I wanted to bring it down a notch, with the holiday weekend here. The Enjoy life segment is early so here’s a throwback video from the first group that introduced me to hip hop music and opened my eyes to music in general De La Soul ‘Roller skate Jam…It’s Saturday’ Saturday is the best day of the week!! I have some treats lined up for next week so until then… Enjoy the holiday. Eat some BBQ(not pork)
Peas
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With all of the focus on Sen. Obama I realy feel like this was overshadowed. I honestly didn’t focus too much on it myself and I flipped on CNN and they were in New Orleans. Maybe on the 5th anniversary there will be a big emphasis but for what. This is definitely one of two major tragedies I can blame on the Bush administration and to a larger extent Congress. The first being the Iraq war(9/11 would happened regardless) It still angers me and is a sense of extreme shame in my country for the way the city of New Orleans was ignored and a whole region of the U.S. the gulf coast! Why should I celebrate 4th of July? Why should I look at the flag with a sense of pride? This country has continuously failed poor people and people of color since it’s inception! This was probably the lowest our goverment has sank and if they got any lower I think government would be a non-factor because this was horrible. Like Nas said ‘I’m American born…American raised…I love my country…’ for the ideals we carry but we have so much baggage it weighs us down. I can’t be proud of the trail of tears, the tuskegee experiment, the fact Columbus day is still on the books as a holiday, the nearly 400 years of slavery and overt oppression. I can go on and on about so many different groups of people. There isn’t a connection amongst our people, our histories, clearly if the government feels so disconnected as to not help it’s own people; Citizens, many of whom were African-American with generations linked to this very land. Whose ancestors/relatives did not come through Ellis Island in the early 1900’s but who were brought here in 1619 to Virginia, to the caribbean then to points up and down the east coast, the gulf coast. Many of whom have caucasian and definitely Native American blood flowing through veins.
I have African ancestory but I and my family are connected to this land the U.S. through the blood, sweat and tears my ancestors have endured, for the buildings they built, this country they built free of charge! For the fact we are so disconnected with our true past that we had to create something entirely new here! The discrimination I myself have faced in the late 20th and early 21st century! This is paying homage to all those displaced gulf coast families, those in Baltimore, Atlanta, L.A., Houston wherever. To those who lost their lives on during Hurrican Katrina, for the blatant ignorant comments that expressed how people really felt about people of color regardless! i.e. ‘refugees’ not just the usage of the word but the dissmive tone in which it was used. For those that will never return to New Orleans. For New Orleans itself, for the crime that took place in the years that past, for the lower 9th ward. Like the phrase in reference to the those enslaved in the caribbean, U.S., South America ‘NEVER AGAIN’
Peace yall
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Sen. Obama couldn’t have said it better. I’m waiting to see that T-shirt pop up too LOL. First off PROPS to TV One, I’m glad they covered the event and I hope to see more of it. Another outlet that represents us and not the ‘destruction of Black people’ i.e. BET(all my boondocks fans know) On a side note: R.I.P to ‘Rap City’ and BET as a whole. Back to the regularly scheduled blog. I actually fell asleep in the beginning of speech but I did see some of it. I just caught the rest on youtube. All I have to say is…if 85,000 people don’t say what’s going on, I don’t know what does. If this man does not become President, it will be a sign of blatant tampering. I just think it’s very hard to compete with that. Obama answered probably everyone of John McCain’s criticisms. That’s like Eminem on ‘8 mile’ at the battling and dude was just standing there, stuck! Just about two months left folks, get your popcorn out this one is going to be Academy award winning fo’ sho’. I know one thing, I have to take off from work at least one day. If he wins, that joint should be a national holiday for real. Instantly, everybody should be allowed to celebrate! Be on the look out for more political commentary, word affairs/issues, oh! International hip hop is a permanent post segment! YAY! Be on the look out for those as I criss cross the globe via the net for that hot talent on 6 continents, if somebody is rapping down at a scientific station in Antartica you might see them too. I’m out.
Peas
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I had to put this Author out there, his name is Randall Robinson, I found out about him wooooo earlier this year through blackelectorate(I love that site) What can I say but read ALL of his books! They are eye opening and extremely insightful. He founded the progressive policy research organization TransAfrica. I just finished reading his book the Debt and I ran through the book featured above An unbroken Agony. For anybody but especially African-Americans, people of African descent they are powerful words that help you understand the world you live in no matter where in the diaspora. Like Levar Burton said(Reading Rainbow, where my 80’s baby at?) ‘You don’t have to take my word for it’…find out for yourselves.
Peace
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With the DNC(Democratic national convention) kicking off last night, I felt I had to put this out there. I’ve been known about Sen. Barack Obama since his speech on ‘04′ as I was listening to the speech I thought…WOW, who is this guy? In the four years since, we’ve all seen what has happened and now we have the first viable African-American Presidential Nominee in our short history as a nation. As an African-American I am so excited for November to come. I will definitely be at the polls, I pray the outcome is in his favor and that people aren’t mislead, blocked or blinded by the bull$hit of the past two elections. One thing though, if Sen. Obama is to become President I hope he enacts change I can see! I know the first at least two years is going to be straight clean-up. but I don’t want his Presidency to be a physical change but a true change. I would like to see the beginnings of some sort of true ‘universal health care’, definitely a foreign policy change. On my train ride home today, I was talking about this with some of my ‘train buddies’ we were talking about Cuba and the U.S. embargo and how silly(no other word to describe it) it is. I would like to see that embargo lifted, definitely our TROOPS PULLED OUT OF IRAQ!, for Aghanistan to finally be handled in a sensible way and for the goverment to place a focus on it, the type focus the country should have received in the first place. A true, meaningful focus on the continent of Africa! Not just a ‘infomerical charity focus’ but true meaningful focus, for the realization that trade is possible and that as a continent Africa can be a major player in the world. Paying attention to Liberia might not be too much to ask for. We shipped my ancestors over there…so aaahhh yeah. I can go and on, but you all get the point. I’m tired of ‘mindless rhetoric’(if I can get on my CNN pundit ish on a second) We need to hold our elected officials accountable and not just that ‘lord I can’t wait till he get outta office’ If Sen. Obama becomes President there will definitely be cause for celebration but we can’t let that euphoria consume us. January 21, 2009, it’s the real deal! Regardles of who’s in the White House.
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I had to combine the two…so If ya don’t know, now ya know…Enjoy Life because these brothers are hilarious!! I found out about them in the earlier part of this year. They go by the name of Green Bench, think Saturday night live meets Mad TV with some HBCU straight up chillin’ on the bench comedy. The writer/director is out of North Carolina A&T, once again BIG UP to my HBCU’S! MEAC fam no doubt. Check them out, trust you all will be scrolling through their youtube catalog because they will have you falling out of your chair.
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I’m back to shine some light on the home team. The U.S. Olympic Track team. Yes, the U.S. swept the 4×400m relay Unfortunately most of the pictures and anything surrounding the olympics on the U.S. side is already owned and subject to copyright i.e. you can’t have access to it. I saw the races last night, woooooo the U.S. women, Sanya Richards(who is of Jamaican descent) when she moved into first place right before she crossed the line, I was cheering like I was there. I was so happy to see them win. Then the men just blew that joint away! Breaking a record in the process. The 100m and 4×100m relay are such big events in track and hence the Olympics, with the U.S. not placing in either 4×100m men nor women, then the loss in the 100m on both sides, it seemed like we were having big problems. Not only that, the 200m on both sides…but this was nice to see. In my opinion a good way to head into 2012 Olympics.
As far as preparation for the 2012 London Games….just re-grouping in my opinion. I think the U.S./Jamaica rivarly has been solidified in this Olympics for years and years to come. Especially with so much interaction between the two countries. A lot of Jamaican runners come the to the states, you have runners like Sanya Richards who was a Jamaican citizen and is now running for the U.S. as a U.S. citizen. I don’t see it going away. I know the Jamaicans are going to do what they can to try and stay on top. Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser are 22/21 years old. That’s easily two or three more Olympics we will see them in. Not to mention the new talent coming behind them. The U.S. is just going to have to keep in mind that countries like Jamaica are going to running right on side with us and we’re going to have to in the words of Emeril ‘Kick it up a notch…BAM’ LOL. This has been a good Olympics and I’m looking forward to 2012 on all fronts, B-ball, track, volleyball, soccer so many sports.
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If you haven’t clicked the video, check it out…because I’m talking about the well established but to many still up and coming rap group Little Brother Yep, as I continue to evolve with my blog and explore new ideas, this is one of them. Something I just made up literally lol, called Blowin’ up…where I exam what is going on and why certain groups, artists haven’t broken through the ‘underground’(I strongly dislike that term) If you have been coming to yocheckthisout…I posted about Gordon Gartrell radio a few posts down. I mentioned how little brother are one of my favorite groups and I definitely mean it. I was listening to Micheal Baisden(yes I’m a young old head) It was earlier this week and he had people shouting out their colleges and talking about their favorite college memories and songs that embodied their college experience. I was listening as people shouted out their college(University of Maryland Eastern Shore! What up!) and their class i.e. 1990 and speak with such passion about how they loved their 4,5, etc years in college. I was sitting in traffic thinking damn! what songs can I reminsce about that didn’t come out between 92-96 LOL…at first I thought of the UMES classic party jam circa 2000 Mystikal’s classic cut ‘Shake it fast’ but then I was like there has to be more. Little Brother came to mind…not just one song but the whole ‘The listening’ album, definitely epitomizes my college days even though I was a junior when that album came out but as I walked on campus with my backpack, CD player(no MP3 then) and my DJ headphones(I’m a wannabe DJ) it made me think about how people circa ‘School Daze’ era must have felt, even then I knew listening to Little Brother that it was something that would stick with me. That if someone asked me what songs do you think about when you think about college, Little Brother is definitely going to stand out and if I had that feeling, what is wrong with video, radio and record companies!!
I’m gonna put it out there…people are tired of ‘getting silly’, ‘walking it out’ and any other new song that will come out with a heavy base beat and built in dance/mindless rap over honestly… hot beats by the time I finish this post. When I say people, I mean just that…PEOPLE! kids in middle school/high school, college students, 20 somethings, 30 somethings, old school lovers, new school suburban, urban whomever. I’ve had this conversation with a lot of people, I even spoke to my best friends’ after school program and a group of 8th-10th graders basically said ‘we’re tired of this!’ There is nothing wrong with ‘Get silly’ but when that type of song is all you hear, yeah there’s a problem. It’s not that song is different than let’s say ‘Jump’ by Kriss Kross but that’s not all that was being played back in ‘92′ If Little Brother came out back in let’s say between ‘88-93′ everybody would know who they are. Same thing if Tribe came out today they would most definitely be underground. WHY!?
If 13 years kids are tired of the music that is suppose to target them, somebody’s focus group did not work. Not only that, why isn’t the adult segment of the hip hop generation represented, Little Brother is grown folks music. It’s music I would and do let my little 11 year old sister listen to. They are hilarious, have meaningful lyrics and represent what 99% of people are going through. There is nothing wrong with dancing I will fully admit ‘I walk it out’ every chance I get on the dance floor but why can’t I hear ‘two step blues’ as well? You can dance to that fo’ sho’. If Lupe’s song ‘Dumb it down’ is right, what is the point. Dumb the music down for what? The kids, adults everybody, we get it!! We are tired and the record industry is failing because the music being put out is failing to provide us with those ‘good vibes’, uplifting feeling and overall putting smiles on our faces. Little Brother is independent now and I’m glad! I’m not even in the industry but I would tell anybody to go independent or stay independent. I could care less if Sony stops selling CD’s, Warner Brother’s etc. The music and culture will continue the internet is proof. I guess if the music industry is following the pattern of what’s going on in the U.S. they are just clueless, people on the street get it, but the suits and the people around them clearly do not. What is being played on the radio as I speak has over extended it’s welcome by my estimate two years too many.
Little Brother put out the ‘Minstrel Show’ on Atlantic back in ‘05′ Atlantic didn’t support them at ALL!! Again what happened, why sign an artist you are not going fully support. The album is hot…well all their stuff is but why didn’t I hear ‘lovin’ it’ on the radio. Although VH1 Soul played that joint, but again how many people are watching VH1 Soul? Yes people are tired but they are not necessarily seeking other options, they are just stuck. Like if you’re tired of your job but you don’t know where to turn, you’re staying where you are. I hope it will get better, but hip hop music is moving away from the mainstream anyway. It would be nice to turn on the radio and hear Little Brother being played along ‘with at least 18 jams in a row’
Peace
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You know I had to do a follow up…you’re thinking hip hop/Jamaica…yes! The two are intertwined, Dancehall is hip hop and hip hop is dancehall. Hip hop has its roots to the very core on the Island of Jamaica, which of course all stems from the continent of Africa but Jamaica is definitely the place. I have to say nuff respect to this woman, I first heard about her when I was in college, my roommate at the time was Jamaican and I was on my Jamaican ish heavy. By the end of that year I had a firm grasp in understanding and even speaking a little a patois(it has faded a lot but I still got a little bit with me). So I picked up Reggae Gold 2001(yeah I’m takin’ it back a little bit) and I heard this joint ‘Changez’…I heard that ‘riddim’(rhythm) and the way she was flowing on that joint. I was look oooohhhh who is this! Mind you she was getting on just about ALL the major dancehall artists out. So I asked my roommate, she was like ‘That’s Ce’Cile ‘ I even had the pleasure of seeing her when I took a vacation to the Bahamas last year around Christmas. My opinion she shut that joint down, I’m not just saying that. I’m not even going to lie, I try to stay up on reggae/dancehall but it’s hard because most people don’t get into it like that, it’s not on the radio in my area like that. People are like ‘I don’t understand what they saying’ it don’t matter, learn…everybody feels the beat. Of course I have video…
This is my joint! ‘I’m waiting’
Interview
Peace
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I’m still on my olympic ish, sorry for the delay, I work nahmean lol… but if you’ve been under a rock, without cable, unable to read a newspaper and do not know about about this. I have to say nuff Respect to the Jamaican Sprinters this year. Two names…USAIN BOLT! That dude is doing it. Shelly-Ann Fraser who won the 100m on the women’s side; I loved her celebration, just pure energy. Not only the 100m but Usain, you know how we do, he’s just Usain, he won the 200m. I used to run track in high school I was did the 4×100m relay…well actually I did a little of everything but I’ve always loved the track events especially the sprint events. Not to down play the U.S. efforts but props are due no matter what, me being the Pan-Africanist I am it doesn’t matter anyway, peace to all my African people. Yeah props to Dayron Robles on 110m hurdles from El Pais de Cuba(the country of Cuba) The U.S. just needs to re-group(there will be another blog on the U.S.) go get em in 2012 in London, I’m trying to be there by the way! I found some video on youtube you definitely ain’t seeing on NBC, NBC has a lock on the olympics here in the U.S. but I got some other footage, show you what’s going on in Jamaica, West Indies!
Ladies First, see some footage on Shelly-Ann Frasers win
From the beginning…Usain at the Jamaican Olympic Trials
Peace yall
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