Sean P. ripped through this track like a shark rips through tuna.
RIP, bruh. Your talent and public persona is surely missed.
Showing posts with label HipHop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HipHop. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Vainglory
It's interesting how this culture equates a man's parenting skills with how much crap he can put up with from his child's mother (and whether HE pays child support on time). "If he really wanted to be involved, he wouldn't let that stop him from seeing his child." May I please request that you push your head FARTHER up your ass to the point where it muffles your dumbassed mouth? The number of games that some parents play using their children as game pieces is staggering. Don't even think to pretend that women are not above using their children so.
The rule of thumb for you, my slow-witted friend, is this: Anything a man can think, feel, say or do, women have proven themselves just as capable of thinking, feeling, saying or doing. So, get off of that high, pretentious horse.
I have tried NOT to drag out details of my particular baggage because, "Hey! I picked her, right?" But, I will say that a man can get to the point where he wants to cut his losses in a situation...especially if the children are complicit in the duplicity. The promise and ability to "do what they want to do" goes far in gaining children's cooperation. After dealing with established patterns of behavior, enabling, deception and simple bullshit, I get to the point where I let them run headlong into the wall I see and they don't.
* * * * *
 |
| Professor X (X-Clan) |
When a person's sole criterion for judging the worth of an individual is their monetary net worth, they tend to deal with people who are devoid of real human emotion. You get people who treat other people, and worse: themselves, as objects.
Even if you realize that those behaviors are unhealthy, your viewership enables more of that type of programming to be greenlighted. "Ion't really like the show. I just watch it." *smh* That's what a rating is, numbskull. You increase the ratings just by having your TV on the channel.
I'd say that's food for thought, but whatever! Duwhutchalike...as usual.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Urban American Culture & You
I'm moved by a lot of what I see on National Geographic's website. People and their cultures are shown in vivid detail. The Your Shot feature allows readers to submit photos of their own for display on the website. National Geographic's efforts to study, showcase and savor humanity in its diversity can only be applauded.
I look for representation of my own culture, though. I've been seeking photos of the beautiful things in Urban American culture. So far, no luck! Maine...Nevada...Wyoming...even Alabama are all on photographs. Bombed out buildings in Afghanistan are even featured in shots of surprising complexity. But, Urban America? I've found one photo of some women in New York.
Hip Hop? NatGeo went to Bangalore to get a shot of hip hop. C'mon, son! Know what, though? That's not all National Geographic's fault. Those of us in & from urban environments need to photograph those things that we find inspiring & beautiful. There's no evidence that beauty even exists in the 'hood, yet NatGeo manages to find beauty in all other parts of the world. Step up, y'all. Don't just record shenanigans and dumbassededness for YouTube & WorldStarHipHop. Show some depth & sophistication by taking some stills of those moments that we know are there.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Post-Racial - How Did We Get Here?
I was listening to Jon Connors “Saginaw Street Chronicles” off of his Season 2 mixtape. This was followed up by Big K.R.I.T.’s “Children of the World”. I couldn’t help but feel the despair of my little brothers. This “post-racial” world we live in is a trip. “Post-racial” apparently means insults, disparaging remarks and the continued systemic disenfranchisement of an entire ethnic group is ok as long as you show one of them in a beer commercial with the “majority”.
School systems steered little boys into positions where they could “make shit”. So, pipefitters, machinists, plumbers, painters, carpenters, mechanics, and other jobs of this sort were the jobs young men were encouraged to seek. Where I grew up, Detroit, working in “the plant” was the job a lot of dudes looked for. It was decent money. You could raise a family on it. And, industries in the area were not hiring young men from the city. Then, big corporations sent all those production jobs overseas and put the people in them out of work. Young men saw their fathers laid off and downsized after decades of doing what was expected of them.
Right around that time, the music industry corrupted & changed. In the 80s, when hip hop went public and became more than a fad, drugs were taboo and those who used them were shunned. Then, the industry gave a voice to drug users. Weed ("pot" to some of you, marijuana officially) is now viewed as the norm. Right around that same time in the 80s, crack hit the streets. The federal government’s tacit complacence, if not actual involvement, in the crack epidemic of the 1980s is a matter of public record.
A Zombie Apocalypse is some sort of cultural meme and a bit of a running joke for most people; but, I lived through Detroit in the 1980s. It was like Raccoon City up in that bitch at times.
So, “society” has steered generations of young men towards these jobs which were then taken away, stripping them of hope and livelihood. The popular music of the time shifted from themes of responsibility, camaraderie and fun to darker themes of materialism, violence and irresponsible sex. Language and music inform cultures. The worst drug epidemic this society has seen to date hits these same streets. So, you can make a LOT of money if you participate in the sale & distribution of these drugs, but to survive the most violent aspects of your personality MUST come to the fore. The other side of that coin is being a customer—using crack, looking for a high as good as that first hit. Anecdotally, some versions of crack were known as cumbomb. Your first high was so good, you’d orgasm. Seeking that elusive high is what created a rock/crack cocaine addict, also known as a “crackhead”.
The same society that stripped the people native to the continent they colonized of hope and their homes, shipping them/us (running joke or not, many Black Americans are the bastard children of two or more continents) to “reservations”, freely supplying them with a chemical addictive (alcohol in the case of Native Americans), used this tried & true methodology in inner cities in the 1980s & 90s.
The additional step of not only making possession of crack illegal, but making the penalty three times stiffer than possession of a corresponding weight of cocaine, made a further mess of things. Mandatory sentencing incarcerated thousands, then millions, of young, Black men. Incarceration became enculturation…along with the violence, misogyny, hopelessness and despair glorified in this newer form of hip hop. Language & music do as much to inform a culture as they are informed by it, after all. Then, the same "post-racial" society whose majority culture & systemic bigotry enabled this entire sad, sorry state of affairs, clucks its collective tongue, shakes its big, collective head and places all the blame squarely on the Black Man.
The hate affair that America has with the Black Man is deeper and even more insidious than what I’ve stated. As I wrote, the rabbit hole just kept getting deeper. Consider that conquerors have proven over the centuries that if you take the men out of the equation, if you can emasculate them either physically or psychologically, then you can do what you want with their women. Follow that thought to its natural end. I elected not to follow every branch of thought, however. There isn’t enough time.
Still, my brothas, you’re playing with a stacked deck. I salute each & every one of you who beat the odds and is trying to do the right thing despite the "post-racial" world around you. Keep your head up and be smart.
School systems steered little boys into positions where they could “make shit”. So, pipefitters, machinists, plumbers, painters, carpenters, mechanics, and other jobs of this sort were the jobs young men were encouraged to seek. Where I grew up, Detroit, working in “the plant” was the job a lot of dudes looked for. It was decent money. You could raise a family on it. And, industries in the area were not hiring young men from the city. Then, big corporations sent all those production jobs overseas and put the people in them out of work. Young men saw their fathers laid off and downsized after decades of doing what was expected of them.
Right around that time, the music industry corrupted & changed. In the 80s, when hip hop went public and became more than a fad, drugs were taboo and those who used them were shunned. Then, the industry gave a voice to drug users. Weed ("pot" to some of you, marijuana officially) is now viewed as the norm. Right around that same time in the 80s, crack hit the streets. The federal government’s tacit complacence, if not actual involvement, in the crack epidemic of the 1980s is a matter of public record.
A Zombie Apocalypse is some sort of cultural meme and a bit of a running joke for most people; but, I lived through Detroit in the 1980s. It was like Raccoon City up in that bitch at times.
So, “society” has steered generations of young men towards these jobs which were then taken away, stripping them of hope and livelihood. The popular music of the time shifted from themes of responsibility, camaraderie and fun to darker themes of materialism, violence and irresponsible sex. Language and music inform cultures. The worst drug epidemic this society has seen to date hits these same streets. So, you can make a LOT of money if you participate in the sale & distribution of these drugs, but to survive the most violent aspects of your personality MUST come to the fore. The other side of that coin is being a customer—using crack, looking for a high as good as that first hit. Anecdotally, some versions of crack were known as cumbomb. Your first high was so good, you’d orgasm. Seeking that elusive high is what created a rock/crack cocaine addict, also known as a “crackhead”.
The same society that stripped the people native to the continent they colonized of hope and their homes, shipping them/us (running joke or not, many Black Americans are the bastard children of two or more continents) to “reservations”, freely supplying them with a chemical addictive (alcohol in the case of Native Americans), used this tried & true methodology in inner cities in the 1980s & 90s.
The additional step of not only making possession of crack illegal, but making the penalty three times stiffer than possession of a corresponding weight of cocaine, made a further mess of things. Mandatory sentencing incarcerated thousands, then millions, of young, Black men. Incarceration became enculturation…along with the violence, misogyny, hopelessness and despair glorified in this newer form of hip hop. Language & music do as much to inform a culture as they are informed by it, after all. Then, the same "post-racial" society whose majority culture & systemic bigotry enabled this entire sad, sorry state of affairs, clucks its collective tongue, shakes its big, collective head and places all the blame squarely on the Black Man.
The hate affair that America has with the Black Man is deeper and even more insidious than what I’ve stated. As I wrote, the rabbit hole just kept getting deeper. Consider that conquerors have proven over the centuries that if you take the men out of the equation, if you can emasculate them either physically or psychologically, then you can do what you want with their women. Follow that thought to its natural end. I elected not to follow every branch of thought, however. There isn’t enough time.
Still, my brothas, you’re playing with a stacked deck. I salute each & every one of you who beat the odds and is trying to do the right thing despite the "post-racial" world around you. Keep your head up and be smart.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Pretty Picture
Wiki - Pretty Picture from Letter Racer on Vimeo.
I'd much rather listen to some real HipHop than the (c)rap on the radio. Wiki has got a great start here.
Wiki Speaks...
Another kid about the same age as my son. Note the hoodies...
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