Quote of the Month (Originally written 7/3/07) -Malcolm X

"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."



It is time people really take an honest look at self and consider why they do the things they do. Why do you think what you think?


Consider this: If you are born into a Christian family, no one has to tell you the ancient civilizations were full of people who were sinners (therefore, dehumanizing them as less than). Polytheism (belief in more than one god) is considered laughable in today’s society and no one in the modern “civilized world” takes any of their stories or gods seriously because of the fact there is more than one god (this would include all ancient Africans, Native Americans, and Asians).

People say dragons and stuff like that were made up and mystical things that could never happen, while burning bushes that talk, staffs turning into snakes, and seas being parted into two after a man is endowed with the power by God are all part of one particular story; then again, maybe it was a metaphor.

Miseducation is not always as blunt as saying "This is it!" Sometimes it is simply omitting facts.


I find it hilarious that so many people can’t even disagree amongst so-called friends. Instead just deferring to the majority opinion of the clique. If you can not disagree with a friend, who can you disagree with?

It is a group mentality, a sort of “self check” through peer pressure. People believe things and yet have no reasons for their opinion. Baffling and appalling that these same individuals want to be acknowledged as mature adults.

No one can have an opinion without an informed understanding of said topic weither it be political, musical, religious, regional, personal, and so on.



Remember that next time you have a “real” discussion.

Niggas Don't Read

...

25 Facts That Might Save Your Life +_+ O_O !_!

1. You know how some people are sex fiends? I’m a cookie fiend.

2. I am the reigning Fall 2008 Monopoly champion (currently in the lead for the spring season with 5 wins under the belt).

3. I am a really good athlete and still have a passion for playing the game; however, since people don’t actually play sports no more (for example, dribbling the ball by themselves for 35 seconds and never making it beyond the free throw line yet they still refuse to play defense) I stopped altogether. But I maintain the sexiness. Someone gotta get it one day.

4. I love my family and friends but almost never let them know. It really doesn’t show @ all.

5. I play videogames all the time but just play other people’s PS3, 360 and Wii (Go dorms!).

6. SOMEONE (you know who you are) “borrowed” my Aladdin DVD (limited freaking edition) and never gave it back. I still weep about this when I’m alone.

7. I hate, hate, HATE being taken seriously all the time. This has ended some potential great friendships and romantic rendezvous.

8. I don’t like the word ‘penis.’ Makes me want to reach and make sure it’s still there.

9. I’ve had some sort of facial hair since age 3. Three. Just so you know it wasn’t a typo.

10. I hate smelling perfumes of my ex-girlfriends. My mom occasionally wears the perfume of my first girlfriend…

11. I was born on the 23rd of October. This means I’m on the cusp of Libra and Scorpio. At times, I have traits of both.

12. Do not challenge me in any videogame unless you know some crazy hax. I will OMGWTFWASTHATSHITPWNYOU.


Honestly, had I known your girl would be there to see it, I wouldn't have done you in like that.

13. I am of no particular religious doctrine.

14. I can sleep through anything under 130 decibels if it’s a sound I recognize.

15. I fear writing. I never know what I will find out.

16. I have lived in Los Angeles (CA), Chicago (IL), Memphis (TN) and Knoxville (TN).

17. I refuse to buy a shoe over $40 unless it goes with a suit. In the 8th grade, I wore this red suit with red shoes and a white cape. Didn’t do me much good though because I was basically still scared of girls back then. Sigh, what a lameass.

18. I still think Shaggy on Scooby Doo was black. This dude never wanted to go check out the mystery. He heard a noise, he went the opposite direction. He always was eating Scooby’s Scooby snacks. I mean come on! On a similar note, why the hell is Goku a white guy in the Dragon Ball live action movie? Goku is Asian! I don't see any white American slaves in movies.


Don't let me ever be a movie director. I'm gonna screw everything up in Huckleberry Fin!

19. I prefer small crowds. Hard to act as if I like you if I don’t. I mean it’s doable but if it’s not a job I have a choice.

20. I will not date anyone who rates 8 or above on my sexy meter anymore. This will be explained later on in a blog.

21. I don’t trust the government. Doesn’t mean I don’t have hopes of a better tomorrow, but it’s just a bunch of men making decisions, not a machine attempting to do what’s best for all.

22. I was a gullible child. Two specific things come to mind. One day, my cousin told me we were made in a factory and I cried for hours. Later that week, he told me that Aisha, the yellow Power Ranger, stayed across the street from his house. Needless to say, I watched that house from his window the entire day which scared his neighbors.


OOOOOOOOOO, to this day! Hott! (that's for you Mercerdes)

23. Music I listen to: Japanese, hip hop, rock, jazz, (old) R&B.

24. I am looking for a girlfriend. I thought about this in some detail long ago but I understand how dwindling the #s are. Just peep this:

Let’s say I want to look for a black girlfriend. Most black women in the U.S. are Christians. I am not. There goes probably 75% already. Now let’s take race of the equation and I still say it’s around 60 % of women are out of the question. Now, from this 40% who don’t care about my religious priorities, what percentage are not certifiably crazy? From that number, are their teeth nasty? Does she mind cooking or cleaning occasionally? Can she take a joke?

When I finished my random lists of things I would prefer, the percentage was something like .00032 %.

Sigh, how many concessions will I really have to make?

25. I got a YouTube channel that will be regularly updated along with two different blogs separated for poetry and the other for random stuff .

Check ‘em out later.

Word is bond.

Who's World Is This? (Orginally written 1/1/07)

I came into the new year doing nothing but kicking it with my little brother. Not a glorious way to bring tidings but I made it ight. I spent the last hours of 2006 making phone calls to folks and trying to finish quarrels that hadn’t yet been resolved. Notice I never said apologize. I ain’t a big enough man to apologize to those who don’t deserve it, or simply forgive from the goodness of my heart. Aaron ain’t going to even front like he doing it big like that. If you were an Ass in my book 24 hours ago, then you under the Ass tab right now, no hard feelings.


Unfortunately for you, I hold some incredible grudges.


I made no New Year’s resolutions since I’m too far from understanding from the man I will become. I want to set attainable goals, not lofty expectations that I won’t be able to handle when the floor falls out again. I know that I will be more to myself than before. People who knew me before I hit college know I’m generally a quiet guy who observes until questioned. Up to this point, I had been more outspoken no matter the subject. I wanted others to be more observant. Pay attention to surroundings, to our future, for our children. Comfort in apathy now becomes complete complacence later in life. I judge none but I do feel a sense of defeat because I know as one man I haven’t done much of anything.


Nothing will change without a shared frustration. Nothing can be done without majority. What you think 9/11 was about?


But it all begins with one. We all have things we hold as important. I have spoken randomly with so many folk, so much ambition, so much denial – “Yea, I see what you mean but see…”. I saw the denial in myself and I feared the ambition cause I saw what it was doing to the minds of my peers. Ambition was overtaking the values they claim to hold dear. Interesting.


Some ambitions were as simple as wanting to be excepted and be liked. Who doesn’t like being liked? Unfortunately, they put putting on all sorts of masks. Some ambitions were of lust, greed. “Live for today,” a bunch say. “Do it while you young,” is how others put it. Why do something now you won’t be comfortable with when you older?


Learn from MJ: Just be yourself.


As I said before, I haven’t judged before and I won’t start now. I’m probably more flawed than any man I’ve ever encountered. My resolution is just to try to find the man I’m going to become and live as that man will. I’m not going to say he’s this perfect fellow. I’m still gonna cuss when I see someone super bounce on Halo, I’m still gonna cut a man if he touch my daughter without permission (when she get here, love you baby girl!), and so on. Life teaches us how to deal with situations, and Life is different for the individual. I may not turn out the way others figure I should but that’s cool cause we all been through separate issues.


I just want to say to everyone try to live in ways that you won’t regret later, fuck the year. Life doesn’t begin with the year. It’s not all about the now, it’s the journey that counts. As a writer, I understand that each time I write on a sheet of paper I start a new world. It is the same in how we choose to live. Remember that you have control over what is important to you and what you do from here on it. Remember those who look up to you and what they will do with your example, even if they are not here yet.


Happy New Year! And keep life precious…

Lay-Z

If I am currently watching the SEC Championship game, Florida v. Alabama, and getting more and more annoyed. I wonder why I study ANYTHING. I'm watching some crazy, inexcusable mistakes (specifically Alabama special teams) and then I notice the pile of notes in my peripheral for an eight page paper due in the next few days. I like learning and all but there are much easier ways to make money.

Recently, New York Knicks guard, Stephon Marbury was suspended one games pay: $200,000. The man makes $200,000 to play ONE GAME. NOT THE FULL GAME, just playing in it. I ain't hating, it's just an astronomical number in my head. I'm going to become an English teacher (middle school?). I will start off with some around $40,000 a year. I have to work for half a decade to make what Marbury will in one basketball game. This is something I considered even before the recent "depression" the economy has hit, but it is even more funny to me now.

So why do I not pull a Lil' Wayne? Just ghostwrite some songs with no cohessive thought pattern (stuff "no one would have thought of" because a talking bear that juggles active chainsaws while riding a unicycle is awesome if I never heard it before...!), tell the artist to just flow the lyrics, and occasionally talk about banging bitches cause even bitches love that.

Or I could strip! And being real, what's wrong with stripping? They look and throw money. You flash and make hundreds a night. What the hell could be easier? I can't hate on that if you got bills you trying to pay or whatever (notice I did not say I would date you, I just can't hate on that).


A lil skinny for my taste but I'll toss you a dollar for trying.


Just a quick thought of the day and an excuse to post something on this blog since I haven't updated in months.

I'm gonna do better.

Step # 1 To Saving Hip Hop

The guy who "plays" Rick Ross, without the beard, at his real job as a correctional officer.


Each form of media glorifies traits that many would call immoral. For example, in movies we see actors portray a vast array of personalities from evil geniuses, cross dressers, murderers, child molesting preachers, the list goes on - actors/actresses are given awards and praised for being able to cross different mediums to reach into these roles. Somehow, hip hop personas never turn off.

I guess part of this is because hip hop is the guinea pig for the drug wars, homophobia, dudes wearing pink (ok, this one I can't argue against), and others issues that originate elsewhere. Seriously though, it seems that black folks from the gutter want to believe that hip hop artists are really those sort of people because they want to make it to that high status themselves. Artists are becoming popular off street cred and so they continue to live the lie.

Rick Ross ain't the only one. Ice T said he was a pimp but now I can't think of a role he played on TV or in a movie where he is not a cop. Ice Cube, formerly of Niggas With Attitude i.e. "NWA", makes family movies now. The only time Lil Wayne has ever been shot was when he shot himself before he signed with Cash Money Records. I could continue this forever sadly.

I say all this to say we got to stop taking entertainment as reality. Phase one of bringing back the essence has yet to commence.






"Ha! You thought I was jumping off this bridge with you!"

Break bread, then hand them the book

"Philosophically speaking, we are people too!"

Black folks are an odd bunch. The rhetoric of the black culture screams self-pity. Now before black readers get upset, just breathe a quick second... ok, cool. There are a nice amount of issues black people have in the U.S, but few of them are unique to black people.

Even self-hatred exist among white people when they call their poorer counterparts “white trash.” White trash tends to reference poor white folks who do uncivilized things like kissing cousins (although European nobility kept their lineage by keeping it in the family.. shrug, I guess they forgot). It is simply a difference in social class which also results in a difference of culture. Similarly, I have been around “educated” black folks that spew out mess like this: “I love black people but I can't stand niggas!” This coming from the people who are supposed to speak to the ills of their less fortunate brothers and sisters.

I say we blame Sepiroth for everything. Yes, put your head down in shame.

Black Americans who have a voice often talk about stuff like abolishing the word 'nigger', the fact that most black folks don't know their history (the rhetoric of the statements is always directed at the 'uneducated'/ignorant nigger), and other tangents that do not deal with the most important issue: lack of basic necessities: food, shelter, and clothing. But let's explore the two issues above for the hell of it:

Black folks don't know their history: Before you hand a man a book, you have to give him a way to sustain necessities. I see a lot of college professors and students talk all this mess about how it's because those “niggers” don't know their history (it is not always that blunt but the implication is clearly there). However, when I try to engage them in conversations about African history pre-slavery, they draw blanks after talking about anything other than Egypt almost every time. That whole “we were all kings and queens” stuff does not mean much either since most people would have been peasants. That was not “our” (shared for all Africans to have) gold, that was “their” (the royalty of the nation) gold. It's also an incredibly materialistic and ethnocentric way to garner support that mimics “the man's ploy”, but I will digress on that particular point.

Find Kemet on a map? What the hell is Kemet?

A man or woman without a decent wage who is barely making financially obligations week to week don't give a damn about what happened that long ago. They are trying to keep from getting put out on the street. It would be neat to know but knowledge alone feeds no one (hence, Kanye West's skits about college degrees on his first album). No one goes to college simply to get the knowledge. College helps give one a better chance at securing a good job. Once jobs are plentiful and money goes into neighborhoods to bring real long-term necessities to fruition, we will see a change. And then people can learn about Africa, including the educated folks...

The word nigger:

It is absolutely silly and unproductive to have a funeral for the word nigger when the actions continue. We need to have a movement to resurrect brothers and sisters, not a funeral for niggers cause niggers don't die...

Niggers are like roaches. They are never going to go away. Learn from them what we should not become because niggers don't die.

“Project Roach” , Nas' Untitled (2008)

Ignorant people will always exist. There is no way to reach a utopia where all people act in accordance to law/good even with the promise of Hell. People labeled 'niggers' often lack the basic necessities because the ghettos do not have money being spent in smart ways that are productive to the community or even the long-term needs of the individual.

I ain't got no house but the hos gon love this shit!

Let me be very clear about this: black folks do come into money but they often spend it on dumb shit. I know a girl who recently graduated from college with a bachelor's degree and a pretty decent job. The first thing she did was lease a brand new car although she still lives with her mother. Conversely, we got folks “in the hood” talking about how “the man” holding them back but they putting rims and new amps on 20 year old cars. Even once a person has money to take care of necessities, that person must learn how to spend their money which is where a book can come in. The ignorant come in both the poor and the more well off, but the truth of the matter is that those with more money often have a better chance to do well because they have a stable base.

I can not properly cover everything in a thorough manner and keep this at a concise format, but I simply want to give an example to people so that they can apply it to other situations. Before anything, people must have food, shelter, and clothing. A lack of any of these three is guaranteed to spell disaster for any community. After those three things, we may address other issues. Trust me, if you didn't have food to eat, a place to sleep and clothes on your back on a consistent basis, you wouldn't give a fuck either.

As important as anything I mentioned, but I never got to it.