Writing is a struggle!!!!!!
The literal skills are lacking, but the concept is there...
I want to write about this song...
MADNESS
It's called Madness from the "Deltron 3030" album. I want to write about how it samples the original song by the "Poppy family"
& how it relates to the sampled songs concept. Except, It speaks to me more (as a Black man in a large metropolitan area), than the original did.
"we may act different in some ways.. but we are still grouped together"
I guess i could be defined as a hipster in 2012, (race aside). But i am black man (the reality).. This post from Gucci Little piggy kinda breaks it down... so what am I? The Hipster culture is black, so i technically should have no problem calling myself that...
I am all about indie hiphop, black empowerment and originality but somehow i feel lost. So what are we? Not hipsters for sure...
Somehow being a BackPacker* post Kanye/lupe does not quite define me (or maybe it does.. dunno)..we all wear fedoras, experiment and focus on originality....
so where does this go?
The lost portion
* Love Kevin Durant & kanye tho
MADNESS
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
comfort
LISTEN TO ME, NYC RULES!
Someone asked me recently which "type" of person I was affiliated to In high school? The Nerds, Cool kids etc?
I couldn't give a decent answer. I grew up away from home. In boarding schools & spent holidays in different countries. I had to grow up conforming to different communities, mobb culture ruled (ASK ANY BOARDING SCHOOL KID). I am grateful for this fact.
I appreciate the mix & diverse groups of people i lived with, shared tuck with, got punished with*, laughed with and cried with**
Somehow however i felt isolated, even though I got it, I liked what everyone else liked, but somehow it didn't speak to me. There was the mainstream, the not so mainstream, then somewhere along the line there was me..
As a last born, with 10 years separating me and my eldest brother, I liked the older stuff more, that's all i heard growing up*** .
I don't think i was ever socially awkward. I was cheeky, noisy, played A-team sports, dated or was cool with the most sought after girls in my community! You would think life couldn't be more than perfect, but Life was kinda tricky tho.
I cared more about Keith Murray, Pete rock & CL smooth than I did about Shai, jade, SWV & jodeci growing up. ( I lie Jodeci was the shiznit)
This is important because it was never mainstream (what i liked).. My point is I grew up just trying to have my peers accept what i like. so it was a fight! Maybe not so much what I like per-se... But i grew up on one thing, Having to defend what i like! Which was character defining..... (I pray i never end up with someone that asks me to conform.. to what society defines)
I remember me in form 2 in 96 trying to convince my peers how dope hip hop is, they looked at me strange (back then).
Which Leads me here.... Complacency if you will
I like me! To be more accurate I love me & how New York City works for me!
It's so fly... So many people , people my age, that can relate to how i felt growing up...(it"s a city of out of out of towners like me)
#esoteric....
I like, liking what I like.. I like it because i Like it..... New York City allows that (to like it) I just want space to grow and appreciate it (and like it)
*My whole boarding school year showed up at my mothers funeral... That made me cry, and the reason why i will always be a "saints" guy
**Nice way of saying got beat the ____t out of, by headmasters, peers and seniors when my mother died, everyone in my year came out and showed support.
*** Imagine life as a 5/6 year old helping ur older brother, write down the lyrics for KRS One's "my philosophy" off of a video tape recorded off of "Yo MTV Raps
... not audio tape, but VHS, pause rewind pause rewind
Someone asked me recently which "type" of person I was affiliated to In high school? The Nerds, Cool kids etc?
I couldn't give a decent answer. I grew up away from home. In boarding schools & spent holidays in different countries. I had to grow up conforming to different communities, mobb culture ruled (ASK ANY BOARDING SCHOOL KID). I am grateful for this fact.
I appreciate the mix & diverse groups of people i lived with, shared tuck with, got punished with*, laughed with and cried with**
Somehow however i felt isolated, even though I got it, I liked what everyone else liked, but somehow it didn't speak to me. There was the mainstream, the not so mainstream, then somewhere along the line there was me..
As a last born, with 10 years separating me and my eldest brother, I liked the older stuff more, that's all i heard growing up*** .
I don't think i was ever socially awkward. I was cheeky, noisy, played A-team sports, dated or was cool with the most sought after girls in my community! You would think life couldn't be more than perfect, but Life was kinda tricky tho.
I cared more about Keith Murray, Pete rock & CL smooth than I did about Shai, jade, SWV & jodeci growing up. ( I lie Jodeci was the shiznit)
This is important because it was never mainstream (what i liked).. My point is I grew up just trying to have my peers accept what i like. so it was a fight! Maybe not so much what I like per-se... But i grew up on one thing, Having to defend what i like! Which was character defining..... (I pray i never end up with someone that asks me to conform.. to what society defines)
I remember me in form 2 in 96 trying to convince my peers how dope hip hop is, they looked at me strange (back then).
Which Leads me here.... Complacency if you will
I like me! To be more accurate I love me & how New York City works for me!
It's so fly... So many people , people my age, that can relate to how i felt growing up...(it"s a city of out of out of towners like me)
#esoteric....
I like, liking what I like.. I like it because i Like it..... New York City allows that (to like it) I just want space to grow and appreciate it (and like it)
*My whole boarding school year showed up at my mothers funeral... That made me cry, and the reason why i will always be a "saints" guy
**Nice way of saying got beat the ____t out of, by headmasters, peers and seniors when my mother died, everyone in my year came out and showed support.
*** Imagine life as a 5/6 year old helping ur older brother, write down the lyrics for KRS One's "my philosophy" off of a video tape recorded off of "Yo MTV Raps
... not audio tape, but VHS, pause rewind pause rewind
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
I am Treyvon Martin
I am sure that my father in his wisdom would frown if i told him that I went out to go and show my support for Treyvon Martin. A teenager that was profiled and killed unjustly because he was black... After all it is an "American" Problem.. An American race problem.. In an America that has a BLACK president.*
America will sort itself out!
America has a legal system and laws, that allow people to speak out loud and sort themselves out... This logic sounds sound to me, throw in the fact that there is no need to for me to be placed on some sort of watch list for attending a rally that technically has nothing to do with me as a Zimbabwean New Yorker
Besides in relative terms, there are worse problems back home, the thing is...
I am almost 30 years old...
The scary thing about that is that, this was my very first protest (insert side-eye here)...
Maybe Long overdue but here is my argument to my dad assuming we had this conversation.
well...
1
there where lots of "I like art type girls" in attendance
2
I live in a predominately white eastern European Jewish neighbourhood, where they look at me funny and have said racist things AT me at my local bar having a drink
3
There is a 93% chance i made it to someones youtube channel today**
4
I have lived in my building for 4 years now, I still see some of my neighbours hold onto their purses a little tighter when i get into the elevator.
5
Lots of "I like art type girls" there
6
I am more likely to get stopped and frisked because I am black
Racism is still alive and well.... Close Hispanic/White/Asian friends have admitted their parents are a little biased. This is the reality of the world that we live in 2012... Even here In New York City, the most culturally diverse city you will ever come across in the post Nokia 5110 era! Our neighbourhoods are STILL segregated all over the tri-state area, and as much as certain groups call themselves progressive or "cool" with different ethnicity's the honest truth is that it is not a universal truth.
I was touched today when Treyvon's mother said that this is not a white or black thing.. It's a human thing... Which equalled 5 exclamation marks to cap off an emotional event. Today was Human Rights Day, & on Human rights day everyone deserves to see some Bohemian "I like art type girls", and take a stand for something while doing it. In its essence is not an American Problem, African problem, but a universal problem.
It's a problem in Australia, Asia, Africa, North America (except Canada - i get this vibe everything is dandy overt here), Europe and Some other Continents i cant remember right now,
Profiling and prejudice is a universal reality, one we have all lived through.. I have been Trayvon Martin in the past.. I will Be Trayvon Martin again.. I pray circumstances will be kinder to me, as they will be to every Asian, White, Black & Latino person in the future.
* My dad would ask me these questions i am sure only to challenge my conviction, because we where brought up to have our own opinions and definitions... Although i have not spoken to him about this issue, i already know he is disgusted by what happened to Treyvon Martin (The old man lived in NYC in the 70's but more importantly a segregated and blatantly racist Rhodesia)
** will also probably have to explain to my dad what YouTube is
America will sort itself out!
America has a legal system and laws, that allow people to speak out loud and sort themselves out... This logic sounds sound to me, throw in the fact that there is no need to for me to be placed on some sort of watch list for attending a rally that technically has nothing to do with me as a Zimbabwean New Yorker
Besides in relative terms, there are worse problems back home, the thing is...
I am almost 30 years old...
The scary thing about that is that, this was my very first protest (insert side-eye here)...
Maybe Long overdue but here is my argument to my dad assuming we had this conversation.
well...
1
there where lots of "I like art type girls" in attendance
2
I live in a predominately white eastern European Jewish neighbourhood, where they look at me funny and have said racist things AT me at my local bar having a drink
3
There is a 93% chance i made it to someones youtube channel today**
4
I have lived in my building for 4 years now, I still see some of my neighbours hold onto their purses a little tighter when i get into the elevator.
5
Lots of "I like art type girls" there
6
I am more likely to get stopped and frisked because I am black
Racism is still alive and well.... Close Hispanic/White/Asian friends have admitted their parents are a little biased. This is the reality of the world that we live in 2012... Even here In New York City, the most culturally diverse city you will ever come across in the post Nokia 5110 era! Our neighbourhoods are STILL segregated all over the tri-state area, and as much as certain groups call themselves progressive or "cool" with different ethnicity's the honest truth is that it is not a universal truth.
I was touched today when Treyvon's mother said that this is not a white or black thing.. It's a human thing... Which equalled 5 exclamation marks to cap off an emotional event. Today was Human Rights Day, & on Human rights day everyone deserves to see some Bohemian "I like art type girls", and take a stand for something while doing it. In its essence is not an American Problem, African problem, but a universal problem.
It's a problem in Australia, Asia, Africa, North America (except Canada - i get this vibe everything is dandy overt here), Europe and Some other Continents i cant remember right now,
Profiling and prejudice is a universal reality, one we have all lived through.. I have been Trayvon Martin in the past.. I will Be Trayvon Martin again.. I pray circumstances will be kinder to me, as they will be to every Asian, White, Black & Latino person in the future.
* My dad would ask me these questions i am sure only to challenge my conviction, because we where brought up to have our own opinions and definitions... Although i have not spoken to him about this issue, i already know he is disgusted by what happened to Treyvon Martin (The old man lived in NYC in the 70's but more importantly a segregated and blatantly racist Rhodesia)
** will also probably have to explain to my dad what YouTube is
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