Letters From Zion

What's The Plan, Stan?

2011-11-27T13:47:00.001-05:00

I hate to be presumptuous about time. I've posted updates on my Facebook before reminding us that tomorrow is not promised, Death has it's own schedule. We can't let that stop us from living, and part of living involves plans and dreams...

"Tomorrow is NOT promised."

I think as a country we've been in a dark period. Political discourse has been the norm ever since we elected our 44th President back in 2008. The irony is that I don't think I've ever been more hopeful as I was after that, and now I think I'm probably the most disappointed I've ever been in our country. A lot of people could argue that I shouldn't let politics affect me in such a way, but it is what it is. It matters. The toughest parts of my youth were under Reagan and Bush. The best parts of my adult life were under Clinton, and everything since then have been a struggle under Bush Jr. I know, I know, this is coming off as a political blog, but it's not, trust me.

Making things a little more personal, I've been in a holding pattern for a number of years now... While I love my hometown, I've seen what life away from Duval can be like through my own experiences (in NY) and the experiences of my friends (Alyssa in NY, Rob Roy in LA, Daisey and Batsauce in Europe), and my own goal has been to go back out into the world. If you ever set foot in NYC and see what that city has to offer, you can never forget it. It's the character of the place itself. I've been watching "How To Make It In America" and I can't lie, every episode makes me miss NY that much more.

I assume that everyone who reads my blog has read it before, that's a poor assumption on my part. I should remind folks of my history. A few years back (2003) I met a guy in the county that later became my good friend... he was an artist, had a development deal with Epic and I produced a few tracks for him. He was managed by a woman who was managing Memphis Bleek at the time and was living in Brooklyn. He invited me up, I dragged myself and my huge Triton Classic on a Greydawg and took up residence in the Bronx.

I ended up living in a studio on the corner of 165th and Washington. If you know this part of town, you know, this is the real gully borough... Duval prepared me for it, trust me. These guys was the truest definition of underground. The two guys who owned the studio (I remember Barry, can't recall his brother's name, but he was the realest. Made sure I never went anywhere without money of my own in my pocket if I put in work) were not rich, they were some guys who came into some money and decided to invest it in a recording studio. Nobody ever considered that they might need to fix some of the stuff if it ever broke down, so when the hard drive crashed on the Yamaha AW1600 and they found out that servicing it would cost $350 and lose them a couple days of studio bookings, you should have seen the look on their faces when I said "If you buy the new drive, I'll put it in and we won't lose any days of bookings." GetoGeek saved the day, I became Mega the computer guy.

Being a part of their team felt good, because those of you who have experience being in charge of anything know that the leader has a bullseye trained on his head at all times. Stepping down and being an essential part of something was educational and liberating. If I had previous knowledge of what I was stepping into, I would have been better prepared to take advantage of the opportunities a metropolis like New York has to offer. I'd like another crack at the Big Apple.

So without going too far into the War Story Chest, I plan to make the road my home in 2012. I got a group of insanely talented friends in North Carolina (shouts to Mr. Invisible and N'DANGR Species) I want to make some music with them. I plan to do everything with Native Instruments products, so I hope we can even get their attention. Much of this is spurred by the announcement of Google Music, which I think is a watershed moment in digital music, especially if you are an artist in this day and age.

I don't want to go into the whole Mayan Calendar thing, but 2012 seems like the year we all need to be getting on with whatever it is we want to get done. I'd hate to remind you... but tomorrow ain't promised. In fact, it ain't even inferred.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Confessions Of A Lifelong Blogger

2011-10-25T06:57:00.000-04:00

I was blogging before I knew what the word meant.

I have been keeping a journal my whole life... well, not my WHOLE life, but by the time I was 16 it was a requirement. I didn't keep it to let a bunch of people read it, but it's funny how that seems to happen. I personally would never pick up someone's journal and start reading. Maybe it's something about people who understand what it is to document certain events. It's also the nature of nosey fucking bastards to pick something up and read it without asking. They would never write down certain things because they wouldn't want you to know (like the fact that your 19-year-old best friend is sleeping with the mother of your other 18-year-old best friend... thanks, dude. And you got mad at me because you read in my journal that I ALMOST slept with you EX-girlfriend? That's audacity). The irony is that even if you don't write it down, eventually the embarrassing thing will STILL come out, so why bother hiding it?

So later on I started keeping a digital journal, but those things disappear faster than the hardcopy/paper ones. One virus, and years of work would just go down the drain. I've had to adopt a "Oh well, shit happens" frame-of-mind in regards to them and say "Maybe that wasn't meant to be shared, it just had to be written" kind of attitude towards those. This was long before "The Cloud" was even thought of. Backing up was an activity you set aside an entire day to do. (None of you noobs remember tape backups, do you? Don't lie, I'll know! What was the one thing that could screw an entire back up? Post it in the comments if you know...)

Then in 2005, a funny thing happened. I don't remember how, but I ended up on a little site called MySpace, and I notice this little feature called "Blogging". I check it out, and I'm like....wait, whatthefuck? I can post things, whatever I want, and people can read and comment on it? Seriously?

My Blog was called "The Big Bad Blog". Didn't start off that way, but it evolved into it. Know why? Well, the tables had turned. At first, I had to hide my journal because everybody wanted to know what I was saying about them. Later on, things changed. It wasn't about what I was writing about them, they were far more concerned with what people were reading about them... My blog throughout my family is infamous. The way they talk you'd think I was documenting people's bowel movements. I never did. In honesty, I wrote about my interactions and frustrations. Sometimes, I named names. Sometimes, I didn't. The ones I think that really got to people are the ones that I didn't name names but people STILL knew who I was talking about, because actions still speak louder than words.

I miss the MySpace Blogging Community... now that, was a nasty bunch. You haven't met an internet mean girl until you've seen the ones that can mobilize an entire blog-clique to battle you on your own blog. I mean, they get NASTY. Oh, and coupled with the ever-changing blog rankings, things were hilarious. You had to be there to really appreciate it. On one hand, it was quite juvenile, on the other, it was very moving. I made friends with some of those bloggers and the friendships carried over, we followed each other into other social media platforms. Nothing brought things back like the old Blog-Gang of MySpace, though. I made friends with Adrianne Curry and Somaya Reece, primarily through comments on blog posts.

And while I don't have the tight-knit community of MySpace, I still have my own little corner of the Net carved out here, my Letters From Zion (yes, I am a Matrix junkie), and I created it because I was afraid of what could happen to my blogs on MySpace in the event that my profile would ever be deleted. There's 3 years of memories on there that would just vanish into nothing. The fear became so prevalent that I stopped blogging there altogether and it's more of an archive now. Kind of sad. Had MySpace come up with a way of backing them all up, I'd still be there most likely and when all the other people bailed on them, maybe the bloggers would have held them down?

So what the hell is this all about? No other reason than to test out the new interface on Blogger now that they are slowly merging it into Google+. I like the dashboard so far, it's clean, and it's the one thing I wanted so much to be on Google+ for. It's like they are building a social network around my blog instead of sticking blogging into social networking.

I still say this is the one place where Facebook most egregiously dropped the ball... or maybe it's better that they didn't fix it? People who weren't even ON MySpace would hear about my blog back in the day, I can only imagine what things would have been like on Facebook where familial connections are right in your face. I would have taken drama to an all-time high, even when it wasn't my intention. People should use the "Loop Of Life" test. If there is something that you wouldn't want on a video auto-loop of you doing over and over again, it's probably not a good idea for you to do it in the first place. Like you sleeping with your best friend's ex... somebody somewhere just might say something about it, as it relates to them.

Well, this was just a test, and I'm getting all crazy... internet people have short attention spans. Most people would have zoned out by now and pulled a Scott Pilgim "This is... this is... this is booooooring."

Sorry I couldn't entertain you this time... maybe next time I'll have the drama-llama in attendance....

Just One Of Those Days

2011-08-02T03:04:00.003-04:00

Yeah, sometimes you just have one of those days... or weeks... or months.

I wish I could narrow it down to one specific reason I feel this way, but I can't.

It's a host of things.

One is my son trying to snore directly above my head.

I may have to kill someone.

Things I Never Said

2011-07-30T23:20:00.004-04:00

Sometimes I wonder about my little corner of the world... I wonder how many sets of eyes come through and see what I have to say? It's weird, for a number of reasons.

I don't have nearly the traffic I used to have on MySpace. In fact, I had so much traffic there and there was such a hustle and bustle to "keep up" with the Blogosphere on there, I often had to find topics to write about. No such hurry here. It's just me and my one dedicated fan that I know is reading... but who are the rest of you?

I can't spend a lot of time worrying about the Unknown. How much concern can I give to those whom I do not know? Only so much.

Some are waiting to hear if I have anything to say about them. The irony of those people waiting for me to say something is that they constantly keep my name in their mouth, as if I am their standard by which they live, and I don't know why this is? Maybe I'm the one that being stupid by NOT writing about them? I mean, the one time I did write about their very public fight right in the middle of the street with their baby-mama, they act like I did something wrong. Truth be told, I wouldn't have even written about it had it not been for the fact that their antics made me have to babysit, that's actually what I was complaining about (hey, it's a blog, I'm allowed to be self-indulgent!), I don't write about them as a subject. Even now, I'm talking about them and not mentioning their name.

If I were this person, I probably wouldn't want anyone writing about me, either. Especially when I have a bad habit of letting my hands slip when I get into arguments with my girlfriends (plural). This is looking more and more like a pattern of behavior... I'm not perfect, my ex made it a point to let everybody know I grabbed her and did hurt her in the middle of a confrontation (she always leaves out the part about her breaking down a locked bathroom door between us, but whatever), and my fake friend made it a point to call me a "woman-beater" when we found out he was a cheater that sleeps with his friend's girlfriends behind their backs, but I will never allow myself to be pushed to that point again. You're not sorry if you keep doing it. Hell, they even said to me "Y'know, sometimes you have to smack 'em..." No, you never have to. If she makes you "have to", then you "have to" call the police on her and get her some damn help.

Topics like that would guarantee me some constant traffic, right? Well, if that's how I gotta get it, fuck traffic. Anyway, my point was, I wonder about the eyeballs that peruse? Who's out there?

I don't know that the present-day traffic is my concern, or even should be. One day I'm going to look back at certain events, and the one way I'll best be able to recall how I felt is to refer back to my blog. It's funny, the very few journals I still have from my youth give me such clarity on how I felt back then. I can see things through 17-year-old T. Jordan's eyes. Then there's a whole different rub...

Like right now, I'm wondering how we're going to make it through the next month because we have to pay the utility company another deposit of $500, meaning we had a single-month utility bill of $1000 (that's stupidly high), four times what it normally is. Not really something I want to come back and think about later... shit, not something I even want to talk about now.

Either way, I'm going to start loosening up the reins on this thing... I'm going to start naming names a little more, because that's what the fuck I do...

Don't want me to talk about you? Hide from me, keep it a secret, whatever, but I'm sick of feeling like the bad guy because people around me do slimy shit and are deathly afraid of being exposed. If it affects me, I have the right to talk about it. Even if it doesn't affect me, I can write about it... I'm just trying to lay down some parameters.

Truthfully, it doesn't matter. If they want me to be wrong, I'll be wrong. Here's where the problem comes in, though: you've done quite well not giving a fuck what anybody has to say about what you do, so now I'm going to play your way. I don't give a FUCK what you think about what I have to say, and that's that. Because I haven't mentioned anyone by name, they won't even comment on this, nary a mention will be made of this. But I'm about to start naming names, folks.

And it ain't about traffic...

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

One Of The Next Steps On The Journey

2011-07-07T18:28:00.000-04:00

My boy Silver Surfer has put his site up. This is my music group, Flamingo Park Music Group. It's about to be fun.

Wix.com flamingoparkmusicgroup created by fpmgmusic based on One Tune Page

Casey Anthony: Was Justice Done?

2011-07-05T18:48:00.005-04:00

I've been following the Casey Anthony trial for quite some time. The idea that a parent could neglect the disappearance of their child for an entire month is absolutely abhorrent, and I think that's the core of why everyone is so incensed about her acquittal. I've seen people who feel as though the system is broken and some who say justice was not done.

I'm not nearly as emotional as some of my peers, the point of law is parity. Without the legal system Casey Anthony would have been dragged to the center of town and hung from an oak. The problem is I've seen that kind of "justice" used against too many of my ancestors when they certainly deserved better. The part of me that demands true fairness couldn't let that happen.

A lot of people have referenced the OJ Simpson trial (in different contexts) and I think that's a good example of how the court of public opinion differs from a court of law (and should). The jury had a responsibility to judge the merits of the case as presented in court. They were not privvy to all the things we have been exposed to in the media. They had to be impartial, and follow the letter of the law. I think those 12 people did an exemplary job. I'm glad I wasn't on that jury, and frankly I'm glad many of my peers weren't on it, either.

Emotions and prejudices have no place in a perfect legal system. The design is to find someone that will either be partial to your side (be it defense or prosecution) or to find someone who will at least be fair. The case presented and the evidence provided is what should compel, but you have to be willing to see and accept everything presented to the court. If indeed this can be implemented in every situation, then Black defendants stand a better chance when in a court of law. If not for this, Brenton Butler would have been successfully railroaded by an overzealous son of a former sheriff and that guy would have been hailed wrongfully as a hero.

On the remote chance that Casey Anthony did not kill her child, the State had an obligation to at least explore other avenues. If they neglected to do so and wrongfully zeroed in on Casey, then we need them to next time use their resources more wisely so true justice can be served. One of the legal analysts made the very sound point that I myself often make, you learn far more about yourself in a defeat than you ever would in a victory. Hopefully the prosecution can direct the detectives to be more thorough next time, maybe conclusively connect the defendant to the body through DNA? Being that the body was found so close to the Anthony home, maybe they could have been more systematic in their search patterns?

All in all, regardless of the Court of Public Opinion, Casey is not guilty. Which, in fact, is a long ways from "innocent". The one thing that she did do was not report her child missing for a very long time, and this is something that most will hold against her for a very long time. Once she gains a measure of maturity, she will have to deal with it herself. I'm willing to bet that no matter how cruel the Public will treat her, it will be nothing compared to what she will eventually do to herself.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Fingerprints

2011-04-21T06:16:00.006-04:00

No, my blog. I don't hate you. I'm cheating on you with a novel. Two, in fact. I neglect you... but believe that I love you.

Just because I remember the fond days on MySpace from time-to-time, that first foray into this thing of blogging, what I describe as a public conversation with yourself, doesn't mean that you are not the most special thing I've ever known. That brought me to you, so it's part of my journey.

If anybody's been paying attention, bloggers have become characters in the narrative of all, the Theory Of Everything. There's an art to this. The Art Of The Blog. How do you wield it? It's a fingerprint.

Like a tapestry, a story of You is being woven. Do you put your thread in, or will others tailor your tale?

The pull of writing is so damn fickle. Sometimes it's relentless, then others it's elusive. Truth be told, most of the time it's there when you need it most, and the more you let it in the better you become at it.

I don't think that my activities in other blogging mediums have done anything but improved my writing. I was thinking about SnapVine the other day, and I realized that I missed that audio blogging format. It kept us limited to 10 minutes, and in all honesty I think that was perfect. Taught us to be concise. Then along comes Twitter and we're forced to invent a whole new language. I often consider Twitter to be like the Social Media Haiku. Those little 5-7-5 couplets are not a simple thing. The samurai would compose haiku as a method of keeping the mind sharp as the sword. The same could be said for the writer.

In the CyberWorld sense, the blog is to the blogger as the katana is to the samurai. It is his tool, weapon, an extension of himself. Wordpress, Blogger, and now Tumblr are the styles employed. I think Facebook has decided to leave that to those guys, they've not done anything at all to make Notes a true "blogging" interface. At this point I don't know if they ever will. It would be a real uphill climb to get the blogosphere to give up their hard-earned corner of real estate.

I think of my blogs on MySpace from time to time, because I miss that forum. I don't go back because it wasn't the tools (wow, they were the WORST), it was the community. I doubt considerably if anything like what I remember is still there... is anything there? One thing I used to say back then was "I'd write it even if nobody came through", but that didn't mean I didn't care. That just meant that sometimes I'd write something just for me, and other times I wrote things to spread my perspective on something. But whether I got 2 comments or 50, I wrote and posted.

[sidenote: I really miss my friend ValerieVodka... she was one very excellent blogger]

The one fear I always had of my blog on MySpace was the random deletion, which did happen from time to time, sometimes instigated by grudges of other bloggers, so you wrote under a Sword of Damocles. When I created my Blogger page, I left behind some connections, but I gained security. I'm pretty sure that as long as Google is around, this page will be around. I'm not so sure MySpace is going to be around in the next 5 years. While I don't have the traffic or readers I had from MySpace, if anything ever happens to my blogs it's a guarantee they won't ever be read, and that's not an alternative.

If there's a point to this, I'm stating my appreciation for having a blog, and working to utilize it in a better way. I have a friend, I call her my "blog"-sister, Elicia... we get onto one another when we see a lack of production on our blogs. That's just that gentle nudge from a peer to say "Hey, don't forget to document this life while you live it, while it's fresh."

Unless you're determined to live completely off the grid, you're going to leave digital fingerprints. Not every aspect of the story is under your "control". I'm not afraid of the Big Bad Internet... people are going to talk, online and off. If anything it's a multi-faceted view of you. No such thing as all good or all bad, people are just not that one-dimensional. I think of my writing as my art, and art is not the Truth, it is the Truth as presented to be understood.

All this being said, I know I've been neglecting you, my Blog, and I'm letting you know that I'm a long ways from finished here... I appreciate you, and you'll be seeing me a lot more often in the days to come.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

rickscottresignation

2011-04-01T12:56:00.000-04:00

My friend John Citrone just kills me. We gotta laugh, so we don't cry....

rickscottresignation

The Break-Up And Make Up Of Me and Guitar Center

2011-02-11T23:26:00.006-05:00

Tighten up ya headbands, True Believers and True Deceivers, it's ere'bodee's favorite Mega-Blogger. I promised my new friend Jeremy Cole I would blog about my experience with them, and here we go.

So I finally make my order for my Maschine, and I decided to go with Guitar Center, the brick-and-mortar store on Atlantic, but they didn't have them in stock. I've been checking prices online on the site, so I said "What-the-hell" and went with them. Enough with the talking and get with the walking. I wanted to buy from GC to make up for all the time I've spent just test-driving everything in the store. There's a couple of my 10-minute beats in Guitar Center on the Triton, Motif, MPC (1000, 2500, 4000), it's fun to see how much I can recall even though I don't use them everyday anymore. Anyway, I loiter a lot there, so I was giving them the business out of loyalty; I'm that kinda guy.

So I go to the site, make my order, and It's showing "Completed Order" and generates a receipt. I even pay a little extra for 3-Day shipping. Fantastio. They tell me I'll receive an email when my order ships.

No email.

I log back into my account on Guitar.com and generate a trouble ticket. The system says I'll receive a response within 24 hours.

I get a response in the aforementioned time-frame. A nice representative hits me back and tells me my order was held up by adverse weather conditions. He refunded my 3-Day money and said the order would be shipped no later that Tuesday the 8th.

I thanked him for his reply, and asked if I would still receive an email when the order shipped (I was thinking that it might not, since the order was pending). He told me that it would, but if it didn't I could just check my correspondence on the GuitarCenter.com website. Once again, fantastic.

All this was the week prior to the Superbowl. Tuesday comes... and goes. No email, and no update on the site. Now I'm cranky. I'm starting to feel like Big Worm, and GuitarCenter is my Smokey. You playing with my emotions... don't make me fuck you up. This was Wednesday.

I tweeted out my frustration, and I demanded my money back, because I had every intention of getting my money back and going to Zzounds.com or Sweetwater.com. The representative informed me that my order was already on the way out. Ordinarily, this would have made me happy, but I had no way of tracking because again, the email never came. He provided me with the tracking number and I saw that my order did indeed ship on the day they said it would.

I went to Twitter to check my responses and saw that Jeremy Cole had inquired about the status of my order. I told him it was on the way, but I would probably never again use GC because of the lack of regard. He asked if I would email my order number so he could look into it. He put me in touch with Scott, a manager over at GC.com.

Scott asked what my version of events were. I explained that I understood about the weather, and I didn't expect anyone to be able to do anything about that, but I was upset that I asked a simple question and someone effectively lied to me. He asked if maybe the email had been caught by a spam filter. I conceded that could be a possibility, but I pointed out that I got no correspondence indicating that the order was shipped until I asked for my money back. I knew he could see my account, so he knew I wasn't making it up. I told him in the beginning of the conversation that I'd worked customer service before. After I pointed that out, he respectfully said, "You didn't lie when you said you've done this job..."

Scott then offered me a $100 gift card and 20% purchase off the site. I was impressed at the generosity of the offer and the sincerity in his voice. You can tell when people really want to make things right, and I totally appreciated it. I didn't go into this thinking of how much I could get out of it, I was seriously offended at the way I was treated by a company that I liked. Scott put that back right immediately.

I'm also impressed that Jeremy was out there in the Twitterverse, seeking out opportunities to right situations on behalf of his company. That's proactive thinking. That's one way to make sure you stay on top... listen to the "Little Guy", your frontline people, your customers.

While it's important to help everyone you can, sometimes you want that one "Raving Fan". I learned about this in a Customer Service class. You want those people who become advocates for you, because they have access to people who might not be familiar with you. Raving Fans are your best friends.

When someone has a good experience in a business, statistics show they may tell one person. When a person has a bad experience, he tells ten. The math is not hard, but you need to make it work to your advantage. The good stories have to be created. The hardest thing to fake, is sincerity.

To be honest, if Scott would have offered half of what he did, I'd have been satisfied... but he don't need to know that. Great work, guys.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja and future Maschine Owner

Last Package Update:
Orlando, FL, United States 02/11/2011 6:41 P.M. Arrival Scan

*sigh* Patience, Young Skywalker. Free. Your. Mind.

Patience, Young Skywalker

2011-02-03T01:46:00.006-05:00

I think that everyone my age looks to Yoda to be a sage prophet. I've heard time and time again from my rabbis throughout my life "Patience". It's a lesson I've often passed on, but it takes much practice to not do anything when everything around you is popping off, but it's a lesson I continue to practice. In poker, a sign of a pro is the good laydown... assessing a situation and getting out of the way of a superior hand. It's a special skill.

I don't want to get in the practice of name-dropping, but I know personally people who have sold millions of records. Such feats are not nearly as easy as it once was, but the potential for success is something those who are attuned to their surroundings can detect. The unifying element in all these people was a genuine love for what they were doing, and the idea of having fun. Yes, you must have drive, but if you don't love what you do, "success" is elusive.

Anybody who befriends me on Facebook have seen my numerous posts regarding Native Instruments and the Maschine. I've been on this thing for almost a year now, becoming more and more impressed with its potential with every update. I've been making music for most of my life now, and in my chosen genre of expression, the Akai MPC is a staple and an icon. There's a reason for it: it's a lot of fun to use. Many have imitated it, but have been unable to capture it's ease and workflow, and the hardcore users have been reluctant to throw their support behind anything else; until now.

I don't want to make this an overly technical blog about the mechanics of the MPC, I'll just tell you that it's a joy sometimes to just tap out a rhythm on it and before you know it, you've got something special... the problem comes in the process of tracking everything out one piece at a time. This could be anything from a 15 minute process to well over an hour. In today's computer environment, there's no reason this has to be the case with the right interface. For whatever reason, the guys over at Akai never thought to address this, and they've allowed the people over at Native Instruments to take all the best elements of their unit and marry it perfectly into the software world. The Maschine is one of the most exciting innovations in digital music since the creation of the mp3 itself.

I've had the pleasure of owning the MPC in a few different forms, and unfortunately I've not ever completed an entire project with one. My first had some technical difficulties (MPC1000), my 2nd was stolen (MPC2000XL), and my 3rd wasn't all mine, the other owner was not a dedicated "music" person (we don't part with equipment, it's like a painter selling his brushes... once you do that, you can't paint) and when the hard times of the recession came down, he opted to move on by selling the unit. So it's been some time since I had my own tools to compose.

I'm expecting delivery of my very own Maschine in a couple days, and I'm DYING to get my hands on this thing. As my friend Beth quoted on my status, I'm as nervous as a virgin at a prison rodeo. I'm so amped to get my hands on this thing, I could punch somebody. I've watched dozens of videos and seen what someone who knows what they are doing could potentially do. My friend Justin Aswell is a virtuoso on groove boxes and he just MURDERS this thing. I won't do anything like what Justin does, I'm a programmer, not a performer, but I intend to be just as vicious.

I'm dying to get my hands on this thing because it means I have the final pieces to finally put this long-awaited solo project in full-gear. There's a host of other insanely-good artists around me all hitting their stride, like my friend Rob Roy who now has his video "Carmencita" added to MTVs rotation through an online campaign. I'm hugely proud of his accomplishment and look forward to more awesome music coming out of him.

I've never had the desire to do this as a solo artist. From the time I started in all this, I had my brother Tza right there with me. He's become a (very good) engineer and retired from the stage, and my best friend and partner-in-rhyme is putting the finishing touches on his "Plan B". I respect him, but I never had a Plan B. Music and HipHop have been my life. My son is now following in my footsteps, and I want him to know the love of this culture without some of the pitfalls I've encountered. So now I get to be an example, and to be honest I look forward to it.

I have a personal beef with a former group member of mine, and regardless of the ancillary differences I have with him, one of the primary was his insistence of saying things in his music about how this was "all about his kids" when every action I saw him take stood in stark contrast to that statement. Whether you're a studio gangsta or a false prophet, I can't make music with you when I know every word coming out of your mouth is a lie. This album I'm about to make will literally be a blueprint for my son, because we've always said we wanted something to pass on to our kids. I know he will be right there watching me, and I want to mold him into the emcee/producer/artist who I can be proud of, and I can call him a Child Of HipHop, raised on all the best principles we put forth. For him, "Keep It Real" will not just be a catchphrase.

So in short, I'm ready to go headfirst into completing a lifegoal, spending some time with my kid doing what he and I both love, and having some real damn fun. Any wonder I'm about ready to jump out of my skin?

Where the HELL is that UPS Delivery truck?!

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

The 12 Laws, Part 3: It's Not The Team, It's the Coach

2010-10-26T21:45:00.007-04:00

What's up, True Believers and True Deceivers? I hope you guys are enjoying this blog series, because I'm only 3 chapters in, so if this is a bust, I'm kind of committed at this point. Ah, who am I kidding? I like it myself, and since I've committed to it, I'm going to finish it regardless. I'm obviously not going to be able to cover everything in my blog, but I'm hoping that what I do tell you will inspire someone else to pick this book up, read it, and apply his principles. He's already proven that he knows what he's talking about, at least to me...

Law Number Three: Get Your Mind Right

I can't and won't say I loved every word of this book. I don't think Russell intended it to be as such. He was doing him, and being honest, so he had to tell the reader the truth as he sees it, and he submitted that we might disagree on some points. This chapter was an overwhelmingly spiritual chapter, and whenever we are talking spirituality (at least in the United States), you could be talking Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc. But regardless of who you choose to worship or exalt, your mind is more important to have right than your body or your bank account.

I see updates on Facebook of people exalting the virtues of the P90X system and losing weight, people believe that things are going to be better when they lose "x" amount of pounds, but no matter how much you train, it won't matter one bit if you aren't engaging in prayer, reflection, and self-study.

"Remember, your mind is your most powerful muscle."

I don't want to get into a theological debate, but I have always been of the mind that God can be found within before he can be found without. Buddhists believe in what's called "Dharma", your life's purpose, the reason why you are here. People spend all their time searching for their Dharma, when they really shouldn't be looking for it, they should stop and start listening to it.

Russell spent the majority of this chapter exalting the virtues of yoga, and I have to be real, I haven't tried it, but I do find that many of the principles seem very sound. No, I have not done yoga, but I am a martial artist and have spent some time meditating.

Meditating allows us to shut off the voices in our head in order to hear the God inside us. "The truth is, when you can't hear God inside of you, you're always going to struggle in life." You have two "selfs", the higher self and the lower self. The higher self is the decisions and choices that benefit the world and others, it is the source of contribution. The lower self is the greedy self, the choice that benefits no one but you, or causes harm.

I found this particularly fascinating, when speaking on the higher and lower self, you can tell much about people by what drives their choices. People who tend to be motivated by their higher self inspire through hard work and dedication, they promote positive environments, they are inspiring. Those who are driven by their lower self are selfish, they are takers and not givers, they bicker over credit and are neg by nature. They are the ones that think they are "getting over". Those driven by their lower selves may find some success, but it's always temporary. People who listen to their higher selves move on to bigger and better things, while those who appeal to their lower selves get stuck playing low notes and/or eventually fade out altogether. Listening to your lower self keeps you from accessing the blessings in you.

On the subject of meditation, Russell says it allows us to "be present". Being present is realizing the power of the "Now". We drift between the past and the future, never fully realizing the potential of the present.

"Living like that, you become your own worst enemy. You wait for things to happen instead of making them happen. You imagine what happiness is like instead of appreciating the happiness

that is already present in your life."

At one point you are completely focused in the now is known as "pure presence". Anyone who's been in a car accident knows what it's like. It's like "bullet time" (ironically, being shot at is another moment you experience it, but more people can relate to car accidents); everything slows down, you can see and recall every detail, flying glass, tires screeching, but you're not afraid. No past, no future, just that moment. Every religion has a name for this state. Yogis call it "Samahdi" or "walking meditation". Christians call it "Christ Consciousness" or "State Of Grace", while Muslims call it "Taqwa". Instead of dealing with things as they should be, you deal with them as they are. While shootouts and crashes are rather extreme, there are others doing everyday things in this state. Athletes call it "the Zone". A sketch artist or painter is experiencing pure presence.

I won't go into great detail about Russell's yoga experience, but it was very persuasive, and I can truly appreciate how it can bring balance back to a life that's out-of-whack. He says if you don't know how to meditate, you can practice just being silent, holding still, not moving and maintaining your breathing. Start with sitting still for just 15 minutes a day, listening to the voice of your Higher Self. Take it to 30, then 45. Just putting that into practice can help to be able to see the present. You can't make money in the past, you can't grind in the future, you only have the now, and the now is most important moment you're ever going to get. You can build up your team all you want, but if your head coach ain't right, you won't be going nowhere.

RECOGNIZE THE REAL:

"God has already put a lot of time into you. When you put a litle time back into God through prayer and meditation, that investment will always pay off."

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Republican Woman-Stay Away From Me.. � Davey D's Hip Hop Corner-(The Blog)

2010-10-26T13:04:00.000-04:00

Republican Woman-Stay Away From Me.. � Davey D's Hip Hop Corner-(The Blog)

The 12 Laws, Part 2: Who Do You Think You Are?

2010-10-21T13:50:00.001-04:00

What's good True Believers and True Deceivers? I'm back with Part 2 to my 12-part Blog covering the 12 Laws Of Russell Simmons. I appreciate any and all feedback I get on this, and if you like what you see here, I urge you to go out and get a copy of Do You: 12 Laws To Access The Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success (Damn, Rush.... couldn't get them to edit that title down a bit???) Anyway, it's $6 if you follow my link to Amazon.com. Trust me, this will be a book you read more than once, and I'd love to see more of my friends adopt some of the principles therein. So anyway, let's get down to business:

LAW NUMBER TWO: Always Do You

"It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are." - E.E. Cummings

"Never change for the mainstream - stay in your lane, and if you're talented and resilient enough the mainstream will come to you." -Russell Simmons

Here's a very interesting anecdote (at least I hope it is) from my childhood/adolescence when I first started doing music. This is something I've done from a very young age, I did talent shows all through junior high and high school, I paid for my first studio session when I was 15 (or more accurately, my homeboy put us in the studio at that age). Prior to going to the studio, I was doing my thing on the block and in the hood. One of my closest homies and my first real artist I made beats for was John Kemp (RIP) aka John-John, he was our neighborhood jackman (for those unfamiliar with Floridian slang, this meant he robbed people). We didn't go as hard as NWA back then, but we were definitely roughnecks, and our music was definitely profanity-laced (we rapped how we spoke and how we lived, without resorting to testifying against ourselves like a lot of idiots do nowadays). Our neighborhood barber, a guy by the name of Walter, made the offer to manage us. He had connections with a lot of hair shows and he said he could get us booked to perform, but we had to have music that was more family-friendly. Studio time back then was $75 an hour, so a trip to the studio would set you back $300 easy for a minimum of 4 hours, which was about how long it took to record and then mix a song. We did 2 songs that we performed for a number of shows and got a pretty good response for. Everything was all good...

I met a guy by the name of Keith Dixon back then (hey, DLR, remember IHOP after the Carousel show? I know you do). Keith was in the movie business, he was fresh off a little film by the name of "Boyz In Tha Hood", he directed "Dead Homiez" for Ice Cube (if you watch the video, at 2:03 there's a close-up of him in the video, it's pretty dark, tho) and "You Can't Play w/ My Yo-Yo" for Yo-Yo. He was originally from Houston, and had a job working for Rap-A-Lot. Keith liked us and offered to shop our material for us to J. Prince. We were ecstatic. We sent the tape to him and waited to hear back. Unfortunately, the only songs we had to send were the two songs we recorded at Walter's behest. What was the word? J. Prince loved our stuff, but said that we were "too soft" for the label that was home to Scarface and the Geto Boyz. He said that if we had anything else he'd be open to hear it. My homie that paid for our studio time got knocked off in North Carolina and caught 4 years, and we never got another chance to submit.

The moral of this story? Had we just done US, we might have gotten that deal with Rap-A-Lot instead of being patted on the head and sent on our merry way. I regretted that decision for a long time, but I learned that I would always be true to who I was from that point on and not adjust my music to suit anyone's approval other than my own.

"The concept behind Do You is fairly straightforward: Always try to be yourself."

Any kind of lasting success is rooted in honesty. We understand that truth on a personal level- certainly no one seeks out a long-term relationship with someone's who's dishonest. One of the examples Russell uses is our old friend Robert Van Winkle aka Vanilla Ice. "Ice, Ice Baby" was a catchy song, the lyrics were not atrocious (certainly not in comparison to some of the shit that comes out of Waka Flocka's mouth), had he been more honest about where he was from rather than fabricating this "thug" persona, the backlash against him might not have occurred. If he could have just Done Him instead of fabricating his history, he wouldn't be history.

Russell and I share the opinion that the driving force behind HipHop is not a catchy beat, or a dance, or a pitched-up soul sample. To quote Chubb Rock, the beats are "cosmetic backgrounds." The thing that's brought HipHop through the years to where it is now is the honesty and integrity of artists. KRS-One has never sold the amount of records on one album that Vanilla Ice did, but he's still active, still performing, and very much respected as the Teacher and The Scholar. Vanilla Ice is melting down on VH1 "Reality" Shows (that's a dash of irony for ya).

Now I don't want to mislead anyone in thinking that Doing You is automatically going to garner you respect, success, and praise. That's not at all what I'm saying. Russell confesses that when Outkast came out, he did not like them, nor did he understand that what they were doing expanded HipHop. His words were, "That ain't HipHop." Those of us from the South immediately understood what 'Kast was doing, but when they won the New Artist Of The Year award at the Source Awards, NY was hostile. If Big Boi and Andre had taken the advice of Russell and the New York HipHop community, they would not be (arguably) the biggest HipHop Group of All Time.

"You have to realize that when you do you, people are not always going to understand you at first."

This goes back to vision and being clear about what it is you want to represent. I feel that's the challenge of most new artists. My son right now wants to make music, and I'm trying hard to get him to realize the most difficult part of being a real artist is finding out what it is you want to say, and then figuring out who exactly you want to say it to. It's easy when you're standing in front of that mirror holding the brush pretending to be whomever the latest hot act is, but when you start putting your life, your words, your impressions out there it's not so easy. If an artist can get that nailed down early, all the other stuff is a real cakewalk. You won't make any mistakes on your way to your destination, because you won't have to question any decisions you make.

Doing an authentic you means you don't chase what's hot, you develop a trusted brand. It's like being a quarterback. They don't throw where the receiver is, they throw where he's going to be. You make your choices based on what feels true to who you are, and you maintain your vision. You don't chase that tiger and grab his tail, you jump on his back. You sell CDs, you sell t-shirts, you sell whatever, but make sure your Integrity never has a price...

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

You Can't See What I Can See: The 12 Laws

2010-10-20T12:51:00.000-04:00

What's up True Believers and True Deceivers? It's your favorite digital scribe trying to breathe life back into these pages. It's been awhile since I been consistently blogging, and that's due to me working on a book of my own, and when I'm not doing that I'm reading everything I can get my hands on, but I do miss this, and I need to be more consistent. I've been yelling at one of my blog-mates El The Roller Derby Chick about her blogs, then looked at my last posting and realized just how hypocritical I've been. She's a good 3 postings ahead of me.... thanks for making me look bad, El.

So there's this blog I've been wanting to do for some time now, but I didn't feel as though I could really do it justice. Something like 2-3 years ago, I had the chance to read Do You!: 12 Laws to Access The Power In You To Achieve Happiness And Success by Russell Simmons. From time to time I've touched on some of the principles he outlined in the book, but I really wanted to delve into each one of the laws and give them their proper due. I wish I could give copies of this book as gifts (and now that's it's in paperback, I might do just that) to people I believe would be receptive to the ideas Russell puts forth. So without further ado, let's make this the first blog in what will be a 12-blog Series.

LAW NUMBER ONE: See Your Vision And Stick With It

"I dream my painting, and paint my dream." -Vincent Van Gogh

"Degrees are helpful, but they won't guarantee you success in the business world. Only faith and dedication to your vision can do that." -Russell Simmons

There's a funny practice in the music business that I see repeated over and over again. Guys who work with major labels take meetings with certain acts, and they have to document these meetings, but many go out of their way to mention with certain acts "We never met." It's hard to determine what will work and what won't, there's lots of success stories that still have me scratching my head, and A&R don't want to be the guy that took the meeting with Artist X and decided not to sign them when they go on to humongous success with a competitor. Anita Baker, a legendary soul singer (in my opinion) and a very unique voice was told by a group of suits that she could not sing, and should explore other options in entertainment. Every time I hear "Sweet Love", I just shake my head and wonder exactly what these guys could have been thinking? Maybe they had another artist in mind? Who knows? Either way, when it comes to Ms. Baker, they couldn't have been further off the mark.

Russell states that "...visions are actually God's way of communicating with us." This is a perspective shared across religions. In Proverbs, it says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish." In Islam, Muhammed didn't sit down and write the Koran- he received it in a vision. Many sports stars talk about visualizing what they intend to do when they are on the court: They see themselves receiving the ball, moving it down court or down field, making that shot, making that throw, throwing that punch, whatever their discipline. Until they see themselves doing it, it can't be done.

J.K. Rowling, self-made billionaire author, said the idea of Harry Potter came to her while she was on a bus. She just got the idea of a boy who finds out he's a wizard, she saw Hogwarts, she saw the teachers and the things they would learn at the school, and she couldn't wait to get somewhere to write down what she saw. She felt like this story was the story she was born to write. In her interview with Oprah, she was asked when she felt like or when she knew she was on to something. She said that she realized "Getting it published would be the hard part, but if [she] could get it published, it would be huge." She faced rejection after rejection until she finally came across a publisher who shared her vision. That vision is now printed in multiple countries and multiple languages, it's been made into movies that have grossed billions worldwide, and now has a theme park.

"Anything worthwhile is going to take time to manifest itself. And a lot of perseverance."

Thomas Edison was interviewed and asked how he felt about the fact that it took him 10,000 tries (or failures) to create the electric lightbulb. His reply was "I don't feel like they are failures, I feel as though I found 9,999 ways NOT to invent the lightbulb." This is very close to my own perspective that I cultivated from Tupac. His version goes: "If you die trying to do something, you never really failed." Sticking to your vision is not an easy thing.

First, harness your vision. When you find a vision you find yourself feeling very passionate about, that's the one you need to go after. Freeze your vision, you must freeze a powerful vision in your mind immediately. If you're a writer like me, commit a few notes to paper or a digital file, label it with something descriptive so you can come back to it later. It's lightning in a bottle, folks. You have to catch it when you feel it.

Be clear in your vision, don't make it so lofty that the average person can't see it, or fill it with so many ideas it overshadows your original concept. Clarity and confidence. When you have a good idea, you will know it. People love to be around someone who is crystal clear in their future.

Which brings us to my final point: Share your vision. Be excited about it. Don't be afraid to expose your idea to the light of day. Yes, there will be detractors, but look at them as a counter-balance to your enthusiasm. Don't let the fear of criticism distract you. Look to rabbis. Russell describes them as spiritual advisors, people who speak to your spirit in a motivational way. Dreams are singular visions that can be contagious in the right circle. There's more on that later, but you can't reach that point if you aren't willing to share. I'm excited about my book because I have good friends who share in my excitement and offer opinions. I take the advice of those who genuinely want me to succeed, and I implore them to be honest.

So share your visions with me in the comments, or tell me what you think about mine. If you've had a chance to get the book, lets talk about your own motivations. Our imaginations are our connections with the universe and with one another...

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

You Say It Like It's A Bad Thing?

2010-08-31T12:48:00.000-04:00

I had a great conversation with my friend DJ (his initials, not his profession) who's actually had a life this summer so he missed out on the news that “Heroes” had been canceled. I relayed to him my conversation with DH Lawrence XVII, the actor who played Eric Doyle the Puppetmaster (and chronicled here in my blog) and how he gave me some insight from a professional stand-point. I totally understood David H's diplomacy (don't go blasting potential bosses on the Internet), but as a fan, I can voice my disapproval of NBC and the depths of their contempt for us as fans. They are beholden to those who own stock, but profitability and good television are not synonymous (the music industry is a prime example), so they will give you what they think you want and expect that we are not intelligent enough to know the difference.

So I've been subjected to their promotion of two new shows: “The Event”, the recipient of “Heroes” 9pm timeslot (which I will boycott on default), and another show called “The Cape”. “The Event” looks like “Lost” meets “Heroes”, with a little “24” thrown in (anytime you have a Black President, you're going to draw “24” comparisons). I'm not sure about the “Heroes” portion of the show, but there are foreshadowed references to a group of “people” that aren't like regular folks, which means either aliens or mutants, and I just have to give NBC a “C'mon, Son!” Are we really so gullible that you can so obviously rip off other shows, repackage it and expect us to come flocking? USA Network, which is owned by NBC/Universal, has come with original shows with original characters, but NBC can't commit to quality shows and give them a chance. Like “Life”, a thoroughly fantastic show that would fit perfectly alongside “Royal Pains”, “White Collar”, “Burn Notice” and “Monk”. NBC moved it from Monday, to Wednesday, to Friday, then unceremoniously decided to not bring it back. Stupid, stupid, stupid. That's a sign that your network has no faith in you, nor do they care about whether your fanbase can find you. Gone are the days of “Must-See-TV”. We are in the age of the Tweet and the DVR. NBC has no bona-fides like “The Vampire Diaries”, the network answer to the “Twilight” series (which is really unfair to both franchises, the only similarities are the vampires...) and to HBO's hit, “True Blood”. Honestly, the people that like one, usually like the others. Vampires are okay, but well-written vampires are just delicious.

Jumping back to “The Cape”, NBC has gone out of their way to say that their new show is “...nothing like 'Heroes', because there are no superpowers.” Okay, have you folks ever heard of this multi-billionaire playboy who's parents got murdered and inspired him to fight crime in the streets of Gotham? Again... say it with me... “C'mon, Son!” I'm not going for this, folks. You don't cancel (without allowing at least a semblance of resolution, that season finale is NO ending!) one of the best shows ever and give us this garbage in return. You people are idiots, one and all. Suits have no souls, they can't create anything.

On the flipside, I might have to give ABC props on “No Ordinary Family”. I've heard that two former “Smallville” writers (you screw'd the pooch with the Doomsday storyline, folks) and a producer from “Chuck” are on-board with this one, and that means they should/could be good. It's original material, so there's no canon to absolutely destroy in a quest to grab some quick ratings. I'll give them a couple of episodes and see how I like it (it's like a modern-day Fantastic Four), so the jury's still out on that one.

Well, I got chapters to finish... thanks for swinging through the blog, True Believers and True Deceivers... I got you.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega

Glenn Beck & Restoring Honor: Stupid Enough To Be Dangerous

2010-08-30T16:22:00.000-04:00

In the interest of disclosure, and making sure credit is given when due, Brother Roland S. Martin's blog started this stream of consciousness. Here is his podcast from the Tom Joyner Morning Show:

http://www.rolandsmartin.com/blog/index.php/2010/08/30/roland-tjms-08-30-10-roland-s-martintom-joyner-morning-show-roland-martin-discusses-glenn-beck-and-the-restoring-honor-rally/

Not since 2008 have I really ventured much into the political landscape, to be honest it became quite exhausting, an endless debate with people who's appeal to xenophobia and ignorance would allow them to dismiss the simplest of fact. Polarized bi-partisan politics have no logic...

Last night Jon Stewart and The Daily Show won an Emmy. I take a fair amount of satisfaction that even in the self-congratulatory industry of Hollywood, “The Daily Show” is recognized for it's voice of reason when there are outlets that thrive on misinformation, and stoke the fires of hatred and discord. Don't make me say it... it's Faux News. They make it up as they go along... It's a Right-leaning tool of Rupert Murdoch to maintain an agenda. If this were a chess board, Glenn Beck is the White Pawn.

So the White Pawn is going to take the Black King. They coincidentally choose the anniversary of the “I Have A Dream” speech and claim that they are going to “reclaim the Civil Rights movement.” This co-opting of the “Rodney King” portion of the Movement. “Can't we all get along?” Doesn't seem like it if there's an effort to make the playing field level.

What we have here, is a case of “White Victimhood” as Brother Roland so succinctly put it. The Tea-Hadist Movement doesn't have any new moves, but they don't really need them. It's the same old attack points over and over again. “Barack Hussein Obama”. Here...we...go...again. It's like these people have a pocket watch swinging back and forth in their face, or they have a trigger word like that old Three Stooges Episode... “Niagara Falls... NIAGARA FALLS?! Slowly I turned...step... by step... inch.. by inch...” Public Enemy, “Fear Of A Black Planet”.

Here we have those who claim they are trying to protect us from “...the spread of radical Islamic elements within the United States...” yet the ones who are setting pipe-bombs are of faiths other than Islam. I won't assume that it's “Christian”, but I doubt that the Buddhists are up-in-arms. Kinda goes against the whole ideology. A wise man once said “Don't judge people by their words, but by their actions.”

How many times does someone have to say “An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind” before someone GETS it??? Beck and the Tea-Hadists played much in the way of lip service to the “Dream” of King, but tried to separate it from the core message of economic equality.

And where were the Black Radio Stations throughout this literal white-wash of Dr. King? Why did they not give time to scholars who could have provided clarity on the Message and Mission of King? Where was Brother Cornell West? Dr. Laura called her caller “hyper-sensitive” and proceeded to “de-sensitize” her by saying the n-word repeatedly. Sarah Failing then comes out in support of her and says “She's no racist.” Then she and Beck (who incidentally called the bi-racial president “...a racist.”) put on this 3-Ring Circus under the guise of “...putting God back in...” and coming out “...for veterans.” Cone on, Son! What criteria do you run on? Do you have to have your lynch-card punched or hang out with David Duke to fully qualify for your Grand Wizard Bobblehead? If it quacks like Daffy Duck, gets its face shot off like Daffy Duck, and is painted black like Daffy Duck, it's the n-word duck.

When it comes to rights, it's pretty damn simple... use 'em, or lose 'em. Don't vote? Lose the right to do so. Don't speak up? Have others dictate your place and position. Like Roland, I won't sit here and drink the Kool-Aid. Let yourself grow weary of due diligence, you'll find that people like Glenn Beck are only-too-happy to liberate you from all this “hard-thinkin'...” you don't have to do that when you're being told what to do.

Dr. Laura has a label for you, you just have to put “dumb” in front of it.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Straight Men That Like "Twilight", and the Haters That Hate Them

2010-08-29T13:18:00.000-04:00

I know the cool thing to do is to counter the culture, buck the system, that's a lot of what HipHop was about, and a lot of what's happened to it. I've been alive just about the same amount of time that HipHop has, I've grown with it, and I've seen all the cycles. Anti-disestablishmentarianism at it's best. (Yes, that is a word...) Musicians in the ghetto couldn't afford instruments, so the turntable became our instrument. We took technology that wasn't really meant for us (TR808, SP1200, they were not designed with us in mind the way the MPC was), and carved out a space in history, all the while they labeled us a fad. HipHop is approaching it's 40^th Anniversary. Success breeds discord, and it's all-too-often I hear musicians decry “HipHop sucks.” They say it's not music. Say what you will... we ain't going nowhere.

Everybody 'hates' Twilight right now. There's a spoof movie coming out called "Vampires Suck". “Real” men call it “gay”. Vampire purists say that the vampires aren't supposed to “glitter like diamonds” in the sun, they are supposed to explode. To the real men I say “Get over your homophobic selves.” To the pseudo-vampire experts, I say go back through literature and see just how much and often authors take liberty with the undead lore. Sometimes crucifixes work, sometimes they don't. Some vampires are burned by holy water, some gargle it and spit it back in your face. People were none-too-thrilled with Ann Rice's depictions of the Children of the Night. Her vampires were seriously homoerotic. Nothing was more beautiful to a vampire as another vampire, male or female. Every possible objection I've heard has been pretty much from the insipid to the inane. The only reason people hate Twilight is because someone else hated it, so they hate it too. I guess with "True Blood", "Vampire Diaries", and "Twilight" there has to be some vampire backlash, but the three of them are similar only in that they have vampires... Hammerheads, Angels, and Great Whites are all sharks, but nobody could argue that they are all the same. (Honorable mention goes to "The Gates", I hope you find an audience....)

So for those who don't have the time to open a real ink-and-paper book, here's the preface of “Breaking Dawn”, the fourth book in the Twilight Series:

I'd had more than my fair share of near-death experiences; it wasn't something you ever really got used to.

It seemed oddly inevitable, though, facing death again. Like, I really was marked for disaster. I'd escaped time and time, again, but it kept coming back for me.

Still, this time was so different from the others.

You could run from someone you feared, you try to fight someone you hated. All my reactions were geared toward those kinds of killers- the monsters, the enemies.

When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give your beloved, how could you not give it?

If it was someone you truly loved?

I don't know how many of you have ever attempted to write something, anything, but let me tell you as someone who has, that is a serious bit of writing for setting tone. This character is faced with a question none of us want to ever have to answer. Any good drama is conflict and the resolution of said conflict. Can you give up your life for someone you loved? I can see a good many balking for romantic love, but at the risk of being a slight bit spoiler, what if it was your child? Further still, she's established that the character is no stranger to peril, has escaped it on multiple occasions, yet somehow it circles back for her. The experience has not changed her, she reveals with “it wasn't something you ever really get used to.”

Maybe my appreciation for Stephenie Meyer is amplified due to my own endeavors in storytelling, but am I wrong? This is good shit. I'll be honest with you, I hated the first movie. If I had been an obnoxious know-it-all like a lot of other people I know, everything could have come to an end right there. Someone who was a fan of Meyer asked me to to read “The Host”, another of her books to get away from the vampire hype and assess Meyer as a writer.

“The Host” was fantastic, and if I felt that way about that book, I had to give “Twilight” the book a try and forget the fluff that was the movie. Smart move on my part, that's why I love being me.

After reading the book, I understood exactly what it was about the first movie that I didn't like: much of the book takes place in Bella's head, and that would have made the movie one giant voice-over. I've heard that is not something you should over-use when working on a film, but it's integral in it's written form. I read somewhere that the voice-over is a lazy film writer's tool. When you took away key elements of the storytelling, the story lost a little something. I think they managed to get back on track with “New Moon”, but we all know that movies are less than books.

So anyway, it's been so very long since I blogged, just wanted to get that out of my head and on to your screens. Thanks for reading, the middling few that do anymore, and I hope you're reading other things besides me. There's so much good writing out there...

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Imagine

2010-05-16T14:52:00.000-04:00

I miss Def Poetry. I don't have HBO anymore, I might go back and get these on DVD. Black Ice so eloquently poses the question of what life could be like on a level playing field. I wonder how some conservatives can hear the obvious skill and intelligence presented when posing this question and still somehow believe that anyone can be born with a 'losing' hand? Maybe the soulless can't identify with soul? Anyway, check out the video... and if you are so inclined, listen to some of Black Ice's other work. The guy is a genius.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

End Of An Era: The Death Of Heroes

2010-05-16T10:54:00.000-04:00

This is the blog that has taken almost 2 days to even sit down and prepare to write. Some may feel that I'm being melodramatic, but I'm only trying to accurately convey my feelings on the subject.

I can recall reading the advance reviews of Heroes in TV Guide and other media calling it "interesting". I already knew two paragraphs in that this was going to be an unadulterated hit, at least in my world. One of the criticisms about the show was its similarity to X-Men, and I thought that was rather stupid. Not everybody read the X-Men, and it wasn't exactly the same thing. Anytime you talk about mutation, people are going to throw Marvel's merry mutants at you. So what? Regardless, the idea of mutation allows for rich storytelling. People fear what they don't understand. I couldn't wait until the 1st episode, and the first season did not disappoint. Save The Cheerleader, Save The World.

Then comes the Writer's Strike. I understood the mechanics of it all, but that strike was the single-worst thing that happened to my beloved show. Chopped our season in 1/2, left us hanging for a year, and one of our best writers, Bryan Fuller, jumped ship to write another show that ultimately failed (lose-lose for everybody). I don't want to speak ill of anyone, but I don't think anybody really knew what they were doing after that. I had a conversation with D.H. Lawrence XVII, he is of the opinion that you shouldn't criticize writers unless you've written, but I disagree. You don't need to be an expert in something to know when it's going wrong. I don't need to write an entire series to know that this series was going wrong. Had it been going right, I wouldn't be writing this blog. We had character after character being introduced and suddenly being forgotten (Micah's cousin, the flying kid that dated Claire), the story was all over the place, and many people became disenfranchised with the series. Diehards like myself hung on, hopeful that things could and would turn around.

I don't know if that turnaround ever actually happened. I personally want the head of the nimrod that brought in Kristen Bell (Elle) and Brea Grant (Daphne) only to kill them off. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Personally speaking, I think they would have benefited from being more intricately and intimately written in to the core characters' storyline. Killing them was a cheap trick, a pull at the heartstrings that accomplished nothing. Kristen had a following coming off the cancellation of Veronica Mars (victim of a network merger) and Brea was gaining popularity rapidly (I liked her more than Ali Larter's character, who had been there since Day 1). Arguably they were underused resources that were indicative of the scramble behind-the-scenes to gain footing when the series started to slip in the ratings.

When they announced that Bryan Fuller would be returning for the 4th (and now final) season, I thought all would be well again in the world of Heroes (I re-watched the 3rd Season on DVD, and I liked it better the second time around). Somehow, that never happened. I'll need to go back through the 4th season to try to determine what might have been considered "wrong" (it's all subjective), there were a few stand-out episodes that I enjoyed, but we couldn't stop the axe from falling. I think we could have benefited from being on another network (sorry, Big Dave, but even you can't defend the Network responsible for the Jay Leno Experiment. They might sign the checks, but they are just rich idiots, and idiots nonetheless...), but we are stuck on a 3rd place network that cancels shows like "Life" and thinks that one vastly over-rated late-night host could be the salvation for their boneheaded leadership.

I'm not nearly as hostile as I originally was, because D.H. did point out that they were smart enough to hire him and all the other fantastic actors, producers, production assistants, and crew that made up the Heroes family. The Mighty Foz, Wendy & Lisa, the "other" Wendy, through Twitter, they connected us in a way that makes this so much more than just "another tv show being cancelled". I envy those who can just turn the channel and move on to the next show. It's really not been that simple for me. I have plans for fan-fiction of my own once I finish my own original stuff, I am going to have marathons just for myself, I will not let Heroes die. I wish I could say I was absolutely sure that it's totally gone (the resurrection of shows like Jericho and Family Guy give me hope), but for now, I've got to move on.

In the most cosmic stroke of Irony, The Mighty Foz (a producer on the show) tweeted this yesterday from his mobile (I know he wasn't driving and tweeting, right?):

"Almost hit a fucking peacock. A fucking PEACOCK!"

Foz, you should have squashed that fucking peacock into oblivion.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja.

100 Notes And Running

2010-05-04T01:47:00.000-04:00

It's really important that you know exactly who and what you are... because until you do, every single thing you do is never going to measure up. That's 100% IIWII, people (It Is What It Is). If you refuse to accept this very simple life fact, you are going to fight externally what you can only fix internally.

I came up with this little gem on my own while watching the new version of Carson Daly's show, Last Call. For the longest time, NBC had him as the 3rd string late-night host on a last-place network, but he maintained a small core audience. Carson has slowly cooled (in popularity) since his days of the now-defunct TRL (I guess TRL needed him more than he needed them...) but there was something missing from his late-night rhythm. He was trying to come up with original bits, spoofs, but nothing stuck. The show was very much a take-it-or-leave-it-type experience.

Now, I don't know what prompted the change, I just remember when it happened. I just happened to catch his first show in the current format, it was a black and white shot. They also shot a low handheld from underneath, and it looked to me that Carson was... Carson again. It was like the whole idea of putting him in a studio behind the "other" Carson-type desk was going to make him a late-night host. If you looked at his numbers, you could easily dismiss the idea of Carson Daly with his own show as being a mistake. I don't feel that is true. What was the mistake was trying to take Carson and make him into something he wasn't. I won't say it's anyone's fault, Carson himself could have insisted on the format for all I know. Whatever the reason, it wasn't working.

Now that Carson has stripped things down, made things simple again, he's gone back to his music roots. He's in pubs and taverns, he's in the Viper Room, he's interviewing people in a relaxed environment... you feel like that's what you're doing. You're with friends, just chatting & relating to one another. I haven't seen any numbers on the new show (ratings), but this isn't about that. I'm talking about how his show made me feel. Outside of being introduced to a lil' new music from time to time, the show was quite underwhelming before. But watching this new show, I just got drawn in. His interview with Kat Von D gave me my first official Bucket List Entry: Get a tattoo from L.A. Ink. Something original. I also found out she's classically-trained as a musician and has some aspirations of a musical nature. But I digress...

You gotta do you, and the better you do you, the better you do (damn, that was a hook if I ever heard one... if ya' don't credit me, I'll find you, biotches!) Find your groove. You can't find your groove if you don't know who you are. Find your Tao. If you can't "Temet Nosce", then how can you ever hope to master anything else? I'm a fan of "Supernatural" now, and Bobby was talking to Sam about an outlandish plan to allow Lucifer to take control of him and accept his destiny of being his Vessel. Bobby said to him, "You're not exactly Mr. Anger Management... how do you expect to control the Devil when you can't even control yourself?" I said it before, you can't change internally by fighting externally. You can't know anything until you first know nothing.

I am sure that I am oversimplifying this, because if it was this easy, everyone would be doing it. Most of you don't know yourselves. It's apparent. Everyone else is "the problem" and you are "the solution". Not possible. Y'all know my favorite word: hubris. Pride is an assassin of so many good things. Overbearing pride and presumption. Until you can readily identify it in your life, you got no chance. It's a one-handed clap. It's a one man teeter-toter.

Keep it 100...

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Forever And A Day

2010-04-25T14:58:00.000-04:00

That's how long it's been since I have posted anything, and I do apologize for that. I apologize to you, and to myself.

I'm not referring to the months that I wasn't online, I mean since I've returned, I haven't posted once...

Hi, my name is Tango... and I have writer's block.

It's not complete writer's block. If that were the case, I wouldn't have the couple-thousand words or so of my book. It's a very specific type of block. I can't get a blog out to save my life.

It's like everything is going on, and nothing is going on. I see certain things that have me busting at the seams (the Birther Bill, Arizona as the Retard Racist's Capital Of the United States) but these people are so insipid that it diminishes me to argue against and give time to them/it. I've read a ton of books (Stephen King's "On Writing", 6 of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels books, The first two Twilight Books, and I'm halfway through Kim Harrison's "Dead Witch Walking"), but most often those authors get me thinking about my own book and characters. This writer's block affects my blogging...

(side note: Zack De La Roca of Rage Against the Machine has a PSA regarding this negligent legislation attempt and the ramifications of it. Please, please, watch...)

Contrary to popular belief, I don't put everything on my blog (and my twitterstream is sans bowel-movements), there is usually a cool-down period before I blog, much like the 3-day wait when you purchase a firearm. I don't pull the trigger on a blog until it almost begs to be written. Not all my disputes should be aired in my blog. Truth be told, only 50% of what goes on in my life makes it to my page. There's 25% I don't put out because people beg/order/threaten me not to, the other 25% I just don't want to subject you to over and over again (same shit, different day).

One of my blogging peers has drawn me back to the keyboard in an effort to help spread the word, my boi She Hate Me was a good blogger (before I left) who has grown in quantum leaps, and his last blog hit very close to home for me... so much so that I decided I would write a blog to tell about his blog, because it's just that good. If you don't think so, don't bother to tell me. Just quietly disagree. If you do, I'd appreciate it if you'd let him know on his blog.

I wish I could say I'll be back soon with another blog... truth is, I don't really know. What I'm afraid of is that this specific block might turn into a general block, and then I'll know what's causing it. In the meantime, if you didn't get a chance to watch the video, go over to to AltoArizona.com and sign the petition to be sent to the Governor. If we don't speak out against this kind of thing, you lose your right to complain about anything... so basically put up, or shut the fuck up. 'Nuff said.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega

If you aren't already following me on Twitter, get on it.

Not Gonna Cry... (Blogger Exclusive)

2009-08-10T15:48:00.000-04:00

In an effort to maintain self-censorship, I'm not going to bitch about my entire weekend. When too many adults are together in confined settings, certain tribal and territorial instincts kick in. That's a diplomatic way of saying some people get along in a very heated way, which actually isn't "getting along" to an uninitated observer. Families fight. As do packs, prides, pods, mobs, and murders.

I do love that. Anybody else know that a group of crows is called a "murder"? My friend dream hampton called herself a "word nerd". If there is such a thing, I am one.

(I should tell the story of the Locked Bathroom Door and the Green Apple Splatters, but it lacks a comedic finish and mostly is a story of frustration.)

I briefly touched on my outrage at Twitter's outage, I'm sure we all were caught by surprise with it. It has shown me that while some are jaded with it, I love it even more. It is truly a weapon/tool.

There is much talk about the way people can fake who they are, or conceal who they really are through the anonymity of the Internet. While I won't argue the merits of that perspective, I will say some things to provide balance.

We can put forth exactly who were are just as easily as we can try to conceal, and the truth of it will be just that. There's a guy I've met through Twitter that I can kinda tell that working with him might be fun, @K4s_Ent. Like I said, we haven't met in person, but the detail he provides on his FollowFriday recommendations show me that this guy understands people, and relationships. Would we be successful? I don't know, but knowing what I know about him makes me believe that it would start off right. I daresay he reminds me, of me...

If I were a total ass, that would be bad. But if you have two people who are 1) worried about getting the job done and 2) don't care who gets the credit, you start off way ahead in the game. It's about the job first. We'll make sure the credits get printed properly when it's all done.

What I'm saying is, going into a situation you have to have the right mindset. G.I.G.O. = Garbage In Garbage Out. There is an annoying little shit of a producer in town that I used to work with, and I used to go out of my way to send business his way even when our association had passed, but I don't do that anymore because this dude is obsessed with me and mine, and no matter how much time passes, he hangs on to the negative from the past. I knew he was talented, but I always overlooked the personality differences because I thought he might change. Being around talented people helped him find his talent, but being around confident people when you have none made him bitter. I thought that maybe other people could work with him when I couldn't, but then people started to come back to me telling me their own stories of personal conflict. So while some people love to say "Business is business" and I can agree, "family businesses" works because of connections, and if I can't connect with you, I ain't doing business with you...

I'm making connections on Twitter that will hopefully bear fruits later on, and part of it is because I put out exactly who I am. Is some of it "censored"? Yes, to a degree. But no one can say that what you've read is a misrepresentation. It's what I saw, and how I saw it. How I felt. What's to hate about that? Disagree? Fine. I like that. But hate on it?

This was a little freestyle, but I just wanted to touch base with my readership. Yeah, I'm getting a little following. I see the H8ters too. I actually love y'all, because of a definitions someone gave me:

"Haters are confused admirers that can't figure out why everybody else likes you."

There used to be a time when I would say "Aw, man, you talk so much about hating, and ain't nobody hating on you."

Not anymore.

When you leave your house, your picture is taken probably 20 times in a host of places.

You don't even have to leave the house, and that many people hated on you somewhere.

Better learn to enjoy it.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

TwitterHolic Withdrawls Are Savage...

2009-08-06T12:27:00.000-04:00

Wow. The World without Twitter.

I only wish I was blissfully ignorant as those that don't use it. I miss the HELL out of it.

But it's let me know that no matter what happens with MySpace, I'll NEVER go full-fledged to FaceBook. Why?

Well, the generosity I feel and the connections I make on Twitter are far more useful and fulfilling. Twitter "feels" real.

Yeah, Mark Zuckerberg, your nifty little site has made it as a flavor of the month, but you've made one fatal error: You assume that we actually LIKE our family members and people from high school... what if we don't?

The irony of this post is that it will feed directly to Facebook, where it will sit unread. If I post it to MySpace, I would have 20 comments on it in no time.

The people you're related to tend to know the least about you... when people get killed, they don't ask family members who was in their life: they ask FRIENDS.

But then me and mine do put the "fun" in "dysfunction", keeping it 100.

It's not all genetics, though...Part of it is that FB is not the easiest place to navigate. For the longest time I just wasn't sure of the mechanics of FaceBook. Now that I know a little more, I don't know if I even care for it.

Geez, I hope Google will hurry up and work the bugs out of GoogleTalk and launch THEIR social network. Yeah, they got one coming, they're building it right underneath you. It started with GMail, and Google Profiles, and GoogleTalk is the next piece. They can give you one phone number that will ring ALL your phones at once, and when you don't answer, they can give you a voicemail that can be checked from the web/CrackBerry (but probably not your iPhone until they can figure out who's @ fault for blocking the app). They can make national/international lines disappear (I talk to my Baby for nada, she's in England. If I had a phone with GTalk and so did she?), and that's why they are going to bury anything that looks like them. Twitter isn't under any threat, they'll seamlessly integrate into your GoogleProfile.

MySpace might have been flavor of the month, but at least I liked it.

Facebook is flavor of the month, and I don't.

And God forgive me for using this trifling Attack-Vagina as an example, but you really don't See Tila Tequila declaring herself the "Queen Of Facebook", do you? Nope. She's staking out her "claim" there. This girl is a digital cock-roach (wait, hear me out), she was on Friendster, they kicked her off there for having "too many friends" according to her. Mark and Tom invited her to MySpace, she gets a million friends and a couple of tv shows, and now she's the HotSpot (literally) for NFL Players and recording artists.... (Yeah, I said it.) What happens to Friendster? How many of you even know what the hell I'm talking about? Tila got instincts. She can sniff out a social media opportunity like a hog roots truffles. So now she sees that the MySpace boat might be leaking, it's hemorrhaging badly, she's on to Twitter.

I don't want to sound like a "fan" of Tila, I hate her version of Twitter, I'm only speaking on the fact that as many people "hate" on Twitter, there's some that have had proven and unparalleled success in social media that are working that way.

I dig my Twitter. FaceBook is a very distant third. I hope they don't close the casket on MySpace just yet. Google, step it up people.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Something Wicked This Way Comes

2009-08-05T15:37:00.000-04:00

(Pictured: "Show Me", the Orange Bomber eliminated from RCOL2)

My bad, my bad, my bad. I must confess something, True Believers.

Before I wash myself of sin, let me tell you that I am attempting to refine my oft-randomness. I have created another blog, I am calling it Reality Bytes. While not everyone enjoys my musings and rants at VH1 (the channel that airs most of my favorites reality shows), there is a group that does. So I'm going to siphon off all my Reality TV related bloggings there, and keep this one more about my musical and personal journeys. This advice comes from @problogger on Twitter. If you're on Twitter and a blogger, this guy is an excellent resource. I'm going to see if I like running multiple blogs on specific subjects instead of one blog on every subject.

So this blog is my last reality-tv-related blog here.

The other day on UStream I got a chance to ask @riskybizness23 if she thought I should watch the new "Real Chance Of Love 2: Back In the Saddle". She was a lady, she didn't badmouth them, but she didn't give them a ringing endorsement, either. So I thought about it, and decided that I would check it out just to see if things were really going to be as bad as I thought they would.

Oh-Em-Gee. Let me tell you, this makes Charm School 3 look like a tea party, and we are only one episode in.

I watched the first season intently. I had my favorites right away. Well, in all honesty I had my most contemptable right away, Ms. Ki-Ki. I strongly disliked her and Bay Bay Bay (all opinions have softened since, the girls really used the notoriety to become better people, especially Bay x3), and I felt immediately invested because I thought Real deserved a "real" shot (that opinion has also turned). It's pretty clear this time around that we are not supposed to like Real or Chance. They are pretty committed to the asshole character much like Megan (we'll come back to her).

Let's not beat around the bush here... The Stallionaires (back-of-throat-vomit) make no secret about their love for wrestling, making the girls put on a show for them in season one and repeating it again in season two (what did Don Cheadle's character in "Ocean's Twelve" say? "You don't do the same gag again, you move on to the next gag...") and that's what this show is from jump.

I stated previously I would question the intentions or intelligence of a woman who would go on that show knowing the men they were dealing with. Everybody on this show should automatically be enrolled in Charm School 4 on default, especially the winner. These guys have their 15-Minutes up against the headboard, ankles behind the neck, literally. They don't want relationships. They are on the groupie/hootchie/skeezer/bopper trail, And the casting directors did not disappoint.

I can't remember the nicknames yet, but there were those who made theirs known by being the auspicious first two eliminated. The regular reality-show format is the mass-eliminations on the first night, but before the Gonad Council, "Vegas", the sassy-mouth chick from (wait for it...) Vegas decided that she was going to push "Show Me" (yeah, the girl from Missouri. These guys don't waste brain cells on nickname creativity) by calling her a transvestite and throwing a drink at her.

In certain circles, you can expect certain behavior. In my city, you throw a drink in somebody's face, be ready for the chairs to start flying. If you are from the South, well-known fighting words are "Hey, I'm From Missouri." Which means, "You gon' have to show me." As in "Bitch, I'ma beat yo' ass" "Oh, yeah? Well, I'm from Missouri." Somebody should have told the stupid Vegas girl.

Show Me gave Vegas the drunk girl headlock and showed her why some girls down here wear over-sized rings... it's like a brass knuckle, people. Old school. Homegirl got her domepiece split, drew blood and all. Well, unless you're on The Ultimate Fighter or the Contender, that's the Ultimate See-Ya-Wouldn't-Wanna-Be-Ya Move. In what I considered an attempt at gaining "control" (in this case, that word is so relative), Real and Chance decided that they would eliminate them both, Show Me for throwing the punches and Vegas for (very obviously) baiting her. Might keep some of the more out-of-bounds drama (like KiKi calling Lusty's deceased mother a "...bitch when she had you...") to a minimum.

This show, is bad. I mean, really bad. I thought "Tool Academy" was going to be bad, but it immediately became an "Oh-Shit"-Fest (like "Hi, I'm Sean's Girlfriend of six years..." when he's sitting there with his 'girl' of 6 months? Oh shit!), and it was fun(ny). Ain't none of that going on here. Right after this show was over (I really felt like I needed a shower after), "Megan Wants A Millionaire" came on and I very nearly ran screaming from the room. There are millionaires out there who actually want to date Megan? I'd hoped she might disappear for awhile after the (way overdue) beatdown @ the hands of Sharon Osbourne at the "Charm School 2" reunion. During Risky's UStream the question was posed about the CS3 Reunion and she said they decided not to have one. Could that be why? People wanting to get at Brittney Star that bad? Real and Chance have managed to do in 1 season what it took Flavor Flav took two seasons to do: be reduced to bad wrestling. Yeah, wrestling is fake, we know this, but guys like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson made you enjoy it. When it's fake and it bad... Ooo. Get some Febreze, ya' stinkin' up tha' joint.

Anyway, that's enough from me... Got music to finish. What, you thought all I did was watch reality tv?

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Obama Is A Pussy

2009-07-30T08:57:00.000-04:00

I'm sure some of you might be taking issue with my title, but I'm sorry, I gotta keep it 100.

I'm sorely disappointed in our President for backing off the Cambridge Police Dept. and letting them sorry redneck crackers get any breathing room, because as soon as he did, you see how they act. What am I talking about?

Well, I'm not going to go into the Dr. Gates vs Sgt. Crowley section, because Obama let 'em ride. He gave them a pass when it was OBVIOUS what the hell was going on. Come on, man. The cop didn't like the Prof. telling him what was obviously true: He didn't like a Black man standing up to him. I've seen cops do this shit a thousand times for anything. It's a weak excuse, and they use it whenever it suits them.

When the President took the stand, he let up off the racists and they got emboldened. How do I know? Well, check out the story of the email by Justin Barrett.

I'll give you the quickie highlights. Just like Sgt. Crowley, Officer Barrett declares that he is;

"not a racist but I am prejudice [sic] towards people who are stupid and pretend to stand up and preach for something they say is freedom but it is merely attention because you do not get enough of it in your little fear-dwelling circle of on-the-bandwagon followers."

Yeah, that's what people who stand up to racism are. "Fear-dwelling circle of On-The-BandWagon Followers."

If you are a white person out there, don't fall into the trap of Race-Guilt. White people are guilting other white people into the "see, it's THEM, not US." You're playing the game, it's "The Hate Of The Hate that Hate Made."

Racism caused the mistrust, the fingerpointing. The behavior of that police officer is like a thousand others out there, and those who backed that up, should be fucking ashamed of themselves. Why?

Because by backing it up, you made Justin Barrett feel like it was okay to write an email calling Professor Gates a Jungle-Monkey. So, in effect, you supported a racist.

I still love Obama, but he's said it, he's not a "Black" president, he's everybody's president. He's gonna say and do some shit I don't agree with.

But you can't stand as a symbol on one hand and then cowtow to the Racists on the other side. You said it was stupid, stick with it. Don't be a pussy, Obama. If Sgt. Crowley isn't a racist, then neither is Justin Barrett.

Because when you pussy out on us, you expose us to shit like this.

But I'm calling it like I see it.

"Oh, Officer Barrett is an abberation, he's not the norm." Get the fuck outta hear...

And Rick Sanchez can kiss my ass if I ever watch his show again.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Real Rekkanize Real

2009-07-28T03:42:00.000-04:00

What's up, True Believers? Yeah, I'm speaking only to the True-Believers. The fake can't feel this. Turn back now, nothing here for you to see.

I did a blog just recently about "Real Chance Of Love 2", and not watching out of respect for my girl Risky.

Wait, let me hit the rewind for a second... I got a few things to get off my chest.

First, we've discussed me and reality shows. I dig 'em.

Tonight, I saw and heard something that AGAIN raised my faith in reality tv.

This season of "Charm School 3" with Ricki Lake, Stryker (from LoveLine), and Mrs. Carmelo Anthony, better known as LaLa Vazquez has been a step above. The second-to-last challenge involved the girls going to New Orleans and doing volunteer work, turning the focus back to the fact that N.O. is still reeling from Katrina. Props for that alone. But the individuals who went into the process with a totally open mind came out better people. My opinion of Bay Bay Bay completely changed when I watched her engage in several acts of total selflessness and generosity. But this isn't about her.

I want to congratulate Ebony Jones, @riskybizness23 for winning this semester, and for even more, opening up and confessing something on national tv that was as real as it comes.

Risky has been "through a lot", we've heard it before. The scary thing is, how close to being her could some of you be? I've had friends and relatives locked up for different reasons. We've known this entire season that Risky's brother was in prison, but nobody ever knew why.

Well, she told us. Risky's brother is in prison for doing something to the person that molested her.

Hearing that ripped my heart out. Because I know the wrath that would overcome me to know someone in my life had to experience that, and the possibility of exacting my own revenge on the individual would be too much to bear.

I know this because I've experienced it already. I've had to let it go, and I hated the taste of that. Bitterest fruit you can imagine. And once, I didn't have to let it go.

I remember being 16. I was around 165lbs, all muscle, right around the peak of my martial arts training days. My little sister was playing in a fenced park directly in front of my house, she was 9, I think. My mom was at work, it was me, my older brother Locc and my brother Tza. I realized I hadn't heard my sister in awhile, so I sent Tza after her. He and Locc returned shortly after at a full-speed run. Some dude around the corner, actually a couple years older than me, tried to lure my sister away from the other kids and into a secluded area of the college (the playground was next to Edward Waters College Science & Mathematics building).

Me and my brothers together back then were a force of nature. We would swoop down before you realized what was happening. Hyenas had nothing on us. My sister knew the dude, at least where he lived, and took us to his house. I knocked on the door while Tza and Locc hid in the bushes. I asked his Mom to ask him to come to the door, and as soon as he did, I snatched my nunchakus from under my shirt tucked in the small of my back, wrapped them around his neck and dragged him off his front porch. Me and my brothers beat the shit out of him while his mother screamed for us not to kill him, and only through her being there did we not. I explained loudly as my brothers pounded his ass into tapioca that if I ever saw him near my sister again, no amount of begging on his mother's part would save him. It was kinda like the scene from the Sopranos when Tony caught the guy outside the bank with the baseball bat? Oh yeah. Pedophiles are squishy.

I'm older now, but I don't know if I have the restraint to forgive this kind of transgression easily. When Risky confessed the reason for her holding her pain in, I felt my heart sank. Her face was just pained, you could see that she carried much guilt, because she probably felt that she was the reason her brother was locked up. I'm willing to bet he doesn't feel that way, because I wouldn't have felt that way had I gone to jail for my sister. I would have held my head up high and told the CO "if somebody does this again, you might want to keep me a bunk ready, cuz best believe, I'll be back." I would never want to be away from my Boo and my Girls, but if someone hurt them, God please help me find mercy, I will lose my way.

But this isn't about me, it's about trying to keep focus on what means the most. Risky is going to take her winnings and open a program for girls, and I'm so happy to hear that. If she's doing it in Atlanta, that's what's up, because ATL is rough like Duval. I know, I've seen it. The cutthroats up there have it just as rough.

Risky, I hope you find ways to affect lives with your winnings and with everything you learned. You said it, new start, new day, you've brought light to the darkest corners of you. Nothing can stop you now, Ma...

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Forecast: Real Chance of Bullsh*t-storm

2009-07-19T11:47:00.000-04:00

Looks like I'm gonna haveta' bang out another one today.

Those that know me (@theonlyEL being one!) know that I have a guilty pleasure of Reality Television. I'm a guru. I started with "The Real World" and have become a connoisseur of sorts. "The Amazing Race", "Survivor", "America's Next Top Model", just to name a few. Hit me on Twitter, I'll give you my full resume.

I admit, I watch this garbage. It is the Cult Of Personality grinding out douchebaggery in epic portions. I love it.

So back in the day, I got wind of "Flavor of Love" after Flavor Flav's stint on "Surreal Life" and that other bizzaro-show with Sly Stallone's ex, I didn't follow New York (the runner-up from FoL) to "I Love New York" (cuz I detest her), but kept up on the highlights through "Talk Soup". From ILNY, there were a few standouts, for different reasons. The two douchebags pictured above (Chance on the left, Real on the right) being a brother duo who came for New York (ugh, vomit in the back of my throat). We next saw them on "I Love Money", where they ended up with their own show, "Real Chance Of Love."

I'ma take a second to shout-out Risky and Cali, two girls from the show that are big-time Twitterholics. Ironically, these are the two girls who were the final choices for Chance, and he chose neither. This is the impetus for my blog.

As I said, I've been watching reality tv for awhile. Unlike a show along the lines of T.I.'s "Road To Redemption" (which was absolutely fantastic in focus, authenticity, and intent), these shows have no 'redeeming' value. The televison equivalent of nachos, or Twinkies. I watched the show because I thought Real, was real. He came off as very earnest when he was on "I Love New York", and on "I Love Money 2" we felt for him when his romantic overtures were rebuffed by Hoopz. So going into "Real Chance of Love", I wanted him to come away with a good girl. His eventual selection was Cornfed, or Abbi Noah as she is wanting to be called these days.

After going through the trials and tribulations of the entire season, to make it to the end and have the guy completely get the big-head (no pun intended) for all the chicks that come out of the woodwork is a real booby prize (again, no pu... ah, whatever). And when I say a hard-fought victory, for some people that was literal. There was some emotional investment on the part of myself, my Mom and my sister, we watched ardently. We had our favorites, at least as far as Real was concerned (I thought any girl who would knowingly commit themselves to Chance should commit themselves). To hear CornFed's version of events, you feel really bad for her. I want to quote a bit of what she said in her blog:

"I had an amazing time on Real Chance of Love. I made some amazing friends and I fell for Real. Anyone who says that reality tv is fake or the people are acting, well that's your opinion. But I was NOT acting! I am NOT fake! Very very far from it infact. What I felt for Real was sooo real. I will always hold this experience very dear to my heart. "

Doesn't sound to me like someone was faking. She's admitting that she developed real feelings for him. I don't need her words to know it, I saw it, but this confirms what I always knew to be true. "Reality" tv is not literal, but you are who you are. If you're real, you'll be real. If you are fake, the camera shows that too. Yes, things can be edited, taken out of context, but after enough time on-screen, who you truly are will reveal itself.

It takes ten seconds of on-screen time for you to realize that Chance is a Grade-A, Full-Blast, Dead-On Jerk-Off. Very simple. But Real turned out to be anything but what he appeared to be. Or he was real, and now we see that he has completely been seduced by the fame of the show and is now something other than what he started as. That's sad.

If given a choice between true love and fame, I'd take love over and over, because we all know fame is an illusion (unless you're believing your own press releases). Same thing make you laugh, make you cry, and if fame and vanity are your motivation, you are in for a fall most predictable as it is assuredly painful. Watching "Curse Of The Lottery", I heard a quote that stuck with me, "You are the same person you were 5 minutes before winning the lottery as you are 5 minutes after." If that's the case for millions of dollars, then it's most certainly the same for a reality show. Real now has thousands of reality-groupies throwing themselves at him, and rather than go with the girl who fought through that warped Funhouse to be with him, he's going for a second run into infamy. Guess 15 Minutes of Fame is worth a lifetime of happiness.

I feel a little like Jerry Springer trying to shine redeeming light on this Circus, but I am a romantic. I believe true love can exist even in undue scrutiny. But Real and Chance have whored themselves to the Cult Of Personality, reaching beyond their station of E-List Stardom and believing themselves worthy of playing with people's lives. If one believes in karma, we can only imagine what's to come of these two. Chance was the brother that was most cringe-worthy when he came on, but now it's Real that makes me shake my head in disdain. Chance didn't portray himself to be anything more than Emperor Douche, and the women who go on that show (in the new season) and pledge their "love" are getting what they deserve. I just wish Real had the same decency rather than playing the "Good Guy" role. And 'decenct' probably isn't a word I should be trying to apply to him.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

PS With all that being said, I'm going to avoid "Real Chance Of Love 2" like MRSA out of respect for Abbi, Risky, MILF, Bay Bay Bay, and Cali.

Blogging, How I Love Thee...

2009-07-19T07:14:00.000-04:00

Ugh, feels good to stretch beyond the contraints of 140 characters and blow off a little steam. I'm typing and I'm not worried about my character count.

I'm not complaining, mind you. I have come to appreciate Twitter very much. Twitter is like conversational haiku to me. But I'm sure it would become annoying if someone were to speak to you only in 5-7-5 syllable paragraphs after awhile.

You read what I write. I write whatever I please. I hope you enjoy.

See? Another sentence like that, and I think my skin might crawl.

No, I do enjoy my Twitter. I love even more that my better half is there also, although she doesn't have my zest or zeal for it. I do secretly wish she'd tweet more. Or, not so secretly.

I'm writing now because someone paid me a high compliment. Rob Dougan, a really nice guy and a musician who contributed to "The Matrix" and "Matrix Reloaded" soundtracks actually took the time to read through my posts and said "that guy can write." He's not the only person who's told me that (I hear you, Boo!), but he's a person who a) doesn't know me from Adam and b) is extremely talented in his own right. (My future Mother-In-Law also thinks I'm a helluva writer, and for those of you married you know what it is to have your in-laws think highly of you. Or to not think highly of you! =) )

I mean, seriously... the "Lady In Red" scene in the Matrix? When Morpheus was training Neo? That's "Clubbed to Death". That's HIS joint. They used it in the trailer for "Ultraviolet" too.

So I felt like that was a blog-worthy occurence.

The other reason is I stumbled upon the blog for Mike Choi. For those unfamiliar with who he is, he's most famous for his work on WitchBlade and X-Men. I thought I had a mouth. I love this guy's blog. He really gives you a peek into the inner workings of his mind, and it's an entertaining romp. I liked him before because he created X-23, I like him even more because I think that we are kindred souls, at least as far as expressing ourselves through writing is concerned.

I miss blogging when I don't do it.

I guess I understand the difference between those born to blog, and those who choose to blog. I've said before that I would do this if no-one read these. I'm not blowing smoke up anybody's ass when I say that, I mean it. The reason being just because nobody is reading them right now doesn't mean they won't be interesting to someone else later on. I used to journal when I was a kid. Due to my nomadic existence (I've actually had occasions in my youth where I went to multiple elementary schools in one calendar school year), I don't have those anymore. Had there been an internet when I was in school, I might have chronicled some of those stories here for the world. Trust me, some of the things I've done would have been perfect scenes for movies like "Superbad", or even "Menace II Society".

But I do love blogging.

Someday, I won't be here. I will move on to whatever comes next... and when I do, I'd like to know that my words, my pure unfiltered thoughts and beliefs will remain, and anyone who cares to know what I felt, how I thought, will still be around and available for anyone who cares to know. I don't know what they'll think or how they'll feel about it, and that's not really for me to know or concern myself with. It will be what it is. Hopefully they will glean some understanding of what it was to live in what feels like quite remarkable times. People all over the world are a part of this digital tapestry. Never in our history have people been able to connect in the ways we do today.

I haven't blogged about the events in Iran, or the changes in the Gaza Strip that are taking place right now, but I do watch them intently. They are echoes of the changes on the horizon. Iran doesn't want to be cut off from the world anymore, and the leadership of their country seems dead-set on holding them back in a period when the thought police held them in check. Iran's youth (in comparison to the spiritual leaders, people all around my age and younger) don't see the world as their leaders do. Their blogs will, or should, be a part of the story years from now when people talk about the digital uprising, the revolution that took place on Twitter.

I don't want to overestimate my own dignitas (thanks for that one, Mike), but then again, I don't want to underestimate it, either. People like myself are the reason we changed history in electing Barack Obama, through word and deed (you best believe I vote), and we continue to shape the world everyday by simply choosing to speak.

The people of a democratic society are unique in that they have perspective on what one voice means. Afghanistan is experiencing that for themselves through "Afghan Star", their equivalent of "American Idol" (or "Pop Idol" from Britain, if you want to be technical. They came first). Not only are some of their women "voting" for the first time, women are risking their lives participating as contestants. Literally risking their lives. When the Taliban was in full swing in their country, music was outlawed. Now people are singing in the streets, and I don't think they are going to be able to put that genie back in that bottle. These changes are powerful events to those of us who are scholars of history. Why do you think it was illegal to teach slaves to read and write? I'll put this in a term that's used in the Hood: You'd do better if you knew better. Ignorant people are easily controlled. Those with knowledge can envision better.

So in an effort to make my ramblings coherent, let me attempt to sum this up: I love blogging because it's my voice amongst the din, and someday someone will tune in to my frequency and maybe find the courage to say what they think and feel. In the event that my Life-Plans come to fruition, I will be of moderate interest to people I'm not related to in any way, but will impact nonetheless. If you're reading my blogs, I hope you see yourself in the same light. I'm reading your blogs and being inspired all the time. Just like others, I'm not always commenting, but I'm reading. Like the sign in the Oracle's kitchen, I hope you "Temet Nosce", because that's the only way others can share in what it was to be you, because there's truthfully no one like you.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Talk Is On Clearance, It's Cheap

2009-07-06T01:29:00.000-04:00

One of my fellow artists in Duval, the young Urban Champ says in the nicest way that I tend to be "opinionated". I take it as a compliment. I've been pretty consistent on the Duval Scene (and I use the term 'scene' loosely) in my music, personality, and writings. If you know me, you know me through my writings as well as my music, or maybe even a face-to-face conversation. I've worked with many on the scene, and some I consider family even when my behavior hasn't been the best. Bluntly put, I have been an asshole at times, no other way to put it. But I'd like to think that I'm consistent and honest. I mean, there's a lot of different ways to be a jerk, but being blunt and saying too much is preferable to someone who says one thing and does another. I abhor hypocrisy. But something I have said in my blogs before: I would rather be hated for what I truly am than be loved for something I'm not.

Relationships change over years. Duval is not that big, and after time your reputation will precede you in certain situations. I am not the most popular person in any given room, but in most rooms you can find someone that I've helped on occasion. One of my closest and longtime friends, David Robinson (@fromduval), we've not always seen eye-to-eye. We are both headstrong individuals, but we've learned to work together over the years. I truly appreciate the differences between us now and learned the benefits of having someone around that has a different opinion from me.

My brother @tza_unlimited wrote a blog about wanting to bring together like-minded individuals and help the music scene come together. This is something we've attempted on different occassions, and it's not easy. You'll fail more times than you will ever succeed, but it's still a noble cause. Part of why I'm able to work with D.R. is that I realize that I'm not always right and that sometimes someone else is going to have a better perspective than I might. I am not infalliable. It would be nice if some other people would or could realize that themselves.

I'm being very roundabout in what I'm saying because I don't want to call anyone out, that's not going to bring the scene closer together, but I gotta point out that actions speak louder than words. If you really want to help people, you'd do it. If you have a bunch of bullshit you want to sit around and argue about, you'll do that too. Tza summed it up very succintly:

"I personally don’t have any reasons not to reach out or this blog would not have been posted, persons such as yourself or anyone else taking the time to read this and interested in having a go at it should take steps to clear up any concerns if truly interested in working on something. Otherwise continually commenting on the complexities is no more than an effort to hinder what I’m trying to do."

Some will come under the guise of helping you, but have their own personal demons they need to exorcise. I've worked with dozens of artists in Duval over the years. The truth is I've never had a problem going back to work with people for professional reasons. I'm good at what I do. David Robinson, DuvalPhatt, Ms. Chanel, Aaron Jr., and Grizzly (the artist formerly known as Blakhart) are people I think will publically vouch for that. The people I've had personal relationships with, well, that's a horse of a different color. I don't make a secret of my life. Failed marriage, cheating, and everything that comes along with that. Anyone who will take issue with you for personal reasons is someone who you really should be careful of, because that's someone with something to hide. People hate in you things that they see in themselves.

Those artists out there who are trying to get ahead, realize that there is strength in numbers. One or two artists can leak out, or we can nuture and develop our own scene and lift us all. If you're a selfish, weak, scared little artist who can't stand the thought of someone else getting more shine than you, continue your backstabbing, back-biting ways and we'll see how far you manage to get. I believe that if people can't find a way to survive in the Duval Scene (which is treacherous at best), you don't have what it takes to survive outside of Duval, because the view only gets worse as you go up, not better. Soon there will be "journalists" who will talk shit about your music, trolls who will stalk your boards to post hateful shit about you to fulfill their own sense of self-worth, and haters who will hate on you for nothing more than the fact that you have what they want.

I have learned to appreciate the people that hate on me, because infamy is the same as fame to me now. Hate is my battery acid. It powers me. I've accomplished much in the past few months because I ain't addressing the hate, I'm recycling it. Turning it into something useful. If you're wasting time hating me, I'm going to give you some serious advice: don't waste your time. Go find your Dharma and move on. Spend more time accomplishing your goal instead of trying to block someone else from theirs.

And if you really want to help the scene, put out the best music you can. Work with those you can, and keep it moving. Don't waste a second trying to pick fights in blogs. If you're done, be done. It's disappointing when you know people are capable of so much more.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

The Thrill Is Gone

2009-06-26T04:41:00.000-04:00

Michael Joseph Jackson

August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009

There will be literally millions of blogs about Michael Jackson written in the coming days. There are probably thousands already going up. Some people will probably get tired of hearing his name. Well, guess what? Too fucking bad. Go dig a hole and climb in it, because the Greatest Performer In Existence just passed away.

My mind is in a million different directions right now. I guess right now many from my generation are reeling, trying to understand that Michael is gone. Now, there are a lot of people right now who can't help themselves, they are compelled to point out the controversy in MJ's life. We all know the story. The truth is, he was acquitted. Beyond that, we don't know what the real story was. No, I am not excusing it. What I am saying is that now, it doesn't matter. Because no matter what actually happened, that will not change the things that came before.

As I said, I'm a little angry right now. I wish there was an internet around when Elvis died so we could have blasted people for crying when he passed away, the big, fat, drug-addicted vampire racist that he was. Nobody was there to spit in the face of his musical accomplishments. His music that was symbolically and literally stolen from Black people. But I'm not trying to go negative. I got too much on my mind.

My Lil' Ace Killa Bill hit me up today, he couldn't understand what was going on with his mom. He said to me "She's crying like she knew him." He really couldn't understand what the big deal was... sadly, most children from nowadays will never be able to get it, because the very nature of celebrity has changed. Before all the drama of the past few years, there was no-one bigger than Michael. There will never be another like him. Michael could premiere his videos on national television at a time when there WAS no MTV. Hell, if there was no Michael Jackson, there might not even be an MTV, not in the scope that it is now. People forget there was a time when MTV wouldn't play Black artists. They WOUDLN'T. Hard to believe, huh? Until BET came along, we had no outlet. Michael was the person that made MTV change that policy. MTV had to play "Billie Jean", and play it a LOT. They couldn't afford not to. Every emcee who has a dream of seeing his video on MTV, you owe that dream to one Black man. Michael Jackson snatched the "No Coloreds Allowed" sign right off MTVs door.

I've listed my HipHop influences many times in my blog, and I've never mentioned MJ. There's a reason for that... nobody has to mention Michael, because he's a foregone conclusion. He influenced us all. I was shocked when I heard about his death, but as the day has gone on, I have become increasingly more depressed when I realized just how significant his music was in my life. The very moment I decided that I wanted to perform, that I wanted to sing, I was sitting in front of a record player, listening to a Jackson 5 album. Puff said it himself, "Michael made me believe that I could see the music." Michael Jackson started perfoming when he was five years old. His entire life, as soon as he was able to communicate, he did nothing but perform and influence. Without Michael, there would be no Beyonce, no Usher, no Justin Timberlake, no Ne-Yo, no Ginuwine, no Lloyd, no Missy Elliot, no Puff... no New Edition, no New Kids On the Block, no Danity Kane, Day 26, I could go on for days. The man influenced an entire generation of performers, literally by the thousands.

So many memories of Michael.

The night he totally wrecked the American Music Awards.

His "Motown 25" Performance.

The first time he Moonwalked.

The video for "Billie Jean"

The first time we heard "Beat It".

The premiere of the "Thriller" video.

When "Moonwalker" came out.

I remember being 11 years old, being in the 6th Grade, and having a crush on Kathy Driver. I had my first Walkman, and I had the "Thriller" album (on cassette) which I'd replaced for the 3rd time. I remember sitting on top of the church garage next to my house, I would climb up on top of it by climbing the tree in my yard and walking the 6-ft fence, then climbing up on the roof. I sat up on that roof and sang "Lady In My Life" and "Human Nature", just singing my heartache away. In the 8th Grade, my chorus class sang "Man In The Mirror", and the very first part of the song was a solo. "I wanna make a change, for once in my life.... it's gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference... gonna make it right." I fought like hell to get that solo. Never cared about any other solo before that, even though I was the best in the class, I knew it. Just didn't care about any other solo until that one came along. I wanted it. I got it.

Another good friend of mine who accidentally killed himself (shot himself in the head with a gun he didn't know was loaded... I had to carry the sofa to the trash pile with his brains on it), Eldridge Cleaver. Huge Michael Jackson fan, and one of the most naturally gifted dancers I've ever known @ the age of 13. (That's a big statement, because I'm a former b-boy. I knew a lot of dancers. Hell, I can still moonwalk as good as Michael right now). He knew the entire routine from "Smooth Criminal", down to every hand gesture. I used to love to watch El do that routine. I'd make him do it for everybody, he was so good at it. Whenever I saw that video, it reminded me of him. I hope that Eldridge is doing that routine with Michael somewhere right now, and I mean that dead ass.

I loved Michael Jackson. I hated Michael Jackson. I was proud of Michael Jackson. I was ashamed of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson was a superstar. Michael Jackson was human. Michael Jackson was the soundtrack to my youth. The kids nowadays don't "get" it because they've been raised in a fast-food, on-demand, text messaging, point-and-click-gimme-dat society. Nothing can or will endure the way that "Thriller" did. Nobody will ever do what Michael did. 750 million records sold worldwide. Michael Jackson was a sacrificial lamb for the Cult Of Personality. His father beat success into him and his brothers, and then the world crucified him for his actions later on. Sins of the Father? Could be. We'll never really know. But right now I'm mourning the loss of the Man Who Would Be King. That's what I'll call him from now on. Fuck you, Elvis. Michael gets that name now.

The King is Dead. Long Live The King.

"If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change."

-ere'bodee's favorite mega

Jay-Z On D.O.A.- Holla If Ya Hear Me...

2009-06-23T11:39:00.000-04:00

Okay, this is going to be a decidedly HipHop blog, so if this isn't your thing, you might want to stop now. But good music is good music, and sometimes a song is more than just a song. That's what this culture is all about...

Me and my lil' bro were talking Hiphop. He's been raised on it, and has a pretty good ear for the culture. We started to discuss Jay-Z impact on the game. While Hov is the poster boy for Hate, the man has distinguished himself as one of the All-Time-Greats. Some have their criticisms, I don't even consider myself a rabid Jay-Z fan, but I know a great record when I hear one...

This record just ended the careers of a million wanna-be-rap-fakers, and I ain't even mad at that. This record is a cautionary tale for those who are using technology to compensate for a total disregard of craftsmanship, and sometimes talent.

See, those like me who have been raised on Soul Food like Rakim, KRS-One, Wu-Tang, Notorious, Pac, Big Pun, J-Dilla, Digital Underground, Public Enemy, Ice Cube, N.W.A., D.O.C., Pastor Troy, Outkast, Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony, Above The Law, Geto Boys, Scarface, U.G.K., 8-Ball & MJG, Slick Rick, Run DMC, Bo$, Suave House, 3-6 Mafia, Hot Boyz (when Wayne & Turk were good, and "Weezy" knew his fucking place), Juvenile, Poison Clan, I could go on forever. These people did THEM. Every one of these acts are different, but each one of 'em kept it 100, as we say now, and I'm just not seeing that out of many artists now. Rhymefest, P.O.S., B.O.B., Kid Cudi, Wale... I see that in them, but they are a part of a precious few. I'm sure there's a few more, and hopefully I'll find them, but they are buried in a din of shit. I have 7 pages of friend requests from bands on MySpace that I just refuse to accept until I at least give a cursory listen to their tracks. I'm just not in the mood to support bullshit.

(I didn't include Jeezy because sometimes his subject matter is something I find objectionable, and too many follow his example, but he's doing him. Him and Gucci need to get off that beef shit before somebody catch a toe-tag, and best believe in ATL it can happen. That place is every bit the treachery that is Duval, and that means the weapon of choice is the chopper. Only takes one round to send you to the Level 3 Trauma center and you become an episode of "ER".)

But I'm off-topic. The Death we should be talking about here is AutoTune. The reason I'm making a big deal about this is that a local artist put up a link to check out and support their song. I consider myself a fan of this artist's work, so I went to check it.

Wow. It was such a departure from what I had previously heard from them, it just threw me. I'm all about growth, but not about regression. I don't want to call anybody out, but truthfully, once Jay dropped this, HE called them out. He went on Hot 97 with Funk Flex and Mister Cee (more on that later) to expounded on it further. He said that he liked what Kanye did with "Heartless" (as do I) and he said that T-Pain comes up with some strong melodies that probably would stand on their own without the AutoTune (I can agree there, some people are good at writing pop hooks, a la Nate Dogg, and T-Pain is pretty much the Down-South Nate-Dogg Pied-Piper of AutoTune), but too many people nowadays are using it as a crutch. If you're an artist, writing melodies and lyrics, start there. Listen to the great hooks of years ago, find out why they are as infectious as they are. WORK ON YOUR CRAFT!! If you love your music, act like it by making it better! If you respect this culture, put something out that moves us to the next. It's like being a pro quarterback. You don't aim for where the receiver is, you aim for where he's going to be, you lead him to where you want him. If you aim for where he's at, he's going to have to reach back to catch the ball.

It's time to move on. Artists, unless you're paying homage to the originators like Lil' Kim did with "Download" (but for real, pump ya' brakes on the plastic surgery, Ma. Fo'real fo'real...), no more autotune. Every time you THINK about auto-tune, you go back and listen to this song. "Only rapper to rewrite history without a pen, NoID on the track, let the story begin... begin." Did you catch the intro to the 2nd verse where he says "This ain't a #1 record/This is practically assault with a deadly weapon/I made this for Flex and/Mister Cee, I want people to feel threatened..." The man practically told y'all "This is an underground record, strictly for the headz, the ones who know the real... the auto-tune crowd won't feel this." I'm like "Whoa." Jay-Z is seriously a living Icon in this game now. He can speak and turn the whole culture back into what it's supposed to be, that boom-bap... He went and got NoID, one of Chi-Town's great producers and made a beat that's just cerebal pal-sick. And he deaded the dreaded Auto-Tune for anybody that wants to be relevant.

As a true HipHop Head, I'm feeling the kcuf outta that... Pause.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Auto-Tune is the 21st Century equivalent of the Jheri Curl. And I never wore a Jheri Curl.

I Tried To Be Nice... (Blind Item)

2009-06-20T03:42:00.001-04:00

There was a nice blog that I was trying to write, but I've labored over it for three days because I felt like I wasn't saying what I really needed to say. Sometimes things just get stuck in my damn head like a mental logjam, and until I let go of the first thing, nothing else of any real use is going to get through... so I'm just gonna go freestyle on this shit and try not to hurt too many feelings on the way to what I gotta say.

But dammit, sometimes the Truth Just Stings Like A Bitch.

Let me tell a quick story about how I ended up in New York...

I was in the county lock-up, and I met a dude from Bradenton. White guy, but was obviously a Hood cat. Not the kind that's trying too hard, the ones that have grown up in a predominately Black neighborhood. He was keeping to himself (what you do when you're from out-of-town and you end up in jail), so I asked him if he needed a book, or if he wanted to bust some spades, whatever. Anyway, we started talking music, I found out he was an artist. He was on his way to NY by Greyhound and ran into a problem in the Duval terminal (they ran his name and found a warrant in Bradenton, so they have to hold him until they find out what it is...), got arrested. He was working on a development deal from Epic and needed to get out of jail or risk losing his deal. Problem is, you can't bond out in Duval if you don't have a Duval County address. I was like "Wow. Totally coincidental that I ended up in a dorm with a dude that does music. Maybe I was put here to help this guy? I think I am. Win or lose, I'm going to be his blessing." I told him that I would see if I could bond him out once I got out. I knew I was going right in and right out. Once I got back to the Zone, I had Locc and Tza, once I explained the situation and the reasons, they would have my back (and they did).

Me and this dude really got to know one another in a short period of time, but I could see that while he liked me, he didn't know if he could trust me. When I said I would help, he looked me straight in the eye and said, "Man, are you serious? You're really gonna help me?"

I said, "Hell yeah. I know what you're saying... and I'ma be dead ass with ya. This ain't no jailhouse promise."

That man asked that question 1) because he really wanted to believe me and 2) so I would acknowledge the fact that we both knew:

A jailhouse promise ain't worth a motherfucker.

People will tell you all kinds of shit when you're in lockup. Dudes become kingpins when they got pulled over with a dime-sack of weed and a gram of blow in the center console. They know every hard-rock, dread, killaz, goons, etc. when we know they might stay up the street from them dudes but ain't said "boo" to then no way, no how. And if someone tells you they are going to do something for you, it's usually to get something off your tray or get a hit off your rip, or some of your commisary... but I didn't ask him for anything. Truth is, I didn't want anything. I did what I did with the full knowledge that he could walk away. But I think that's why he wanted to believe me, because I stuck my neck out first.

The JailHouse is a Pool Of Lies. You are treading water in lies. It's hard to find one grain of truth in there, but he was lucky enough to come across somebody who threw out a lifesaver. That's how I live... I do what I can, when I can. But he really had no reason to believe me, and to be honest, I'm the rare occurence. If somebody makes you a promise in jail, accept it as a lie first.

This really isn't an indictment of people who get arrested. Jail is a funny place. It's most certainly created to fuck with your head, and that's exactly what it does. You will say anything to get through that experience, and you will tell people exactly what they want to hear when you are there. This is where your character comes into play.

There's a tendency to feel sorry for oneself when you go to jail, and you reach out to those who you hope will not forget about you. In the system, you feel the disconnection. So you say a bunch of things. Whether you have any intention of following through with those things is totally up to you. Are you really learning a lesson where you are, or will this just be another rung on the ladder of your descent to your personal Hell? Are you really going to find the lesson in the experience?

Doing the right thing is as simple as making the decision to do so. Happens in a moment. You know if you're full of shit. You know when you're talking to someone who's full of shit. There's a light that goes off, your internal 'Bullshit-Detector'. Just listen to it.

In the words of Goodie MOb, "You don't wanna hear the truth, so I'ma lie to ya', make it sound fly to ya'." Lies feel good like sex. The truth comes hard like medicine. Lies slide down your throat like alcohol. The truth sticks in the back of your throat like you swallowed a cactus and cut all the way to your stomach. Stop swallowing that lie. You know it well. Let it go.

So if you got somebody that you know is lying to you, just stop listening until they start talking some truth. You'll know it just like you know the lies. It might not be what you expect. They may start saying some pretty mean shit. That's the truth. That's how they really feel. Take it. Accept it. And move the fuck on.

And stop hating on motherfuckers who been telling you the truth. Like I said, you know it when you read it.

Like the person that's reading this now saying, "Is he talking to me?" Yes. I am. I ain't even gotta say no names. That's the thing about the Truth. When you spit it, it sticks where it needs and applies.

So what do you want to do? Take the Red Pill To see how far the rabbit-hole goes, or take that Blue Pill and go back to sleep?

And I am exactly what I appear to be... the Keep-It-Real-Redpill-Souljah-Out-Of-Zion. Who the fuck are you?

-ere'bodee's favorite mega

Why Is Sarah Palin Stupid?

2009-06-12T15:01:00.000-04:00

Okay, apparently I'm jumping into the recent controversy with My Favorite Yukon Hillbilly, Sarah Palin. I make it a point to follow people that I wouldn't agree with all the time in an effort to see the other side of things on some issues, but there are just some issues that I don't know that seeing the other side of is even possible...

@DarkKnight3565 accused me of being a Palin-Basher, just going after her and insulting her because it's easy. Okay, he might be right... a little. But I'm at a loss to understand what it is that people can look at in her and say "Yeah, that's something I can agree with."

I'm going to go at my single-biggest Palin-Point, the thing that really makes my blood pressure go up about her, and I dare anyone to come up with a reasonable explanation for this that doesn't involve pointing out similar behavior by a liberal. This is all on Madam BeautyBunny Of the Vapid Holy Yukon.

You are an ardent Pro-Life supporter, you teach abstinence... and your daughter gets pregnant. Your daughter is impetuous enough to get pregnant, but smart enough to say "abstinence doesn't work". Why? Because that much is obvious. She got pregnant. End of that argument.

Later on, after you've managed to torpedo the hopes of John McCain and everybody else by bringing the Circus that is your family down on the '08 Presidential Bid, you're trying to shore up your defenses later on when you decide to return to the political arena. So, you put your now 18-year-old daughter back out there as a part of an abstinence program, and she looks just as stupid as you did sitting in front of an interviewer going back on what she previously said. "Abstinence is the only way." Meanwhile, her Baby-Daddy, who is not a part of your Politico-Machine, speaks common sense "We need to teach kids more than abstinence." It's so refreshing to hear people who speak without political aspirations, and can expose Bullshit in all it's forms.

This, DarkKnight3565, is why Sarah Palin is stupid. She is holding on to a misguided belief that contributes to the further decay of our country, by believing that teaching sex education in schools is a bad thing, that ignorance can protect us the same way it protected her family. It didn't. God didn't keep her daughter from getting pregnant... and God wouldn't have kept her from getting an STD. But she will cite God as her reason for denying vital information in schools. And the problem is on her DOORSTEP, and yet her aspirations as potential presidential candidate mandates that she hold the party line. Abstinence is everything... teaching kids about condoms will make them have sex. If you don't see that as stupid... then... well, you're stupid.

At the rate she's going, David Letterman might have been prophetic if that joke would have actually been about Willow. I wouldn't be surprised...

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

My Homeboi Is Retarded

2009-05-31T12:19:00.000-04:00

In a Good way... This is Big Grizzly, The Artist Formerly Known As Blakhart. This is one of my closest homiez, just retarded on the mic. Thanks to Chad Hendricks for laying the vocal over one of his performances of the track.

PLEASE just listen to this and be honest.... My Dude is Nice.

Find more videos like this on FromDuval.com

Letters To The Pen

2009-05-29T23:22:00.000-04:00

So back in the day my Man Keith Murray caught a case for some dumb shit that went down in tha' club. For those of you that know me, Def Squad was and remains as one of my major influences. I was a huge EPMD, Das EFX, Redman, K-Solo fan, and when Mr. Murray came down, I just knew that there would never be another crew harder than them and I wanted to be down. It hurt me when Keith caught that case, real talk.... so I had never written a fan letter a day in my life (who believes the actual people intended to read them ever sees them?) but I figured that my man being on lock was a guarantee that he would read it. I don't recall what I said exactly, I basically told him I was a fan, I enjoyed his work, and to take the time inside to work on his craft, he could only get better by doing that. I kept it 100, I ain't a groupie, I'm a fan. I guess he appreciated what I had to say, because he wrote me back. I kept this letter in my backpack as an inspiration to remind me that this game is always about just doing what you feel is right, speak strong, speak honest. Do you. I appreciated it and I keep it around so that when I do see him, I can remind him and say "Yo, I appreciate you writing me back, yo."

So everybody know T.I. just went away for his bid, it's supposed to be a year, and I know we think "Aw, it's just a year..." but we ain't the ones going in there. T.I. is doing FED time. It's kinda like this: Me, I've been to County. It's hard to come to Duval and stay your ass out the county. Trust me when I tell you, stay here long enough, you're going to jail. If it ain't some young dickhead making you do something to him, it's an asshat cop who's got a short dick and a bad attitude. Or a chick cop with something to prove... anyway, you'll go to County. Ice Cube said "The County, you know it's like a party... cuz in the County, you know everybody." You're guaranteed to see somebody you know from somewhere, or meet somebody new. You can still get your ass drug in there, but if you know a few hood cats you should be aiight. Next step is prison, state level.. we call that "Up Tha' Road", cuz they ship you somewhere way the hell away from where you are to make it hard on you... and it works. Prison is some shit I want no parts of. I've done jail... I can handle jail. I don't want to have to handle prison. I will end up with more time, I know it. Florida jails put you in the hands of some redneck ass correctional officers who call you "boy" and "nigger" to your face, and you betta not say shit. The next step up from that, is federal prison. This is a whole different world, because you dealing with cats from everywhere. At least in your state you can clique up. Fed don't offer that. Fed, is no joke. There's more crime going on in the Fed than some people see on the outside.

I'm going on and on, I know I've had two jail-themed blogs back-to-back, sorry about that. (Truthfully, when I have the occasional nightmare, I have nightmares about jail. You'd think those are bad... yeah a little, but not really. The dreams that you are free and when you wake up in jail? Those are worse). But the reason is I asked people to write to somebody you knew in jail. Well, now I'm going to ask you to write somebody specific.

I have gained so much respect for T.I. since he's been going through everything... first, he lost his friend in what amounts to dumb shit. Had that been me and someone shot my best friend, y'all would see me come out with more guns than Neo & Trinity in the Lobby before they went to save Morpheus. Sorry, I'm Old Testament. But that don't make it right. So that means I probably would have ended up in a similar position as T.I. Actually, I wouldn't, because something I fought hard to keep was my right to vote, and bear arms, so I can legally own weapons (maybe not silencers... that's automatic federal for getting caught with them). But I can't blame him for getting caught up. And now he's come to the realization that he needs to change, and everything he's done has exhibited to me that he gets it. I loved his show "Road To Redemption", to me it was the realest shit on television and an example of how reality shows can actually be real. T.I. did a PSA that was a true reality check.

So now he's going to do his bid, and I plan to support him throughout. Just because. I might get a letter back out of the deal, maybe I won't, but I hope he continues to do what he did going in when he comes out, and maybe hearing from someone he doesn't know can help him do that. I just want to keep his spirits up. If anybody else wants to do it too, here's his address:

CLIFFORD J HARRIS
REGISTER NUMBER: 59458-019
FCI FORREST CITY LOW
FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION
P.O. BOX 9000
FORREST CITY, AR 72336

So that's what's up. And if you don't, don't worry, I will. So I want to get on to writing my man. I'll get up with y'all later. And remember, the best way to get a blessing, is to be a blessing.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Randomness From Ere'bodee's Favorite

2009-05-28T15:02:00.001-04:00

Now, I don't really think I'm really going to be "random", per se. I have a friend of mine on Twitter, her name is @Dioracat, she's a pretty nifty blogger (did I just say 'nifty'? OMG, no more "Happy Days" on Nick @ Nite!) and I've enjoyed reading through her blogs and how she embraces her geekness. Geek is actually been very kewl for a long time, the rest of the world just wasn't in on it. Who brought you all the things we do here? Posting online, leaving comments, etc? This came from Bulletin Boards. Most of you out there haven't the foggiest notion of what I'm talking about. Anyway, she can be quite random when she writes, but very stylistic in her randomness.

I'm all about the structured blog, so to speak, but sometimes it's ok to just let it flow naturally. It's a different rhythm. It's like... jazz for blogging. Yeah. I like that.

Anyway, she's kinda the inspiration. I've got several things on my mind. None would fit for one 'structured' blog, and probably would be quite boring. But this way, I can run through a few thoughts. Hope I don't lose anyone.

Okay, I'ma start with the not-so-serious-but-ever-so-irritating stuff first. Last weekend MTV ran the entire "Star Wars" saga from TPM to ROTJ (that's "The Phantom Menace" and "Return Of The Jedi" for those that don't speak Lucas-ese), and it's got me thinking about the MMO of Star Wars: The Old Republic. I've blogged about it before, I won't bore you with the details again (unless someone specifically asks) but I was on the message boards and saw something that again drives me fucking nuts.

If you hate something, unless it is a bill that you are trying to keep from passing, what the hell is the point of going to that site of the thing you hate to argue with the people who don't agree with you? Hating is really a full-time job for some of you sad-ass individuals. Wouldn't you be better served doing something maybe you like instead of ripping down something someone else likes? Like Rush Limbaugh. I do hate him, but I don't go to his site to talk to people who think he has something worthwhile to say. I stay the kcuf away from them! They suck. But I'm not going to go after them, that's a waste of my time.

Some people are upset that Knights Of the Old Republic 3 isn't being made, and they just can't help but go after people who don't agree with them. Playing video games is not sad. That shit right there? THAT'S sad. Trying to have these pseudo-debates about how something that looks really good can only "suck" immediately identifies you as a resident of Haterville in Hate-topia. Even if SW:TOR only steals from SonyOnline's Galaxies and gives us thousands of Jedi, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? Anyway, that's not even really the point. If you don't agree, go and create a site where people like you can co-mingle and interact and share... positively. Stop making Hater-Cakes In your Easy-Hate Oven.

So this week I am writing to one of my homeboys on lockdown. This guy is an amazing talent, one of the best producers in my city, in my opinion, and he made a mistake. Yeah, I know, everybody makes mistakes... but this guy was just not that type. I don't go around flaunting street cred, I don't need to tell y'all what I've done because 1) that's not what real street ninjas do and 2) I don't want nobody testifying against me for a damn thing, but I've known this dude all my life and most of the trouble he got into, *I* was the one that got him into it. But sometimes people who have been around me and my clan when we did dirt think that they can go out and do the same thing, but we had an understanding when we did things together: Loyalty over all, except Honor. If you follow that rule, you can never go wrong. Loyalty means nothing without honor. There's a huge difference between doing wrong and being wrong. I've done much wrong, but I tried to do it for the right reasons. If you saw me beating someone with a baseball bat, it wasn't because he stepped on my shoe. If you saw my nunchakus flying, it wasn't because I was bored and decided to pick on someone helpless. It was because dude tried to rob an old lady in my neighborhood, or some sick bastard tried to lure my sister away from the playground. Police didn't give a shit about me and mine, they'd shoot us just like they'd shoot the actual perpetrator, so we dealt with our own. I'll be honest with you, if I called the police on somebody, I was only building my defense in the event I got caught. I wanted documetation that I was "...doing the right thing." In the event I found myself in the witness box, I wanted to say "Look, I tried to get help from the police.... they took 'x' amount of time to come, and this time, they were too late." See, response times in my hood are probably 10x what they are in your hood, unless they get a chance to shoot at somebody. Then, they are in a hurry.

Geez, this is going all over the place.

Anyway, getting back to my Fam... I'm writing him, because really that's the only thing that makes your time go faster. If you don't do the time, the time will do you. If you know somebody locked up, write 'em a letter. Don't let them feel like they are forgotten and life goes on out here. Yeah, we do have struggles to overcome, but words from home mean a lot. They sometimes can be the difference between someone coming out ready to change and someone coming out bitter and more hateful. Jail is senseless if people can't ever reach contrition. One mistake, we lock you away forever without hope of redemption?

Now don't get me wrong. Some people are just institutionalized, and they need to be in a dark hole somewhere. But no way everybody deserves that.

Well, that was enough randomness. I'm gonna post this for my enjoyment and hopefully someone else's....

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

The Journey Of Hajj

2009-05-19T13:43:00.000-04:00

Today is the birthday of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Detriot Red, Malcom Little... or a name you might know from the Spike Lee Movie or the Autobiography, Malcom X. This man was a very unique, intelligent, powerful, inspirational individual, and everyone should be familiar with who he was for a number of reasons. He shaped race relations in this country for a very long time.

I can't hope to tell the entire story of his life, but he had his story told first in a book, "The Autobiography of Malcom X", then later in film, "X", directed by Spike Lee. The book should be required reading in all schools for young men around the age of 10. I needed this book earlier in my life and I might not have made some choices I later came to regret. I was at the opening night, November 18th, 1992, and I was nervous. I so wanted this movie to not be bad. I thought that there was no way they could go wrong with Denzel... and I was right. I sat and watched the story completely riveted, knowing what was going to occur, giving Spike his latitude as a filmmaker to interpret the vision. It was masterful. When Malcom rallied the brothers to go save a brother Muslim, I think I actually cheered out loud. And when it came time for him to take that fateful trip to the Audobon Ballroom in Harlem, I almost pleaded out loud for him not to go... and when they shot him, I cried. I knew what happened, but I felt like I was there. I knew only too well what they were losing.

I don't want this to be all Doom and gloom, but Malcom journey paralleled my own so much. He actually directly influenced mine. As I read the book and I saw what the Nation Of Islam did for Malcom when he was in prison, I began to wonder how might it help me? I read up, I looked into, I went by the Temple over on 8th Street (next to I-95). I gotta tell you, they were very glad to see me. Made me feel very much at home... I don't want to be immodest, but I think they saw my potential, the fact that I was articulate and handsome, I could convert a lot of people. I thought this was it, but I didn't have the whole story at that point. When the conversation turned to Brother Malcom, one of the brothers said some things that struck me as very negative. I decided that I might have rushed my decision to join and read more into the story of Malcom. I got my answers, and decided that the Nation wasn't going to be the place for me, either.

Malcom X became an Orthodox Muslim and made the Hajj, it's a journey that all Muslims should take at least once in their lifetime to pray in the Holy City of Mecca. There Malcom saw Muslims of all colors calling each other brother and praying with one another. He determined that Islam was the only religion that would allow for the complete elimination of racism. The indoctrination of the Nation Of Islam was so strong that they couldn't believe that whites were allowed into the holy city, they didn't think it possible.

Malcom reversed his position on working with non-Blacks, and it began to set the stage for an event that I think J. Edgar Hoover was simply not going to allow: The union of Malcom X and Martin Luther King. The whole idea of the COINTELPRO program of the FBI was to "identify, surveil, and eliminate any leader(s) that could polarize the Negro Community". I don't think my Caucasian friends can fully appreciate what it means when you think "my government wanted to make sure we stayed down." This is the mythical "Man", J. Edgar Hoover, doing surveilance on the Black Panther Party, Stokeley Carmichael and the SNCC, Martin Luther King, and Malcom X. I hold the FBI responsible for Malcom's death. There is no (direct) proof that they killed him, but there is evidence provided by them that they knew of the death threats against him, and either they assisted or stood by and allowed it to happen. The scene in the movie where Malcom freed the brother brutalized by the police was a metaphor for the fear many felt about Malcom. Captain Green, the police officer said: "That's too much power for one man to have." He didn't think like King, and truthfully neither could or would I. I wasn't raised that way. I couldn't afford to.

I'm pointing out the truth about Malcom and the impressions of Black people when it comes to "The Man". Sometimes the Man is just a metaphor, but sometimes the man is very literal. "The Man" had a name in this case. This was a government entity that worked from a position of power to hold down a specific group of people for their own personal 'shortcomings' (Hoover was secretly gay and liked to dress as a woman), he was driven to oppress an entire group of people. My own interpretation of other events lead me to believe that Hoover may have been instrumental in most of the major assassinations of the 60's. Both Kennedys (John and Robert), King, and El Shabazz.

I have another blog I want to do today because someone is playing the Race Card and I think it's very trife and unfair that they are, but I didn't want to have that be my first blog on El Hajj's Birthday. So I'll wrap this up here and say Thank you El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, because you lived I am the Man I am today, I wonder what I might have become had you lived and I could have worked at your side? Because the person that you were, I don't think I could have resisted going to work beside you, because your mission is still my mission, and while you worked within your religion, I work within my culture of HipHop. A culture that was built on the Spirit of individuals like you.

I Am Malcom X.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Ice Cream, Sex, and "Melting Pots"

2009-05-17T04:44:00.000-04:00

D.S.W.G. [Dark Skinned White Girls] - Murs

(Yeah, I've used this song before on my MySpace blog, but this will be cross-posted on Blogger.com, it's one of my favorites, and it fits the theme again)

Vanilla ice cream is not my favorite. I'll eat it, but it's just not. Chocolate is pretty good, but it can be too much. My favorite flavor has always been Fudge Ripple as a child and as an adult. Something about the stripes side-by-side and the flavors together just worked for me.

Me and a good friend were hanging out last week and came across a book title that instantly intrigued us both, "Why Black Men Love White Women" by Rajen Persaud. It piqued our interests so much so that she balked at the $25.oo hardcover price and bought it (I would have read the whole book in the store, but I read 500wpm and can get away with that). We then swung through Starbucks, grabbed a caramel frap & I read two chapters out loud.

As I stated, I've only read two chapters of the book, but I've juggled the subject in my head ever since because I came across another book while searching to tell someone about the first. The second book is entitled "Why It Ain't All Good: Why Black Men Should Not Date White Women" by John Johnson. I only read an excerpt from it, but from the outset Johnson steps into the turbulent waters of Sex and Slavery.

Nothing leaves me more incensed than to hear young, stupid (yeah, I said it) white kids say "Slavery was so long ago, we need to forget it." When they say that, I say "When Jewish people forget the Holocaust, I'll forget slavery." The slightly smarter ones stop at that point. The really stupid ones keep going. Now, I'm not walking around with a Nat Turner I-Just-Saw-Roots hard-on ready to lay waste to anything W.A.S.P-y, I'm saying we need to keep it in historical context. Forgetting about it means to misunderstand the dynamics of interracial relationships as they exist right now.

See, even though we rarely see Black women and White men together, it does happen, and actually I will go on record and say that historically there have been more White men/Black woman unions than Black men/White woman unions. Before you trip, think long and hard about how long this has all been going on. For 400 years in this country, Black women had no choice but to do whatever their slavemasters told them. Some statistics show that back then, all Black girls by the age of 14 had at least 1 sexual encounter with a White male. As recently as 60 years ago, a young Black male around the same age by the name of Emmett Till was murdered for just allegedly whistling at a White female store clerk. Every Black NFL, MLB and NBA player in the US would have to screw night and day for 100 years to catch up. We'd have to throw in the European footballers for good measure.

The subject has always plagued/intrigued me because of my own history. When I entered elementary school, Duval County was just beginning to bus students from Black neighborhoods into White ones in order to comply with Brown v. Board of Education. I remember vaguely my grandmother and mother conversing about me and my younger brother going to school with White kids, I heard the concern in their voices. The first crush I had on a non-Black girl was in the 1st Grade. The girl that I liked was the only girl in my reading group, my only intellectual equal in my class. This is they dynamic I was speaking of. In the Black community (due in part to Willie Lynch-ism) we have the stigma of Intelligence = white. It's 'cool' to be stupid, and 'square' to be smart. To speak intelligently was to speak "White", so I was a nerd. Now, growing up in Grand Park and New Town (aka Pakistan), I was in the truest hood in Duval, so later I became what I like to call "The World's Most Dangerous Nerd", but this was how I was viewed by the Black women. I was a nerd, and therefore unattractive to many of my own race.

I would be remiss to say that this didn't affect my choices in woman at all, but I have always been open-minded in my choices of relationships. Although one can look and say "You only date White girls", the existence of my oldest son (who is Black) totally discounts that sweeping allegation. My criteria has always been to date those that appeal to me on multiple levels: physical, mental, and spiritual. There was only one period of my life where I was exclusionary, from the time I was 18 until 20 when I dated exclusively Black (I briefly considered joining the Nation Of Islam). After that I came to the realization that all women were crazy, and cutting out one race over another was only going to limit my possibilities. (I'm not saying I was right, I'm saying this was my rationalization...)

I may have spoken on this in some of my previous blogs, but my first encounter with the Black female over my dating choices occurred in the 8th or 9th Grade. Around that time I was competing in taekwondo tournaments, helping one of my good friends practice for the wrestling team, and sparring with another friend who was boxing. In other words, the brother was in shape. Good shape. I remember sitting in class and three sistas were together whispering and one was giving me the stink-eye. I asked her "What the f*ck is your problem?" She looked at me, rolled her eyes and said "You date White girls."

Since I haven't read both books in their entirety I can't speak on all parts of their premise, but one thing I did notice in what I did read was the overwhelming negativity associated with the reasons for interracial dating. In "Why Black Men Date White Women", the author talks about the desire of some Black men to make "pretty babies" and provide an opportunity for their child to not endure the same prejudice they encountered. I think this is the entire premise for the 2nd book in reasoning that Black Men should not date White women at all, that it somehow 'disrespects' Black women. I personally find that whole idea to be a big steaming pile of bullshit.

The whole identity of the Black Family in the United States has been fractured and dysfunctional at best, and while we have endured and some even prospered, it's a history fraught with rape, murder, humiliation, incarceration, and dehumanization. As previously stated, any Black or White person who tries to use the Illusion of "racial purity" is most certainly delusional. The Institution of Slavery changed all that. I am a proud Black man who celebrates the genius of W.E.B. DuBois, the oratorical prowess of Malcom X, and the courage of Harriet Tubman and Mary McCloud-Bethune. I know my Black History, but I don't believe that somehow all of that will just vanish because I have a child that is mulatto, octoroon, quadroon or whatever useless term you want to label them with. Halle Berry is celebrated/vilified depending on who you are talking to, but her mother is an idol of mine. When Halle was faced with the dual racism of being of mixed heritage, she asked her mother "What am I?" Her mother told her "You are a Black girl with a White Mother." This was an oversimplification, but it provided Halle with the tools she would need to succeed. When children of mixed heritage face the world, it's better for them to view themselves as Black to prepare them for the eventual racism they will face. To not do so is to line them up to be knocked on their ass.

The woman I've (very happily) committed the rest of my life to is not only White, she's British, and actually has a very strong opinion on racism (hates it like Luda hates O'Reilly). I celebrate our differences, but our differences are not as much racial as cultural (American vs British) and we celebrate those differences. It provides the most balanced relationship I've ever had. The part of my relationship I enjoy most is my relationship with my (future) mother-in-law. She loves me, and I love her back. She knows that I want nothing more than to make her daughter the happiest she can be, and doesn't care about my color, only about how I treat her daughter. There was nothing I hated more back in the day than meeting the family of the women I was involved with. It was a game of "Find the Racist", because there would invariably be one. My ex-wife's family threw her out when she got pregnant, actually tried to talk her into abortion (and ironically I had to go to my son's confirmation with them... what makes a Catholic family reconsider abortion? Their daughter pregnant with a Black man's child), and her father told her "I'd rather you marry a poor white man than a rich Black one." Good times, I tell you, good times.

I'm anxiously waiting for my friend to finish the book so I can write more about it, because it's something that's not going to go away. I hope that one day it is much like Hillary Clinton said about her run for President, that it will be quite unremarkable. The one hope for the future that I have is that most of the hardcore Racists are dying out, and the people who want to live together will not have to deal with their toxic and divisive perspectives. Keep dying, you sorry sons-of-bitches, keep dying... and whomever you choose to love, just love them with everything you have and celebrate the differences between.

So anybody willing to share their own experiences with interracial dating, please feel free to comment. Do you think there's a 'reason' for you dating the person (or persons, LOL) you are dating? Have you ever considered it? Why, or why not? What myths have you heard, or maybe you have a question? Feel free to comment (and if you're reading this on my MySpace Page) and kudos, while not required (yes, IkeDiggety, you no-kudo-giving-dude you) they are appreciated.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

EFM and Religion 101: A Guide For The Uninitiated

2009-05-13T13:20:00.000-04:00

Well, as desperately broke as I am right now, you wouldn't think that I would be glad to "lose" money, but I'm in a situation where I'm rather glad to get something out of the way that's been bothering me. Lately, it seems like a lot is irritating me. I guess I'm just frustrated. But lets get to the point:

Okay, for those that don't know me, I have a best friend who is Christian. I don't really have a religious denomination, because I personally think that organized religion is nothing more than a tool by which people divide people, but we'll come back to that later. Anyway, Ill is a great friend, he's been pushing my beats to some other inspirational rappers and they wanted to purchase some beats from me. All good, I can deal with it. I've heard some of the guys, and they can use the help. Christian Rap usually sucks, to be honest. I've heard a few guys who are very good, but the majority suck. The problem being that the focus isn't on the music, it's on the message. So since Ill thinks I'm better-than-average producer, he wanted to hook them up with some of my beats.

So I email him the beats, they check them out, they like them. They Google me, and my MySpace page comes up. Well, that was the end of that. They read my last post and say "Oh, we can't work with him, he uses profanity." Now according to Ill, they weren't rude about it, they even complimented my writing ability, but they felt like if they use my beats and some young fan Googles me the way they did, it could send the wrong message. Okay, I can dig it. But it irritates me just the same for a number of reasons.

This might sound strange coming from me because I just told you my best friend is a Christian (my best friend is also registered Republican): Generally, Christians get on my last fucking nerve.

I am no Christian, but I try to live my life like Christ. He did what he did to help, he did not judge, he loved all unconditionally. Actually, Jesus was a revolutionary. If he were around today, he'd be hanging with me and my people, not the sanctimonious pricks you find in churches. Having grown up in the South, I have had all I can stand of the Bible-Thumpers who look down on me one second, then I catch them in the strip club later. I'm speaking literally, not figuratively.

Religion is the shield everyone is quick to jump behind to show how contrite they are (unless you're in Hollywood or politics, then it's rehab), and I just believe that's the biggest bunch of bullshit ever. One of my exes did the exact same thing when we broke up to show just how much better her life was when we split, she went running to the church and even drug me along to a few sermons when we were trying to get back together. But not once during this 'church' thing did she stop having premarital sex. I bet she's going to church right now while still fornicating all over the place. I'm not trying to single out my ex, she was just the perfect example of the open hypocrisy of the (people of the) Church.

I have some historical issues with the church, especially in the South. Black people here in the South love them some church. When I was a kid, I was in church every Sunday I was at my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother's house. Oh, how I hated it. I think that's why I hate suits now. Bright and early Sunday morning, we were dragged from bed and forced into church. Sometimes you could work out a deal and go to Sunday school and skip church, but if it was First Sunday, all bets were off. You were going to be in church until damn near 2pm. We're talking anywhere from 3-4 hours. That... sucked. Sitting there in a hot ass church, in a suit, for hours, listening to some blowhard who just doesn't seem to know when to just shut... the... fuck... up. When I turned 12 my mom decided that it was my choice whether I went to church, and I went to my Boy Scout activities there, but I was out of that other shit, full stop.

But that's just my personal history. Speaking on American history, I don't know why Black people love the church so much when the church was very much instrumental in our servitude here. Africans didn't practice Christianity, and in the beginning, neither did the slaves. We were property. The mentality of the whites at that time was "You wouldn't bring your cow to church, why bring a slave?" We were property and were not worthy of their religion. It wasn't until William Lynch wrote his letter to the Southern SlaveMasters that they began to realize and exploit the benefits of indoctrination and assimilation. If you teach a slave to be a 'good Christian', then he would tell on the other slaves for stealing food, because everybody knows stealing is wrong. Slaves were not permitted to gather en masse for fear of them organizing against their masters, but church was the only exception. So Blacks in the South devoted themselves to it, it was the only way we could have 'community', was in communion.

Religion was the dividing line between Malcom and Martin. Martin Luther King wanted peaceful protest. Malcom X was not so accomodating. I fell closer to Malcom, I ain't with that 'turn the other cheek' shit too much. I turn a cheek once. Once you slap the other one, what am I supposed to do? The people of the Church were complacent for too long, in my opinion. I almost joined the Nation Of Islam because of my feelings towards the Christian Baptist Church, but I couldn't swallow some of their more-controversial beliefs (All whites being devils and all Blacks being good was a little too much for me. During that time I had Caucasians that I called Brothers and Negroes I was literally trying to kill, I mean shooting at them when I saw them). But anyone that studies history knows that first the soldiers come in, then the missionaries come next, because once the body is enslaved, you just have to put a lock on the mind and you got them.

Going back to being a kid in church, they made a fatal mistake with me that I hold onto to this day. Right around the time I was 10, somebody approached me and wanted to 'save' me. He sat down with me and talked about Jesus, and God, and how he loved me and died for my sins, and he asked me if I read the Bible (which I had, I loved reading bible stories as a kid) but I asked him about two thing that utterly fascinated me in the 5th grade... dinosaurs and UFOs. I couldn't understand why they weren't in the Bible?

I can only imagine what must have gone through this man's mind faced with an inquisitive know-it-all kid like myself and being asked a question that continues to stump the religious, but he tried to resort to a "You-just-have-to-believe" explanation. That officially let me know that these people in this whole Church thing are the biggest bunch of idiots ever if they thought they were going to tell me to ignore something I can see with my own eyes for something you're telling me. I've grown older and done investigation of my own, considering information from different sources, and I still don't have a definitive answer for those questions, but I know that I still believe that UFOs exist, that this universe is way too fucking big for our planet to be the only one with life on it, and I see fossils all the damn time and they are a new kind of stupid if I'm going to forget that.

Russell Simmons is one of my rabbis. If you read his book "Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success", he defines a rabbi as a spiritual advisor, someone who helps you in your path to enlightenment. If Uncle Rush does it or says it, I'm down with it. One of his quotes from the book is "I'm more concerned with cursed actions than curse words." I can care less about the fact that someone might use profanity if his actions demonstrate that he is a person who is concerned about the welfare of others. Obviously I can speak without using profanity if I so choose, but that's my choice. If you can't deal with me for that fact alone, then speed on before you get peed on. Less and less people define themselves as 'religious' in the United States, and I see that trend continuing. I could do a whole 'nother blog on the subject of gay marriage. I'm sorry that I won't be getting that money because I could really use it right now, but I respect their principles and I hope they find someone who fits their image better. If this makes me undesirable, I'd rather be hated for what I am than liked for something I'm not.

In other words, please feel free to suck dick through a fucking straw.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Let's Hear It For Little Miss Dumbass, Bristol!

2009-05-08T03:50:00.001-04:00

Okay, during the election it truly killed me when the Republicants cried about Sarah Palin's family being 'off-limits', and the now-POTUS avoided the potential backlash by wisely declaring the same thing, but since it's pretty obvious her Mom is dead-set on political maneuvering in some hubris-fueled aspiration at running against Obama in 2012, she's now 18 and legally (but certainly not mentally) an adult, I feel I would be remiss to not say something about her recent 'new job' and 180 on the subject of abstinance.

For those of you that might have missed it, Mommy's Little Empire-Killer and Evil Baby-Mama is now the spokesperson for an Abstinance Campaign in New York. How the hell does this work? Anyway, I mentioned before that during the election that kid Levi Johnson, the baby-daddy, was the world's most high-profile political prisoner. Only the most stupid were surprised when they split after the GOP got their balls snipped and Ziplocked in the election, and now they are battling it out on the talk show circuit (I thought my breakups were nasty). LJ is still KIR and saying "Abstinance alone does not work..." but Bristol Palin aka Yukon Brittney is going on The Today Show and sounding a lot like her mother in the Katie Couric interview. I really am starting to wish that Sarah and her Husband got their wish of Alaska seccession, or we could put a wall around Alaska until they aren't in power anymore... or just give it to Canada and make it their problem.

Every day since November the Republicant party (yeah, I call them Republi-can'ts. Because they can't do shit other than criticize and cock-block, they are not useful for anything other than messing shit up) has sunk further and further. I laughed when they picked Sarah Palin (just so damn transparent, John McCain, You Mavericky-Maverick Sellout-Dude), I laughed when they lost, and I'm still laughing that they are letting Rush Limbaugh (the pill-poppin' drug-addicted hypocrite) speak as the face of the party, they put a token negro in charge (he's Obama-Lite, but without the annoying Liberal shit... okay, he's Obama-Right) in Michael Steele, then emasculated him (yeah, that whole "Fear Of A Black Penis" thing again), and the whole idea of abstinance-only programs are absolutely the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Kids nowadays don't think that oral sex 'counts' as having sex, we have the HPV virus that can lead to cancer, and these complete asshats from the Bush Era are denying federal funding to any state that teaches any sort of responsible sexual behavior. I think that's why I'm so vehemetly opposed to Conservatives. Don't get me wrong, I know that Democrats are not squeaky-clean, but they just aren't nearly as blatantly moronic, religiously ignorant, and willfully nonsensical as the Republicans choose to be. As soon as someone says "Republican", I think "hubris" or "ostentatious". I think 8 years of watching Rome burn and President Hee-Haw playing the fiddle all the way back to Texas. They make me retch. And now, we have Ms. Ready-for-Reality-TV telling kids "Don't Do What I Did, Cuz You're Smarter Than Me." No, Bristol. They aren't. They are teenagers. They come pre-loaded with brain damage, enough to take them right through college. They will not listen when we say "Don't have sex." Just like your stupid ass.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

And the Whole (Cyber)World Goes Crazy

2009-04-22T14:12:00.000-04:00

So I've been getting information on Twitter and from other blog sites that Tom is about to be fired, along with the core exectutives of MySpace. I personally am surprised that this isn't generating more speculation: What is going to happen to MySpace?

Many of us have had issues with some of the decisions made by MySpace on things large and small, but what does this mean for MySpace as a whole? When the deal was made with NewsCorp to sell MySpace, it was met with suspicion (at least on my part, Rupert Murdoch is an idiot businessman, in my opinion. Being taken by Madoff is just one example of his zealotry-to-stupidity ratio), but what happens now that the men who created the product are no longer in control of the product? I think they may have been the final line of defense against the meddling hands of NewsCorp.

But then, I don't want to rail against the guard if they are stepping in to 'save' what remains of their investment. It's just hard to believe that they wouldn't take an opportunity to put someone in charge that will be more receptive to their point of view, which might not be in the best interests of the service itself.

One of the things I think that's been sorely overlooked is the introduction of MySpace Music outside of the US. When they implemented the ban on Playlist.com on MySpace and made the changes to MySpace Music, they left all users abroad (especially the UK) out in the cold. The selling point/original growth of MySpace was the way in which artists have been able to cultivate their digital tribes. Individually, most of my goals musically extend outside of the US via SonicBids and CDBaby. Will the dismissal of Tom and Chris mean that this will be addressed, or will everything grind to a screeching halt?

Whether positive or negative, there will undoubtedly be some very significant changes to come down the line. I will continue to watch this story... but on to more insanity.

One of my journalistic idols, Davey D, posted to his blog Funkmaster Flex is apparently embroiled in a beef with someone at Interscope Records. He has stated that he will not play any Interscope artists on his show. This means no 50 Cent, no Eminem, Akon, Dr. Dre, just to name a few. This is a pretty big beef, one of the most well-known DJs on the planet going on-air against one of the most popular record labels. How will this play out? A fight of this magnitude within the industry is... well, industry-shaking. Will Hot97 back up Flex? How will the City Of New York feel about it? And how will the executives at Interscope view this? Will they go after "Nino", the person who seems to be the focus of Flex's ire?

There's some shifting tides in music on a few different levels. MySpace and Funkmaster Flex have left imprints on both, and I will be watching intently to stay ahead of the wave...

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tangomega

Monday Night Heroes Blog: To You Hatin' Ass Haters...

2009-04-14T00:57:00.000-04:00

Okay, this will be a Heroes blog that will be spoiler-free. I want to talk about hating.

So technically, this is a rant. I'm okay with that. I haven't ranted for awhile. Let's see if I'm still any good at it...

There's just SOME shit that works my LAST FUCKING NERVE.

Okay, I like to Tweet during Heroes commercials. It's something I've started doing since my girlfriend Lacii got in her car accident. Being serious for a second, that kinda took the wind out of my sails. Whenever I think about writing my Heroes blog, I thought about that day, and I couldn't bring myself to write it. But I hated not saying anything about my favorite show EVER, so I decided to Tweet during the commercials.

So, if you use Tweetdeck, you can have a search column, and I search out all the tweets relating to “Heroes” so I can discuss the show with people that like the show like me.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a blind rabid fanboy. It's ok if you're a former fan and maybe you don't like the direction. It's kewl. You are entitled to your opinion. That's just keeping it real...

But you haterz. You motherfucking, wack-ass, no-life, attention-seeking, bottom-feeding, never-do-nothing, down-talking, couch-potato-ass haters trip me the fuck OUT.

I'm not going to mention dude by name, but somebody actually tweeted He's going to watch “the garbage that is Heroes.”

Seriously? Seriously?!

Dead ass, that's hate. You are going on Twitter to do nothing but get a rise out of somebody for hating on something they like.

Guess what? It worked. You got me. I gotta speak on it.

I hate creamed corn. Can't stand the shit. Looks like and has the consistency of vomit. What the FUCK would I look like sitting in Cracker Barrel over a bowl of that infant vomit saying “DAMN, I HATE THIS SHIT. THIS IS SOME NASTY SHIT. WHO COOKED THIS SHIT? IT'S LIKE THEY SPOONED IT OUT OF A GOAT'S ASS AND MICROWAVED IT. MMM, THIS IS SOME NASTY SHIT!”

What would I look like? I would look just like that hating ass nut-hugger who decided to Tweet that he was actually sitting down to watch something he hates. But really, don't that make you look like a fucking nimrod to watch something you hate?

I hate Fox News. I do. I deleted the channel from the autoprogram. I don't want to hear anything anyone associated with that channel has to say.

You will NOT SEE me Tweeting about watching Bill O'Reilly and how much I hate him. I'd just say “I hate him.” Not “I hate him but I can't stop watching!”

But with all that said, I'm really not that mad. I am a staunch supporter of the 1st Amendment, and I will fight for your right to say all the dumb shit you say, because it gives me the right to say stuff like this about your helmet-wearing short-bus-chasing ass. If there was anything authentic in you, you'd just stop watching, much like I am about Smallville. I can still talk about the show and criticize it as a fan who's unhappy with the direction, but I'm not 'hating' on it. After this season, though, I might be done.

So I guess “Heroes” is so popular, it's gotta be attacked by the counter-culture. So whatever to you hating-ass harpies, you're still talking about it, you're helping us to top the trends and you're making people ask “well, why do you hate it?” Some of those people come check it out and find out you all are just fucking full of shit.

Just like my man Katt Williams said, Haters don't hate us, they just hate GOOD SHIT. Cuz at some point they were hopeful, and now they ain't, so they just hate.

If the show sucks, just stop fucking watching it, dumbass. You're helping it to stay on the air, you Hating-Ass-Haters.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

That Bitch Bo$$ =)

2009-03-16T16:39:00.000-04:00

This is a post from my MySpace Blog... today Boss was kind enough to hit me up and asked if she could check it out, so I reposted it on MySpace and Decided it should probably come over to my Grown-Up Blogger Page. So here it is, enjoy the video! It's one of my all-time favorites.

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Lately, I've been in a Boss Bitch mood.... what does that mean? Well, Boss was the first female rapper I heard that I wanted to BE like, not just be WITH.. Most people don't even know who Boss was, and that's a fucking shame, because before Boss, nobody was taking chicks seriously in the hardcore game. Boss was required listening for me every morning when I was a teen. I mean, Boss was talking MY shit. My favorite song on her album was "I Don't Give A Fuck". She even had an answering machine message on her album that I put on my answering machine... man, you should have heard the message I got from my Grandmother. It was almost as funny as the one Boss has of her mother on her album. Her single was "Deeper", produced by Def Jeff (the guy who's responsible for 'Hip Hop Harry', howz that for irony?).... y'all take a listen to what quality sounds like. This song stands up to anything that's out right now.

Did you listen to it? Deep, huh? I'm sorry to say that Def Jam didn't do a second album with Boss, and I think that's their loss. For those who know classic shit, they always say "Damn, wouldn't it be tight if Boss and Dre did an album together?" As a matter of fact, I've heard that Dr. Dre was actually looking for Boss. Well, I found her here on MySpace, and y'all should be making friends with Boss The Original

This woman was waaaaay ahead of her time, and I don't think anybody back then knew what to do with her. I saw and heard her as a major influence for me. If I had her CD right now, I'd have the whole thing on repeat and be playing the shit out of it to remember what it sounds like when a real artist puts it down. The irony is a lot of people came out of the woodwork and claimed that Boss was a 'studio gangster', when the truth is she lived in harm's way for a very long time just for the love of the music and for survival. That's why I really dug Boss' shit. I guess it's one of those things where I knew that was bullshit, but once rumors get started, haterz keep 'em moving.

Boss... if you're working on a comeback, I'm ready for ya... lets do this.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega

Chris Brown and the Contrition Mission

2009-03-11T05:51:00.000-04:00

I've only recently started doing a lot of blogging outside of my MySpace Page. I've developed some good relationships there and my traffic is very steady (avg. 500 views a week, for a semi-modest guy such as myself), but some of the limitations and the problems with the interface have prompted my gravitation to Blogger.com. I don't get as personal here as I do on my MySpace, that's a different tone.

Recently, I did a very personal blog about a former friend in relation to a statement he made. He basically called me a woman-beater, which was technically true. Let me explain... this person was a very close personal friend of mine who slept with my ex-girlfriend. During the course of my on-again-off-again relationship with my ex, we had an 'off' due to a physical confrontation between us. We had a heated exchange, and I tried to leave via the front door, but she blocked my path. I retreated to a bathroom and locked the door, but she kicked the door in and got right up in my face. I reacted, slamming her against the door much harder than I wanted to... I was horrified that I allowed myself to get that angry, and I vowed that I'd never put my hands on another woman I professed to love. Anyway, this is the girl he slept with, and his insult was meant to paint me in a negative light to justify the fact that he betrayed a good friend, his wife, and his 3 kids. Anyway, that's not my point.

MTV Shows

Much has been said and is being said about domestic violence in this country right now due to the Chris Brown/Rihanna situation. I have refrained from blogging about it because it's so emotionally charged, but now I feel like I should say something because I can understand both positions. I know domestic violence all-too-well, I have been literally fighting against it all my life, since I was 10 years old and chased my step-father beside my mother almost 3 miles with a leg from an end-table. Straight up, my Mom didn't play that shit. You hit, you get hit back. You don't want to get hit? As my Mom would say “Keep ya' hands off people churrin...” (that's “children” for those who don't speak Floridian) And everyone is someone's 'child'. The only people you're allowed to hit, are your children. (If you aren't taking advantage of this, you must be some sort of genius, or some sort of fool. Time will determine...)

So this is my opinion, for what it's worth, but Chris Brown is in a very scary position. Many people want to give him the same benefit of doubt that the justice system is supposed to provide, but that's totally up to the observer. The court of public opinion is a very fickle beast. He will have his day in court, but the public will make up their minds long before that jury ever does. I just don't know how intelligently he's handled things to this point, and I wonder what he can do to abate the hemorrhaging of his career.

R. Kelly managed to survive his very public debacle for two reasons: 1) The girl in his incident was not another celebrity, just an anonymous face and 2) his fan base is much, much older than that of Chris Brown. Robert Kelly was Mr-12-Play. Chris Brown is Double-Mint-Singing-Nickelodeon-Good-Dude. Kids would have committed murder for him. Parents are not going to soon forget this.

So for him, 'handling' this is of a priority...but to me, that's exactly the problem. They have made it very clear that this is what they need to do, the 'They' being Chris Brown's handlers, whomever that might be. And the public usually takes issue with attempts at being 'handled'.

Like I said, when I did what I did, I was horrified. I truly felt bad. I still feel bad. But I learned from the situation and I am determined to never repeat it again. So much so that I myself will dial 911 if I am ever threatened by a woman, and I'll let her get her ass locked the kcuf up, not me. I'll come bail you out, baby. I might even ask the State Attorney to drop the charges. Once. That next time? Ya' ass is talking to the judge. Period. Don't touch me, and I won't touch you.

Chris Brown is just not looking contrite. Some might say “He ain't gotta put on a show for people.” Uh, actually, yes... he does. He needs to. Bad. But the trick is, this speaking-through-your-people-to-say-the-right-thing, is abso-fucking-lute-ly the Big Fat Fail-Whale. People need to hear the words coming out of your mouth and they need to (more importantly) feel where you are speaking from.

Speaking from my life-experience, I am almost certain this will happen again. Nothing I'm seeing from Chris tells me otherwise. He's more worried about what everybody “thinks” rather than seeking any sort of redemption. I think it bothers him that people are having the same conversation about him that he and his sister had with his mother about his step-father.

Most of the professionals who are offering advice to Rihanna are saying “Dip”. Oprah, a woman who has extensive knowledge on the subject, said that he will do it again. Oprah's friend Dr. Michelle says Rihanna needs a little break from relationships. When it comes to this kind of problem, I want everybody to be wrong if it means avoiding another Nicole Brown-Simpson. I hope CB proves to be really amazing, I really do. Beat the odds. Like Poker. Because I think that the idea of 'drawing dead' is a terrible turn of a phrase.

So that's my piece of peace. After 48 hours of “Age Of Conan”, I'm kinda beat. Until next time.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Are you following me on Twitter?

Love It, Hate It, But Tweet It They Shall....

2009-03-07T03:32:00.000-05:00

So I made my “first” YouTube video this week, and I gotta say, I kind of enjoy the interaction of the video-blog. I am conscious of the time factor, I am a blabbermouth, if you let me get going on a rant, I can run way too long, I have to keep in mind the appetite of the Web user. Here in Web 2.0 we prefer our meals byte-sized (forgive the pun) and I don't want to start preaching a sermon. Although that's kind of what video-blogging most reminds me of. We have our pulpit, preaching our gospel as we see it. One of the things that's become very apparent to me is straight from the Book of (Malcolm) Gladwell.

I'm in a sharing mood, so I'm going to go into a little of my personal and technical history. I once worked for America Online here in Jacksonville, I came in when they opened their very first facility in Florida in the tech support department (1997). This was the early days of the Net, when “www” was just getting started, and AOL was all the rage because we basically held your hand and took you out into the Big Bad World. The fastest connection was still analog and it was 28.8 baud. Yeah, my geek genes go DEEP. Anyway, I was there for 11 months when they changed our bonus structure and basically made the job comparable to working for a fast-food salary... If I could have stayed there for two more months, I would have been there when the stock split, and everybody that was in my training class that was still around is basically a millionaire now. I had a wife and kid to feed, so I had to go for the immediate. Kinda sad.

When I worked there, it was unlike any place you could imagine. Much of what Google does now is based on AOL work environment, in my opinion. We partied like nobody's business, and we knew at the time we were a part of something unique. Sure, it came and went, but there was a moment where if you were there, you came out of the situation with much more than you ever thought you would or could.

I bet when Mark Zuckerberg or Tom Anderson got things going, they had that moment where they knew “We got a big one here.” Everybody kinda looked around and said “Whoa, we knew it was a good idea, but never thought it would be THIS big.” Every so often Fate lets you peek behind the curtain and you can catch a glimpse of what might be. The good thing about that kind of energy is it takes a certain group of individuals (the Mavens of Gladwell's “Tipping Point”) who moves things to the place they need to be to make their 'tip', and one person's success is tied to the work of many individuals, cogs in the system. I remember Christina Dolce aka ForbiddenXO when her friend list was 145,000 and she actually responded to your comments personally. I think she owes her success to the early adoption on her part of MySpace, but MySpace also benefitted from her and all the other EyeCandy wanna-bes who attempted to duplicate Christina's success (including Tila Tequila).

In the interest of personal education (specifically, reading Fast Company) I came across Scobelizer, which brought me to Guy Kawasaki, which drew me to Twitter. I am getting a very good feeling about Twitter and what the future could hold for it. There's just too much press on Twitter right now for it not to be successful. Whether it stays successful is based on the vision of the people in the company itself. If they can walk the line between staying true to themselves while being mindful of the people that got them to where they are, the loyalty of those within will remain and success can result. But if you aren't looking at Twitter and seeing how it's going to seriously grow in the next 2 years, you are simply far-too-jaded an individual. The ways in which Twitter can be utilized are myriad. MC Hammer has managed to revitalize interest in him, and believe me, I didn't think that was possible. CNN was one of the first organizations to use Twitter as a way to interact with their viewers in real-time. Organizations like The H2HProject are using Twitter to help get clean drinking water to villages in Africa.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love The Matrix Trilogy. There are some fantastic life lessons in there (but all movie geeks already knew all life's greatest mysteries are answered in the movies), but one that I find myself constantly referring to is the conversation in “Revolutions” where Oracle is in the kitchen trying to explain the Architect to Neo. She is explaining that none of us can see beyond a choice or decision that we do not understand, and that the Architect can't see beyond any choice because all things to him are equations to be balanced and quantified. Not everything can be weighed on a scale, but that makes it no less tangible. It might take a different instrument to measure the change. While there are those with pseudo-intellectual editorials on how we are “Twittering our lives away”, but I take those who can look at Twitter and miss it's potential as probably being unable to look within themselves and see how it could work for them, and generally pragmatic more than visionary. And there's nothing wrong with pragmatism, as long as you know that's what it is.

By checking my stats on Twitterholic, I've found that I'm the Number 1 Tweeter for my City. Wow. I've never been #1 anything on the Web that I know of, and pardon me for celebrating that fact for awhile. Some of the Tweeters who have followers in the thousands have been really encouraging to me, and many of their tweets have given me much insight into how this whole tweet-web works. I'm like a digital spider, crawling back and forth making the connections. Anyone that comes on behind me, give them all the knowledge I have and help them connect. To those who came before me, listen, pay attention, find a way to enrich their network, draw attention through sincerity. Don't worry about the Follower Count as much as how valuable are you to the followers you already have. I'm a small fish in the Twitter Ocean, but I'm the only fish on my reef right now. I'll be one sizable apex predator by the time the rest of Duval figures out what this Twitter Thing is. This could make me a hub to the Twitterverse.

So this time I'm not going to be discouraged from being around when everything reaches the Moment of the Jump-Off. I've never surfed, but I do understand the concept. You wait for the wave, turn back towards the beach, you start paddling to get ready and if you stand up at just the right time, you get to ride the wave. Stand up too late, and you'll miss it. Get out in front of it too far and it can come down on you. It's all about your timing. In the social networking world, Twitter is the spaces between the notes, and while they don't make noise, they set the structure for your melody. I know my place, and I understand my instruments. You play your tune... and I'll play mine. If you didn't find me through Twitter, follow me at http://twitter.com/tangomega and if you're on MySpace, hit me up at http://blogs.myspace.com/tangomega

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Glenn Beck and Faux News: FAIL!

2009-03-02T01:09:00.000-05:00

This has been on my mind for awhile now to blog about (since Michael Phelps was vilified), and after watching this, I really feel like the word needs to be spread. I'm a history buff, especially when it comes to history that directly affects me. I am a pot-smoker, and I hate a lot of the propaganda that's out there about marijuana. I especially hate the retarded ads that they run and call an “Anti-Drug Campaign.” Seriously, folks, give me a fucking break.

Okay, I hate Faux News and everything they represent. They are biased, snarky, condescending, patronizing, and sometimes just flat out stupid. They brought Rob Kampia on to try to embarrass him, and they very obviously did NOT have their facts together, as does most opponents of Marijuana Law Reform. It KILLS me how people have no clue about why hemp is illegal. They really don't.

First, marijuana is not illegal because it's “harmful”. If that were an accepted argument, then cigarettes and alcohol would be illegal. That would never happen because the Tobacco Lobbyists are WAY too powerful making a product that we know will kill you. Yes, this is scientifically proven. And it's not the tobacco that kills you, it's everything they add to it that kills you. Alcohol was illegal for awhile (Prohibition) when the government was trying to legislate morality, and that mistake cost them in literal blood and gave rise to organized crime. They finally had to back up off that one. But hemp had a whole different set of problems.

The reason that marijuana is illegal is because a lot of very rich timber barons who had acres and acres of trees did not want the competition that hemp could have brought them. There are probably close to a hundred different products that can be made from hemp, but they had a problem with the fact that the same amount of paper produced with an acre of trees can be produced with 1/6^th of an acre of hemp, and it grows back six times faster. A guy with an acre of hemp would be able to produce over 200 times what they could produce in the same amount of time from an acre of trees. This was something they simply could not let happen back in the day, so they paid lots of money to lobby Congress and produce propaganda films depicting people high on weed committing atrocious crimes, and for the first time in history a plant, something that grows wild if left alone, was labeled illegal. So this has been going now for more than 70 years, and there is not one single shred of evidence to support many of the ridiculous claims they make against hemp.

Hemp has been smoked in China for over 10,000 years. Hemp does not cause cancer. If you are smoking it in a blunt (not a natural leaf), then it's the carcinogens in the paper that are killing you, not the weed. Marijuana is not a 'gateway' drug. That is absolutely ridiculous. Anyone who smokes will tell you, if you smoke enough THC, you won't get as high, right? (Change up your green often to prevent this... invest in some 'dro, you cheap bastards) So is it the weed's fault that it can no longer medicate you against whatever it is you're trying to escape? If you never smoked weed and simply started drinking, you would need a 'gate' to anything else, you'd just be an alcoholic. People take drugs for different reasons, and blaming the weed for not “working” is just asinine. It's just another sound-bite that sounds good when you repeat it.

There are tremendous amounts of money right now being wasted on prosecuting marijuana cases, and some are just downright heinous. Will Foster, a rheumatoid arthritis sufferer and father of two, was sentenced to 93 years in prison for charges relating to the 25-plant medical marijuana garden he grew in a locked room in his basement. Suzanne Pfeil is a paraplegic who suffers from severe pain and muscle spasms linked to post-polio syndrome. On September 5, 2002, more than 20 armed federal agents raided her medical marijuana hospice, holding assault rifles to the heads of patients and their caregivers. When Pfeil was unable to stand, the agents handcuffed her behind her back and left her on the bed for several hours. These are cases of people who have an absolute NEED for marijuana, and we simply don't give enough of a fuck to look at this and say “This is what you call a 'War On Drugs'?”

Florida right now is facing a $200 million dollar shortfall in it's budget. California is even worse. If we could legalize marijuana, tax and regulate it, turn law enforcement on drugs that really are harmful, this whole idea of a financial crisis would have a real chance of turning around a lot quicker. Instead, a Conservative Propaganda Tool like Faux News and a complete nimrod like Glenn Beck would rather be glib about it and turn it into a joke. If we really are serious about making a difference, we need to look at the ways in which we have been doing things and make some adult decisions. I'm sick of the Right constantly standing on the sideline providing nothing in the way of serious discussion and consideration.

The time has come for us to stop talking about what we can do and actually do something. Donations in any amount need to be made to organizations like the Marijuana Policy Project who are working to make reform a reality. At the very least we need to make sure people like Will Foster and Suzanne Pfeil are not treated like criminals and can get access to marijuana to make their lives better. Go to http://www.mpp.org and donate $5, $2, whatever you can afford. Simply put, we need to get our heads out of our asses and make changes. Stop swallowing the bullshit we've been fed for so many years...

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Heroes "Chapter 2, Trust and Blood" Feb 9th 2009

2009-02-10T00:28:00.000-05:00

Heroes 2-09-09

Chapter 2 – Trust and Blood

Once again, we are back. Let me say, I'm very pleased with the progress of last week and this week. The focus is squarely on the main characters and things are going to be predictably chaotic and fun. Let me get on with the recap:

We begin with Hiro on the run from the crash site. He comes across Matt and Mohinder. Matt is in VisionQuest Milky-Eye mode and leads them away from the crash site following Usutu... He finds a trailer nearby and breaks in for writing materials (when he has to draw, he has to draw!) and begins to paint images. One of the more particularly disturbing images was of Daphne being shot (here we go again with “Knock-Off-Tango's-Favorite” again).

Back at the crash site, Peter and Claire are trying to make their own escape and run into HRG. Peter gets away, but Claire gets cut off and brought back to Nate and the control site. Nate is having a problem keeping control over the Hunter, the head of the tactical team. They are trying to round up the escapees and cover the crash of the plane.

Peter and Tracey manage to subdue a couple of soliders (This gets my award for “Best Line Of The Night” Peter: “I'm going back.” Tracey: “Dress up like a guard? Where'd you come up with that plan, watching an old movie?”) and Tracey calls Nate. She offers Peter in exchange for her old life back. She tells Nate where to meet her and sets the double-cross in motion.

When they bring us back to Sylar (have I said I love Bad Sylar? I do love Bad Slyar), he's still busy extracting information from the last agent that attempted to capture him. Sylar's worked him over good. The house where he's torturing him in is supposed to be the house of his father, but a woman and a kid show up. Sylar tells the agent he's going to torture them in front of him if he doesn't tell him what he wants to know. As Sylar is about to turn the screws on the mother, the kid (we find out his name is Luke) makes a hand gesture and Sylar's cup of coffee (he's drinking coffee as he tortures the agent. Don't you just LOVE him?) explodes(?) all over him. Ahhh, the kid has abilities. At that point I figured Sylar was about to fit him for one of his terminal cap-peelings, but instead he starts to talk to him and quizzes him about his ability. The kid sends out microwave bursts. While Sylar and Luke are talking, the agent loosens the screwdrivers stuck through his hands into the chair (uh... ouch!) and makes a move for his weapon. The kid dives between Sylar and the agent and turns the guy into a Patio Burrito straight out of the 7-11. If you ever get bored, take a CD and put it in your microwave for about 15 seconds. This is what happened to this guy's insides.

Claire is still at the command center, and Daphne and Ando have been looking for Matt and Hiro. Daphne and Ando see Claire and Daphne decides to grab her. Nate and the Hunter see her but are powerless to stop her. They send out teams to get her back. Daphne and Claire find Matt and Hiro, but as they find each other, the tactical team finds them. (Excuse me for a minute, but I need to curse F**king Tim Kring, why the f**k you keep killing off my FAVORITE CHARACTERS?! ) Things go south. One agent shoots Daphne, once, twice, three times. Noooooo!!!! Claire shields the rest of the team with her body, Matt loses it and takes control of the agent and makes him shoot his own people. The Hunter takes him out, and the good guys all get away except Claire (geez, she is forever getting caught).

Peter and Tracey make their way to meet Nate, who double-crosses Tracey by bringing the tactical team with him when he said he wouldn't. Peter escapes with an assist from HRG but Tracey is S.O.L. Peter gets back to Mohinder, Matt, Ando, and Hiro and tells them they need to go into hiding and things are about to heat up. They go through the paintings Matt made again and Mohinder recognizes one of the places as a building in India. Hiro says he must go there, and he needs to regain his powers.

Sylar is now done since Luke turned the agent into Pop-Secret and is leaving, and Luke goes after him. Luke wants to go with Sylar, but Sylar is not interested. Luke tells him “But I saved your life, that guy was going to shoot you in the head.” Sylar tells him that they are even because he didn't kill him and “For me, that's sort-of a big deal.” (second-favorite line of the night) He also informs him that since he killed the agent, he killed his only lead to his father. Luke tells him that he knows where he is, and if he takes him along, he'll walk him up his driveway. Sylar knows he's telling the truth, and brings him along. Bad Sylar with a sidekick. I do love this show.

Claire gets shipped back home to Costa Verde, and she's trying to play normal again, but she starts getting mysterious text messages from someone called Rebel. They tell her not to give in, there will be a resistance. Who could this be?

Nate reaches out to Angela for help, he's getting bad press on the agents killing each other and the cover-up. He's worried that Peter is going to come to her for assistance, and he needs her to back him instead of little brother. Angela tells him “You cut me out, you went to the President, you are on your own.” Nate looks worried. He goes in to tell Tracey “I'm doing the right thing, these people need to be controlled.” Tracey is screaming at him as they begin to put the Mind-Jelly machine on her to supress her abilities “You're one of us, Nate. You're one of us...” Nate walks away and they hit us with a big TO BE CONTINUED...

Let me just say, we are two episodes back and I am happy with both. The pacing is back where it needs to be, the action is all over the place, and things are just beginning. I am not 100% sure that Daphne is dead, that really breaks my heart. I just said last week she's one of my favorite characters, then BOOM. Maybe I should start saying that about characters I DON'T like. I can't say there's any that I have any sort of real dislike for, I just wish they'd figure out what they are going to do with Ali Larter's character. It's like they've totally forgotten about Micah and his cousin, I kinda liked the kid. His technology powers had some real kewl possibilities, like the girl Wireless that could text message with thoughts? Communicate 'telepathically' with a computer, so to speak? Okay, some of you are thinking 'laaaame', but in this day and age, if you could 'think' things into computers. Oh, the comments some of you would get. Oh, you wouldn't DARE not leave me a kudo ever again, now would you? Anyway, I like where things are going very much, and I hope these two episodes will get NBC to get up off their asses and renew my show and maybe shut down all the booty-chatter about my show. See you all next week....

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

I Tweet, ThereFore I Am (Twitter)

2009-02-06T22:18:00.000-05:00

@tangomega has been a member of Twitter since 2008-12-12 00:00:00 and has Tweeted 267 times since then. @tangomega follows 178 friends, tweets from Jacksonville. FL (in Time Zone "Eastern Time (US & Canada)") and has a homepage, website or blog at http://www.myspace.com/tangomega
Description: "The Keep-It-Real RedPill Souljah out of Zion."

In December I was watching Scobelizer on Fast Company TV and he did an interview with Guy Kawasaki. I won' t make you click the link to find out who he is, the thing that non-tech people will recognize is that he was one of the people who help bring the Macintosh to the masses back in 1984. He's well-respected and also the author of a few books, like The Art of the Start (2004) which actually got rave reviews from my brother Tza. Those of you that know Tza know he isn't a guy prone to raving. Actually, he's the exact opposite of a 'raver'. So I'm watching this interview, and Guy says something that immediately gets me interested: He would give up his cellphone before he'd give up Twitter. That's an impressive statement in this day and age, a service that someone thinks is more valuable than the devices that most of us are attached to day and night, without fail. Guy described Twitter as a “weapon”. So I decided to sign up and see what the fuss was about.

I have to be honest, I didn't immediately see what the attraction was. Twitter is considered a 'micro-blogging' site. It only allows you to enter 140 characters, or the equivalent of a text message. The reason for this is you can communicate and update your Twitter account through your cellphone or mobile device. Through options on the site, you can follow other people's 'tweets' on your phone if you so desire, and those who have a Blackberry or an iPhone have apps available that make tweeting easy. It was tough to see how this was going to be useful... one of the first problems I encountered was how to find people on Twitter. You can import an addressbook and it will look for your friends on the site, but primarily you have to find others from the 'timeline', which is all the public feeds on Twitter, or browse the followers of your followers

So the first friend I followed was my homie IkeDiggety (who is embroiled in a fight with Verizon because apparently he can't get Twitter to work with it), and then I got Tza to take the plunge. The two of them started kicking it back and forth about Abelton, Cubase, production talk... okay, this is starting off okay. I think I like this.

But I don't want to resort to just stalking my brother and friend, I want to find out who else is out there. I lucked up on Jean Grae, a gifted emcee who I felt like was on the verge is tweeting as she works on her current project, and her tweets are of a more personal but very amusing nature. Through Jean, I really started to make some interesting connections. Wanna know who is stupidly popular on the site? Tweets all the time? None other than the new Cash4Gold spokesman MC Hammer. He was nice enough to use TwitPic to send us live photos inside the stadium of his seats. Hammer apparently ain't doing too bad. Then there's Rhymefest, one of my favorite emcees who's about to drop “El Che”, his 2^nd studio album (he did a free mixtape/tribute album to Michael Jackson called “Man In The Mirror”.. don't laugh, it's genius) and is the host of his own Twitter “Game Show” called VS, which Is just him polling his followers on everything from Best TV Show Theme Song (“Welcome Back Kotter” vs “Good Times”) to historical figures or groups (Black Panther Party vs Nation Of Islam). Rhymefest seems to understand the mechanics of Twitter and moving between MySpace and Twitter is providing him a connection to his current and potential fans. Then there's ?uestlove from The Roots, Xzibit, Talib Kweli, Warren G, and even the Doggfather himself, Snoop Dee Oh Double Jizzle.

I meantion the Hiphop artists first, but I mention them because I want to highlight the contrast to the other things I get out of Twitter. One of my earliest feeds and uses for Twitter was to be a part of CNN's Rick Sanchez's discussion when he's on the air. Then I found Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon. That put me in touch with a very politically-active online community who have really taken this service, this tool, this weapon and used it to their advantage. The most popular Tweeter? Mista Presidential Himself, BHM, Barack Hussein Obama. I'm not going to bother to link it, if you want it, you know where to find it by now. They actually haven't updated it since he got elected. Then there's the tech segment. I found Veronica Belmont on Twitter first, then watched her internet show Teckzilla and was absolutely HOOKED. For anybody who has a technical question about computers, no matter how complicated or simple it might be, this is the girl to ask. Her tweets about Windows 7 running on her Micro1000 are funny. She's a geek through and through, and I mean that as the highest compliment, one geek to another. My Top Friend Homie BloggerGirl eL is also on there, and has been on Twitter for awhile but I think she's like me, she's figuring out where it fits and how best to use it. She's got 3 times the number of followers I have... but I'm not jealous, noooooo... Why am I mentioning it? Cuz I can! Kidding, kidding...

The people who most push Twitter are the social network 'experts'. I put that in quotes because there are some who know, and some who act like they know, but that's with anything. You can stick anything you want in your bio, but when you're making moves, it's obvious... you don't have to tell people. There are some, however, that I have been exposed to in some intimate settings. One of my favorite people is Brother Jawar, who I met and sat in on his panel discussion at the Jax Music Conference. I wasn't the least bit surprised when I found him, because Twitter totally fits into his way of hustling. He's been on Twitter since May of last year and has passed the 1000 mark in followers. That's actually quite impressive, because Twitter is not MySpace. No whoring over there. You gain followers over there with tweets, not tits. MySpace is all about eye-candy. Twitter is.. well, it's hard to say. You really need to work Twitter towards what you are doing. MySpace is a blunt instrument, you can hand it to any idiot and he'd figure out what to do with it. I'd have to consider Twitter a surgical tool. You can kill with it, yes... but a surgeon could take out your heart with it, intact. There's a DJ that I follow on Twitter in NY, he tweeted an opportunity to come out to one of his shows to his followers, and believe me, people were on it. It's an immediate connection to MDAs and desktops all over, and it's not as labor-intensive as MySpace can be. It's not a replacement, though... I look at it as an enhancement. I'm not using it on my phone right now because I'm trying to jump to another service, but when I do, I'm going to make sure I can access Twitter (can you hear me now, Ike? Damn. So guess Verizon is out for now...)... Two more of my favorite tweeters? Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. Seriously. Last week Ashton was talking about the Michael Phelps controversy (blog to come) and came out in defense of him. I thought that was very kewl. Imagine my surprise when Ashton's tweets were suddenly newsworthy?! Demi thinks Twitter is a 'threat' to some news agencies because it cuts out the middleman and is a direct interaction with your fans. As I write this, I think maybe I'm oversimplifying the power of Twitter, because Facebook can let you interact, and so can MySpace, but the Twitter experience is streamlined... minimized. Kinda like some Dre beats. There's only a kick, a snare, a little highhat, bassline and some orchestra stabs, but it's sicker than anything you could come up with if you had 20 instruments... because he understands the spaces between the notes. Twitter doesn't crowd the space between the users. Yeah, all text can get boring, but with TwitPic, you can post pictures to be viewed. You got Friendfeed to route people from Twitter to Facebook or MySpace or YouTube through urls, Twitter is... the space between the notes.

I think I'm going to consider this the first in a series of blogs about Twitter because I'm somewhat working it out myself as to what it could be or is morphing into. It's growing as we speak. There's nothing like it, but there are a number of 'trends' we can look to in the past to see where this is going. I can say that I had a unique SuperBowl experience of watching the game and tweeting with a lot of my friends about things happening, and I had no intention of watching the SuperBowl prior. They made it so fun, and being that the game went back and forth as it did, we got some really entertaining tweets out of each other. I've asked 'Fest questions directly and heard straight back from the horses mouth. I'll pass on any help/guidance that I can offer or get you pointed in the right direction.

In the interest of dramatic irony, as I finish this blog, I find out that Robert Scoble is now following ME on Twitter. How funny is that? The guy who brought me here, is now following me.

I'll start writing up the late passes for those of you still trying to get in front of the Game. Up Ya Game!!!

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

From MLK to Today...

2009-01-20T08:42:00.000-05:00

I have been focused on some personal challenges that very nearly overshadowed the significance of today. Today Barack Obama officially takes his place is the 44th President of the United States. CNN commissioned filmmaker Antoine Fuqua to do a short film called "From MLK to Today" to mark the occasion. Many of the images he chose for the film were from the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the very same images that provided me the inspiration and motivation to get off my ass and register to vote @ 19 years old and to never take for granted my right to do so. I don't know if many in my community even thought much about it before this year. I really did not truly appreciate it until I watched that footage and took it in. I saw young men and women, more kids than anything else huddling together to find some refuge against a water cannon. I saw a man in sheer terror as he was mauled by a Police Dog. I watched a man take a rifle butt to the face and stagger as the blood began to pour over his lip. When I watched this footage, I was ashamed of myself. I knew that as a Black Male, an African-American, I was spitting in their face. They faced dogs, hoses, billy clubs, axe handles, shotguns... put simply, they faced death for nothing more than respect. They wanted the United States to make good on it's promise of All Men Are Created Equal. They stood up and were ready to die for something that many of us wouldn't do if we went to the Supervisor of Elections and the line was too long. They were warriors through and through, battling with nothing more than Faith. Faith that their sacrifice would be worth it. And it was. They went in knowing that they could not fight back. Martin Luther King was inspired by the works of Gandhi, and he knew that peaceful and non-violent defiance would contrast against the wanton brutality of the 'authorities' in those situations. Those images inspired their generation the same way they inspired me. I am grateful for them, for they did what I know I could not do. I admine Martin, but I emulate Malcom (X). They took the beatings so I wouldn't have to... hopefully the law enforcement around the country can get the memo. But their sacrifices were the foundation for what we see today. If they had not made their choices, we would not have the choices we have. We would never had the chance to make history in the way they made history. Their would not have been a choice of Barack Obama.

During the election I didn't think that Obama had a legitimate shot of winning because of the way politics are played in this day and age. Year after year I watched the GOP play the "Scare The White Voters" game they've played for decades (remember Willie Horton?) and I was dubious of McCain's claim to doing the contrary. But after the Democratic Convention, something changed. People began to tune out the negativity and the real message of Obama took root. A message of Hope, an opportunity to embody the True American Spirit. The campaign of John McCain's attempt to co-opt Obama's slogan was the sign of his desperation. His look-out-behind-you-it's-the-Boogeyman tactics wore on the People. He never offered any real hope. Negative incentives can only last so long. The one beacon of all oppressed people is Hope. That's the only way to subjugate a people is to take away their hope, but nothing good ever truly dies, and Hope is always good. Barack's ascension could not have come at a better time. We the People stood up and said "We will look at the content of this man's character and decide if he represents me." We made a statement about who we see when we say "American". We made history. We have taken a step into Destiny by fulfilling a 45-year-Old Dream of A Visionary, a Southern Baptist Preacher and a Prophet, one of the most transitional men of the 20th century, a martyr... A father. We made it real. America is more than a tagline, we are not yet sold to the Corporations. We the People means something, and the man that came along and ran for President of the United States in 2008, Mr. Barack Hussein (that's right... Hussein!!!) Obama, we get him... and he gets us. He wasn't just the right Black man... he was the right Man for the Job. He's a Black President, but he's OUR president. Just like Regan, Bush, Clinton, Bush... but he's making us a part of the process again. And if he fails, it's not just his failure... it's just as much ours. If the United States was a football team, we just got our quarterback. But that's only one position. We're his team. And I don't plan on letting the Man down.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Just a Generally Shitty Day

2009-01-19T23:07:00.000-05:00

In the past few years I've read a number of inspirational books... Malcom Gladwell's "Blink", Tony Robbins' book (a couple of those), Russell Simmons' "Do You", and to be honest I'm just ashamed of myself when I have a bad day. I've taken on a lot of what those guys have to say, and I know that we make concious decisions to have good and bad moods. You can dwell on something, or you can move forward, move on. I take it personal when I let things go for too long, but dammit sometimes there are things that just affect you more than others. I guess that speaks to the investment you have in certain things. When I say things like I just said, I know it's an excuse, and that makes me feel worse. It's the most circular process to be trapped in, and I hate to admit it even more.

Another thing that bothers me is that I hate to give haters the satisfaction of seeing me 'sweat'. Man, there are those out there who just live for you to have a bad day, but damn it I'm just not keeping it real if I don't admit that some days it's hard to keep the smile on your face, especially when something or someone that means everything to you isn't going the way you'd like it to go. But that's Pride, one of my least-favorite Deadly Sins. One of the hardest to beat.

A few years ago I developed a theory: when it comes to the 7 Deadly Sins, if you let any of them infiltrate something you're trying to get done, you will inevitably fail. For those who don't know them, they are Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth (laziness), Envy, Wrath, and Pride. Once upon a time I had a crew of very talented individuals and we made music together. We had a lot of potential, but we were taken down by at least 4 of the 7 deadly sins. Envy, Lust, Wrath, and Pride. The first three were easy enough to identify... Envy (people feeling like other members were getting more 'shine' than them, people looking at other people's mates and wanting what they had), Lust (members who spent more time chasing 'hoes' than making music, and even going to far as to sleep with other group members' women like the Temptations or some shit), Wrath (fistfights... nuff said), but Pride was the worst, because we never saw it as a problem until it turned into one of the other sins. I always thought that Wrath was my problem, but there's no wrath without Pride.

Overall I just generally feel shitty, and I'm just going to say it here. If it gives a hater a moment of celebration, whatever. Sometimes you just fall... but the Good Ones never stay down for long.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega, blogninja

Poker and Politics: The Rise Of Barack Obama?

2008-02-12T14:04:00.000-05:00

This political primary has been almost impossible to prognosticate. Every time you think someone's done, they come back surging (you hear that, Bush? That's a damn surge!). Huckabee continues to defy the pundits. Obama is starting to overtake Clinton, and this race seems like it's far from over. The picture is starting to become a little clearer myself, and I'm going to share a few thoughts I've had in the past few hours.
We've got a final 4 in Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Huckabee. Just like a game of poker, we have the chip leaders. I'd have to say it's McCain on one side, Clinton on the other. The chip lead is just that, the lead. The game is not over. Nothing is more indicative of that than the shift in the polls. Obama is again ahead. The polls have been off a few times, but they've been more right than they have wrong. The momentum in the game is most certainly on the Obama side, it really is. Clinton fired her campaign manager, which indicates to me that she isn't happy with the path of her campaign right now, and that's probably the right move. Obama is catching her. But I don't think that there's really anything she can do to slow him down. He's just spreading his message, and the public is responding. The Republicans have been trying to play up Obama's 'lack of experience', and unfortunately, he's managed to turn it into his greatest strength. He's not a part of the old boy system...
Speaking of, let's look at the GOP side of things. Mitt Romney dropped out, because he realized that he was splitting votes with Huckabee. McCain is not popular with the conservative base, and his pro-war stance virtually guarantees his imminent demise in the general election. So I think Huckabee can see his longshot is really not nearly as long as some might imagine. I don't think that the GOP believes that McCain has a true shot against Clinton, and I KNOW they know better than to think that they can beat the Obama-mania Movement. Hollywood loves this guy... the Internet loves this guy. McCain doesn't even yet have the love of his base. How is he going to change the minds of the people who don't customarily vote Republican?
So looking at the table, I think that we've not NEARLY seen the last of Huckabee, and if he stays in the race, he'll eventually overtake McCain for the nomination. Clinton isn't done yet, but she's going to have to come with a message that will resonate with the same intensity that Obama has, or she can sit and watch him whittle away at her lead. If the two of them are serious about their concern for the party itself, they should probably start planning to take each other for 2nd chair in the general election. The two of them together can obliterate any pairing that the GOP can come up with at this point, the incumbent party is really on the ropes right now. Fluctuations in the markets and continued violence in Iraq will provide more towards the slide of the Republican popularity. If they don't get over their fear of all things Bush and begin to denounce some of his action, they are going to continue to head downwards.
So at the heads-up portion of the game, I think it's going to be Huckabee/Obama. I could be wrong, but that's kewl, it will be no less interesting. So gentlemen and ladies, place your bets and let's play some poker.

-ere'bodee's favorite mega

I'm Addicted to Blogging

2008-02-12T11:35:00.000-05:00

I'm sick of MySpace.

Well, I'm not really sick of MySpace. I'm sick of the problems they've been having with blogs. Two days straight and I've been unable to read blogs properly or consistently.

I've been pushed out. I'm here.

Hi, I'm Ere'bodee's Favorite Mega, and I'm addicted to blogging.

Now, I'm not just talking about writing them, I mean reading them, too. I've loved the very idea of blogging since the day I Googled the word and found out it was out there. You keep your journal online. Never lose it.

I've journaled pretty much all my life, as soon as I found out it was ok for guys to keep journals (hey, I was born in the 70's, and only girls kept diaries back then). They've gotten me in some serious junk throughout... I always wrote down things that I shouldn't have, and left my journal in places that it shouldn't be. Like when I was 18. I almost slept with my best friend's girlfriend, who had been secretly in love with me for the entire time she'd known me, and decided to reveal it to me. Stupid me, I wrote it down. Not one of my more shining moments in life. I wish I still had that journal, but he destroyed it when he read it. But I can't help it. I'm compelled. I find that the mistakes I write down, I'm less likely to repeat.

So here I am, with yet another site to keep track of, but a place where I can fall back when MySpace turns sketchy on me, as it so often does. If you found me from there, thank you for coming through. If you found me from the search engine, welcome... here's my MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/tangomega, if the link doesn't work. You can read some of my earlier postings there....

If it's working....

-ere'bodee's favorite mega