I am stalking him though like him.A few weeks ago I realized that I wanted to try standup this summer.
But reading his Times article confirmed it. So, here are the following reasons why Judd Apatow is the truth.
1. Larry Sanders is his mentor. DUDE. I was prolly the only lil black gurl in east oakland watching AND laughing at The Gary Shandling show. Sh*t, I still know the theme song.
2. He is a RIDER. He is "still better known to the executives who run the town for losing a legal battle over a writing credit on Carrey’s “The Cable Guy” and framing a Time magazine rave of “Undeclared,” attaching an obscenity-laced note and sending it by messenger to the Fox executive who was about to cancel the show.
3. We both have a cynical yet connected view of the world. "“My way of dealing with the world has always been to make fun of it and observe it but not take part in it,” Apatow told me when we first met in the fall of 2005. “That’s how I became a writer. But when you have kids, suddenly you have to be part of things. It leads almost to a breakdown because your whole defense mechanism is now really destructive.”
4. He started his career doing standup tooo.
5. And finally. "Apatow and Gary Shandling share a comic sensibility, and at one point, they even shared a therapist.
Jude Wrote the 40 year old virgin. & He has a new movie, Knocked Up, is coming out on tomorrow.
That sandwich look hella good hunh? I had a childhood desire of becoming a chef.
Food like THIS makes me realize that the desire hasn't completely left.
I ate four of them this weekend, which was Warm and Delish.
I will say that it was my FURST single MDay in a long @ssed timeand that took some getting used to.
Only because I didn't have jam packed @ss schedule.
Ultimately it comes down to autonomy + passion.
Autonomy is dope. Passion is essential.
Coming and going as you please.Staying a little later at the spot and not having to worry about "checking in".
But. The other side of THAT coin is: 1.) Waking up without the brunch buddy 2.) Not having someone to go get the ice and beer for the cooler. 3.) Needing somebody to go in the kitchen to refill your lemonade spritzer.
I was outside my comfort zone this weekend.
Having to spend stretch's of time cooling out, NOT running around.
Yes there was SOME kickin' it.
But not like it has been in the past.
Plus holidays put hella pressure on your to have plans.
Ultimately You learn alot about yourself when you take a holiday to the face.
I mean b/w them teef and those ears, WE knew he was special.
But I have allways had a sweet spot for the Kick Push remix verse, as it was the first time, in a long time, that an artist cohesivly, on a HOT Track talked about: [1] Black identity [2] Navigating relationships w/ hood dudes [3] Hood acceptance [4] Being willing to try something different [5] Attempting to navigate that space between being different and being accepted.
Push down with the right, lift up with the left Push down with both feet man, now land that shit fresh We used to ride around just doin' that With some used Airwalks and Billabong on my back Happily because my mom couldn't afford it When it came to Black validity, I guess they felt shorted Identity crisis, they scrunched they facial How we both black and our kid is biracial?
Okay, let me simplify the story yo I was black but white in the middle like an Oreo I skateboarded past all the shit I coulda been I know my dead homies wish they was much gooder then
I mean gooder then, not cuz I'm better than See, Airs got hooder man, blood got wetter than I was just tryna bring it home and set a trend But they would just yawn like it's Late Night for Letterman I'm tryna tell 'em, it ain't no chance it's a fad But they look at my Sadplant like a plant that was sad These niggas count more grants than my dad From all the cocaine in the grams of a bag Skateboard P stand for skateboard past All the bullshit that the devil's plans had It grew up happy man, that plant wasn't sad So I put it in Vanity Fair and the Zoo York ad And I cooked it up to a crystalized dream Take a puff, don't that taste like ice cream? My record come out, the store calls your girl Hate it or love it, I warholled the world Yezzur...
====== ======
Hi Pharrel.
Its hot.
And its 6:30 am. I am up.
Burds chirpin got me up. Need to go to Trader Joes anyways.
Attraction bugs me out.I mean you can be moving right along in a friendship, or just talkingto someone and then they so or do something that makes you think"Does John John like me?"Im deading the graduate.
It wasn't like anything been poppin'. He just came kinda wack a few weeks ago.And because I have been on this mission to realize my gifts and I have 2 count, them 2 B's (grades so far, collar poppin ya'll) and counting, I guess I got my swag back. <<<***Winter '07 Swag disease. LOL.
Pet Dectective told me that people come into you life for a reason a season or a lifetime and I feel him on that.
It all goes back to the Warriors.See. The grad and I both like ball.So the theory was to take a lil break and catch a game.
I kid you not, he showed up w/ his lil cuz. Dude is like 19 or 20.
In fact they are more like brothers than anything. Now I don't mind. I adore lil cuz.But I don't think I have SEEN the graduate in '07.
So you bring a third wheel.
AND he ain't tell me that that he planned on doin. So How in the f*ck you gonna show up to the spot where we 'posta be gettin our Homer simpson in watching Baron Davis magic.
And the youngin' sitten there.
I felt like I could TAWK the way I wanted to.<<** mouth is foul.
Feel me?
Any hoo.
That last lil ember of attraction that was simmering just got handled by a bucket o' water.
Its dope how people, both Black (R.Kelly) and White (IMUS) can explain sh-t away if they wanna participate in something.
I am an older woman, I love this site and spend much time here. Till now, I’ve been able to ignore most of the posts that were blatantly sexist and disrespectful to women, having long ago learned to pick my battles, and not to sweat the small stuff too much.
Like someone above commented, I could basically give a shit about that ad. But the ad becomes a springboard from which to explore the real issues having to do with gender and power in the world.
it is interesting to see the comments of many of the people here, and to see how they would fit quite comfortably into any conservative republican bachelor party of the sort GWB and his cronies probably attend.And yet these same people consider the objections to corporate marketing and control of the female image as a conservatively-based thing. Quite ironic really. A fine example of men banding together to face the common enemy: women.The brotherhood of man, guess it really does ultimately transcend political affiliations.
Yall thought I stayed on Imus. These jawns be using they innernet wireless to talk!
The good thing about being me is I trip off this sh*t all the time so I ain't really pressed when a white jawn or a black jawn for that matter come out they face.
Par for the course baby. <<<***Cynical. A tad. Protected. Allways! ========= ========= TMR gonna have a coronary. ======== ========
Speaking for me personally any record label is just not for me - major, indie or whatever. Signing exclusively to a record label with the state the business is in is like buying a ticket to the Titanic. Record sales are steadliy going down...these labels are doing artist crazy gestapo shit and try to save their money. So signing a record deal in 2007 is insane, there is really no need for it. But that´s my personal thing. No matter what label, I´m sure it´d be the same way. Concerning Atlantic, it just wasn´t a good fit.
Which bring me to the artist showcase I went to earlier this week. I attended at the behest of a jawn that was checkin' for me.
He told me he was throwing an underground "party".
I was like, Im a b-girl, so I'll rock.
Dude. The spot smelled like corona's were splashed on the walls which seemed to emit beer steam.
Thats just the begining.
There were these hood-lic-ious young gurls.
Fort green houses respresent, represent sent. Bed-stuy houses respresent, represent sent. And THAT was what was fresh to me because the crowd was young and the music wasn't commercial. Come to think of it I was prolly the oldest female there that DIDN'T work for a label. So, the around the way girls and dudes came through to support their homies that were performing.
It reminded me of that late 90's Nuryorican era.
Man lissen. There were these shark skin suit wearing label types double fisting hennessy and (whatever you chase hen-rock with).
Here is the rub tho'.
Cats were COMPETING for an opportunity to have a "sit down" meeting w/ cats @ shady records.
Why compete for a meeting w/ a label?
One should at least be competing for enough cash for a new cell phone, some chucks, or one of the skelton hoodies.
Speaking of which, Imma have to blog about my phone issues because it is outta pocket. What does it mean that in 2007, artist are still willing to sign their art over to a label for a loan via a contract that will effectivly have them hoe'd out to the label for the next 7 albums?
Technology offords the opportunity for jawns to make a living and connect directly with the fans.
More than 3,000 people, on average, were visiting his site every day, and his most popular songs were being downloaded as many as 500,000 times; he was making what he described as “a reasonable middle-class living” — between $3,000 and $5,000 a month — by selling CDs and digital downloads of his work on iTunes and on his own site.
"His fans do not want merely to buy his music. They want to be his friend.........This is not a trend that affects A-list stars. The most famous corporate acts — Justin Timberlake, Fergie, Beyoncé — are still creatures of mass marketing, carpet-bombed into popularity by expensive ad campaigns and radio airplay. They do not need the online world to find listeners, and indeed, their audiences are too vast for any artist to even pretend intimacy with. No, this is a trend that is catalyzing the B-list, the new, under-the-radar acts that have always built their success fan by fan. Across the country, the CD business is in a spectacular free fall; sales are down 20 percent this year alone. People are increasingly getting their music online (whether or not they’re paying for it), and it seems likely that the artists who forge direct access to their fans have the best chance of figuring out what the new economics of the music business will be.
Texas Truth, my new muse, musta been in my head this morning, because he just sent me a link regarding the fact that R. Kelley's case has not started yet.
All three of the cases have a similar thread which is the issue is someone having sex with a Black woman or girl.
I have been meaning to write about R for a hot minute.
I was reminded of him this weekend when I went on a date with myself to Barnes and Noble and read the new Essence cover to cover. I also read Curve w/ bad @ssed Michelle Rodriguez on the cover, and the new Pink magazine. Peep the article about R. Kelleys wife in Essence. Yes. Old Boy is married. Yes they are estranged.
But Andrea says she had to cut some people off who said nasty things about her husband, and surround herself with people who she believes care for her. "I know the allegations aginst my husband don't reflect on me as an individual," she says. "They don't reflect on me as a mom or as a wife, and they don't reflect on me in my everyday life."
Thats interesting. Wouldn't it be more apropo to say that they don't reflect on her wholly. To say that they don't reflect on her at all gives rise to some credibility issues, as she MARRIED HIM in the first place. Post. Alliyah. mind you.
Back to Duke.
After I made my statement in Evidence in April I had a conversation with a classmate.
I told him that SOMETHING HAPPENDED at Duke that night.
It may or may not have been rape.
But something happened.
Here is the kicker, this dude went to school in St. Louis and told me that it is common practice for frats to hire dancers to come to school parties during the rush period and FOR THE frats/athletes to have sex with them.
I then followed up saying that is this an EXPLICIT arrangement?
He said sometimes it is sometimes it isn't.
I then followed up asking, "So sex with one of these women dancers is understood, and it may be included in the actual fee she is paid to come to the campus or she may agree to be paid on the spot for each individual encounter". He said yes.
NOW THIS BLEW me out the water.
NOT because it existed.
But because mainstream MEDIA DID NOT TELL THIS PART OF THE STORY.
That what happened on Dukes campus, the ACTUAL HIRING of the dancer in the first place is common practice among fraternities across the country.
The things you learn when you talk to your white peers. LOL.
What if the gurl in the video with R.Kelly was white? Would the trial have allready started
"Many Kelly watchers also believe that the case hasn't moved faster because of racial factors. "If those girls had been white, he'd be in jail now," says Shakema Long, 18, a coed at Cal State. "But they were black girls, and nobody cares about us." 2. The raised the question of whether R.Kelly's attorney's strategy is to try and wait as long as possible so that the alleged victim has turned 18.
"...say they think Kelly and his lawyers are stalling until the young girls become adults, when they'll be less sympathetic victims—and, in the case of the girl in the video, less recognizable".
3. Is R. Kelly a sexual predator? I mean seriously. Of all the jawns he could cake, he want that 16 and under set.
"You'd think that the state would have a strong case. Kelly had a well-known interest in minors. In 1994, he illegally married the singer Aaliyah when she was 15 and he was 28. Kelly has reportedly been sued four times by women who claimed some type of sexual misconduct; Kelly is believed to have settled all of the cases for unspecified amounts. Some people say there were other incidents as well. "A lot of people knew what was going on and chose to look the other way," says one of Kelly's former employees, who admits to being one of those people. "He wasn't doing this without help."
The first that was: 1. Know how to wake up and be content w/ yourself. I was kicking it w/ the Graduate one day. I was said Good Morning. He was like. Good morning. I asked him how he was doing? He said he was perfect. That he could use a lil bit more cash, but that he was perfect.And I was like damn. He in his first year of the Ph.D. jawn,so we are in similar boats, but Ol boy's spirit was good money. I knew then that I wanted to cultivate the ability to wake up like that.
2. Be capable of blocking the world out for hours. When push comes to shove, these cats can block out the world and get they grind ON. And that is the way to be productive.
The last 8 weeks before finals I started using the library. I realized how necessary it was to turn off the phone, and sh*t even the im in order to be productive over a 5-8 hour period.
3. Sleep is great, but learning how to live on a little is amazing. Jawns I know really don't sleep alot. Meaning 70-80% the Black men I know, the Architects, Artist, Directors, Writers, B-Boys, DJ's, they sleep maybe 3-5 hours max.
I don't know if its the hustle that NYC requires, or the neurosis of being a black man grinding, but cats don't sleep. I likes my beauty rest.
I don't like waking up looking like a raccoon in the eyes.
BUT.
What I did take from this was that the planning the night before a big day is important as the BIG day itself. So. If I NEED that sleep, then imma prolly have to take it down a notch the night before.
4. Black men have no problem putting themselves first. At first, being newly single, I was put off by it. Then I learned from it and started incorporating it into my own greasy. Cats put themselves first.
They do what they wanna do, when they wanna do it.
Sh*t. While I am capable of doing the same, women in this culture are not TAUGHT to do it on g.p.
If I am at a fork at the road, then imma go forself.
If its gp errry day, then imma prolly think of other people.
SHYYYYT.
After seeing how dudes rock. Not in '07. I struggles with this TO THIS DAY.
But I am very mindful of how a jawn handles it and form follows form.
If You put me first, I follow form. You greasy and put me on the bench, then don't trip when that sh-t gets done to you.
A young lady from youth radio sum's it up perfectly when she reflects on a desceased friend saying,
All his friends from his East Oakland turf — called Greenside — were there. Greenside is not a gang, but if you live in Oakland, every block has a name, and people are loyal to their block no matter where they move.
========== ==========
Two things I noticed.
1. How ol boy gonna be on camera showing his stash? Posession w/ intent to distribute.
2. How other dude gonna be on camera w/ his gat? Prolly a violation of probation. Posession of a loaded fire arm.
Niggas be trippin off that stupid shit. I stay w/ heat, up under that seat. If you ain't got no pistol, you never know. You get your head busted @ any time. Stay wichyours/ cuz Imma have mine.
Did you see the under cover try and cop?
============= =============
Death is so common in the ghetto. You can ask any one how many loved ones they lost, and they will have a football roster.
Oh. And Richmond jawns don't play.
Richmond like Philly. You don't go there w/o at least two gats, mace and a stun gun.
"When its possible for a 17 year old kid to make $15,000 off one transaction in the hood, you can't tell him to go to college.
Man Listen.
"How does it feel to wake up and beef erry day?
Real Talk.
========= =========
Felt Like I just watched an episode of the Wire: East Oakland.
My homies that I speak to, can you see where I get the language "code speak" from?
Or that I threw the statement out therefor inflammatory reasons.
Yall know me.I got a code.
I knocks low brow, high brow, and the delicious middle.
HOWEVER. That does not mean that I won't call a spade a spade when it comes to being critical regarding Black art.
I AIN'T gonna let the fact that some BLACK ART is sterotypical stop me from a. Listening to or watching it. b. Criticizing it.
Noz said something, and I responded. Simple as that.
If something strikes me, Imma respond, and DEFEND MY response w/ analytical reasoning.
This is how it went down.
Noz made a comparison between Mos and three 6.
Really it was quite revolutionary, predicting a confusing future where Three 6 Mafia would get more burn from the nerds than Mos Def.
I responded.
3-6 mafia= Imperial Coonage.
Mos Def= Refuses to Coon.
Easy.
Then it went from there.
I am posting my response here, because my responses @ Noz's house tended to get guantanamod . In response to my statement, one commenter,crooked letters said,
The problem is that post rawkus/BOBS, Mos hasn’t really produced hot shit. Instead of getting by on the strength of his artistic work, people buy his work because he’s not an “ignorant rapper.” For people who really are concerned with good politics, good rap music, and good combinations of the two, it would be the most fraudulous of frauds to get caught up in symbolic icons. its che guevera t-shirt politics.
Afer reading this I had the following questions. 1. Wait. So buying music by rappers that are "not ignorant" constitutes fetishizing them?How?
2. Buying rap by rappers that are NOT ignorant constitutes T-Shirt Politics?
3. I wager that ALL artist get by on the strength of their relationships w/ fans. Perhaps, Mos has done so more so than others. I argue that THIS is A Benefit one receives from being an artist. Its called having credit in the bank.
4. And What in the f*ck in '07, is good politics? That shit is HELLLA vague.
Eleven historically Black colleges and universities affiliated with the United Methodist Church are boosting their efforts to recruit students from the burgeoning Hispanic population.
The consortium of HBCU leaders, known as The Council on Presidents, discussed their strategy late last month at a two-day workshop called "Forging Bold New Paths: Offering Welcome and Ministry to Hispanic-Latino Students at Black Fund Schools." Discussing everything from Hispanic cultural values to immigration issues, the presidents came together in Nashville, Tenn. to discuss how best to reach Hispanic students and how to meet their needs once they come to campus.
.
========= =========
Her voice is dope.
The beats.
Um. Not so much.
THEY BETTER MARKET HER RIGHT.
========== ==========
Man.
Listen.
Music is Delicious. I got "Monk-Roach-Duke" jawn from the library, "Doomsday" from Noz and Aim's "Frank" from Gotty, all in heavy rotation this weekend.
I been running the streets since that last post yall.
Bouncing around the city.
I started counting, and I realized that I changed my life substantially in '07.
1.) I missed 6 birthday parties. 2.) I missed A Clipse concert (I had free tix).
3.) I missed A wedding.
4.) I missed all of the recent Sopranos episodes.
5.) Had no brunch in the last 9 weeks. 6.) Had no Sunday Times in the last 9 weeks.
7.) AND. NO new boyfriends. <<greasy!
======== ========
I kicked it with some White classmates yesterday.
Got into a fight. Dude gon' try and tell me that it was a COOK OUT and not a Bar b que. I was like.
They got a pit?
They got coals?
Then its a bar b q.
He. Gon' say it's a cook out cuz there ain't no bb q sauce.
^^Silly non-negro. Speaking of non negros, I noticed something about white men.
The normal defense mechanism that I see that some Black men haveisn't present in white men, to the same extent. [I will conceed that Black men can and do say the same thing about White women in comparisonto Black women].
Its almost as if they would cap on each other, but they ain't gethostile or annoyed by it.
It was like, they just weren't pressed by the 'lil snide comments that they made towards one another.
Based on behavior I saw in school, I thought there would be more antagonistic towards each other.
But it was more like just, gentle clowning of one another.
Texas Truth posited that white men, especially professional jawns, know that there is very little that they can do to "ruin" their lives. In turn this gives them the privilage, a sense the world is waiting for 'em.
1. Despite over a decade of engagement, many would argue that the images of women in hip-hop have become progressively and destructively more negative than at any other time in history.
2. These images and lyrics, while acceptable for adults, are targeted to a demographic made up of young people ages 12 to 16. [He fails to mention that it is created for white children].
3. During the production of a documentary for BET, which focused on sex and hip-hop, I interviewed a panel of high school students. One of those students, a 15-year-old girl, stated that she was not satisfied with how she looked because she wanted to be like the girls in the videos. After all, the boys want to be with girls in the videos. One of the young men followed up by saying that the girls in the videos were cool to sleep with, but not to take home.
Hip-hop must accept a level of responsibility for the destructive reality played out in the lives of many young people as a result of the music.
4.The civil rights movement, which has been justifiably praised for its ability to change the social and political fabric of America for the better, was overwhelmingly sexist.
5. The soft porn we see on many cable networks, the access to all forms of porn via the Internet, and Madison Avenue's continued recognition that sex sells have desensitized an entire generation to the objectification of women.
Now for the comments that had me squinchin' up my face.
Dave Kramer, New York, New York To say that misogyny in hip-hop is the direct result of misogyny in the Civil Rights movement is quite a leap of faith. It also doesn't at all explain hip-hop's particular embrace of misogyny or why other, equally male-dominated cultures didn't (even remotely) follow suit. If you're looking for a reason not to blame hip hop, this ain't it Cousin Jeff.
1. He didn't say that. He used the civil rights movement to demonstrate that sexism is in other places also.
2. Equally male-dominated cultures didn't (even remotely) follow suit. Like where in China, where the gurl babies are murdered on the reg. Or in Darfur, where the women and gurl babies are raped on a daily. Or in Eastern Block countries where the girls are sold into prostitution. Or in Thailand, where girl child prostitution is rampant. Right. Because NO ONE ELSE IS RACIST (For the record, I collapse racism and sexism.)
Kyle, Washington, D.C. Surely you cannot advocate that hip-hop plays a small role in sexism. Hip-hop lyrics and videos are the gateway to the "softcore porn" you mentioned. Porn is look at positively by only a niche of society but hip-hop is universally accepted and is available practically anywhere. Girls don't watch porn thinking they wish they looked like those girls; it's the hip-hop girls that they idolize. Hip-hop leads the way for sexism in America and makes it "ok". When sexism stops in hip-hop, we'll tackle other industries and cultural problems, but not until then.
1. Hip-hop leads the way for sexism in America and makes it "ok". Wait. a. So, Hip Hop is responsible for LEADING AMERICA MORALLY? NICE! b. Who the hell was responsible for the country morally before 1977?
The white men ( the Libertarians) in my life, and various other hyper philosophical individuals (Harlem Gem) have encouraged me to culitivate my ability see relationships as manifestations of supply and demand. <<<**Greasy yes. Practical? UNBELIEVABLY!
This led me to wonder, what if teachers in the top 10 most populous urban public schools earned $80K minimum salary and all teachers were required to have a masters?
LA. DC. Bay. Philly. Detriot. NO. St. Louis. BK. Dallas.
What if reading, writing, science and math were standardized across the country the way it is in China and India?
What if all public officials had to send their children to PUBLIC schools?
Supply and demand fam.
========== =========
Looks like there's some problems in Little Rocks Public schools
Other urban public school districts in the South have suffered through similar racial battles over leadership, aggravated by symptoms that prevail here, too: white flight, inner-city poverty and what is referred to as the “achievement gap,” the wide divergence in test results between white and black students. The gap fuels resentment and makes an anathema of any perceived administrative leaning toward white students.
The fight here has been especially bruising because of its symbolic overtones and practical implications. Though whites have deserted the schools in many other Southern cities, they have not done so to the same degree in Little Rock, where they make up about a quarter of the 23,000 students. Birmingham, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; New Orleans and Memphis, by contrast, had white percentages in the single digits or barely above, according to 2000 Department of Education data.
"Every record label was getting at us at that time, but we fumbled the ball," says E-40, whose My Ghetto Report Card entered the Billboard album chart at No. 3 in March. "I hung on like a hubcap in the fast lane along with a few other rappers, and now it's time again. We had a 10-year drought and they went to other regions and were bypassing us like the surgery out here. But we're trendsetters, and the rap game without the Bay Area is like old folks without bingo."
======== ======== CBS had to dead the Obama comments section, cuz liberal klan members been calling him a Porch Monkey. Scandless!
This resurgent racism likes to cloak itself in the pretense of rebellious individualism standing up to the oppression of overbearing “political correctness,” or else in academic-sounding terms that fling about misinformation regarding the sciences and sociology to construct a pseudo-rationale for what they euphemistically like to call “race realism.”
But pull the cloak aside, and the same old, decrepit racism of a century ago is there, festering like a decaying zombie who refuses to die.
Here was this dude, w/ mega talent, but his dark side KEPT F*CKING WITH HIM.
So I listen to De La.
I listen to De LA and I remember WHEN I WANTED TO BE WHERE I AM NOW,
and I am thankful.
It takes a village to raise and m.dot.
So I offer thank you's. In alpha order:
Danyel Smith: For telling me to WRITE, regardless.
Dekka: For explaining that in order to focus for two weeks straight, NO CELL, NO IM.
Dig Dug: For being hilarious. For feeling me. For allways wanting to know when Im coming home.
Gotty: For being my muse. For deading me when I complained about BL incessantly.
Harlem Gem: For telling me last November " You are either going to break up with him or go to DC". For re-affirming my confidence. For not knocking me when I was down.
Irish Liberterian: For staying on me to study in the basement. Now I be in that b*tch erry day.
J!: For taking me seriously.
Jase: For never judging me. Jonzey: For being here since the admission essay, for being l.school strategy architect.
Lurkers: I know yall out there. Say hi. lemme hear from ya. Mean Sexy: For being firm w/ the NO NEW N*GGAS rule this semester. And for coming through when my money got funny. Minnesota: For telling me about his grad school woes, and helped me to see, adminstrative hoop jumping was something that MANY a student went through.
Min Reporter: For encouraging me to take risks when I write and for letting me know, subtly, that she reads everything. Miss Ahmad: For knowing and loving the Oakland we BOTH remember. Mum: For being compassionate when I least expected it. Neo: For being an "artist". Pet Detective: For forcing me to be cognisant of how my thinking affects my surrounds. For helping me realizing my gift.
Poppaay!: For being compassionate, obnoxious and brilliant. For showing me that Black men never give up.
S.Bot: For being my greasy hero. For being the architect to my L.school survival. For helping me see that we all deal with urges.
Texas Truth: For providing constructive criticism, for being available and for riding for Jesus and Black people.
Walt: For loving Hip Hop and Detroit as much as I do.
Wil.e.: For enthusiasticlly listening to my mundane details, for being thorough. ======== ========
To De La.Thank you for providing a soundtrack to my dreams and everything that falls inbetween.
