Cuz you put the hue in human

My dunny Harold Clemens has a recent guest article over at The Black Commentator entitled, "An Evolution of Lies." Pretty interesting and I also found it ironic, because the 'hue in human' line is from the same Black Star track I paraphrased in my previous post. Frustrated brothers be thinking alike, huh. Word.

And speaking of frustration, while I've gotten over the demise of the Chappelle Show, I fond the words to the piece Dave performed on Def Poetry. Classic status.

Fuq Ashton Kutcher,
The public image butcher.

His shows a hit
and I can't stand that shT.

I don't even know him
but I hate his guts.

If he punks me,
I won't sign the release.

Because whenever he punks
black people, it always involves the police.

He even has all the white folks at home rolling.
Brandy, did you know that jewelry you was stolen?

'But hey, I'm a star.' Well stop shining
and get your ass out that car.

Well, he wouldn't like it, if me and my friends
Just before dawn busts in his house with some ski masks on.

Put a gun in his mouth and turned on the lights
just when he screams out, I'll yell out SSSIIIIKKKKEEEE.

Can you sign this release because I want to entertain people with your fear.
You punk b!tch.

Because Dave Chapelle is a genius.

The fire's in my eyes and the flames need fannin

Let's back it up a minute. The first (and only) Black Star was truly on some classic status. One of my personal favorites, KOS, featured Talib Kweli dolo. It has a very simple beat and mellow melody but it thumped hard and resounded very loudly with a lot of people, namely mysef. I'm no all-knowing individual who is fully knowledgable of all that goes on around me or well-versed in curent events, historical contexts, and landmark literary figures. I'm just trying to live each breath a little more fully than the previous.

Knowledge Of Self is like life after death
With that you never worry about your last breath
Death comes, that's how I'm livin, it's the next days
The flesh goes underground, the book of life, flip a page

I am currently fascinated by the phenomena that is a learning curve. It can be interpreted in a few ways, but all boil down to a cnsistent theme; how well progress is made from cluelessness towards awareness. As yo cn see i the picture, the midget is very happy taking a shower. In fact, he enjoys getting his face wet and washing his hair. I don't remember that being the case with any of the rugrats I babysat when I was younger. But I guess it's one of the trade-offs with him I have to enjoy. So this week, along with our familiar routine or basic nouns, letters, and numbers, he's making more literal associations. I swear I was ready to choke him out if I saw one more damn MBTA bus on Friday. I remember being in 4th grade being the lookout-guy and having to shout at the top of my lungs, 'DA BUUUSSSSS!', everytime I caught that big yelloe behemoth coming out way, because of course, we were never actually at the stop. Let's just say deja vu like a mutha. All you cold hear for blocks, BUUUSSSSS. But he's learning. He'll lear more. And I'll learn right along with him. I look back on some simple things that I didn't do as a youth that would have made my adulthood a bit more fulfilling. Dictionaries are great. All these smart people have been stumping me lately, so I go and read up on what I'm missing and then feel all well-informed and ready to take on the world with my new word. So my goal is to let him enjoy his childhodd, but subtly plant little seeds in his brain so he'll know what time is; figuratively of course. Can't be skimming over pages in our book of life together. Word.

And you could tell, by how her titties hung

I met this girl, when I was ten years old
And what I loved most she had so much soul

When I was ten years old, I was in the fifth grade. It was my second year at Buist Academy. I still have the yellow yearbook from that yea and I look back through it with mixed feelings. I can remember a lot of what happened that school year, but cannot quite pinpoint why I have certain notations next to people's name. Or in some cases, why I scribbled and 'slandered' a few folks. Ok, well I do know why that happened, but let's just say things went over better in middle school. But the real reflection for me is how much life changes. In my quest to reconnect with those I've lost touch with, I've found some old friend and family and friend of the family that were older and younger than I who have gone to do their thang as adults. My cousin Chris is doing his thing at school in NC, my younger cousin Jen is doing her thing at school in FL, her big brother (who is fuqing huge) finished school and is now doing his thing as a teacher, and family friend Shirrell is doing her thing at school playing d2 ball. I like it when we go out into the world and let our creative juices flow. It's even iller to see that they all still have a strong sense of self and awareness of where they're from and where they're headed.

She was old school, when I was just a shorty
Never knew throughout my life she would be there for me

I guess I kinda strayed there, huh? What I thought would be a hip-hop related post turned into a run-of-the-mill reflective paragraph on life. But hey, hip-hop and life go hand-in-hand with me so it's not that much of a disconnect, now is it. But yeah, back to the fifth grade. I can remember rocking the four-M (Malcolm, Martin, Mandela, Marcus) shirts and the africa joints on my neck. I had a high-top fade (flatop) and even a step (which ended up in the yearbook). If you are clueless as to what I mean by a step-flatop, don't bother googling. Just give up now. But seriously, I look back and wonder wheer all the time went and how the mystery of life would be diffrent if we could retrace our steps to do things just a little bit differently.

She didn't have a body but she started gettin thick quick
DId a couple of videos and became afrocentric
Out goes the weave, in goes the braids beads medallions
She was on that tip about, stoppin the violence
About my people she was teachin me
By not preachin to me but speakin to me
in a method that was leisurely, so easily I approached
She dug my rap, that's how we got close

So I guess this is simply a night-time lament on how things were, could be, should be, can be, and will be. Life is what you make it and I'm trying to do what I can to live it up, have fun, and meet my maker with something to show for my time here amongst the living. Just trying to make sure my word is bond and that bond is strong....

Stressin how hardcore and real she is
She was really the realest, before she got into showbiz

...Not to mention keep my shT straight so that the midget knows what to do and what not to do, and possess the ability to think critically at all times and be able to weigh options and make choices based on alternatives and consequences, because that's what it all boils down to me. Recognize real, respect the realness, but live in reality. Whether it's a gut feeling, split-second decision, or a well thought-out vetting process, actions speak louder than words. So I'll make my pledges, promises, vows, scheduled meetings, appointments, field trips, workshops, and the like, but at the end of the day I just want to always be able to look back and say, 'yo, you know what, I came, I saw, and I repped like a mutha, son. word up.'

Legendary Status: I Used to Love H.E.R.

The Ave

Street movement in print.

While I'm sitting here waiting for all these files to upload to the web server, I figure now is as good as any time to show some luv for The Ave magazine. I subscribed online a few weeks back and finally got my first issue last week. It is truly a refreshing piece of work.

A fellow NEU alum is one of the masterminds behind the publication and to the hip-hop lifestyle that has been under-appreciated as a cultural force. He stresses the most important part of the revolution, is to speak the truth and promote empowerment in an equitable environment.

It's hop-hop journalism for the soul. None of that overly-fluffy pillow talk with unnecessary verb tenses. Just pure, uncut good writing on topics of substance. My first taste has TI on the front cover and Farrakhan on the back. The stories are not the same run-of-the-mill dumb a$$ interviews about favorite foods and sexual positions and the layout is hella on-point. There was even an insightful piece about the state of public education, whcih is some real shT to be talking baout in a hip-hop publication. But that's just it. It's a poart of the culture. Embrace it and you will enjoy. Definitely something worthy of my dollar bills. (although the damn CEO won't return my phone calls but it's all good). Brothers be busy. Word.

Details:
Africa's Gateway interview
SoundSlam interview
Chronic Magazine interview
EUR Web news