Saturday, April 19, 2008

Me and The RZA Get Busy

TwitThis


Being bitten by the writing bug is interesting. I run into
other Black movers and shakers on Friday or Saturday
evenings and they glaze over when I say I am going
home to write.


Its bugged out because this morning I created a
substantial addition to the "Crack Essays" file.
My eyes opened before the alarm went off at
6:30am this morning. I am not a morning byrd.
I am a grumpy byrd pre-Peerless. So, awaking
on a Saturday before the alarm is monumental.

The other side of the glaze over is the sense of reward I feel
when I sent Filthy a draft and he responds with
"M" this is incredible and I be like. Damn? Word?

All of these things are on my mind when I read about
the RZA and his work ethic. He speaks in an
interview, saying,

People you put your trust in, from women to partners, and then they forsake you. Even the Wu-Tang Clan, when Wu-Tang Clan pulled out of the Rage Against The Machine tour, it broke my heart, because I recorded the Wu-Tang Forever album with democracy. I let everybody do what they wanted to do. The other albums were more like how I wanted it, and it came out better, people say...... When they started backing out, it really hurt me and shit, so I backed out. I feel like I did everything for Wu-Tang. ... That’s why, when Bobby Digital came out, I started chilling. I started having a good time. But then when they forsake me—and some brothers did, some brothers didn’t—if you have four people who aren’t into it, it’s not going to work. (via Grand Good)
The RZA's statements struck me for a few reason's.
One it reminds me
of how every crew has a visionary
and how the visionary has to reconcile
that vision with what the crew seems to be capable of.
It reminds me of how the crews with the greatest
potential fail
to reach it because of infighting.

It reminds me of my new found writing discipline and
how I run into folks and they look at me like an alien-byrd
when I talk about writing on a Friday night.

============
============

There are a serious of Boom Bap tasty treats
floating around these internet's.

Kate Richardson analyzes the new Roots video by
Rick Cordero through a feminist theory lens.



In an interesting excerpt she writes,

At first it seems as if Cordero might be taking the video in the pleasant hug-a-loser direction, but that sweetness is but an introduction to the birthday girl sitting on the floor and opening each dude's gift as he stands above her, holding it at his crotch. One guy brought her a sausage! How sweet!

Cordero shoots the sequence in a more or less shot/reverse-shot pattern, but despite this lukewarm attempt at representing the female perspective, the sequence still comes off as uncomfortably misogynistic.
Ivan at HHIR has an video interview up of Mary and Jay.
At about 2:30 in Jay speaks about the package
that distinguishes he and Mary from the thousands of
others that have record deals.

Mary mentioned that she has no problem letting
people see the sad sh-t. On its face, that may seem trite
and a complete cliche. But, think about how many times
a day you don't tell someone something because you think
they may reject you, or keep it to yourself out of fear.
We feel Mary because she lets it all, for better or for
worse, hang out.

Having spent 3 hours this morning writing about my family
and crack, I will tell you that there is no OTHER more vulnerable
feeling, other than being naked in front of someone for the first time,
than telling the truth because you can't hold it back any longer.

Jay mentions that what distinguishes him from other cats
is work ethic, god given talent and real life experience.

Say word.

========
========

Doc Zeus has a retrospective of the Pen and Pixel era up.

Man them sh*ts were horrible. But its hip hop just the same.

Like that drunk uncle who is both irritating and embarrassing,
yet still yours.

We used to see these ads in The Source and squint with
the sour lemon head face at how bad they were.




Silk the Shocker, Mercedes, Master P. All bad.

Master P wants to apologize for some sh-t.
Apologize for those album covers blood.


=========
=========

Why are we scared of hard work?


You encounter any visionaries lately?


========
========

6 comments:

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

visionaries make the world go round

neo said...

My question to Kate would be how would she have shot that video without the female which the song is about appear the victim?

Model Minority said...

My question to Kate would be how would she have shot that video without the female which the song is about appear the victim?
=======

I have a GIST of what you are getting at but I am not 100.

Please restate.

neo said...

I was trying to get at Kate's misogyny complaint. If she took the time to read about the background of the song and the lyrics I think she'd see that "birthday girl" is about victimisation and misogyny that women in the young adult age bracket experience so complaining about a vid which is bringing those lyrics to our visuals is really stating the obvious that's already there...she hasn't come upon or stumbled upon a new discovery in that department. Her complaint about the vid is like complaining about an apartheid video's violence toward blacks. I mean that's what the vid is SUPPOSED to do.

Anonymous said...

yo dude. i think visionaries MUST manage. its unfortunate but mandatory. V's wanna be in the clouds thinking of some more new shit, but folks around you need guidance to make all the dreams real.

here's my quote for the day:

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost;
that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
~ Henry David Thoreau


--LIGHTDIGGA a.k.a. the 'the resident visionary prototype' ;-)--

M.Dot. said...

'the resident visionary prototype'
==========

Say word.

You beastin'and I LOVE you for it.

""""I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOOOOOO"""".

Post a Comment

eXTReMe Tracker