Holla If Ya Hear Me

I just heard Tupac for the first time recently.

I've listened to Tupac before, but this is first time I've heard Tupac.

Growing up, my parents censored most of the music I listened to (as good parents should). As a result of Tupac's love of profanity, his albums were kept at a distance.

My best friend, however, had greater access and would share with me. But the songs I remember listening to were "Hit Em Up" and "How Do Ya Want It." I viewed these songs as negative an destructive. Actually I still think "How Do Ya Want It" is a poor use of incredible talent.

For Mother's Day one year, I bought my mother the "Dear Mama" single. At the time it was the one Tupac song I knew really well, and I felt that the love that poured through on the album would be a good representation of the love I felt for my own mother.

Apparently, she didn't view the gift in the same light. At least not until she listened to it. Then she heard it.

When I was in high school, the song "Changes" was released posthumously. That was the first Tupac song that hit me on a personal level. Pac really expressed alot of the unspoken anger about being a Black man in America. The song is an affirmation of the Black struggle and lets others know that we're not alone.

The funny thing is, alot of Tupac's music is like that- I just didn't hear it before. Yeah, some of his stuff is negative and anti-productive and I still don't wanna hear it. But other stuff, like "F*ck the World" off the Me Against the World album- that speaks to the truth of human emotion.

When Tupac passed, we all did lose something. We lost an insightful young man who articulated the fears, hopes, and dreams of so many young Black men across this nation. Tupac was an ambassador of the Black experience.

Sick Day

I'm home sick today with a stomach virus.

After sleeping all day I stuck to the sick day ritual- lots of television.

Got to watch the "Drop It Like It's Hot" video again; that was pretty fun.

Saw part of a hip hop special on VH1. I have to admit, it was pretty good. I know I've said some anti-VH1 things before, but I gotta give credit where credit is due. It's only fair.

Of course there's also alot of talk about President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, John Roberts.

I dunno much about the guy, but I'd like to hear more constructive and unbiased information about him.

The climate for today's political/public affairs discussion has become as amicable as the Wannabes and Jigaboos.

Blog Freestyle

Aaaah
So I'm a
try to rhyme
while I'm typin'
freestylin'
on the keyboard
sounds so excitin'
cats are like
the internet
oh kid, he's into that
can't write rhymes
if computers eat ya time
it's all good
I don't sweat none of that
I here to do me
Do you
And that's that
Last Emperor pumpin'
In the speakers
lookin' for a job
to get a new pair of sneakers
current boss is crazy
be trippin' on the daily
showin' like Jon Stewart
why I gotta hit
the door & be out

Frustrations

Ever get frustrated watching the news? Watching events traspire and feeling like there's not much you can do about it?

I try to fight such feelings on a regular basis. Why I allow myself to get worked up, I really don't know.

Right now I'm unwinding to The Last Emperor flow over a DJ Jazzy Jeff beat. Ahh, tranquility.

Wait Up

Just to let whoever actually reads Join the Cipher know that I'll be out of town for a few days, which means a break in posts. I figured a head's up would be nice.

Gangstas Grow Up - OpinionJournal.com

Check out this brief article on hip hop, fatherhood, manhood, & the images of Black men.

Let's Get Free

[Crossposted at the Underground Railroad]

Ever wonder if we're in a matrix-type world and Black folk are still in bondage here in the U.S.?

Consider this fact: Black people are 12.3% of the general U.S. population, but make up 43.9% of the incarcerated population. If we are just under half of one quarter of the total population, how do we make up almost half the percentage of inmates?

Intelligent thinking will tell you that the social construct of race is not an inherent crime indicator.

We need different policies.

We need policies that recognize there is no difference between powder cocaine and crack cocaine.

We need policies that encourage rehabilitation for drug users instead of locking up mommies and daddies for years on end.

We need policies that focus on crime prevention instead of criminal detention.

Who creates these policies? Our elected officials. Who gives our elected officials power? We do.

To keep it real, short of being a millionaire, there's not much one single person can do to effect sweeping change.

However, one single person can form a link in the chain which tears down bad policy and lifts up good policy.

One person can write letters to the editor of their local newspaper or talk to their neighbors and enlighten them.

One person can call their elected official and give their two cents.

One person can make the decision to vote for someone who they believe will enact good policy.

Nothing will get better until YOU do something about it.

Black Like Me?

Check out this interesting article from the Village Voice out of New York City.

Argues that the audience of the more political, overtly pro-Black hip hop is increasingly white kids, while the black audience is declining.

What do you think?

Original Work

Too many
weapons
of mass distraction
no compassion
just passion
outlastin’
the fastin’
the cleansing
the mending
of mem’ries
of men’s sting
men sling
men’s kings
to get power
the kill brings
I sing
I scream
it’s just like a bad dream
TV
news spray
driving me
crazy
red state
blue state
I hate
you hate
my life
my time
my love
my rhyme
I’m just tryin’ to do me
live right
get by
how many of you
can relate to
these lines
these times
seems like
these lies
keep growing & growing
with no end
in sight
hindsight
proves right
history’s players
but foresight
shows you
history’s dangers
is it too little
too late?
out of time
end gate?
the climax of our fate
no more food
on our plate?

My American Dream

[Crossposted on the Underground Railroad]

On the Fourth of July I usually feel a little off. I am an American by birth and so one might think I want to celebrate in the founding of our country. However I can never shake the double-edged sword of reality as expressed by Frederick Douglass in his famous speech, "What to The Slave is the 4th of July?"

I feel like the 4th of July can be a sick joke, a mockery of freedom and liberty. The Founding Fathers regarded a lack of absolute political autonomy as tyranny, yet accepted a culture of owning other humans as legal property. Am I the only person who thinks that doesn't make any sense at all?

In reflecting on the 4th of July this year, I started to have a dream: what if in 1776, under this new nation with freedom and justice as founding ideals, all men were truly regarded as equals. What if there were blacks and whites, fighting side by side for the freedom of all peoples?

We'd have a vastly different nation, no doubt a much better one- a more perfect union.

Black people would have more of our own names.

The wealth of the many would not be so concentrated in the hands of the few.

We would be moving together for freedom and liberty- all the people of the United States of America- Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Native American Indians in all of our various cultural and ethnic blends.

Since things didn't happen that way, but we're all Americans now, can we move toward that ideal together? Can we progress our society to true representation of freedom, justice, and democracy? I don't know if we will, but I believe we can.

Live 8

Did you see the Live 8 concerts today? They were really something.

I wonder what effect today will have on the G-8 summit, and on the mission to eradicate poverty.

God willing, the lovers of peace, justice, and righteousness will be successful, and we are moving toward a more beautiful world.