Friday, September 28, 2007

The Cool Kids ARE Hip Hop.

TwitThis



Aren't the Cool Kids fresh? The remind me of Doom meets De La
in a 1989 fun house.



Camp Lo STILL RAPPIN'.

Don't you love that moment where you be like,
So and So still trynna rap?

That's hot.

They sound dope and their visuals look RIGHT.

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=========

Did yall know that I was a Beatnuts fan.
If anyone has
intoxicated demons can you, ahem, SHARE it with
me.
I love that cd. I usta listen to it and go take pictures of
the graffiti at the yards off San Leandro Blvd
in Oakland.

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Look at yo' boy getting that Dubai cake.

Washington entrepreneur Robert L. Johnson said he expects
to close soon on a $125 million private-equity buyout fund he
started with the Carlyle Group aimed at acquiring small- to
mid-size businesses.

A second phase to grow the same fund to about $300 million
should close by the end of the year, said Johnson, founder and
former chief executive of Black Entertainment Television.

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I don't know how I feel about :::::: The Tila Tequila' show:

The last is the most titillating. It's called "A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila,"
and it sounds like "The Bachelorette" with a spicy twist. Since the former
Playboy model is bisexual, she's looking for love from a pool of 16 guys—
and 16 girls. Will she discover true happiness, or at the very least another
15 more minutes of fame?
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Did you ever like Camp Lo?

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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

You Notice How People Hate Mothers?

TwitThis

Typically the venom I witness in the media towards parents is directed at those that are low income and the working poor. Imagine my surprise when I see the homies at the Washington Post talking sh*t about people who hire folks to HELP with raising their children.

But no more! It turns out that other parents who are either too busy or too inept will pay dearly for our child-rearing talents. And I'm not talking about the drudgery of working twelve hour days as a nanny or baby nurse. I mean becoming highly compensated Child Life Specialists who are taking over the intimate, mundane responsibilities that are no longer the sacred purview of parents. Who needs law school? Now we all can bill by the hour.

Take this:

Professional Potty Trainer. You too can charge $185 an hour to toilet train someone else's child, like the talented folks at the Soho Parenting center in New York. This tidbit was reported in the October issue of Vanity Fair, which also told of a company called High 5 which will teach your kid to ride a bike (for $60 an hour) and the Los Angeles trend of paying attractive young men to come to your house to horse around -- with your kids. "There's nothing more emasculating than watching a stranger being paid to play with your kids," one (apparently sane) father complained.

On one level I can see how it seems trivial to be hiring out someone to play with your kid. On the other hand, who is suppose to do it IF you are working 80 hours a week be it ONE JOB outside of the house or TWO.

But then again the upper middle class and the wealthy pay for assistance
with other child raising matters such as kindergarten consultants, college
consultants, SAT tutoring, running coaches etc. Why should this been
seen as being any different?

The article would have made a MUCH better point if it
discussed the HUMAN CAPITAL that is invested in
raising children and how our culture has moved

from a one parent needing to work to support a
working middle class life style
to two parents working 60 odd hours per week
with a grandmomma/cousin/auntie/ stepmom-dad
living in the home OR nearby as well.


What all of these articles LACK are a critique of the system itself.

The next time you read something criticizing parents or
mothers who
have and ADDITIONAL job outside of the
home, look for an analysis
of the employee system itself.

Don't hold your breath. You see y'all that Britney sh*t,
that Lauryn sh*t and this is
all tied
together in that it reflects a GRAVE lack of understanding
of how
much MONEY and TIME and HUMAN CAPITAL in general
goes
into raising babies.

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Looks like the colleges have caught the Bigotry Flu.

I guess I am content with the fact that someone is writing about it.

A couple of weeks into classes at the University of Maryland, a rope tied into what looked like a noose was found hanging outside the campus's African American cultural center. Campus police reports this month included two incidents of racially disparaging remarks, one written on a workstation and one on a bathroom stall in the student union.

This weekend, a swastika was spray-painted onto the car of a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity, which one member described as a Christian fraternity.

A couple of weeks into classes at the University of Maryland, a rope tied into what looked like a noose was found hanging outside the campus's African American cultural center. Campus police reports this month included two incidents of racially disparaging remarks, one written on a workstation and one on a bathroom stall in the student union.

This weekend, a swastika was spray-painted onto the car of a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity, which one member described as a Christian fraternity.


Oh. Its SO MUCH FUN being a model minority.

If this shit didn't happen, what would I talk about?

Oh. Hip Hop, fancy Italian shoes and Sweet Jesus
trynna mack
me into moving to Dallas. LOl.

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Birds is chirpin' about Biggie.

A prison inmate who had implicated a former Los Angeles Police Department officer in the shooting death of rap star Biggie Smalls has renounced his story, tying a new knot in the tangle of intrigue that surrounds the still-unsolved killing.

Waymond Anderson, who was briefly a top-selling R&B artist and is serving a life term for murder, said in a recent deposition that he lied about LAPD involvement in the Smalls slaying as part of a "scam" concocted by two other convicts to squeeze a large monetary settlement out of the city.

A prison inmate who had implicated a former Los Angeles Police Department officer in the shooting death of rap star Biggie Smalls has renounced his story, tying a new knot in the tangle of intrigue that surrounds the still-unsolved killing.

Waymond Anderson, who was briefly a top-selling R&B artist and is serving a life term for murder, said in a recent deposition that he lied about LAPD involvement in the Smalls slaying as part of a "scam" concocted by two other convicts to squeeze a large monetary settlement out of the city.
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Now, here is a voter issue that can affect a whole lotta Negroes and Mexicano's.
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide whether states can require voters to show government-issued photo identification before they cast a ballot.

The justices' ruling, due by the end of June, could have a major effect on the 2008 presidential election and on congressional races in several states.

New photo ID laws in Indiana, Georgia and Arizona have been upheld in the last year, while a Missouri law was blocked from taking effect. By agreeing to hear an appeal from Indiana Democrats, the justices signaled that they wanted this legal dispute resolved before voters go to the polls next fall.

Since 2002, Republicans have championed photo IDs as a means to prevent fraudulent voting. Under the laws, a voter must show government-issued identification -- such as a driver's license or a passport -- to prove to poll workers that he or she is indeed the person registered to vote.
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OH. THE KKK is angry about the Jena 6 protests.
First a neo-Nazi website posted the names, addresses and phone numbers of some of the six black teenagers and their families at the center of the Jena Six case, as it has come to be known, and urged followers to find them and "drag them out of the house," prompting an investigation by the FBI.

Then the leader of a white supremacist group in Mississippi published interviews that he conducted with the mayor of Jena and the white teenager who was attacked and beaten, allegedly by the six black youths. In those interviews, the mayor, Murphy McMillin, praised efforts by pro-white groups to organize counterdemonstrations; the teenager, Justin Barker, urged white readers to "realize what is going on, speak up and speak their mind." `

Over the weekend, white extremist websites and blogs filled with invective about the Jena Six case, which has drawn scrutiny from civil rights leaders, three leading Democratic presidential candidates and hundreds of African American bloggers. They are concerned about allegations that blacks have been treated more harshly than whites in the criminal justice system of the town of 3,000, which is 85% white.
Ummp. I wonder what the middle class liberals who make my @ss itch
to say about this new development

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How do you deal with the soft bigotry that you encounter?

How did you deal with your last "racial" incident?

I honestly don't know why their is MORE Public Violence? For trill.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

A Black Man, Gary King jr., Gets Shot in the Back and Out Comes the Soft Bigotry in the SF Chronicle.

TwitThis



The police shot a Black man in the back in North Oakland last week.


According to the facts, he resisted arrest, he was tasered, continued
to move
and was later found to have a gun.

The good old folks in the SF Chronicle comments section have revealed their

soft bigotry.

Mainly, I found it interesting that NO ONE brought up the point that
perhaps the police officer WAS trigger happy and abused his discretion.


According to their rationale, if you resist arrest, and have a gat
on you, then its Okay for Popo to shoot you in the back.

Constitution anyone? Is anyone here familiar with the level of
force that a police officer is allowed to use in a situation such
as this? There has to be some law enforcement readers out there.
LOl.

Back to the case at hand.
Do the Oakland Police have a tough job? Damn right.
They are over worked and underpaid. I give them that.

Some are decent stand up individuals. OTHERS deserve whats coming
to them. [Full disclosure, my brother ran from them Dec 28, 2003,
the caught him
hand cuffed him to a fence and BEAT him, they

broke two teeth and a flashlight over his head......].



Back to the this incident.
My understanding of criminal law, there is NO assertable defense to
resisting arrest. Meaning, if PoPo wants to arrest you.

Let them. Because if your behavior can be construed as resistance,
@ssed out figuratively AND literally.

Popo is given long discretion in this realm.


The parents of the slain man want the police officer investigated

and charged with murder. Many of the readers at the Chron think
that its incredulous and that we should
be HAPPY that this
"THUG" "SCUM" is dead.

Why was the son carrying a gun? Why didn't the parents do a better job at raising his child to work within the conscripts of the law? Maybe the Police Officer did use excessive force. Why don't the citizens of Oakland get up in a furor over the civilians that shoot others (meaning, why don't you witnesses come forward?).
There is a WHOLE lot to unpack in this one. But wait there is more.

If the guy doesn't want to be shot at by police he should not be resisting arrest and running around with a loaded gun! Both these actions are threatening. It's easy to fault a cop for using his gun when you're sitting there in an armchair in front of the TV, but Sgt. Gonzales is putting his own life on the line every day to keep the city safe from criminals such as Gary King Jr., who clearly was up to no good, walking around with concealed firearm.

How does having a fire arm equate to being up to "no good."

What about the White Male fascination with fire arms? What about the cultures, at large fascination with fire arms? Halo 3 anyone?
Gary King Jr is a criminal. Hmmmm, he's wanted for questioning in the death of another and when contacted, he's carrying a firearm and resists arrest? I don't care if he was shot in the back, the officer has a right to go home to his family at the end of his shift.

I DON'T CARE IF HE WAS SHOT IN THE BACK.

Period point blank.
WORD? WHO IS THIS PERSON?

Can you please keep them off my jury and away from my
babies.

Do they teach? Are they in a position of authority.


Because that sentiment is so loaded and telling.

Man if y'all think I'm paranoid now, I more 'noid after
reading these ^^^ statements.

AND THEN. 115 some odd comments later, a sane head
prevailed:

ricky_tan wrote:

The sad part is the majority of people on here posting has never had 2 cops pointing .45's at their heads for no reason at all but everybody seems to be an expert. Hmm....

Don't you love it when someone cuts right to the chase.
Its as if presuming that the POPO ain't lying is a privilage of
being a soft bigot.

It's bugged that so few people acknowledged how subjective
"resisting arrest" may be. I guess thats why THEY THOUGHT
CRASH was powerful. If you are Black you either have had
popo f*cking with you OR with some male relative in your fam.


Furthermore, whether or not he was resisting arrest is subjective.
Y'all remember those two lawyers
that got beat by Popo this
past summer.
The two lawyers that were observing
the police BEAT another young black person.

Well-known human rights attorney Michael Tarif Warren, and his wife Evelyn (also a lawyer), were driving down Brooklyn’s Vanderbilt Avenue when they spotted a Black youth being chased by cops across a McDonald’s parking lot. [The youth was later identified as Latino—WW]

The youngster was tackled to the ground and handcuffed, when the Warrens saw a Sgt. Talvy begin kicking him in the head, the ribs, and stomping on his neck.

The two attorneys stopped their car, walked within 10 feet of the beating, identified themselves as lawyers, and told the cops to stop beating the youth and simply take him to the nearest precinct.

The sergeant’s response was to shout, “I don’t give a f - - k who you are. Get the f - - k back in your car!”

The Warrens returned to the car, where Michael began to write down notes of what he saw and the license plate numbers of the cop cars present.

While this is anecdotal evidence it is evidence nonetheless,
of abuses of force
used by, and tolerated within police departments.

I get the feeling, from reading those comments, that they are
just a hair
away from calling him a dead n*gger. I presume
these writers are NOT Black. I wonder how they would feel
if
THEY were Black, or if it was their son that was killed by
a police officer.


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Tori Amos is right up there w/ Fiona Apple in my book. I have
all the FeFe jawns, but I don't have any Tori's.

Hint.Hint.
Yet and still, the folks over at ALLHIPHOP got a piece up
on here.
Tonedeff and Kathy Iandoli writes:
One of the big corners of my life is Public Enemy’s Fear the Black Planet. Nobody would know that was the inspiration behind Little Earthquakes; but it was. That’s the truth. [laughs] Energetically, this is a woman fighting for her soul and they were fighting for their souls. You know what we should do that would be kind of crazy? It would be fun to see what three Hip-Hop songs I can cover on this tour. Maybe we should have them vote them in, and then you can be like, that’s a good idea but ah no! It needs to be these three. And please, softly, pull out the big artillery and I really want you guys to think that I can’t do it. I want those to be the ones that I do. I want them. Don’t jerk off with me.
Tori doing a hip hop jawn. Ummm. It depends.

Tori and Yeye on some Eminem and Dido type sh*t?

Perhaps.

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N*ggas is dying, and they on Capital Hill Testifying.

What a waste of time.

When they start talking shit about POP culture at LARGE or
about Large Corporations complicitness with the violence
in pop culture, THEN it will be relevent.

DO I have to break out my Bell Hooksian sh*t A-GIN?
To white dominated mass media, the controversy over gangsta rap makes great spectacle. Besides the exploitation of these issues to attract audiences, a central motivation for highlighting gangsta rap continues to be the sensationalist drama of demonizing black youth culture in general and the contributions of young black men in particular.

To see gangsta rap as a reflection of dominant values in our culture rather than as an aberrant "pathological" standpoint does not mean that a rigorous feminist critique of the sexist and misogyny expressed in this music is not needed. Without a doubt black males, young and old, must be held politically accountable for their sexism. Yet this critique must always be contextualized or we risk making it appear that the behaviors this thinking supports and condones,--rape, male violence against women, etc.-- is a black male thing.
Until then.

STFD<<<<<-----Who is gonna figure out that lil' dilly? Was Universal's CEO/CFO there? Um. Yes he was. AND HE IS SO F*CKING GULLY. DUDE, took the opportunity to TALK ABOUT LIMEWIRE and illegal downloading.
Now thats what I call remaining focused.

Bronfman also noted the power of the Internet, the ability to view files on new devices and pleaded with the committee to help stop the spread of piracy instead of censoring lyrics.

"Ninety percent of the music we release has nothing to do with rap music," said Morris, CEO of Universal Music Group, which recently released blockbuster albums by Kanye West and 50 Cent. "What I am angry about is the fact that the music business is being destroyed by criminal behavior and no one is addressing that. Our business is being destroyed by criminals. If you put on LimeWire, all of our songs are taken for free. Tower Records, hundreds of record stores, are closing down."

Way to rise to the occasion, no?

That being said, Rush needs to
sit his @ss down and drink some Kool-Aid.

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THINK imma make soft bigot t-shirts/ stamps and

start passing them b*tches out.

Is Popo outta
pocket for SHOOTING him in the back,
presuming
that he in FACT resisted arrest?


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Monday, September 24, 2007

Sex and Money in the City

TwitThis


You ever have one of them jobs where peeing
should happen at a minimum,
going on
vacation is a 'NICE IDEA" and your "personal" e-mail is blocked?


Well.

My current gig is like this and I have never
seen anything like it before.


And baby let me tell you. It is a beast.

As much as a I talk about finance and M & A, last week I had the opportunity
to see it up close and it is one of the most pro white male,
darwinian environments that I have ever come across.

You see.

I saw the glass ceiling last week. I threw gum at it.
I kicked it.

And I learned that even with training (on how to analyze legal
and financial issues, credentials) your success STILL by and large turns
on how many White Allies you have.

It reminds me of the Civil Rights movement and the fact that it was effective
not because it was black, but it was black, brown and white.

It felt like L-School all over again.

Here I was in an environment. At a prestigious firm. The only Black Lady.

And the expectations were here (raises hand above head) and the training
was here (places hand near knee).

I was like, HOW CAN I, who has an interest in the material, a bubbly personality
and a knack for people be expected to WIN in this environment?

Oh did I mention that I was suppose to be assisting people who I had not
been introduced to.

Now how am I suppose to help you if I don't know what you look like?
LOL.

Oh. Wait. Im not expected to win. HA!

People TALK about mentoring. But I think thats vague. N*ggas NEED retention
sponsors.

We need them for Work, School and Personal Intimate Relationships.

My observation underscores the fact that one of the most powerful things
that a progressive person can do is build a school, start and business
and work for themselves. Perhaps most importantly, they can
advocate on the behalf of others who's voices have been silenced.

Its natural to FEEL more confident when you see people
who LOOK like you in positions of power.

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Speaking of money the times has a an article in The Times
about the challenges
that WHITE women are facing because
they are earning more than their counterparts
in the big cities.

The shift is playing out in new, unanticipated ways on the dating front. Women are encountering forms of hostility they weren’t prepared to meet, and are trying to figure out how to balance pride in their accomplishments against their perceived need to bolster the egos of the men they date.

A lot of young women “are of two minds,” said Stephanie Coontz, director of research at the Council on Contemporary Families, a research organization. “On one hand, they’re proud of their achievements, and they think they want a man who shares house chores and child care. But on the other hand they’re scared by their own achievement, and they’re a little nervous having a man who won’t be the main breadwinner. These are old tapes running in their head: ‘This is how you get a man.’ ”

Tell them ladies to sit down and chat with some Black women.

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Are white women finally beginning to see,
at least in the big cities,
the impact that the
education disparity has on their mating rituals?

I wonder what they will do about it?

All you have to do is open up Essence to see an
article on "Where are the Good Black Men", "I Can't Find
a Good Black Man" and so forth. As far as Im concerned that
sh*t is deficit thinking. <<<----Can feel the fight
brewing with those words. Shots fired?

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For the record. I love y'all.
Cuz I posted this sh*t on my lunch break,
standing in 2 inch heels, in a Kinko's
waiting for a FAX to go through.

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Sunday, September 23, 2007

Baydestrians Posted Up Lovely.

TwitThis




Hold up. So 40 went from almost having Biggie clapped to giving the
dude an escort.

Like I said.

The Bay don't play.

Street justice is the order of the day.

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Think imma have to have a Mistah F.A.B day here at MM.

In fact hearing him freestlye makes me WANT to hear him
over some beats other than the ones that I have hear so far.

I don't think they do him justice. They go too fast, do too much,
like your 'lil fast 12 year old cousin.


Where mac jay at?

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Do y'all actually think that shit happened to Biggie?

40 DON'T have a reason to lie.

Ok, here you go Seen510, who in the bay should I be discussing?

My favorite is Andre Nickatina and them New Bay folks.

But. seeing young " JT the Bigga Figga " looking all entrepreneurial
made me think...

hmmm I should write about him as well.


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Thursday, September 20, 2007

Jay Z has More People.

TwitThis

Ewwwww. Our folks, Jay, is putting out an album inspired by American Gangster.

Delish.

In an hour long telephone interview, Jay-Z, 37, who has spoken of spending his early years in Brooklyn both rapping and drug dealing, said that the movie had tremendous resonance for him and had sparked a burst of creative activity that even he found surprising. He has already recorded nine tracks, almost every one prompted by a specific scene.

“It was like I was watching the film, and putting it on pause, and giving a back story to the story,” he said.

The movie, set for a Nov. 2 release, depicts the Lucas character as an underworld Horatio Alger and an innovator who, despite keeping a low public profile, rose to such power that he was able to defy the Mafia bosses who had traditionally dominated the New York drug trade before being brought down by a special narcotics task force. (Its leader is played by Russell Crowe.) Jay-Z said he thought his fans would be struck by the image of a black man reaching such heights of success, even on the wrong side of the law, much like such ruthlessly efficient Al Pacino antiheroes as Tony Montana and Michael Corleone.

Just in time for some fourth quarter good ness. "Universal Executive"
my @ss, no matter where you go, you are who you are player.

The article is replete (<<---slang delicious.

Please don’t compare me to other rappers. Compare me to trappers.

I’m more Frank Lucas than Ludacris. And Lude is my dude, I ain’t trying to dis.

Just like Frank Lucas is cool, but I ain’t tryin’ to snitch.

I’m-a follow the rules, no matter how much time I’m-a get.

I’m-a live and die with the decisions that I’m-a pick.

There is NOTHING like being inspired.
Mr. Grazer, who visited Jay-Z in the studio last week and heard seven of the new songs, said he was impressed by how the movie had “ignited all these memories of his childhood and how he grew up and the experiences he had, and the moral crossroads he had constantly in his life that were so parallel to Frank Lucas’s.”
Tracks inspired by specific scenes.

Denzel Washington.

Oeeewww Weee. This has the makings of a "Boyz in the Hood Era"
movie event.

LOl.

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UNKUT has this
"interesting" post up about female
rappers on some Bol type
imma be anti woman because
its cute sh*t.
They normally do really imaginative boom
bap oriented type 'ish.
One commenter summed it up
nicely when they said:

I can’t front, this is kinda homo-erotic and yes, sausagefestish. I’m a dude who likes women, and I can appreciate a good “chick” record by male rappers, and also I dig some songs by female MC’s- even the ones that us “purists” aren’t supposed to like. But lately, yeah- it’s been kinda dead.

I feel like alot of us just don’t relate to songs by chicks or chick songs because most of the time, they’re not for us in the first place. But that’s like sayin’ that certain types of clothes are wack just because they’re not for us. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t wanna mess w/ a girl who dresses like a dude- nor do I wanna hear a chick rappin’ tryin’ to be harder than dudes.

Besides, they don’t need to rap hard like us- two of ‘em have already done more jail time than most of these so-called hard niggas.

Comment by DANJAMANIA 09.20.07 @
I can't even beging to unpack the above statement. Women that "dress like dudes"
probably don't want him! Lol.

Women trying to be harder than dudes? Ummmm. Some of them are.
"Black non-Hispanic females (with an incarceration rate of 199 per 100,000) were more than 3 times as likely as Hispanic females (61 per 100,000) and 5 times more likely than white non-Hispanic females (36 per 100,000) to be in prison on December 31, 2001. These differences among white, black, and Hispanic females were consistent across all age groups" (Harrison and Beck 12). These statistics raise the obvious question of why black women are being incarcerated at such alarming rates.

Ain't no need to try. These ladies are trill.

Does going to jail equal being hard? No. Is it reasonable to say
that a portion of the women who are in prison are "hard"?

Yes.

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Its time for a new Jay cd, right?

Is Unkut being Anti-woman or just tongue in cheek?

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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

There is Something About Foxy Brown

TwitThis


I saw Foxy Brown in the Tunnel once.

She is beautiful.


Her teeth were strikingly bright and her skin was
like
a melted chocolate bar.

She and Kurupt were still dating then.

They were out together that night.

Here it is, years later and she is in jail.

I wonder what is going through her mind this moment.

She is young and full of potential but right now stands
for the
stereotype of the "Angry Black Woman" with
an attitude problem.

We all know people full of potential but something in their personalities
causes them to f*ck off their opportunities to shine.

It can manifest in DUI'S, accidental baby daddie's and
really bad credit reports.

One bad, decision and our futures are materially changed forever.

Now don't get it twisted. In this blog I have looked at the way
in which my own habits have impacted my chances to shine.
Such as not following up on networking opportunities, f*cking
with a n*gga who would rather party than work, having survival
guilt about being the "one" that made it.

That being said, I understand the destruction.

But Foxy, unlike me, is doing it under the spotlight in front
of a lot of people and the magnitude of her destruction is
much greater.

She turned her car over, lost her hearing,

She also stands for the stereotype of young star who is caught
up in the legal system.

I wonder if she sees this as a "a part of the process" of her
doing what she needs
to do to get where we need to go.

Remember when Mary was notorious for showing up to interviews
late, drunk and angry?

You peep how she has transformed?

I wonder what it will take for it to happen with Foxy?

I wonder why she is so angry and self destructive.

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=======

I am bloggin from one of those Transbay Bus's,
and I can see the Bay water. I just had an INSIDIOUS
thought. WHAT IF THERE
WAS AN EARTH QUAKE right now?

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=======

Why is Foxy so f*cking mad?

Do you know anyone who walks around full of rage?

What enrages you?

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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Thick Women Rock!

TwitThis


I like the fact that J hud is getting some shine.

Jill Scott as well.

Add America Fererra.

The William Sisters too.


Callie Torres
(from Greys Anatomy.)


None of these women are size fours.

And even tho' I have always been a lil' bit-a-something,
as a feminist I understand the importance of having
a RANGE of body images repped in the media.

This came to mind when all that Britney sh*t popped off.


She is a 26 year old mother of two. Of course she may have a
momma pouch. Sh*t. Mommas get 'em.

Does that absolve her of being criticized for wearing
an out fit that WASN'T the most flattering.
Not really.

BUT the media's, and the fans overt, critical response
to the way that she looked was disproportional to what
she DID and reminded me
of how fans perceived Lauryn Hill fans.

Notice how men swoll up as the they hit them 30's,
but WE DON"T criticism about that shit.


Remember Timbaland? He had chimpmonk cheeks supreme.

LL? Before the lipo abs?


Am I missing anyone?

Even my Mr. Illmatic himself looks a little chubby in the cheeks.
Smoke good/eat good?

Speaking of Jill Scott.

Did you see her interview in last months Essence by Terry McMillan.

Damn, that woman can write.


I have watched her perform on all those award shows, all gussied
up and sexy and making a statement that says, Hey, yes, I'm sexy and tall and not a size zero and proud of every inch of it. Here, take a look
see."

...Jill Scotts style is organic: sometimes its tastes rich
chocolate and sometimes she has to pour that vinegar
straight from the bottle. Because she has to and we
need her to, which is why we respond personally to
the stories she sings....

...Her music is the fusion of many genres....and the way
she allows her melodies and lyrics and even the politics
of love, the freedom to fall into or out of grace, is
Jill
Scott's very own stamp pad.

....I am so tired of folks who feel compelled to categorize
and compare. Jill Scott is Jill Scott. And thats plenty.
***********

TM: Lets get the painful or sad business out the way because
I don't want to focus on your marriage and the end of it and
all that, I hate endings.

JS: I want it all addressed.

**********

TM: Oh Lord, do you ever get angry?
JS: If I hadn't got in touch with my anger, I would never
been able to talk away from my marriage.
TM: Well join the club.
JS: I put icing on many places that were wounded. I put icing on them so
they looked good and tasted pretty and all that. But really
didn't deal with those things till I had no choice but to deal
with what was going
on in my marriage.

Hello!

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Salt and Pepa have a show.

I hope it isn't like watching a train wreck.

BUT.

Knowing our friends at VH1.........
Salt is angry about being unappreciated when they were together and Pepa blames Salt for breaking up the group. Their lifestyles are also polar opposites: Salt has indeed found God and is living a quiet life in Long Island with her husband while Pepa is still the party girl and desperately wants to re-capture the glamour of Salt-N-Pepa’s glory days. [Madonna Whore Anyone?] Can they overcome their differences long enough to heal their friendship and perform again?
Ummmmm.

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I need more People.

Chemerinsky got his job back!

UC Irvine's chancellor tried to salvage the reputation of his fledgling law school Monday by announcing that he had reinstated Erwin Chemerinsky as its founding dean, but his own troubles persisted as faculty members continued to question why he had sacked the liberal scholar and contemplated taking action against their university's leader.

The agreement with Chemerinsky, made five days after the deanship was rescinded, came after Chancellor Michael V. Drake and his wife flew to Durham, N.C., over the weekend so the two men could speak face to face.
Guess a Black man, had to protect his neck.

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Did I miss any thick mommas?

Am I off on my Britney analysis?


Will you go see the Sex in the City just to support Jennifer?


***cues.....baby got back.

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Adult Gettogethers Rock!

TwitThis


This fly mural in was in the Mission also. Old boy goes
to work diligently.

Can't believe no one has shot a video here?


Friday night I hung out with the adults (hi j-sf) for the first
time in
helllllla weekends. I felt like a momma who finally
found a baby-sitter after being in
the house for months.

I went to a poets birthday gettogether (don't you love how
grown folks have getogethers?) and I called myself a writer.


For the purposes of engaging with other folks I tried to chat them
up about their work.

One conversation went like this:

Well what do you write about?

Hip Hop and Feminism!

Oh really? Well I don't know about hip hop but
I know about about feminism.

Oh. Its lots of fun talking about gender issues in hip hop.
For the record, the Mission, in 'Frisco, is Dope.

It reminds me of a more Mexicano Williams burg.


If it only took signs hanging out the our windows
to IMPACT housing decisions.



Thats that Zapatista sh*t right here. LOL.


Peep this flick of the Bay from tha Hills.

No wonder the real estate is so expensive.

That view is priceless.

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When was the last time you went home?

And if you never moved away, why? <<

When was the last time you heard a real anthem?

^^^Silly.

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Monday, September 17, 2007

Good Art is Hard to Find.

TwitThis

Platano Pride by Miguel Luciano

Isn't this an amazing photograph?


There is a new show up at the BK Museum and the artist
Miguel Luciano,
is featured in it.

Stop by.
Show love,
its the Brooklyn Way.

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Here at Model Minority, we are all about you making
your cake.

I found this GREAT little tool that shows you how to
calculate your salary AND it breaks down
what you estimated pay will be after taxes.

Imagine my delight when I saw that you could plug in your
job title and have your Numbers crunch.

This sh*t is so necessary when you are negotiating

for cake w/ your employer.

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The Yeye & Andre Mixtape is HERE.


I am ready for new Outkast.

They needs to stop playin'.


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MZ. Here is the book list.


But its weird, in that the font is small.

The books that I circled are:

The Art of Possibility- About living a life that is open to good sh*t happening.
Talks a lot about teaching styles and how when you expect MORE from
young people they tend to perform better AND give more.
Get Paid What You Are Worth- Title sums it up.
The Hidden Cost of Being Black- Dope Title. Never read it tho'.
Stolen Harvest- One of the first books on local food movement, global warming
tip.

Some other sh*t that I have noticed recently
Free Food for Millionaires- Book title is sick.
Guaranteed Success-
Master P's handbook on being dedicated
entrepreneurial and successful.

Junot Diaz has a new one out as does Edwidge Dandicat. They both,
I presume, are mind blowing.

This isn't the list I "promised" however technically, I kept my word.

LOL.

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==========

Anyone else reading anything good?

What if there was a relationship calculator?


You put in your info, and the machine spits out
the
estimated length of your relationship,
the sources of
your potential fights, the estimated emotional/financial
damage
done after the fact. Whether happily ever "n*gga clean them dishes"
after is an option?

I bet you the Freakanomics dudes could flip it.

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Sunday, September 16, 2007

Did 50 Snitch On Vick?

TwitThis


Give the video a few minutes.
Shit is delish after about 30 seconds.
www.hoodzone.com


***Coma. I almost had an asthma attack.

"Figure out what the f*ck you want
then f*ck with me."


"Put all the meat in the bag."
My favorite part is:


" Im sniiiiitchinnnn."
"You ain't got no endorsements."

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F*k watchu going thru.
Japanese Mommas get THEY cake after washing dishes and doing the laundry.
Since the credit crisis started shaking the world financial markets this summer, many professional traders have taken big losses. Another, less likely group of investors has, too: middle-class Japanese homemakers who moonlight as amateur currency speculators.

Ms. Itoh is one of them. Ms. Itoh, a homemaker in the central city of Nagoya, did not want her full name used because her husband still does not know. After cleaning the dinner dishes, she would spend her evenings buying and selling British pounds and Australian dollars.

When the turmoil struck the currency markets last month, Ms. Itoh spent a sleeple ss week as market losses wiped out her holdings. She lost nearly all her family’s $100,000 in savings.

Yo. If we start seeing japanese mommas coming up missing, we will have a motive. You can't BE losing the family savings moms.

And for the record, pops can't be gambling that sh*t away either.
Lol.

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I saw the History of Violence 2.5 times. David Chronenberg is back with
Eastern Promises.
He has been added to my list artists who's sh*t I peep JUST because they made it. No other motivation necessary.
Theirs is a trust forged a film ago on the set of the 2005 film “A History of Violence,” in which Mr. Mortensen played an average American dad, a man who turns out to be something more baleful. “Eastern Promises” feels like a relocated companion piece to that movie, another film about colliding tribes and shifting identities.
Colliding tribes? That is SO withing the realm of modelminority.blog....

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Ahhhh. Testimony from a friend who validates my theory the education is expensive and always will be. Furthermore, the sooner we understand that the sooner we can move closer to closing the 3rd grade reading gap.

Still, many say the price is worth it. In his two-year master’s program in science technology and environmental policy from the University of Minnesota Craig Nelson had $35,000 in loans. Now, he works in regulatory affairs at the 3M Company.

“Without the degree, I wouldn’t have the job,” he said. “So even though I’ll be paying the loan for 10 years, it was a good move for me.”

Getting into the business of offering these degrees can be a good move for universities, too, with some that have traditionally focused only on undergraduate students now entering the master’s market. The California State University system, for example, has introduced many new applied master’s degrees and is expanding its master’s of business administration programs.


I am pro-young girls playing sports largely because it
teaches
them to view their bodies as something that
is strong, powerful and human. This notion counters
the "everyone needs to be a top/model video vixen"
message that our young bucks are fed on the regular.

In high school I play on the girls’ varsity basketball and soccer teams. I practice just about every day. If I’m not doing soccer, I’m doing basketball. Sometimes it’s double: two soccer practices a day, or basketball and soccer. I’m at soccer most of the summer. I have soccer camp in the morning, then we have soccer practice with my travel team. It’s five hours, six hours a day a lot of the time.

There was a soccer tournament about a year ago, a single-elimination state cup game, but my team was losing. Me and my sister were playing on the same team, Bayside Chelsea, and we were down about 2-0 with three minutes to go. Me and my sister were like, O.K., we had a good run. All of a sudden my sister scored two goals. We went into a forced overtime, won two penalties and won the game. We always knew where each other was, where to pass the ball. We could kind of read each other’s minds.

We always knew where each other was, THAT kind of chemistry is priceless.

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Hold UP. Dudes are wrestling IN THE PARKS in NY for CASH? Tha' f*ck part of the game is that?
Since my mom is divorced and unemployed, she has her hands full with my younger sister, who is 15, and my baby sister, who was born in 2004. I helped her out with the rent. It was around $900 a month. I would make $400 and change. I paid $300 for rent and $100 for groceries.

Right now, my dad is in prison. I really don’t know why, but what they told me is that they found him with a big amount of drugs.

I looked up to him. Half of my morals I got from him. He was a hard-working man, sweet and kind, and he had a good heart. If anybody on the block needed food or money or anything, it didn’t matter if he had to pay bills the next week, he gave it to them.

He’s been locked up for the past four years in upstate New York. I don’t know where exactly. I visited him two years ago. That’s when I got the courage to be the man of the house, because no one else was present at the time.

I’m into freestyle wrestling. It’s been my passion since I was little. I started when I was 8. I like the adrenaline. I love the attention and I love seeing the smiles. The sport at first seems brutal and the people violent and unprofessional, but when you train for it, you learn that it’s all about finesse and precision and that it’s a very serious sport. There’s also acting involved. They call me Vargas. I’m part of a tag-team called SPIC. It’s an acronym for Spanish Political International Cartel.

Wrestling is Huge.

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"Here dad was probable a lawyer.

They're all lawyers
."

When I go to a lot of people’s houses, I just notice how big the house is, the number of antiques and expensive stuff they have, and I just compare that to my own house. My family owns a two-family building in Riverdale, and we rent out the top two floors. My room is filled with “Pirates of the Caribbean” posters, Harry Potter posters and bookshelves. In the rest of the house, we have a lot of Asian stuff.

But the friends I have who are really wealthy don’t really show it. I think that’s like a sensitive issue or something that we all kind of ignore. But there are people who everyone knows is wealthy and who volunteer their houses.

One house I was in, she had the hugest kitchen and so many different hallways and a pet chinchilla and a huge TV. There was a lot of art on the wall, a lot of marble tables and counters, a lot of mirrors, a lot of carpets, fancy-looking furniture. Her dad was probably a lawyer. They’re all lawyers.

The junior-senior party a couple years ago was at someone’s grandmother’s house. And as soon as you walked in there was this huge painting, and it was apparently really expensive and the artist was apparently really famous. It might have been van Gogh.


Class, cake and the Upper East Side.

Delish.

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You can feel the energy bouncing off the computer screen.

God. I heart hip hop.

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Didn't that crowd at the 50 show seem amped?

Is it the song or him?

Can you believe that the aforementioned teenager wrestles in Parks
for cash?

Did you find the cartoon hilarious?

What would you do if you found out your wife/husband gambled/
invested and lost THE FAMILY savings?

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Friday, September 14, 2007

Jena 6 Retaliation?

TwitThis



Whats up the hanging of nooses at schools? Another incident just occurred at the University of Maryland.

Madueke was among more than 300 students and faculty members who converged on Cole Field House this week for a "speak out" to express their feelings about the noose and to discuss possible solutions to the racism and cultural separatism that led to it.

The crudely tied noose was found hanging from a tree just outside the Nyumburu Cultural Center and the Stamp Student Union on Campus Drive, the college's main thoroughfare.

Nyumburu, Swahili for "freedom house," is home to a student-run newspaper, the Black Explosion, as well as the Black Student Union and other programs affiliated primarily with minority students and faculty members, officials said.

Representatives from the newspaper reported the noose to police Sept. 7. The incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

Campus police spokesman Paul Dillon said that when officers arrived, they found that maintenance workers sent by their supervisors had removed and discarded the noose, which apparently had been dangling since late August. Investigators are now interviewing students and reviewing tapes from surveillance cameras.

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A Black man tells a white man, a really INFLUENTIAL
white man, that HE can't have a job. Holy sh*t.
For decades, UC Irvine has aspired to open Orange County's first top-flight law school, declaring it to be the university's glaring "missing piece."

The effort was thrown into turmoil after UCI Chancellor Michael V. Drake abruptly dropped respected liberal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky as the school's first dean. Drake said he had lost confidence in the educator, in part, because of Chemerinsky's recent opinion articles that made him a "lightning rod," including a scathing rebuke of U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales.

he action ignited a debate about academic freedom and political meddling that only grew more fierce Thursday, with some faculty members calling for Drake's resignation after a hastily scheduled meeting of the university's academic senate on Thursday afternoon.

Officials said the turnaround on Chemerinsky could delay the opening of the law school -- scheduled for 2009 -- and so tarnish the institution that it would be difficult to assemble the scholars and staff needed to establish the school as one of the nation's best -- UCI's long-cherished goal.

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Madlib Gets Love from Newsweek. Other than Count Bass D, he is my Favorite Underrated dude.
Since the year started, Madlib, 33, has released four albums, counting “Liberation,” a full-length collaboration with rapper Talib Kweli; a deluxe rerelease of “Champion Sound,” his project with dearly departed producer J Dilla; “Yesterday’s Universe,” a collection of amorphous jazz fusion; and, most recently, the latest installment of his instrumental hip-hop series “Beat Konducta.” This is to say nothing of the numerous tracks and remixes he’s done for other artists over the course of the year.

But if one were to make a shortlist of hip-hop’s workhorses, a few names might come to mind—Kanye West, Jay-Z, P. Diddy—but Madlib’s name probably wouldn’t make the cut. That probably has a lot to do with the peculiar attribution of his impossibly constant flow of material. He likes to make up aliases. A lot of them. For example, “Yesterday’s Universe” is credited to Yesterday’s New Quintet, a jazz band consisting of Madlib (going by his birth name, Otis Jackson Jr.) and four imaginary band mates, despite the fact that he’s playing all the instruments. “Universe” also introduces 10 new totally imaginary groups, among them The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble and Kamala Walker & The Soul Tribe. The reason Madlib doesn’t immediately come to mind when one thinks of hip-hop’s pre-eminent creative forces is the same reason he is one of hip-hop’s pre-eminent creative forces: he’s just really, really eccentric.

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New Oakland teacher blogs about his new gig.

It was by no means what I expected. I mean, it was, but it wasn't. Of the 5 days, I went home all but one of the days with a sickening feel to my stomach. I went home exhausted, leading to one day sleeping at 9pm. I knew it was going to be hard. I knew the kids were going to be trying, they were going to be behind grade level, ....and they were going to be sweet. Talk about roller coaster.

There were days where I wanted to grab a student and slap behavioral sense in them. There were days I wanted to hug a student for getting the right answer. There were days I wanted to vomit (or at least dry heave) after a class and there were days where I felt like I could change the world.

I have always been put off about the way some non-Black teachers
or "I don't understand the hood"- teachers speak about Black students
when they feel comfortable enough to be candid.

You know what would be a dope documentary?
To get hood school teachers speaking candidly about their students.

Michael Moore would have a field day.
Priceless.

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What would the school do if they found out who
hung the noose?
Really? Suspend the kid?

What would that accomplish?


Ol'boy would just be a bigot, out in about in the world
spreading is
special brand of wholesome goodness.

Shouldn't the Roots go on tour w/ Jill Scott & Common?

Why do I still need more music? <<<<-----New Nas in Nov/Dec.
Twiddles thumbs and waits.

Where is my Clipse?

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