Ruff Sqwad "Walking U Home"

Ruff Sqwad "Walking U Home"

London cats...

The New Yorker Obama Cover

I woke up this morning to see the brand new cover of the "New Yorker" that was extremely disturbing. There's a satirical cartoon of Barack and Michele Obama in the Oval Office dressed extremely offensively. Michele Obama is cloaked with machine gun shells around her neck as a terrorist and Barack is dressed in a turban and Muslim clothing. The sick twisted satire of this cartoon is completely and utterly disrespectful to this man and his wife. The ironic thing is that they never made a satirical cartoon in the New Yorker of Dick Cheney and Haliburton as vampires sucking the blood out of America. They never would have made a satirical cartoon of Bush as a puppet being pulled with strings by Cheney, now would they? So why is it okay for the New Yorker, a worldwide distributed newsletter that is published weekly to make a disrespectful satirical cartoon of an extremely charismatic black man and his wife in the Oval Office of the White House as its cover? It is not. The symbols of the burning American flag in the fireplace, and Barack and Michele dressed as terrorists showing how they must be a part of the already known pseudo "Axis of Evil" to overtake the American public are ridiculous. Whatever tasteless moron that drew this cartoon is a complete and utter idiot, but the person that deserves the blame for this shit even making the cover is the editor of the New Yorker. This is just another scare tactic thrown the way at Barack Obama to scare him off from the Presidental race. I can just hear all of the white conservatives cheering and laughing at this cover; it is sheer ignorance. I was not at all interested in the Presidental Race and could have cared less about any of the propaganda around it before seeing this cover this morning. I'm not saying that I am interested in politics that are already skewed anyway, but I am seeing exactly what is happening around me. The propaganda of showing how Barack can change America, and it is truly alarming to me that a hundred years ago, black men in this country were seen as scapegoats (and still are). But now, it is fine for a black man to be given the green light to be president of this country. All I am saying is that America at this point in time is in a state of extreme recession and at the brink of crumbling beyond most people's perception, and the propaganda is putting this "Big Change" moniker above the head of Barack Obama. If Obama does not have the capacity to change the already destroyed American economy, then he will be scapegoated by the people around this country that now "love" him.

Foundation Is Built.

People! Let's look at all of the recent developments of shit that has occurred in the past year since I came back from college. Internship with Zion-I...first article published...moved into my own place...established uNCovered 3rd as a public relations firm...began getting published every other week...Spin Mag...HipHopRemix.com...HipHopDX.com...SF Weekly...etc. I have done a lot of shit in the past year professionally. But, finishing college was not one of those things that was on my mind as importantly as my other endeavors. Buckling down and finishing this long ass haul of crap they like to call "college" is something I have realized to be truly important to my mother more or less than it has been to me. She's busted her ass working at this 9 to 5 plantation job for the past 20 years to get me into college just to see me walk across that stage with a degree in my hand. I need to finish this crap more or less for her.

I have met a lot of people through networking throughout the music business I have engaged myself into. I have had many doors open for me in the past year, and some I have been reluctant to open based on experience. I am gaining more and more experience through uNCovered 3rd as a business through working and doing projects for HipHopRemix.com, Connoisseur533.com, and a numerous amount of artists that I have interviewed over the past few months. I have been published over 50 times since January, and I only plan to gain more publishing of my articles, manifestos, and interviews over the next few months as well. We are gearing to make a big difference in the way public relations is done in the music business over the next year. I have recently picked up another client to add to the clientèle list that is slated to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards in a few months. Things are looking up.

Just remember...we're buildin.

Ise Lyfe "Bad Word Bounce"

Ise Lyfe "Bad Word Bounce"

I heard about this cat from a friend of mine that goes to an open mic session that is done every Wednesday night at the Air Lounge here in Oakland, and I did not really pay him any mind. Seeing this video definitely opened my eyes more to this dude. I was just talking to friends months ago about someone making a video dissing all the minstrel cats in the mainstream realms of hip-hop; I'm glad someone had the balls to do it.

Blackstar

Blackstar Ft/ Common-"Respiration"

We're Building

The more and more I think about the transitions of life that I have gone through this year; it leads me back to referring to the process I like to call, "The seasons of life." Since January, I have had the dramatic changes of a cold and stubborn heart (winter) to the flowering blossoms of joy and brand new life (spring). The summer with its harsh humid weather that is parallel to a person's stress. I don't think that I explained it too well, but I think that you should get my gist.

I am truly blessed; I am in a position right now in my life to do everything I would possibly want to do. I had said to an acquaintance of mine months ago that we were building a foundation of something substantial, I realized months later that the only foundation I was building upon was on my business venture, social life, and spirituality with God. I am thankful to God that I have the strength to carry on with whatever hardship and stress is thrown my way. I know that a tremendous amount of people on this Earth do not have the gull or better yet the "balls" to swallow their pride and take every life lesson of hardship, pain, and anguish as a strength training exercise for the mind. I have always seen the stresses and pain of life as a work out for the mind. You feel a strain in your mind when you become stressed and you feel weak and powerless then drained from this stress. But, just as the work out at the gym when you lift weights, days later, the soreness (stress) disappears. You become stronger.

The seasons of life that we all go through are meant to teach us about ourselves in some sort of way and fashion. You just have to know when you are leaving one season of your life and moving into the next. Take the strength that you now have from the harsh hot weather of Summer, the deadening of leaves of Spring, or even the blasts of cold of Winter and build upon them. Strength can only be gained from the pain a human being goes through. There is no strength or progress without pain and anguish. Just know that we're building.

Musiq "Previouscats"

Even though this came out 6 years ago, it brings back recent memories.