult, they justify the genocide of Natives & Blacks as them "civilizing" us!

So, since Columbus didn't discover America, what is the holiday all about? Celebrating genocide, plain & simple. All Columbus Day is, is the celebration of the first white man that murdered on American soil. When he got here, Europe was already miles ahead in military advancements (Where do you think America got their love of siege warfare from?). Add that with their natural belief in conquest by any means, and voíla: The Blueprint Of The United States Of America & Capitalism. Columbus wrote the book as we went along, robbing, killing, raping & enslaving Blacks & Natives. From the Americas, Mexico & all the way to the West Indies, Columbus & his crew of savages wrecked havoc, takin' over s**t like they ain't had no sense. Whoever they didn't kill, they raped them and made them into slaves or sold them in masses back to Spain & other European countries.

That's his legacy in my eyes. He set the foundation of this country. A country that has no problem lying to its citizens about the skeletons in their closet, a country that abhors everything that it stands for, a country where they intentionally keep other races, creeds & religions on a lower pedastool than White Chrisitans, where they have no problem sendin' their army into another country & imposing it's will on the people....I can go on forever, but you get the point. I'm not tryin' to change the world & take a holiday away from Americans. But all people need to know the facts about our history, both the positive & negative. It's bad enough that we got stripped of our heritage when we came here 400 years ago. But to continue to be lied to today? And to poison my children with it tomorrow? I can't go for that. There's no way I can let my child celebrate the mass murder of a race.

In no way am I saying that the Africans & Indians were angels. Both kept slaves, just as the Europeans & the Spanish did. That was the way of the times. But for the white man to steal, rape & kill with no regard for human life is unacceptable. And for white people, 400 years later, to celebrate with a parade, is quite insulting if you ask me. Might as well give Hitler a holiday while we're at it...........

My 2 Cents Are Priceless: Real Talk

2008-10-02T16:33:00.003-04:00

Originally posted on MySpace: 10/12/2006

My birthday is coming up in a month, so a nigga is feelin' good. I ain't gonna let no assh**e get me outta my zone. I'm pushin' straight A's in school & I'm tryin' to keep that up & the money is comin' in good. I ain't on the top of the world (yet), but a brotha is content with where he's at. I got my fam behind me 100%, and they all out there grindin', puttin' themselves in a position to upgrade in all phases of life. DBD/P*E*W* is exceeding the standards & principles that we live by, a hard thing to do in 2008, with all these trend-hoppin', phony-ass posers walkin' around .

Now, peep game:

I see people who tryin' so hard to be what they're not. It's amusing & at the same time a damm disgrace. B*****s talkin' bout they "bossy", when they on the bus right next to me, tryna give n****s the cold shoulder (NOTE: I ain't one of the n****s that got shut down. I was just observing the action) I laugh at these broads cause they think they're in control. Okay, your jeans are $300, shades are $400, Manolos on your feet, Louis Vutton bag (which is probably a knockoff), so you fresh. But explain this to me: How are you "bossy", when you just asked for a f****n' transfer? A real woman dosen't have to run around braggin' about bein' a boss. She knows she's in control of the situation & never lets it get to her head, even if she's on the bus. They remain true to self, and stay down to earth at all times. Their vibes are all original. Don't fake the funk. Ain't nothin' wrong wit' lookin' good. But don't be tryin' to profile & front, knowin' you gonna return half the s**t you got on to the store the next day. Have a sip of some Humble Juice. It'll do your attitude good.

N****s, young & old, talkin' 'bout they hustlin', when they not even flippin' the product. You sellin' & gettin' the same amount every week, dog. You ain't hustlin' right unless you flippin' your product. If you wanna make the same amount of money & lower your chances of gettin' bagged or robbed, GET A JOB! McDonalds is hiring. Any fast food job can gurantee you $125 every week. Who gives a f**k what n****s gotta say? You flippin' burgers, but you puttin' paper in your pocket. As long as the pay is right & it's legit, there shouldn't be a problem. N****s don't understand that. If you really about YOUR money, you'll check your ego & get on ya grind. Nobody said you have to make it a career. Just do it till you see another opportunity to take advantage of. I always keep my eye open for a new opportunities, no matter what my huslte is. And even if one doen't come along as soon as I hope, I will create one, plain & simple. F**k an ego when it comes to money, I put that aside. But it dosen't mean that I'll sell my soul to the devil or bend over backwards for a buck (like some of your favorite rappers). My morals are too firm for me to do that. Thru thick & thin, I stand by my beliefs. Who gives a f**k what people think? If you're makin' the right moves, that's what you're doin'. Let people talk. They can hate all they want, but they can't argue with results.

Remember: The views & opinions expressed in this blog ARE those of Kay Jay. If you get offended, the x is on the upper right corner.

A DBD/P*E*W* Production (c) 2008