Up early in the morning...dressed in black....

So apparently the folks responsible for ransaking the liquor stores in the town last week, or someone sympathetic to their cause, BURNED ONE OF THEM DOWN earlier today....Now I feel the desire to maintain your neighborhood...but these dudes are looking at a federal case. The Nation of Islam denies any involvement....who IS it then?

Imma get my hyphie on with this mix cd...you should support and buy one too....

You are now rockin' with the best....

Goapele has a new joint coming out. You can hear her new songs here. The joint's are dope...I like the uptempo jawns most... ....as usual it is town business either way and I am glad to see her shining....

And he said...what do you mean...by my aim to please^^^^^^....and I was thinking...shit...nigg@ seeing fireworks @ 2am....issa wrap...

Town Business....IView the Super Hyphie video here..I love being able experience the town in the privacy of my own home....I peeped the Keak Link at Made in the Bay. Tookie got clemency a hearing.....maybe they won't fry him afterall....This forces me to think about how effective snoop and jamie and others who are anti death penalty can be if they get together as a unified voice....maybe we can use their energies to teach young bucks that READING AIN'T WHITE. Billy jam has some photos on Oakland blues. I think that it is worthy of a documentary. What do you think? Thank you to Jeff Chang for the swipe.1959 Was Their 1989: West Oakland's R & B Scene In The 50s. I love the idea of 1959 being their '89.

So blog family...I have learned how to post up multiple images,,,,and I am feeling cool....See I told you this post would be more positive.....;0

I'm sicker this year....

Now you can't say that I did not help you get your week off to a good start. Next post is going to be more positive. I promise....

COUPLE SAYS COMMUTE RUINED THEIR MARRIAGE

See, I knew I was right for wanting to stay in the city....the lure of a big 'ol surburban house SOUNDS cool....but if I am going to get a divorce....(which I don't believe in....or at least I want to avoid at all cost).....it is NOT going to be over no dag rabbit commute.

Rain of the Text

Good Afternoon blog family.

Dude. The fact that that the Runaway Slave costs damn near $100, gives a whole new meaning to the term, AMAZON WISH LIST.

I need to be working on my crim law outline...I need to eat first...but I don't know what to eat...so I am just surfing the web looking for sites to listen to my 89-94 hop.

I found this. Its tight hunh? Man, the songs go all the way back to 95. They need to put out mix CDs.
The songs that I have listened to today:
Reign of the Tech's--Beatnuts
Similac Child- Black Sheep
Big Ol' Butt- LL
Thats How it Is---Casual ( which has been in my head for the last week)
101 Things to Do With Your Girl--- Quest the Madd Lad...remember when that happen.
Deerper-- Boss

Scrolling through that website is the closest I have EVER come to DIGGING in the crates, online.

Okay...so I just had to put some yams and mac and cheese (God bless Mrs. Mitc****) from Takesgiving ...perhaps I will continue to listen to the music...then eat...then study....sounds like a plan...yall know Imma end up at the movies...right...so sad....;}

Remember how the idea of a group called Young Black Teenagers was offensive.....?

Why did my new roommate...whom I have NEVER MET, just ring my bell and tell me that she is moving in tonight...I guess I should put the dishes in the sink in the dish washer:(

Ohhhhh. I found a dope blog/hop review site. Called Oh Word. Its dope. Wordy...A HH nerds dream.

The Best of Organized Konfusion....I guess in a sense it is a good thing...makes me feel old though.

Project Blowed 10 anniversary...um...I'm feeling old...again.

Imma out Rob Brezsny in a head lock. Look at my horoscope this week:

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22): "If it can't fit on a bumper sticker, it's not a philosophy." That's the message I read on the back of an SUV I was driving behind today. Now I offer it to you, Libra, because it's one of those weeks when short, snappy, pithy advice is what you need most. In accordance with your current astrological omens, here are four gems to guide you. (1) The road to success is always under construction. (2) If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried. (3) Good taste is the enemy of creativity. (4) Don't rub the lamp unless you're ready for the genie.

Please..don't let it be Oakland

Sometimes I will be watching the national news and I will hear , "VIOLENCE in a CALIFORNIA TOWN"****at which point I hold my breath think and chant my "please don't let it be Oakland" mantra, please don't let it be Oakland....and HOT DAMN if it wasn't Oakland they just mentioned. Apparently some gentlemen that resemble the Nation of Islam coordinated the two attacks.


I am aware of a couple of community organizations in EAST Oakland that are working with the liquor store owners in a partnership to ensure that the stores close at a reasonable time to prevent loiter- D-boy activities and the normal in front of the liquor store activities...But....some wild, wild, west, type street justice....that is, um, well, town business

50 Cent loves Ja Rule

In honor of my Reading Ain't White campaign, I am mentioning a new book that I just saw advertised on Court Street, in my neighborhood.

Queens Reigns Supreme : Fat Cat, 50 Cent, and the Rise of the Hip Hop Hustler (Paperback) by Ethan Brown A music editor at New York magazine.

Isn't it ironical that this book release coincides with the Supreme/Gotti trail??????

READING AIN' T WHITE

So...You know I gotta rep the Raiders...ie...the 'town...their record notwithstanding:/
'Yall peep that mimosa on the table...you know how I gets down....

My new campaign is called " Reading Ain't White"......courtesy of your number one

"Get it Girl"

....I feel like I have been getting it...this legal memo 'ish is no joke...I can see why only 2.9% of attorneys are Black....sitting for hours at a computer by yourself learning a new language....but if this is what I need to do in order to publish books and/or produce movies and/or be criminal defense..then imma Get it Girl....I think I am going airbrush it under under the stop sign a la the Stop Snitching T Shirts.

There is a new book out a about blogging called Blog!How the World of Blogs And Bloggers Is Changing Our Culture by David Kline, Dan Burstein, Arne J. De Keijzer (Editor), Paul Berger (Editor)

I saw an ad for this book in the times this weekend. The poem was dope. There are only three poets I ever really liked Rita Dove, Langston Hughes....and another woman....her name slips my now.

If
If I could say
what I feel
you'd be touching roses now
not paper

-John Korduba
"Everyone Gets Lost in Brooklyn" a book of poetry

Today was a good day...

Good Morning blog family. It is chilly outside. I have allready ran a mile and SHALL PROCEED...to brunch in about an hour....now for the news.... Apparently Sway is making moves at MTV from being producer to being an owner (prohiphop.com). Thats good, cuz, a sista would love a job putting together his contracts and negoiating the details...gotta keep that 'Town money up the family.

The world is a ghetto. A beatiful ghetto.

The post secret card of the week is deep. **Warning. Take a breath before you click. Trust. I have found a couple new blogs I like.

I found hers and felt immediatly at home. Like I allready knew her. Weird hunh?

Dude. Two new baby pandas. I am in PANDA HEAVEN.

What I Hate about Hip-Hop

1. That Damon Dash( and his brethren) have not invested money in buying real estate in the 'hood NYC to demonstrate:
a. Owning your own property is one of the most, if NOT the most single important investment you can make w/ your cash. Nigg@, do what Magic did but on a real estate level. Fresh.
b. Entertainment money can be used to flip the QUALITY of life of the people who loved hip-hop in the beginning.

2. I have no problem, w/ your 50, your Snoop or any other of your garden variety misogynistic emcess. [ Even though 50 ain't show is booty in his film..but WE can parade around his videos jiggling like our lives depended on it]. The problem is that the YOUNG BUCK's listening to the music have NO analytical skills. [Ironically, watching Get Rich last week, and when I saw them in the shower scene I IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT, umph, as many Black women are on view in his videos, I wonder if he is gonna show his booty. Nope. The director positioned the shot so that 50's was covered, but Terrence Howards WAS exposed. Hanging around that FILM KIDS has helped me hone the my ability to think about the CHOICES that a directors make in movies.] I want young bucks to THINK ABOUT the choices and undercurrents of the images that they see.
This weekend I realized that I spend more time reading about and analyzing music, videos, songs and lyrics than actually hearing it first i.e. the Alicia Keys lyrics to Unbreakable...How are you going to open up a song with..."Like Ike and Tina"....not okay fam.

3. That no one wants to be accountable for the lyrics they spit. You can assert your 1st amendment rights. Thats cool. But at the end of the day....the young bucks are still looking up to you.....still memorizing your rhymes...etc....The more appropriate stance would not to be say, "I ain't raising there kids" thats their parents job...true, true in deed. However, when ever someone needs to put out a mix tape, get the buzz up or simple kick it, the first thing they do is run to the hood. The hood filled with all those 'lil kids that idolize you. Reciprocate the love fam. Easy.

Town biz...all the way around

So The BAY appears to be having trouble recruiting negroes at CAl State East Bay...what do you expect then you have:

• Radicial experimentation taking place with hood children in Oakland Public Schools
  
• A State Governed local public school system
• More Administrators than students [ arguably]
  

The British Royals vistited MLK middle school in Berkeley. They apparently were attracted to the school yard gardening project.

Meleia Willis-Starbucks, the Black Dartmouth student from Berkeley, who was murdered last summer apparently had a blood alcohol level of .15% at the time of her murder. She also, prior to her murder, handeled the gun that was used to kill her. Wow. Nelly. That is significant.

White but Black Balled

Quality has never been a determining factor in terms of recognition and rerqards....in any field....when great work is successful, I beleive it is by coincidence"
Sarah Schulman, playright, teacher & Rebel :)

[Man, she ain't never lied when she spoke those words. She gives the term real talk a whole knew meaning].

Ms. Schulman laughed when I told her how much she is feared. Their fear, she said, is actually anger: anger of privlaged people being forced to question the source of their privlage...what can I do about the these people?...Apparently she meant what she do about them beyond attacking them in public and alluding to them in her novels and play's

Apparently I am not the only one who has recently learned and continues to learn that you gotta be real easy in criticizing folks and their privilages.....Inherited, earned or other wise...because they WILL assert their power and let you know about you AND Yo Momma. Trust.

Ms. Schulman said because she never completed a writing course, let alone a graduate degree, she had little knowledge of the basics. But the POLITCAL SKILLS needed to maneuver in the uptown theater [ and I wager any competitive area in NYC unless you are 2nd or 3rd generation] were even harder to master. I didn't know who was who and I wasn't used to the way people in that world behaved- which is antisocially [talk about fighting words]. By which she mean among other things that, theaters do not prioritize their responsibility to serve the vast, diverse array of life experiences that take place everyday in NEW YORK CITY. I wasted a lot of time figuring that out and making mistakes".

Sarah Schulman, 10/23/05 NY times Interview

Shakes Head in Shame

Ig'nant Negro Moment # 82

So 50 thinks that Kanye is wrong and that George Bush Loves Black people. Well, he did not really say that George Bush loves Black people but he did say that "I think people responded the best way they can."Dude is 50 pulling an Eazy E? Yall remember when Eazy got down with the republican party? Okay...so he claimed it was out of "curiosity"hmmmmm the republican party was so real to black ppl in the 80's...I find that hard to believe. What the EFF is the government if NOt for the PEOPLE. 50's statment confirms my hunch that black people and self hate go together like Bobby and Whitney, like Tyson and ears, like Snoop and Dre. I am sure 50 pays a grip of TAXES. TAXES which are intended to pay for items necessary to run a city...schools, police, firemen/women, levees in Negro neighborhood.

GTFOHWTOBS. For real!

I think it would be interesting if 50 said something, PUBLICLY about:

How knowing how to read is NOT acting white
How to avoid three strikes
About how much of what we see in Hip Hop is like wrestling