Having fun, am travelling, no time to talk

I am having a blast at Unity. Even though Spanky is trying to suck all of the fun out of the event, its still hot. I have met a ton of journalists... still no closer to choosing a career but I have had fun. I will have a ton of material hopefully to drop when I get back so don't fret!

Not that anybody cares but...here

I'll be gone next week and will either blog once about the whole UNITY (all the minority journalism people under one roof) Conference at once when I get back, time release some dry old thoughts to keep you going, maybe blog while I am there, a little bit of all three, or nothing at all.

By the way. That new Batman is hot, I want so bad to say Heath Ledger didn't kill it to be a non-conformist but he did. He was excellent. For that matter the whole movie was excellent. There wasn't a wasted minute, a wasted scene, a twist that didn't have an explanation..... It was an all around good movie. I would like to thank the writers, because for whatever reason writers f*ck up a lot of sh*t when it comes to movies and just do stupid a$$ stuff, but they didn't here.

Worth the hype, worth the time, worth the crowded theater. Back to the performances. I am a firm believer that any decent actor can pull off a good job if the script is good. Take Butterfly Effect. Ashton Kutcher looked like a real actor. On the other side of the spectrum Denzel Washington, who is a great actor has been cast in terribly written movies which has made him look less credible as an actor i.e Training Day, Inside Man, and from what I hear American Gangster. So Heath Ledger had an amazing performance, but lets give the screenwriters their due.

Also, if you read this and you know me give me suggestions of what to blog about. I'm running dry and trying to save ideas for my column as well. Thanks

A recommendation of sorts

I tend not to say much in public, not because I am shy or disinterested--I just want to listen and see what people have to say. This results in me hearing a lot of things I probably shouldn't hear, some good some bad, some indifferent. Well if anything makes me mad is when I hear people say things that are just stupid... especially when all it would take is a little fact checking, say a quick google search. This can apply to many things, but for this post lets go with slang.

I heard something EXTREMELY stupid, but because I have readers wh0 may not approve vulgar nature of the content, I will just say it was dumb and gross. Anyways, I know what it is because of the company I keep, but this person obviously does not. More than likely heard their cooler older brother or their favorite rapper say the statement in question and thought it was OK to repeat. Well they were completely wrong and looked like an idiot, but only to me because apparently I was the only person who knew what it really meant.

Moral to the story: before you go quoting the latest slang, ebonics, lingo, whatever, do some fact checking. And for things like that go to http://urbandictionary.com. That way you can see what something really means, and what the stupid idiots think something means.

An cleaner example I can give is sizzurp. Sizzurp is popular in the south, I guess coming out of Houston. It is like a downer pretty much and its soda, jolly rancher, and script strength cough syrup. I have heard people refer to everything under the sun as sizzurp.... and the funny thing is Three 6 Mafia made a song about it several years ago, which told y'all what it was!

So all I am saying is with slang and being street, hood, ghetto, real, whatever it is--make sure you're up on the terminology, or at least that everybody around is as ignorant as you. So before you say you've been "supermanning that ho" or "sippin on sizzurp" make sure you know what you're doing. And don't be afraid to say you don't know what something means. 'Cause if you're quick on your feet you can create the newest slang!

Salute

Where has the orignality gone?

This is gonna be a difficult post cause two of my favorite rappers are guilty of this, or I guess followers of this terrible evil plague of rap..... Rapping over another dudes beat. (I want to say the n-word as they would say in the streets, but after what happened to Jesse Jackson, I doubt any negro with sense will have the n-word be heard out of their mouth).

Anyways, I saw the 30th free over the little creature feature's track Let the Beat Build today and I thought to myself: "this is what is wrong with hip hop." The new school, including two of my favorites, Joe Budden and Fabolous, make their names off of getting on somebody else's track, and in their case doing it better. But very few make a name for themselves on their own original work, so what happens? Rappers flock to get on a beat and outshine the next emcee and you have the A Millie Wars, the Show Me What You Got Struggles, and the Grindin' games. Its sad.

Spanky, my hurt little cousin said that is what is good about hip hop. Granted, it was in a different and nonsensical context. But whatever, its Spanky aka Marty Mcfly (if he has pissed you off or you want to get at the bum cause for some strange reason you think he is smart thats how to find him. I think he's going to start blogging soon btw). Anyways, I think its terrible what hip hop has become because it's replacing sports as the new crack (the method by which urban youth seek to "make it"). Everybody thinks they can get rich off of it, the people who are good at it make it clear that they put no effort into it, and if you don't succeed, to be quite frank, your f*cked. So you have a bunch of little wanna be "God MC's" running around trying to be the best rapper alive while making it rain, either dropping tracks in minutes without working on them, and wasting their other assumed talents on rap. Sad I know.

But more importantly the art is dying because all of the skilled aspects of rapping have given way to the subjective aspects of the craft. So wordplay, structure, bar quality, blah blah blah, have given way to flow, beats and whatever the hell else that ru(i)ns hip hop. Again I am not a hater. I listen to the Lil' Creature of the Su woo gang, the Jeezy's, and all the new school rappers and I like them a lot, they have brought a lot to the game. I guess I'll say hip hop needs a few organ transplants.

What if your lungs forgot to breathe or your brain let your thought processes be redundant. It's getting bad y'all.

What's wrong with society

There are two things I see that are a big problem with society. One is that value for things is completely f-ed up. Two is that everybody wants something for nothing.

So I'll start with value. You know how they tell you to eat your fruits and vegetables? Well, the recommended fresh fruit serving for a day would break the bank for the average person. Same goes for vegetables, except you can buy a ton of frozen vegetables full of preservatives and sodium. Yummy! But a grease burger and fries is cheap....

How about music. I love hip-hop, but I hate it at the same time. Why? Because the best rapper alive is the best rapper because he sold a million copies in his first week. I happen to be a fan of said rapper and 5-6 years ago when I was in high school, this rapper was much better lyrically than he is now, but now that he is selling and a hot artist he is the best alive, even though the guy who started that whole title is still alive. I just confused myself.

Lets even take sports. I love the sports. But if I were to go to a professional game of three of the 4 major sports (hockey, football, basketball for the slow ones) it would cost about a quarter of my rent. And in baseball there’s 10 million games so you can go on the cheap, but I haven't been in forever so that may have even changed. And no only is it expensive as hell to go to games, its getting more expensive to watch. You have to have cable to watch any pro-sport other than on the weekends.... and even the cable package is limited for the pay per subscription service each season. How that bleep is a game supposed to be our national past-time if nobody can watch it?

There's so many things with messed up value it isn't funny.... well actually it is because it shows how and why our society is so backwards. But moving on….

Now to people wanting something for nothing. I have been raised to earn whatever it is I want so whatever it is I have worked for. I would like for things to come easier, but I know that the best way to ensure the outcome I desire is to work for it. But I see too many people waiting on something or someone to pick them up. And then there's those that plot to get rich easy and quick. And still others go through the motions of hard work solely for self gain. In any form however, its just bad. I have moments where I want things to be better personally, financially, socially, spiritually, academically, and every other -ally in life. But I know nothing worth having comes easy.

So if things have skewed values and people don't work hard what do we have going for us? ....I guess the children are our future.

Salute

A note to extroverts

I wrote a post a while ago about why introverts need to work on more extroverted characteristics so I think it’s only fair I flip the script. I am constantly surrounded by extroverts and let me tell you they piss me off. Not because of how they are, necessarily, but because the less mature ones do not know when to take a step back and be introverted.

What does that mean? Quiet down. Let other people speak and get out what they have to say. Don't always be the star of the show. And so on and so on.

Let’s use some analogies here to make a point. Look at Superman. As Clark Kent he is an unassuming, quiet, and average man (well as average as you can be at 6'3 and weighing 235 lbs., roughly the size of Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez). He runs around during the day doing modest work as a journalism and when the time comes he is the most powerful thing ever created. If you don't like Superman then for sure you can rock to Spiderman. Pete Parker is a little nerd with problems that dawns a suit and works to keep the world on the right track.

I could continue down the line of superheroes that have secret identities they use to do good, but I wont. You get the point. The thing is people naturally cling to the outspoken blowhards instead of looking at the evidence that’s right in front of them. 'Cause in the case of the super heroes I mentioned and many other of the fictitious saviors of mankind, it doesn't take too much detective work to figure out who they are. Like Superman has a magic curl that hides his identity. WOW. Peter Parker is always on the scene when Spidey comes out and gets great photo's nobody can get, but it's still a mystery. Hmmm....

I guess in my journey to adopting both personalities I have been a little bit too much of both and am trying to find that superhero balance LOL. But seriously, a little humility and less domination never hurt anyone. Every n0w and then on the Jim Rome Radio show he talks about a washed up star playing the "do you know who I am card" as if they are bigger than the situation. I personally only know a couple of people that carry on with the "do you know who I am" demeanor--but many people act as if the world is going to cease to exist when they do. I am saying this from observation and personal experience with being the center of the universe LOL.

In closing, everybody likes Jesus and he was the most humble person ever, according to the Bible that is. He had the power of God and still was a cool guy. Think about that for a minute.... and then put that into perspective in your life.

When will it stop Pt. 2

OK. Before you read listen to this:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1543021720034390/

This is what should be the last freestyle over the A Millie Beat ever. I have heard way to many rappers get on this beat and try to kill it worse that it was allegedly killed in the beginning so it’s done.

But again this blog is about love and positivity so let’s talk about the real story here which is this little white boy Asher Roth, the author of this freestyle. I have no idea why I decided to click on the link to this freestyle, because I am extremely sick of the redundancy of hip hop and the entire industry from Lil' Mama, to Neyo, even R. Kelly getting on this beat. But I did. Anyways it was worth it cause the dude has a little flow and his message is on point. If you didn't listen to the track he talks about what good is having "A millie" if you ain't helpin' nobody with it. Really? What good is it. While the Wayne's walk around with a millie and the Jay's walk around with near billie what do they do?

Now those two help out a lot so it probably wasn't pointed at them, but a lot of the music industry gets, gets and gets some more, but you rarely hear of their philanthropy. Now I understand that the media portrays blacks in a certain light already and human interest stories don't get covered. But, Plies (the idiot with the name that makes no sense) has been on the scene for 12 minutes and he is already making a name for himself giving back and helping the less fortunate through giveaways, scholarships, and promotions (it sounds bad but it’s better than most).

Back to the where I was going though. It is rare I stumble across something and don't investigate. An example would be the the French, I guess electronica, band JUSTICE. I heard their song D.A.N.C.E. from that guy Sol P who doesn't update his blog and after a little bit of investigation got just about everything they have put out. Another example would be Joe Budden. A friend, who till this day denies he liked Pump it Up, told me to download the song. I thought it sounded cool and decided to hear more... 5 years later I have a second favorite rapper (to Redman).

Again I got sidetracked geez I need some meds. So research. Yeah. I looked up this Asher Roth character and didn't find too much info. Thank goodness I didn't cause I found his mixtape.... cosigned by DJ Don Cannon and DJ Drama. I think I am a little late, so in order to break this story I haven't actually even listened to it yet but I am going to throw my little inconsequential co-signature on that b cause based on what he said over A Millie, his freestyle over Cannon, and the fact that he has a mixtape called the "Greenhouse Effect" cosigned by DJ Drama and Don Cannon is enough for me. I guess we can learn at the same time. So here you go:

http://anonym.to/?http://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/or9pgf

Its about 100MB and is a zip file, but I bet its worth it.

Salute