“Standing on shaky ground to close to the edge,
Let’s see if I know the ledge …”
Eric B. & Rakim
Hungry and still jittery my mind was on a shower, a fat ass blunt to the face to calm my nerves and some sleep, “Fuck the block, fuck the money, and fuck all them niggaz! Man, God what did I get myself into? I fucked shit up this time.” The first L only heightened my paranoia so I rolled up again in search of a more comfortable comatose. Smoker’s candles threw the perfect dim and furniture shadows danced as the cherry moved like an orange beacon through my heavily slanted eyes. After another deep, long exhale sent cumulous clouds towards the ceiling I listened for God’s response. “It’s not like I expect an audible voice and Shekinah glory mist from the heavens, just some help, to figure my way … “ the phone rang and almost sent me into cardiac arrest, “oh shit, Jesus, you on the mainline?” I answered with a nervous excitement “Hello” her voice was warm like fresh Pumpkin bread, “Donte,” with a smile that washed me with thoughts of safety and acceptance. “Mom-Mom?” I pointed towards the sky to show my approval in His method of answer, I consider my Grandmother one of The Kingdom’s best emissaries. “I should sound so surprised, Donte you’re a hard fellow to catch up with. You’ve been in my heart and on my mind for a few weeks now,” that I was on her prayer specific radar confirmed the amount of work my guardian angels had put in to protect me. “Yeah? Well, thanks, Mom-Mom I’ll never turn away prayer,” I wanted to tell her everything, all the trouble and how lost I was in one breath. “You sound tired, Donte. I know you’re a young man now and I don’t want to pry but maybe you should come spend sometime with your Grandfather and I. We’d love to have you.” My Grandfather’s voice called out in the background before she covered the phone, “hold on, say again, Jeremiah? Your Grandfather said he’d meet you at the bus station. Maybe it’d be good to take some time, clear your head and we’d love to talk with you about what we can do to get you back in school...” The line clicked for the door buzzer and my instincts said ignore it, “You know what, Mom-Mom I’m not even gonna front, you’re like an answer to prayer right now. I do need to figure some stuff out, get a change of scenery, ya know what I mean,” the buzzer clicked the line again “but I’ll call you right back because someone keeps buzzing my door, better yet I’ll call tomorrow so we can really talk and figure some dates.” Her tone became heavy with concern, she wanted to say be careful, to make better decisions, use wisdom. “Ok, I hoped we could talk a bit longer, I just got you on the phone and your grandfather is waiting to speak with you …”, wisdom begged for attention.
I am Lady Wisdom, and I live next to Sanity,
Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Dec 15, 2010
Oct 14, 2010
Tical
What’s good Family?
As I hammered out the first draft of this literary novel inspired by events in my life naive confidence filled my imagination with all sorts of grandeur. Now, as I edit draft number six time is taken to dig deeper into the visions circa ’93-’95 when they flash throw my eyes. I particularly see those Grant Hill Fila sneakers (the kicks Meth has on in the first video below) and my old hood. Which at the time looked extremely similar to every other hood in Rap music videos because LES hadn’t yet been swept by gentrification. Stories fight for more clarity and words mature to fashion my depth of regret for opportunities squandered. So many wasted years wasted on wasted pursuits. I lived like a drifter because I never dropped an anchor or set sail.
Tical was probably the most anticipated album release of my Hip Hop existence. NaS’ Illmatic basically dropped out of nowhere like the best kept secret but Wu Tang Clan and in particular Method Man had been on the come up for almost three years. Meth trooped with me in my headphones, chaperoned by Ron G and Double R mixtapes to the LES and South Bronx then back to Brentwood, LI. His lyrics rang out on street corners, building hallways and project rooftops while we puffed stimuli. I scuffed my Tims on St. Anne's, Clinton, Stanton, Rivington, Sherif's Park and many others long before I walked those same streets as a youth development professional or youth pastor dude. There was a romantic aimlessness attached to that version of me.
I scrap to properly project the pictures in my mind as words on page. So i can share a portion of my complete angst with readers over the misapplication of time in an era long gone. Why did I take up residence in a world I vowed to never become a member of? Why did I trade in my precious road map for a cardboard cut out? As a child I was taught to look towards scripture for inspiration, instructed to study characters that faced similar life obstacles and survived. Like Moses, I killed too soon and found myself banished. At best banishment has produced ambivalence though I do carry the earmarks of solitary interaction with sheep (my kids). You can sense my persona because even if my worldview is large my circle remains small. I’m about the book because the book is about me. Blessings.
M
As I hammered out the first draft of this literary novel inspired by events in my life naive confidence filled my imagination with all sorts of grandeur. Now, as I edit draft number six time is taken to dig deeper into the visions circa ’93-’95 when they flash throw my eyes. I particularly see those Grant Hill Fila sneakers (the kicks Meth has on in the first video below) and my old hood. Which at the time looked extremely similar to every other hood in Rap music videos because LES hadn’t yet been swept by gentrification. Stories fight for more clarity and words mature to fashion my depth of regret for opportunities squandered. So many wasted years wasted on wasted pursuits. I lived like a drifter because I never dropped an anchor or set sail.
Tical was probably the most anticipated album release of my Hip Hop existence. NaS’ Illmatic basically dropped out of nowhere like the best kept secret but Wu Tang Clan and in particular Method Man had been on the come up for almost three years. Meth trooped with me in my headphones, chaperoned by Ron G and Double R mixtapes to the LES and South Bronx then back to Brentwood, LI. His lyrics rang out on street corners, building hallways and project rooftops while we puffed stimuli. I scuffed my Tims on St. Anne's, Clinton, Stanton, Rivington, Sherif's Park and many others long before I walked those same streets as a youth development professional or youth pastor dude. There was a romantic aimlessness attached to that version of me.
I scrap to properly project the pictures in my mind as words on page. So i can share a portion of my complete angst with readers over the misapplication of time in an era long gone. Why did I take up residence in a world I vowed to never become a member of? Why did I trade in my precious road map for a cardboard cut out? As a child I was taught to look towards scripture for inspiration, instructed to study characters that faced similar life obstacles and survived. Like Moses, I killed too soon and found myself banished. At best banishment has produced ambivalence though I do carry the earmarks of solitary interaction with sheep (my kids). You can sense my persona because even if my worldview is large my circle remains small. I’m about the book because the book is about me. Blessings.
M
Jun 24, 2010
S*** is real ...
Peace & blessings family,
I know it’s a tad bit late but … Happy Father's Day!
Can you think of another awesomely under appreciated and hot button topic of a "holiday"? I think no other compares. On Father’s Day most Dads are sent to the background in place of angry and bruised memories of men who abandoned their post. Single Mother’s who carried the load are ushered to the front for a shared bill on the marquee. As a Dad I work hard to protect my son’s against swindlers and imposters that filter in front of their eyes. I know first hand how much time is stolen when it’s wasted in the procession of the unproductive.
My father ran a rehab center. 35 Chestnut Street was his first one. That was the house I came home to as a newborn. As I grew up I was convinced my life was void of adventures and empty of characters. I felt it wasn't as vivid as tales spun by the addicts who fought their way to recovery in my father's program. Back then I didn't see life’s contradictions and complications as a process towards my humanity. Time taught me that life is tragic, hope filled, explicit, and blessed. The Divine Sinner Chronicles is my Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt, Ready to Die, and 36 Chambers. It is the reflection from a sketch of my past and insight into my future. Some stories have been shifted to protect the guilty but it’s reality as I knew it and lived it.
So now more than ever the word of the day over my life from me for me for my life is ... Consistency. Consistency is the route from writer to author, tenacity will get DSC off of my laptop and on to bookshelves world wide.
Today as we delve back into the Golden Era I leave you with my main man Mic Geronimo. When this joint came out back in ’94 we still made gritty walk-a-bout videos with blunt guts and assault rifles for all to see without self-edited blur outs. Much has changed in Hip Hop but we must leave more for another time.
I roll up & park it like everyday is a 420 holiday …
Blessings,
M
I know it’s a tad bit late but … Happy Father's Day!
Can you think of another awesomely under appreciated and hot button topic of a "holiday"? I think no other compares. On Father’s Day most Dads are sent to the background in place of angry and bruised memories of men who abandoned their post. Single Mother’s who carried the load are ushered to the front for a shared bill on the marquee. As a Dad I work hard to protect my son’s against swindlers and imposters that filter in front of their eyes. I know first hand how much time is stolen when it’s wasted in the procession of the unproductive.
My father ran a rehab center. 35 Chestnut Street was his first one. That was the house I came home to as a newborn. As I grew up I was convinced my life was void of adventures and empty of characters. I felt it wasn't as vivid as tales spun by the addicts who fought their way to recovery in my father's program. Back then I didn't see life’s contradictions and complications as a process towards my humanity. Time taught me that life is tragic, hope filled, explicit, and blessed. The Divine Sinner Chronicles is my Illmatic, Reasonable Doubt, Ready to Die, and 36 Chambers. It is the reflection from a sketch of my past and insight into my future. Some stories have been shifted to protect the guilty but it’s reality as I knew it and lived it.
So now more than ever the word of the day over my life from me for me for my life is ... Consistency. Consistency is the route from writer to author, tenacity will get DSC off of my laptop and on to bookshelves world wide.
Today as we delve back into the Golden Era I leave you with my main man Mic Geronimo. When this joint came out back in ’94 we still made gritty walk-a-bout videos with blunt guts and assault rifles for all to see without self-edited blur outs. Much has changed in Hip Hop but we must leave more for another time.
I roll up & park it like everyday is a 420 holiday …
Blessings,
M
Jan 6, 2010
Nov 13, 2009
Summer of '92
The summer of ’92 was probably the craziest summer of my life. Looking back now I understand it to be the first set of cataclysmic events in my early adult life. I was writing again back then, it’s surreal to reflect over that version of myself. It was my first attempt at writing the story of my life … the twenty year-old, kicked out of his parent’s house, crazy-weed-smoking, college drop out edition.
Most of my life is time-lined by music and Hip Hop dominates the majority of that time-line. Well, the summer of ’92 has two distinct songs on said time-line. One by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth and the other by Dr. Dre & Snoop Doggy Dog (before Snoop Dog to Snoop). They Reminisce Over You & Deep Cover are just classic Hip Hop songs. My life changed so much over the course of that summer but the music always brings back good feelings.
Watch and enjoy the way back machine.
M
Most of my life is time-lined by music and Hip Hop dominates the majority of that time-line. Well, the summer of ’92 has two distinct songs on said time-line. One by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth and the other by Dr. Dre & Snoop Doggy Dog (before Snoop Dog to Snoop). They Reminisce Over You & Deep Cover are just classic Hip Hop songs. My life changed so much over the course of that summer but the music always brings back good feelings.
Watch and enjoy the way back machine.
M
Apr 4, 2008
sonic transitions
I love music … I know we all love music but I love it in an – its almost hard to find a song that’s not my jam – kind of way. One of the things I love about music is that it has the ability to transport you from where you are to where you were in life when a particular song comes on. What you were doing, how you were living, what you wanted, what that song represented at that time … all of it at the same time. The song is so rich and fresh, transcendent and melodic, that it’s even able to withstand being butchered by our less than perfect renditions each time. Amazing!
Or how about the anthem song? The one that always seems to come on when you are looking for that mystic conformation, its becomes your soul’s warrior cry even after all the radio stations and video shows have played it out. It always will always have that special space in you.
I’m also one of those types of people whose favorite cuts are the album cuts, the ones that never get the light of day in radio play. Even though that is changing with artist taking more control, going independent, and having more control over the selection of their single but that’s not the point right now. I’m feeling nostalgic.
Though tempting, I won’t use Hip Hop as an example because it’s only since the early to mid 90’s that Hip Hop has made its rush to where its everywhere. I’m old enough to remember when we had to wait for Kiss and BLS to bring on Red Alert, Mr. Magic, and Chuck Chillout, (back when Funkmaster Flex was carrying crates for Chuck Chillout). Back then we were happy to get what we got on the radio and buy the tape – yes tape and I had mad tapes. I bought everything, there are some artist that should send me a letter of thanks because I was one of the 37, 212 that purchased the album. Like, Steezo or Paris … see?
And I can’t go old school because most of that was about making hit records. Though you will always have to make exception for artist like Ray Charles, Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, and James Brown who twisted genre so much for so long until they created their own. And so I do not act like I’m living in a James Brown song because it is not a man’s world … Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Ruth Brown, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Tina Turner, and Patti LaBelle.
Anyway, lets use a song like “Spanish Joint” off of D’Angelo’s “Voodoo” CD … yes, CD. Or “Ready for love” by India.Arie, or anything by Goapele and Amel Larrieux, those types of songs never make the radio but you know the artist made it from a special place and it reaches you at a special place. I will not even bother to argue against the sheer aesthetic and lustful genius of the “How does it feel?” video as a first single choice by D’Angelo because that’s just business right there plus we really have yet to hear from him since. I hope all is well and he can get back to giving us that good soul music.
And music has mood shifting capabilities also, no really it does. Like when I’m on my – Hov, hustler, half a billie in the bank roll shit – or my – Kweli, Black Thought, Mos Def “Fake Bonanza” shit.
And that’s just the Hip Hop side of things. There are so many songs that have the ability to change my mood before the song is even finished.
I also am the kind of person who has lyrics from Rap joints constantly floating around in my thought stream, like …
“These cats drink champagne to toast death and pain, like slave on a ship talking about who got the flyest chain”– Talib Kweli
“I look into the eyes of the nigga, who fell, I hit my head on the concrete to beat defeat, ch-khaa! Another dead nigga in the streets, bulls eye direct hit don’t miss, now how many MC’s must get dissed” – Black Moon
“Hold up, call the coroner, there’s gonna be a lot of slow singing and flower bringing if my burglar alarm starts ringing” - Biggie
“Black fresh from Iraq, wild look in his eyes missing part of his arm, what the fuck is the prob, oh lord fake bonanza” – Mos Def
I’m the guy that knows all the words to all the songs in my iPod, every playlist has like 300 songs because I can never stay on course. So, no playlist has ever been heard to its completion but I cannot apologize because I love it. I can leave the TV off all day (after the Yankee highlights from the game I sat and watched the night before) and just listen to my iPod play all day long. There are some shows that will have K very confused because he’s going to think that when the characters speak to one another they sound like Nas, Sly Stone, or Jill Scott because I leave the shows on with the music playing.
Dialogue replaced by lyrics, you’d think I’d love musicals too but sadly enough no I don’t and there is not enough space to explain all of that. Ruthie and I have already started a playlist of all of our favorite songs, so they can all be played at the wedding party but when you have a reputation for creating playlist that can last 4.5 days some songs just might not make it.
Jus loves Kanye, so the cycle is starting all over again. What will Hip Hop give my boys?
I figure they have an advantage because when Hip Hop and I grew up together, she was always the friend that my parents didn’t trust me hanging out with. But for them they have a father who knows that Hip Hop is a grown woman, making her choices and working her way home.
Or how about the anthem song? The one that always seems to come on when you are looking for that mystic conformation, its becomes your soul’s warrior cry even after all the radio stations and video shows have played it out. It always will always have that special space in you.
I’m also one of those types of people whose favorite cuts are the album cuts, the ones that never get the light of day in radio play. Even though that is changing with artist taking more control, going independent, and having more control over the selection of their single but that’s not the point right now. I’m feeling nostalgic.
Though tempting, I won’t use Hip Hop as an example because it’s only since the early to mid 90’s that Hip Hop has made its rush to where its everywhere. I’m old enough to remember when we had to wait for Kiss and BLS to bring on Red Alert, Mr. Magic, and Chuck Chillout, (back when Funkmaster Flex was carrying crates for Chuck Chillout). Back then we were happy to get what we got on the radio and buy the tape – yes tape and I had mad tapes. I bought everything, there are some artist that should send me a letter of thanks because I was one of the 37, 212 that purchased the album. Like, Steezo or Paris … see?
And I can’t go old school because most of that was about making hit records. Though you will always have to make exception for artist like Ray Charles, Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, and James Brown who twisted genre so much for so long until they created their own. And so I do not act like I’m living in a James Brown song because it is not a man’s world … Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Ruth Brown, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Tina Turner, and Patti LaBelle.
Anyway, lets use a song like “Spanish Joint” off of D’Angelo’s “Voodoo” CD … yes, CD. Or “Ready for love” by India.Arie, or anything by Goapele and Amel Larrieux, those types of songs never make the radio but you know the artist made it from a special place and it reaches you at a special place. I will not even bother to argue against the sheer aesthetic and lustful genius of the “How does it feel?” video as a first single choice by D’Angelo because that’s just business right there plus we really have yet to hear from him since. I hope all is well and he can get back to giving us that good soul music.
And music has mood shifting capabilities also, no really it does. Like when I’m on my – Hov, hustler, half a billie in the bank roll shit – or my – Kweli, Black Thought, Mos Def “Fake Bonanza” shit.
And that’s just the Hip Hop side of things. There are so many songs that have the ability to change my mood before the song is even finished.
I also am the kind of person who has lyrics from Rap joints constantly floating around in my thought stream, like …
“These cats drink champagne to toast death and pain, like slave on a ship talking about who got the flyest chain”– Talib Kweli
“I look into the eyes of the nigga, who fell, I hit my head on the concrete to beat defeat, ch-khaa! Another dead nigga in the streets, bulls eye direct hit don’t miss, now how many MC’s must get dissed” – Black Moon
“Hold up, call the coroner, there’s gonna be a lot of slow singing and flower bringing if my burglar alarm starts ringing” - Biggie
“Black fresh from Iraq, wild look in his eyes missing part of his arm, what the fuck is the prob, oh lord fake bonanza” – Mos Def
I’m the guy that knows all the words to all the songs in my iPod, every playlist has like 300 songs because I can never stay on course. So, no playlist has ever been heard to its completion but I cannot apologize because I love it. I can leave the TV off all day (after the Yankee highlights from the game I sat and watched the night before) and just listen to my iPod play all day long. There are some shows that will have K very confused because he’s going to think that when the characters speak to one another they sound like Nas, Sly Stone, or Jill Scott because I leave the shows on with the music playing.
Dialogue replaced by lyrics, you’d think I’d love musicals too but sadly enough no I don’t and there is not enough space to explain all of that. Ruthie and I have already started a playlist of all of our favorite songs, so they can all be played at the wedding party but when you have a reputation for creating playlist that can last 4.5 days some songs just might not make it.
Jus loves Kanye, so the cycle is starting all over again. What will Hip Hop give my boys?
I figure they have an advantage because when Hip Hop and I grew up together, she was always the friend that my parents didn’t trust me hanging out with. But for them they have a father who knows that Hip Hop is a grown woman, making her choices and working her way home.
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