Charity Starts At Home

I room and a microphone. And a family I ain’t seen in months/ And I played this record a million times just hoping that you’d play it once/” Phonte Coleman Phonte was one third of the North Carolina rap group Little Brother. To those that were super hip-hop heads, Little Brother was a fixture in […]

2Pac

I didn’t think about this post until late Friday evening. However, I felt that it was something I should share. For my generation, Tupac Amaru Shakur was our John Lennon. There isn’t really anyone else to compare him to as far as influence, iconic status, and death, I was first introduced to 2Pac […]

In Due Time: Coasting

As I have previously stated I am an OutKast fanatic. There is a song on the Soul Food Soundtrack called “In Due Time” featuring a rapper who was taking one of his first dips into singing named Cee-Lo on the song who drops an incredible verse. For those who do not know who Cee-Lo is, […]

T.R.O.Y.

I’ve always loved this song. It makes me think of being about seven when it came out and when 98.7 Kiss FM was the rap radio station in New York. When I was in my high school band, I played this every morning as part of my warm-up on my sax. Tuesdays are music days, […]

Ice Cube’s Double Consciousness

The term “double consciousness” was coined by W.E.B. DuBois to describe the internal challenge with one’s identity that blacks have to reconcile to fit into a society. Usually, this being raised in African American culture in a European/Western education and corporate setting where one usually conflicts with the other. However, I am using it as […]

Stevie Wonder-As

As today I know I’m living but tomorrow Could make me the past but that I mustn’t fear For I’ll know deep in my mind The love of me I’ve left behind Cause I’ll be loving you always My favorite Stevie Wonder song (other than Uptight-the ULTIMATE happy song) of all time. There’s something about songs written […]

New York City

Last night, I was reading a writer friend of mine’s thesis that they wrote for graduate school a couple of years ago. A random conversation we were having about a drawing lead to me reading what I thought to be an interesting title. I read the preface and was sucked in and intrigued to keep […]

This Is The Life/Highs and Lows

*Music contains explicit content* All of 2011 was a difficult year. With Cydney’s birth, Timile’s diagnosis and eventual passing from cancer as well as my mother’s diagnosis; I had been going through a lot. Being that all of my time was taken up between the three most important girls in my life. My outlet […]

Growing Old

Something’s gotta changeSounds of laughter and happiness turns my teardrops to rainBeen bearing this burden for too many of my daysLooks like breezes of autumn done finally move my wayLike memories of yesterday… While Southernplayalisticadillacmuzic opened up the door for southern hip-hop, Aquemini is the five-mic classic, Stankonia was the crossover, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below […]

My Parents and A Tribe Called Quest

Anyone who really knows me can tell you that I am a HUGE A Tribe Called Quest fan. Actually there’s a clue on the About Me page in which I am sitting with Cydney wearing a Tribe t-shirt as well as two videos posted with Cydney and their music playing in the background. If you […]