No wonder where we live is called the projects....

Peace blog family, I have two finals down and two to go....pray for me ....I need it.....Leave messages...Holler at me....tell me whachu think....

• Lou Rawls is fightin LUNG and brain cancer....damnnnn gina....I hope he has good healthcare....Yall' know I love Lou...sings to my self, "You'll never find...another love like mine...someone that loves you..the way that I do......"
• "Jay-Z can move the cultural needle because they believe his honesty"
  -Steve Stoute in January 2006 Rollingstone
  

• He has allways been panic averse. His personal, in life and on record he is cool and in control- the same even authoritative tone whether the subject is sex, survival, weather or vengance.- Toure on Jay Z in January 2006 Rollingstone
  If Jay is so layed back....then perhaps he should share the benifits of acting that wat with the young buck....cuz from the way they act on the train and what not...they got some anger managment issues...
  

• If I could only get Jay to publicly endorse my READIN' AIN'T WHITE campaign *****puts on evil thinking cap.....
  

Some Hip Hop Collaborations that I would like to see:

• Rakim and Pharrell

• Ghostface and Andre Nickatina

• Keak da Sneak and The Lox

• Missy and E-40

• Outkast and Mc Eight

• Doom and Kanye

Why oh, why did I need cappuccino?

Daily Posts

• So according to an article in a recent New York magazine....Coffee is a half a billion dollar industry in NYC. Half a billion. No wonder I almost be having fights with people on the train all the time. They haven't had their daily crack---er coffee. The article is deep in that it delves into the annals of Dunkin Donuts, whose primary product is ironically is coffee not donuts.
  

• Post thanksgiving/taking I have been on a 2 cap and a tea a day diet and my kidneys can tell you, it is the truth....nothing like a good cappuccino right before a four hour studying period.

• Dave Chappelle is being sued by one of his former managers. Why don't negros understand that you have to keep the Wu money all up in the family? Pay your people.

• Dude. The Hip Hop show of 2006 is coming and I will BE THERE. DOOM. Big Daddy Kane. Little Brother and Pete Rock. Whats good?
  

• Rakim is going to be at BB Kings on Tuesday the 30th of January. That, will depend on how much the tickets cost.
  

Keep still boy, no need for static.......

So In a nod to Hashim and Bol I am going to try posting more frequent news updates in addition to my normal rants. ((((My first final went okay....as soon as I walked out I realized that I was not analyzing the problems in the most effective way....but I did not freeze up and I feel more relaxed going into the next two weeks of exams.)))))

Daily News Links

• There are Race riots in Sydney Australia.....looks like they received some mob-fight-training from the klan.
• Y'all need to rent/view this Sundance award winning movie writen and directed by Brooklyn young bucks about youth gun culture.
• San Francisco police apparently has so much time on their hands that they can create videos mocking women, brown people and the poor. Dude, their noose is showing.
• PSK, what does it mean? Pat Riley is back with the Heat and Artest wants to be traded. Well, we new that Artest was going to want to be out. THAT makes sense. Do you htink Pat and Shaq will mesh?
  
• She just needs to get popped in her face. Whap....Whap....why are going to sky dive while you are pregnant in the first place?
• Fiona performed last night at the Nokia theater....I didn't go but...I was there in spirit.
• Kanye, Kanye Kanye....while I do love your fervor, and your emotion...I don't know spongebob..with your antics as of late...I feel like you are asking your white critics come- music award distributors to humble you. Get at me Ye...we can put some of that energy to good use...ie a Hip Hop Museum in Chicago.....some a national franchise of music studios, a Negro home schooling movement...the sky's is the limit Ye, the sky is the limit.
  

I am I be....I am I be....I am .......

Gon' Till' November sorta...I be back in a week or so..... I am busy trying to be like this guy^^^^^.

Visit these sites in the mean time.

• http://crunktastical.blogspot.com/
• http://jeromebaker.blogspot.com/
• http://sherealcool.blogspot.com/
• http://nappydiatribe.blogspot.com/
• http://www.hiphop-blogs.com/
• http://pacificstandard.typepad.com/why_fuck_around_pacific_s/
• http://emia6.blogspot.com/
• http://theassimilatednegro.blogspot.com/
  

Be easy.

She said, I betcha A$$ is darker than a Mobb Deep Rap....

There once were a people who were Black
Their neighborhoods were ruined by crack
they still rapped and danced
there kids never had a chance
There once were a people who were black.

-MM
(guess I should leave the poetry to the poets ***hunches shoulders****)

You ever have ones of those days that are mad serendipitous????? Errie things happen and other things happen real smooth..... Earlier this morning...I was trying to remember the name of the Black economist who writes papers that examine the ECONOMIC IMPACT of crack on the hood and an Economic Analysis of Acting White. His name is Roland Tyler. Later in the afternoon Santana V. put me on to a quote by Jeffrey Wright on THE BENEFITS OF BEING A BLACK ACTOR in this months Esquire. Then tonight I was at Barnes and Noble looking for Jeffrey Wright quote (posted below) in Esquire, and there was an article on the economist in THERE.. Weird hunh?

ESQ: The difficulties of being a black actor are well chronicled. But are there any advantages?

Jeffrey Wright: No. There are no advantages to being black in America. None. Hollywood is much more resistant to supporting the work of a black actor, particularly now. The types of people that Hollywood has responded to are rappers and others who've made a name doing anything BUT acting. The public couldn't name a black actor under 30 who's not a rapper or a comedian. They're out there, but they wont be supported in the way that folks who lean toward MINSTRELSY will be supported. Its not getting any better. Actors like DON CHEADLE have laid out really impressive careers but i guarantee you that Don didn't get one twentieth of the support that COLIN FARRELL got at the beginning of his career. Its insulting.

In honor of my READING AIN'T WHITE CAMPAIGN I AM GOING TO LINK UP TO THE FOUNDERS OF THE KIPP SCHOOLS. These dudes are DOING truth to power in demonstrating to the YOUNG BUCKS that READIN' AINT WHITE.

The cats who wrote at FREAKANOMICS have a blog too.....When I read their blog, work I can feel my brain expand....I GUESS that is a good thing.

I find myself listening to TICAL lately. I guess it is the proper grimey NYC winter head pod music.

And if you tired.....go take a nap.....

Good Evening Blog Family..... I could not resist posting even though....I know that I need to be working on my Con Law outline....I cannot wait for this semester to be over so that I can reflect on the significance, the pressure and irony of Being A Hip Hop Loving, Oakland Loving,Smack Talking, Model Minority in Law School.....it is one of those situations where I do not even think I can appreciate the significance of this past semester.....in its entirety....until the semester is over..... Blog Highlights....

• Somehow Hashim has managed to find an interview where RAKIM talks about Eminmen's role in Hip Hop....
• Sacha Jennkins, of Ego Trip fame, is coordinating a graffiti art show that just opened. Peep eyjammie.com for more information.
• Jeff Chang posted more information on the status of the investigation of the BURNED LIQUOR STORES in Oakland. Adisa also contributed to the discussion. I find it interesting the no one has raised the parallel to the burning neighborhoods in France.

Until later this week....bundle up BK...its suppose to be a cold one....and Oakland...be easy....I know how 'yall like to do street justice....yet EVERYTHING has long term and short term consequences...Be Good.

Katrina governor Sets the Record Straight

"I believe my biggest mistake was believing FEMA officials who told me that the necessary federal resources would be available in a timely fashion," Blanco wrote in one memo.
---- Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanc

• Read the full article here. Article is excerpted below .
  

Late Friday, Gov. Kathleen Blanco released 100,000 pages of memos, handwritten notes, e-mails, phone logs and other documents requested by congressional committees that are investigating what happened behind the scenes in the frantic days surrounding the deadly Aug. 29 storm.

"I have determined that this incident will be of such severity and magnitude that effective response will be beyond the capabilities of the state and the affected local governments and that supplementary federal assistance will be necessary," Blanco wrote.

Three days after the storm, Blanco complained to the White House that FEMA had still failed to fulfill its promises of aid. While cloaked in customary political courtesies, Blanco noted that she had already requested 40,000 more troops; ice, water and food; buses, base camps, staging areas, amphibious vehicles, mobile morgues, rescue teams, housing, airlift and communications systems, according to a press office e-mail of the text of her letter to Bush.

"Even if these initial requests had been fully honored, these assets would not be sufficient," Blanco said. She also asked for the return of the Louisiana Army National Guard's 256th Brigade Combat Team, then deployed to Iraq.

• 
  

• Finally some real talk on WHY all of those BLACK people DIED in New Orleans.

• What did Kanye Say?

• I saw Tom Piazza's new book, Why New Orleans Matters,on display at Barnes and Noble last night and thought, what a wonderful book title. I want to write the same thing FOR Oakland. It is the only book that I have seen that offers a critical analysis of what happened in New Orleans and why it is significant to the rest of the world.
  

Soul sista' music round up......

Where inna hot potatoe is ZZ Packer????? She does not need to be writing novels per se...but I do miss her voice and would like to hear from her....interviewing other writers....essays in the Times......the Village Voice...her own Blog!?!?!?!?!?!
On to the soul singa's.........
1. Lizz Wright......I listened to some of her music at Virgin....she has a pretty voice....the songs were melancholy though...which can be dope....but generally I like to be cheered up...unless I am listening to Illmatic;o The other Lizz...I am not sure if I heard her joints before....and I went to amazon to see if I could peep...but Ledisi is officialy Town business....her range....the rhythms....ALL TO THE GOOD! I picked up her album a few years ago....the dopest joint IMHO is the title track...feeling Orange Again...makes me wanna breakdance and SALSA all at once. I learned about Julie around the same time that I learned about Ledisi....In fact I saw her perfom...in 'Frisco a couple summers ago and it was such a pleasant surprise...her music is rich. warm and sultry...

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