Get Open!

First I don't post for hella weeks now I can't stop postin'.

When I was in Cali of all places I caught a Hip Hop panel on C-Span.
It was sponsered by Third World Press and Institute of Positive Education, Betty Shabazz International Charter School.
The panelist were:

Coval, Kevin - Artistic Director, Young Chicago Authos

Kitwana, Bakari - Author

Norman-Hawkins, Amina - President, Chicago Hip Hop Initiative

Paniccioli, Ernie - Photographer

Rivera, Raquel Z. - Correspondent

Wang, Oliver - Critic

Wimsatt, William Upski - Author

Talk about something that was inspiring.

I did not get to see all of it.

I just may purchase the video to soak up some of that game.
If C-Span was right, they would stream that ish, but that is another story.

At first glance you may groan and say, just another afternoon w/ egroesn talkin'.

But peep. It still sticks out in my mind that one of the panelist said, only when people congregate will they make it congress.
That isn't to say that that is our Ultimate goal, but I am not mad at that.
William Upski is mad inspiring. He was on some "The people in this room have the power to use Hip Hop to change the world type 'ish." It was easy to believe That pre '96, but not in recent memory has someone said something to that affect AND had me thinking of ways to harness HH's appeal with the young bucks.

It Get Hot at Night

I cannot believe that I am just now hearing about it.
So Spike has a new book out. As much as a book snoop that I (Get the Black Issues book review on the phone A.S.A.P. ....ii captain MM).

Jay-Z was in the Times this weekend.
The dopest part of the article was when, wait it minute I have to get the clip out my purse, was the exchange between Jay and Ghostface that the author translated.

Around 2, Ghostface Killer....showed up for a meeting..."What up, family?" Jay-Z said with a strong handshake and a quick man-hug. [Men do BE having man hugs too, especially brotha's.]

I just wanted to dump some heat on you," Ghostface replied...Its extra meaty already, but I just want you to add your little extra." (Translation: Iv'e got some great new music that I'd like you to hear and I would appreciate your input).

I swear there are few times that I feel more alive than when I read some beautiful language.

Town Business

Does anyone else love, wireless, but hate Explorer? I mean damn. That 'ish is so wack. I don't know how I have been living without Firefox for so long. The damn Blogger menu bar has like two options when you don't use Firefox.

The Sideshows are thought to be over, at least a recently as last week. Ionno. The young hyphies may just be waiting for Raider season to start to have an excuse to go dumb. Robert Gammon, of East Bay Express fame was talking about it.
According to Slinky, iggasn did start shootin' at the end of Summer Jam in the Bay. It will probably be the last one. Everyone was cool when, Kanye and Common and 'nem were on stage, but brotha', brotha', brotha' when E-39+1 gets on, and yer smobbers get to smobbing, it was pretty much a wrap.

On the political side of things, appears the Ron Dellums is running for Mayor of Oakland. I left last week, and he was still on the fence. That could be really interesting, seeing as he has had such a lofty career as a state representative.

Some town sista's are coming to NY (SOB's). Keyshia Cole on 8/31 and Goapele on 9/21.

1520 Lakeside Drive is up for lease. 1520 is the former location of several of the administrative offices in the Town. I guess the city is trying to make some cash off of it. That's hella wack. I see the importance of trying to make better use of lakefront property, but there is something very uncanny and sad about a city leasing its administrative offices to a resturant.

New Ish about to come out:
Brand Nuban: Solo Material an EP. I do not know which label is putting this out, but it is interesting to see that they are still at it.

AZ's new joint is titled AWOL. He has allways been one of my favorite "I am hungry ma, and Im gon' shine" kinda individuals.

I picked up the Turf Tawk Collaboration, the new Madlib.
But what I am checkin' for is the new Sean P. His verse on one of those Chemistry joints was NIIIIICE. I almost wanna transcribe it.


Slinky, Imma try and post that NWA you an I were talking about.

And last but not least a thank you goes out to J. Douglas Allen-Taylor. I have been reading his work since he was a writer for the "Oakland Urbanview".
I can allways depend on him to provide an insigtful interpretation of town events.
Most recently he wrote about a concert series taking place at Arroyo park in East Oakland.
He attributes the lack of gun clap, the hyphies being present at the event to the fact that there was more of an "Older" crowd, and their children at the event.

Dwayne Wiggans organized it. Council woman Desley Brooks paid for it out of her own budget. The following has performed:
Rose Royce
Lenny Williams
Midnight Star
Dwyane Wiggians is set to perform in September.


Mr. Allen-Taylor could not have said it better when he stated that "the road to Oaklands well-being does not pass down Broadway. It passes through the neighborhoods where all of us live."

He admits that one of the reasons why the event ran so smoothly was because the cops were "easy going and professional, acting as if all of us were part of the same community." I would imagine that this is what good police work is all about.

'Town Educational Seminars

Okay Dame. So you know I had to do some diggin' and thinking.

Being the pathological reader I am (wussup Joneze) I have to do a book list on town books. Keep in mind that this is partial, yet a start.

#1. Drive By Gary Rivlin. It is an account of the murder of Kevin Reed who as Kevin was former classmate
of mine at King Estate Middle School. He was murdered on Aeseon and Dowling on July 9th, 1990. I think that was the first funeral that I went to for someone so young. Not only does the book talk about Kevin's murder, but about Kevin's family, and Oakland's history.

#2.More Like Wrestling by Danyel Smith. A tale of two sisters, coming up at the height of the Crack era. The book resonated with me on about 8 different levels. My copy has about 20 pages highlighted.

#3.Blues City: A Walk in Oakland by Ishmael Reed. Is was wonderful book that drops some jewels about the town and the history of some of our neighbohoods. Despite the fact that Ishmael and Alice do not get along, this is a fast read about our beloved town.

#4.Too Beautiful for Words by Monique Morris. This book is inspired largely by The Coup Song, Jesus the Pimp. Monique is real cool too.

#5. The Dying Ground and The Last King by Nichelle Tramble. Nichelle is a FIRST RATE myster writer who uses the Bay as her backdrop. My heart skips a beat every time I hear that she is publishing a new book. I cannot WAIT until the third installment of this serious.


Next up is a lil' piece on the Mac Dre phenomenon.

The Marriage Post

Good Morning Blog Family. There's a war goin' on outside no one is safe from.......

It appears that the Army divorce rate flying sky high. So much for family values hunh? Why is there no news coverge of this phenomenon?

Maryanne Reid is taking an unorthodox route to promoting her new book Marry Your Baby Daddy. Her publishing company along with other sponsors are putting on a Marry Your Baby Daddy Contest. Applicants wrote in, were selected and will be married in a mass 10 couple ceremony. 10 new couples. I hope they throw in some counseling sessions too.

This months Essence has a few articles that focus on relationships.
One is about the importance of relationship skills and statistics on marriage and divorce.

They also took the analytical approach by listing by city and state where you are likely to find some eligible brotha's. I ain't mad at that.

Danyel Smith wrote about falling in love with her new husband (Elliott Wilson of XXL and Ego Trip Fame). It was special for me to read about her for several reasons. First off, I ran into them on the street at the begining of the year right after they got engaged. Secondly, not only did I used to read Danyel when she wrote for the Guardian in Cali, but I also use to read Ego Trip but I remember the first XXL. It was sort of like my play sister and cousin getting married. Read the article. It is enjoyable. Rarely are articles about black women and love published where we are not angry, bitter and vengeful.

As someone who has been engaged for almost 15 years ( it seems like it :), it was nice to read some information about how to gain some skills, instead of just people say marriage is good. Go for it.

Thank you for reading. Have a good weekend. And leave some comments, Please (in the high pitched sqeaky voice).

Buh-By

Looks like Aj and Free out outta here. I mean, really, how long were they suppose to be on 106 & Park anyway's, 15 years? The story is appealing because of the apparently sheisty that the situation was handeled. Even beloved talk show folks get gaffled:(

Model Minority of the Week is....

The Model Minority of the week Award goes to Gina Barecca, author of Babes in Boyland: A personal History of Co-Education in the Ivy League. Gina is dope because she loves teaching and is actually funny on paper. She was one of the first women to INTERGRATE Dartmouth in the 60's.

In the book she describes what it felt like to have a professor ask her repeatedly in class what her opinon was "as a woman",

"Miss so-and-so, as a woman, what is your reading of this text?". I was profoundly embarassed to be asked my opinon as a woman, since it seemed somehow less authoratative than being asked my opinion as a studwent or as a "general reader". At first , I jokingly replied that I would be happy to answer "as a person",....I knew that that tactic wouldn't work.

"It took me two months to understand that in the eyes of this teacher, I'd allways be a "Miss" rather than just an ordinary student....So I figured I'd go with it. "So I started to preface every answer with the phrase with, "As a woman, I think Shakespeare means...", "As a woman, I think it is really cold in June", "As a woman I think I will have meatloaf for dinner".

Hearing this worked for me because it let me know that this was the sixties, and SHE had to learn how to cope the same way MANY of us learn up to cope. Thank you Gina for putting us up on the game.

Ummm Tu-Ma-Toes

Oh, so the NY Times is up on the Berkeley Bowl. They are seriously not knowing how orgasmic walking into that place can be. 6 different types of tomatoes, avocados and apples. You got your small, your medium, your large. Then there is the organic, the fair trade, the regular (with pesticides). When I go to the Bay, I send back a priority package of honey roasted almonds (bulk), pico de gallo pistachios (bulk), chile lime pistachios bulk. And it is not expensive either.

Weekly Town Business

Man, as I predicted last week, this IS apparently THE watershed year for fools writing about Hip-Hop. And it is sooooo dope that it was written by a female.

So this was the First weekend in two months that I had to wear moisturizer. The air is getting cooler which is a sign that fall will be here in a hinnit.

I found three new Bay realted blogs, www.cult-status.blogspot.com, www.beerandrap.com, www.hyphie_blogspot.com,www.pacificstandard.typepad.com. I am NOT ALOOOOONE (*in the Scooby Doo spooky voice).
It was so cool to hear someone else talk about that Town' ish other than me.

Why did I find some clean a-- BCBG knock off's at Target the other day? Straight come up.

I was listening to Lord Finesses Funky Technician and realized that Big L sounded a lot like him.
Take a listen and let me know what you think.

*Shakes Head in Shame*

Just another reason I need to come with my A game and stop eating chicken. I know many of you will laugh, but I only learned recently that chicken eat every thing that is on the ground. Gross hunh. Poop. Dirt. Ewwwww. Now the Times is talking about the fact that there are some DANGEROUS ANTIBIOTICS that are pumped into the chickens.

Or perhaps I need to go for broke and join the Park Slope Food Co-Op so I can get my my organic chicken thigh's and organic pomegranate juice to wash it down.

I read Danyel's new book, "Bliss" last night. The main protaganist, Eva, works in the post Pac/Biggie music industry with an artist that I can describe as a combination of barefoot & performing- inscense burning-Badu with the cross over appeal of Celine Dion. Eva drinks a lot, f--ks a lot, and runs with the Big Boys in the industry. Because I am sort of fact and conflict obsessed, I spent the first 2/3rd's of the novel looking for Eva's motivation for her alchol addiction and her ambivilance regarding her pregnancy. Danyel, I loved the father figure. He was on point. Protective, loving, shrewd and competitive. It was good to see a GROWN Black woman's perspective on the music industry who was struggling with her own NOTIONS of family. Lord knows I have been there.

I "Heart" Hip Hop

Why did I stumble upon the D-Nice blog. Hallllaaah!
Takin out you sucka's and you don't know how I did it. Ohhh, those guitars and that base line, dunn nun du nun nun nun nun nun-nun.
That is a classic hook, mayne. His blog appears to be honest and full of insight with even advice from BDK (Hashim, thanks for the link).

Book Burna's

New Book out on Hip Hop. Dope cover too. Between Barkari's book, Why White Kids Love Hip Hop" to Jeff Changs, "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" and this new joint, Hip Hop Matters, by S. Craig Watkins, can we say that this is a "watershed" year for books on Hip Hop?

He also has another book called "Representing: Hip Hop Culture and the Production of Black Cinema". (Jase- this one is for you).

Rent-A-Negro

Damali Ayo, a Denver based, Brown educated visual artist has a new book out titled Rent-A-Negro. What an err- interesting idea. Renting Negros. There was an article on Damali in Salon. Her website is http://www.rent-a-negro.com/.

Model Minority of the Week is....

So, I just learned that Malcolm Gladwell is Colin Powell's cousin. Can you imagine playing tag with Colin Powell at the annual family BBQ. Colin would have mad strategies and tactics. He would never Be it. I think that it is interesting that Malcom mentions frequently how he is treated differently when he wears The Fro. Ahhhh, Malcom, welcome to Breathing While Black:)

Everything I Needed to Know I Learned from Hip Hop

For the next week or so I am going to post about what I have learned from Hip Hop. I have been toying around with this idea for a minute. I originally wanted to do it in book form so blogging about it is a start:)

1.From BDP's Love's Gonna Getcha, I learned that your desires to have nice, clothes cars and jewlery can get you caught up. The crack epidemic in Oakland went from a modest smolder to bubbly stew over a three month period. Young bucks who had no money last week were coming through with Guess Jean overalls, clean fades, cherry red cougars, task force kicking down doors. My big brother had mad BDP joints. It was a new world.

2. From Ed O G and the Bull Dog's "Be a Father to you Child", I learned that rappers can talk about the importance of fatherhood on a song. I don't believe that music, Hip Hop, has to be political. It can be one of its functions. But when it is Good it is Excellent.

3.From Nas I learned that we are Born Alone and We Die Alone and that is life. Up until that point I loved the hop, but I do not remember feeling an MC the way that I felt him. In fact, that was one of the first tapes that I bought on the Tuesday that it came out. It is disappointing

4.From Salt and Pepa I learned that women could dance and discuss sex in a song without being considered raunchy. For their era, the were advanced.

Me and Redman & Doom

Why didn't anyone tell me that the Ikea instructions only have graphics? There is a certain amount of stamina that furniture assemblage requires. It is sorta like a marathon. Redman and Doom helped me learn how to use a drill and assemble an Ikea bookcase, armoire and entertainment center. Well, they did not help me literally, but I did listening to Vaudeville Villan and Dare is a Darkside. The entertainment center still needs a little bit more work. But that will get handled tonight.

In an ironic twist there was an article in the Times yesterday about a man volunteering to build an armoire for his girlfriend after she moves into his apartment. I was happy to learn that other couples were going through armoire pain too. It gave me a burst of energy.

There is nothing like getting three quarters through assembling an armoire only to learn that the two largest panels need to be switched around. Which requires breaking the entire thing down. However, I no longer have any furniture assemblage anxiety. Infact, I may ask for a more powerful drill and a saw for my B-Day:)

Close Your Mouth & Open Your Legs.

Two Black women are on the New York Times Bestseller lists.
Bebe Moore Campbell's new book, 72 Hour Hold and Karrine Steffans and Karen Hunter's book Confessions of a Video Vixen.

I am not surprised by the comments being made about Karrine Steffans book. What it noticable to me is the double standard that exists for Ms. Steffans and the men in Hip Hop that she has apparently slept with. There is no reference being made to their whorish, if you will, behavior. This line of thought reinforces the idea that women are objects to be had.

With so much of the popular hip hop depending on Black women to sell their songs (abve is one of the more, er- conservative, still shots from Nellys Tip Drill video), it makes sense that someone has finally written about being with rappers. We are discussed in the songs. We dance in the videos. We work behind the scenes in droves in the music industry. And finally someone is talking about it.

That Ms. Steffans is being referred to has a whore and slut who is using her whorish skills to make cash is interesting. Sex is used to sell everything from cars to ciggarettes. Popular cultures current fascination with everthing that is pimp related adds a dimension to the double sexual standard in Hip Hop, (and American culture at large). From the Pimp my Ride show on MTV, to 50 Cent's song is a P-I-M-P. In fact Terrence Howard's plays a pimp in the new John Singleton movie, Hustle and Flow. Pimpdom is pervasive. The very essence of being a pimp is a man, (typically), convincing a woman to sell her body for cash for him. It comes down to the fact that many do not have a problem with Ms. Steffans sleeping with rappers, she apparently, isn't suppose to talk about it.

Wayan's are Town Bound

The Wayans have been in talks with the City of Oakland to build a studio at an army base in West Oakland. I can see it now, a young bucks, thugs and ex-raiderettes all gainfully employed at the Wayans shiny new sounstage. This could be good for the city. But you know how that Hollywood ish goes, now you see it........In other Town news, Why are tax payers paying 22 Million (capital M) to subsidize the Raiders? Oakland folks love the team, and that is cool. However 22 Million. Per year. A portion of that, maybe 5 or 10 million could pay for a lot of teacher salaries, new books, toliet paper, janitors, field trips, new desks, chalk.......

Born Broke. Die Broke.

Lately I have been obsessed with inherited wealth. It is one thing to be the first in your family to go to school. You end up being your families paralegal, social worker and health care advocate. Because you have been in schools re- institutions, you can navigate them better. You do it out of love. If you are the first in your family (fiyf,-don't steal), then it is very Unlikely that you will have the resources that some of your peers and coworkers who may be White 2nd and 3rd generation college attendees & homeowners. Today's Times article talks about how grandparents help pay for their grandchildrens private school tuitions. Which leaves me with the question of, when is their going to be a dialogue about the relationship between inherited wealth and class. Because the way that it is looking, a lot of folks are going to be on some Born Broke. Die Broke. American Dream. Zapped.

My favorite part of the article when the writer Tamar Lewin states that, "For wealthy grandparents, tuition payments can be a good estate-planning device. Under so-called 529 plans, Martin L. Greenberg, an accountant at Rosen, Seymour, Shapss, Martin & Company, said, a grandparent could contribute $55,000 toward a grandchild's college tuition without triggering any gift tax. And private-school tuition paid directly to the school does not count as a gift." Talk about the benifits of being second or third generation.

Town Business

What happens when put some young bucks (who may or may not be D-Boys), and a middle age Black man "street vigilante" on a slowly gentrifing North Oakland block? You get a grown man, Patrick McCullough (photo above), who shoots a "rowdy" kid, sixteen-year-old Melvin McHenry. McHenry was allegedly on McCullouh's lawn with some homies. McCullough felt threatened and was tired of calling the police on the D-Boy's on his block. And largely because the DA's office declined to charge McCullough, the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement are calling him a sellout. Only in the town 'mane. Only in the 'town.