Monthly Archives: June 2009

Congratulaketions

lakerslogoLAKERS24dwbA.JPG

I’ve been down with the Lakers since Shaq left. Always been a Kobe fan but I became a full blown Laker fan once him and Shaq split. Kobe was the underdog. The most hated man in America. The guy who threw it all away over ego. I’ll admit it’s been rough. One year we didn’t even make the playoffs. Other years the Phoenix Suns sent us home early. But through it all the team continued to focus on winning. Continued to climb and make adjustments when necessary.  The end result is hoisting up the trophy tonight in Orlando.

Congratulations to Kobe, Congratulations to Phil, and Congratulations to the Lakers.

“Don’t Do It..Reconsider”

This used to be a long blog entry expressing my new found love for Taco Bell. I apologize. Recently found out that their food has more sodium in it than you should consume in a week. Consuming too much sodium is one of the worst things you can do to yourself. Still eat Taco Bell if you want “but at least my conscience is clear, I’m no longer steering you wrong”.

Rest And Peace…Stack

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

 

“I don’t see you anymore but I still feel your presence/

But your memory will live on for as long as I make records/

What Heaven look like? I need some answers now/

And try to save me a 2X for my angel gown/

I know I’m one in a million/

So when I go I’m trynna share a bunk with Aaliyah/

I wanna sit in Heavens Ghetto and write songs with Pac/

Share a laugh with Stack Bundles about how they seem to hate you when you young and hot/

And tell Left Eye I loved her ever since a youngin/

Then I could trade punchlines with Big LBig Pun and

the No-to-ri-us Big/

They say the good die young, yep only us kid/

I never was a drinker so don’t poor no henny/

Just pop in my cd and recall my memory/

First I raised my damn self, then I raised my brother/

And I’m sorry for the sleepless nights that I gave my mother/

But I had to go and grind, I wasn’t made to suffer/

So when I’m dead and gone, you don’t have to cry/

I’ll be watching from above like a Satellite”       -Phella

Feeling nostalgic tonight. The verse above is the 3rd verse from a song called Satellite I did about 3 years so ago. It’s from the era when all I rapped on was slow low quality beats. Nonetheless still one of my favorites I ever did. When If I go, my last wish is that they play this at the funeral.
stack

 

Today is the 2 year anniversary of Stack Bundles death. I remember when the news first broke about his untimely death. For some reason it hit me hard even though I wasn’t his biggest fan the time. The fact that he was so talented and then killed before the world got to know he was, that’s what really got me. There was a time I used to feel like something would happen to me before I made an impact on the world. I think we all fear that at times.

R.I.P. to Stack Bundles and the rest of our great artists that have departed. Anyone wanting to learn more about him and his music should check out my homie DJ Laser’s blog. He might be Stacks biggest fan and one of the people doing a great job at keeping his name alive.

“Nobody Do That Where We Grew At”


1244463936spl105496011

Long time New York Knick fan Diddy dresses in Laker attire. Once more attaching himself to the flavor of the moment for publicity purposes.

aajaystandingJay-Z does his part in bringing real n*gga sh!t back. Performs Death Of Autotune for the fans at Summer Jam.

e-thugInternet Thugs type “Free Max B” as their mom brings them an ice cold lemonade to cool them down.

dsc02984I sit and wonder if there’s any hope out there for us.

I kind of like this positive/negative post thing I got going. I think that’s going to be the rotation from now. One positive post followed by one “negative” post. I put negative in quotations because technically it’s all positive. I don’t just rant for ranting sake, I do it because I care and I believe there’s a certain group of people out there who care like I do but don’t know how to voice it. I know if Pac was alive he would be the #1 blogger in the world. He would write pages and pages of poems and articles about our current state of affairs. God knows there’s a lot to say.

I think the closest we have to a Tupac these days is Jay-Z. The man gets it. If you get past the Rolls Royces, the big money talk, and the high yellow diva girlfriend, you’ll see that dude is a revolutionary. One of the few we have in Hip-Hop. We live in a day and age where P Diddy logs on Twitter begging for followers then gets into a war with a young guy who simply stated that people should unfollow Diddy and his self promoting ways. 

While Diddy used bible quotes to campaign for Twitter supremacy, his more socially aware counterpart was crafting “Death Of Autotune”. I’m not saying Jay is our savior but at least when he says something people listen. And to his credit, he’s used the last 4 or 5 years to say things we need to hear. This new generation of kids desperately need to hear and pay attention to “Falling”, “Success”, “D.O.A”, “Grammy Family Freestyle” etc…

Part of why I’ve abondoned Tweeting is that I realize more and more that we live in a generation of talkers. Everyone has a movement but never actually moves. Everyone wants change but never actually changes. I’m assuming you have a Twitter account; log on right now and scroll through your timeline. You’ll see the mockery for yourself. 

Today I logged on for a brief minute only to see people screaming “Free Max B” all over the place. Max B is a rapper who with the assistance of his girlfriend had two guys robbed and killed. Today he was convicted and sentenced. I hate to see anyone go to jail and have their freedom stripped away. I hate that two guys who were making money were murdered. I hate the United States “justice” system. But never will I scream “Free” anyone. I was always taught that as men we make the decisions we make and we live with the outcome. Plain and simple.

If my closest friend commited a crime today and was sentenced, I won’t scream “Free” him. Not unless he was wrongfully accused. I’ll be saddened, but I won’t scream for him to be free’d. I think it just exposes the cornyness and fake gangsta era we live in. If these people really care about Max so much, how about you start getting money together to help his family. How about you write him a letter in jail. If you really believe so much that he should be free, write to someone and see about getting him a re-trial. No? You won’t do that though. You’d rather just type “Free Max B” on your Twitter so you can be associated with today’s hottest news. 

This is more than Diddy’s shameless self promotion and culture raping, Jay-Z and Pac’s revolutionary ways, fake thugs and gangstas, and online frauds. It’s really about the elephant in the room. The fact that our culture is just losing in more ways than we can count and nobody seems to want to say anything. Everyone’s just sitting back and letting it happen. Some are even contributing to it.

It would be wrong of me to act like it’s all bad. There’s a lot of great writers, talented artists, smart and hard working people out there. Far too often though they are drowned out by the idiocy that goes on in our society. Not for long though. Just like Autotune was killed this past weekend, very soon all the people who are a detriment to our culture will have to pay. Run for cover. And if you’re real, you have not a thing to worry about.

Music Mondays: Top 10 Artists….As I See It

recordplayer

This list is impossible to get correct because first of all everyone’s criteria for a top artist is different. Secondly, I haven’t and don’t claim to have listened to or researched every artist out there.

Still I’m going to attempt to give my top 10 based on the following: Relevance, Social Impact, Stage Performance, Record Sales, and Catalog.

*Sidenote: No groups in this list. If I allow groups then Rolling Stones, U2, and the Beatles will take up 30% of the list before it even gets started.

1. Michael Jackson-Say what you want about all his antics over the past decade but I don’t think anyone has ever had as much of an impact on pop culture the way Mike has. From making classic albums like Thriller to starring in commercials with Michael Jordan, Mike is the BLUEPRINT in my opinion. He is the ultimate performer. If you’re a 90′s baby or an unaware 80′s baby you might want to research Michael’s concerts when he was at his peak. People literally died when they saw him. Longevity is another reason why Mike gets No.1 on my list; he’s top the charts with his through several decades and reached the entire world with his music.

2. Elvis Presley- This is a shaky pick for no.2 but just like Michael, I think Elvis’ influence on pop culture can’t be ignored. His likeness has been used over and over, his voice is often imitated, and he is credited by many as the first artist to push the envelope in America. It’s safe to say without no Elvis there would be no 2 Live Crew. Imagine a world with no 2 Live Crew.

3. Celine Dion- This is a pick based strictly on quality of work and record sales. When it comes to those two categories, Celine is undeniable. She is probably more popular outside of the United States and that’s saying something because she’s big here.

4. Frank Sinatra- Old Blue Eyes at no. 4 seems incorrect to me. I can’t name a song of his outside of “New York, New York” but there are far too many people out there that consider him great for me to ignore.

5. Mariah Carey- Much like Celine, Mariah has an international following that can’t be denied. She probably has the most extensive catalog of anyone else on this list. More No.1 Records than any of us can imagine, the respect from her peers, the look; MC is a living legend and I think she deserves this No.5 spot.

The next 5 I won’t write any explanation for. Mainly because I’m getting tired and need to wake up in 5 hours for my workout.

6. Bruce Springsteen

7. Madonna

8. Prince

9. Bob Marley

10. 2Pac

It took all of my power not to sneak Jay-Z into that list somewhere but I don’t think it would be right. If anyone has any thoughts or wants to share their top 10, feel free. I’m sure Jimi Hendrix fans probably think I’m stupid. Aretha Franklin heads are probably unsubscribing as we speak. Biggie supporters probably want to hack into my account and switch that number 10.

“Can’t Knock The Hustle”-Jay-Z

dsc03040
dsc03037dsc03043
dsc03039
smashedcar
The apartments I live in is pretty much broken up into two sections. There’s “front street” which is relatively well lit and people are usually coming and going. The chance of something happening to you or your car there is litte.

Then you have “death valley” which is about 50 feet away from “front street” but a whole different world. That’s where all the smoking, drinking, dealing, whoring and such goes on. Very dark parking lot and anyone there late at night is pretty much up to no good.

Recently the management said we’re only allowed to park one car on “front street”; why? I don’t know. So rather than park my darling Chevy in “death valley” I had planned to move her to my friends crib Saturday. Unfortunately that day ended up being a real busy one for me so I took my chances with “death valley” for a night. Right on cue the above happened.

Some guys broke in and tried to get my dvd player. I wasn’t even upset. I actually applaud their courtesy. Not only did they not steal my basketball and cds but they also didn’t do too much damage (aside from the window).

If you know me, basketball and music is my life. So leaving my ball and cd’s untouched is something I’ll always be grateful for.

3 summers ago this same car was assaulted in Baltimore while me and my friends were slanging fake Bape hoodies in the flea market. They took my DVD player and in the process damaged my entire dashboard and ignition. Now that one HURT!!!!. This one right here, lightwork.

They didn’t even try to take the car itself, all they wanted was the Kenwood so clearly it was just somebody trynna come up on a little spare change. Can’t knock the hustle.

*Sidenote: Ironic that I saw this about 3 mins after posting my “God Keeps Blessing Me” post right? If I wasn’t a clear thinker I would get upset and say “aww man maybe I’m not so blessed after all”. Believe me, for all I’ve gained recently, losing a small car window is more than a fair trade. The post below still stands.

“I Don’t Sneeze Too Often…..”

But God keeps blessing me.

Pardon the corny line but it’s the best I could come up with on the run. Good things just keep happening to me and the people around me. I’m thankful. Let’s keep it going y’all.

And to those who think they can stop it, I’ll tell you like 50 Cent: “This is God’s plan homie, this aint mine”

“I’m Gonna Find Another You”-John Mayer

keyshiaandthejerkkeyshiaandthejerk2danielviolatingkeysh

I keep thinking I’m over Keyshia but everytime I get on the internet I see new pics of her and this guy….Daniel “Boobie” Gibson. Here are some songs that capture how I feel about this whole situation.