Sunday, January 25, 2009

Behind The Physical

Here's another old poem that I wrote in '04 when I was helping some High School kids get into writing and expressing themselves poetically. It was hella dope getting together and working with those homies and trying to inspire them and get them hyped on telling their stories. I'm not in contact with them any more but I hope they're still bumping the beats I hooked them up with and checking out the poets that I introduced them to. Here's to you fellas...

Behind the Physical

I've learned to mirage this physical facade
with hieroglyphic body language,
esoteric facial expressions,
and an almost too real
artificially sweetened, lo-carb "Hey, how ya doin'?",
brewin' coffee I WON'T drink demeanor.
I mean, being that I speak the jargon,
water reflect that aspect of "Yo Man, the man got that ass in check!"
-with your docker wearin,
textbook definition of a tool lookin',
pleated, pressed,
best dressed,
behind the desk,
pencil pushin',
stencil of a pin cushion in a button up lookin'
cookie cut out Yes Man...
I do look like a Yes Man
And yes, man. I do habla "yes sir, no ma'am"
But damn if I haven't penciled in the schematic for you to understand
Damn if I haven't blue-printed this Waterloo - You know how we do - stand
so you too can be
Walkin'
Talkin'
Hip Hoppin' Contraband
Cuz see...
What you see...
What you see is the Trojan Horse side of me.
I'm above what you're on
Still on some old break-a-dawn bullshit
I've crossed MY Rubicon
and Ciscero'd that school shit
and gotten stupid on academic language,
taken their think tank for a test drive.
Now...not even Bradley's or Humvees can Fuck with me.
Luckily, my subtleties are utterly unrecognizable
to the naked - I like what you've added to the puppet man's dance,
very creative to pause in my MTV B-Boy stance.
- But look Money,
despite the formalities I'm frontin'...
I'm still forming 4 letter fornications
feelin' free behind the guise of futility's 4 star for-ever-ness
for now...
feed me some forgiveness and understanding
and "Don't Front, You Know I've Got You Open"
to new ideas.
And now who's soundin' stupid like flame retardant.
Ears ready to listen now that the Last Dragon's
lookin more like Tyler Durton.
Puttin a hurtin' on the establishment cuz
"I Came to Bring the Pain - HARDCORE"
But what's more...
is that there's more
behind this physical.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Some Downloads...

Here's some music to get you through the weekend, into next week and out of January. The first is a link to a Z-Trip mix that he put together to celebrate "Obama Day". He put one out before the election as well. It was pretty good but I preferred DJ Green Lantern's (it had interviews with Obama and he had some good things to say about Hip Hop as well as the fact that he's got Jay-Z and Nas on his ipod - that's our president!). I haven't heard this one yet but see what you think... http://www.djztrip.com/obama/victorylap/

Next is a link to download a Last Emperor Mixtape. If you enjoy just listening to good, thought provoking lyrics, you should enjoy this one. You may remember Last Emp from his verse on Lyricist Lounge on the track "C.I.A" with KRS and Zack from RATM. That's where I first heard him and I was like,"Damn, who is this dood? He's gonna BLOW UP!" After that he dropped some dope singles but didn't come out with a full album until like 03 or 04. That album was alright but a bit of a let down. The following is a mix that came out in o6. There were only 1,000 copies printed so you can pretty much only get a bootleg unless you got time and money to spend on ebay. If you don't know about the Philly-bred MC this is a good primer.

http://rapidshare.com/files/140371179/the_last_emperor-hidden_treasures-2005.zip

Here's the DIY video that someone put together for Last Emperor's "Secret Wars" track.
Comic book heads should feel this one. This came out like 10 yrs. ago.


...and here's an excerpt from an old AND1 mixtape that he was on. I had this when it first came out (back then you could only get AND1 mixtapes at, I think it was footlocker, and they were dope back then - raw, dope artists, underground feel. But now...forget it.) and I loved that track so much that I dubbed it off the VCR and put it on mixtapes. "I USED TO SELL MIXTAPES BUT NOW..." haha. Check it. (I think it's on the mix to download too)

Damn, now THAT'S Hip Hop!

Can it be? Somebody more Hip Hop than ME??? Haha. Check it.

Ridiculous, right?

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Do YOU remember?

I got a bit of "throwback fever" from my last blog and found this interesting little interview. D-Nice, who many heads should know, has done a series of mini-docs with other old school artists or participants in early hip hop ("D-Nice Presents True Hip Hop..."). This is an interview with Masta Ace on the making of The Symphony (classic). Juice Crew paved the way for soooo many people. Respect due.

Here's the cheezy video that they came out with for this one. I remember watching it as a young pup. I remember being able to put a face to the name when this video dropped. Everyone gets introduced in this one (well, everyone that was in this video, other members didn't participate on this record).

...And here's another classic joint circa '95.

The video is terrible (except for the fact that he's from NY and he's reppin' the Westcoast and the peeps) but the song is good. And if you didn't know, I hope you will find out. Masta Ace is still puttin' it down, too. Check for the super group, EMC - he's still holdin it down! Alright. Well, I'm gonna go throw on some more classic bangers. Do your homework, kiddies.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Thinking of a Masterplan!

I was just thinking about the history that will be made in the morning. This song came to mind. Old school heads will remember this one. 'Shad where you at?!?

"TIME FOR A CHANGE and I mean a revolution
open your eyes, a black president's the solution"
I wonder what he's thinking now?
Here's a sorta "where are they now" with YZ...

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Lessons and Learning

This is something I wrote back in '04. I originally wrote it with the intent of reading it at a Borderland Education Conference but instead wound up reading it at a Rally for Worker's Rights at New Mexico State University. Check it.

Learn to Unlearn.
Unlearn to re-learn.
I'm lookin at it like re-learn or be burned
at the stake.
Cuz stakes is high
Stakes is high like using to escape
Not used to being able to relate.
See, we wait.
But for what?
And for who's sake?
For the sake of not makin' mistakes most of us stay quiet
For fear of being rubber bullet stoppers in riots.
Or the eyes burning as circulating smoke is turning
Learning a lesson - cuz lessons hurt louder than words
...At the same time, NOT learning your lesson IS a lesson
not addressed in question and answer sessions
under bright lights & the choke of overpriced but cheap cigarette smoke
blown in grimacing faces
See, I'm the poster child for which Chicano studies embraces -
Brown & Proud, but not TOO loud,
and not tall enough to stand out in a crowd.
But I do understand,
Understand that I stand under no man
But I do stand for something,
And isn't that something?
...Isn't it ?
I mean, I envision it - Bliss n' shit
On a mission lit by the flame that was sparked by dark eyed revolutionaries
Carried on the wingspan of a time that flies,
But keeps fixed eyes on my ancestral hour glass.
See, in a minute I could make an hour pass -
if I'm at all entertaining...
just give me a second.
Second chance, Second helping, a Second Coming
A Second Chance at not being elected but leading -
JUST... ONE... SECOND
Second to none, but still just one
And I'm 2 to 3
times
the force of 10 of you
4 instance;
1 half of what I say the greater sum of you won't get
Some will
& some kill
& still some feel that the math I speak of doesn't calculate
in a binary world of black and white,
yin & yang,
wrong & right,
loose & tight
Lucy Liu & Condaleeza Rice - just names,
not representations of ANYTHING
In fact, anything but the representations of any being
or any race
at any rate, I can't go any place
without being stereotyped or compare to any face
that looks like mine.
The way I look at it
Humanity is all going to climax at the same time
We'll all leave early and not have the decency to call the next day
10 seconds left and here's the play by play:
Bush shoots
He scores
We all lose
THE END.



Obviously, there was a lot of frustration from the looming elections of 'o4 when I wrote this. I'll have to post something more uplifting for the new found sense of hope that Obama has countered with in this new administration that will be stepping in on Tuesday!! I'm hopeful but still critical - "It's bigger than Obama" and it's not gonna save my wife from losing her job. But hold tight cuz change gon' come! peace.

This is the change I'm lookin for!

"It's right in front of us
each and every one of us
Freedom or death
yes the two are antonymous
Symphonic jus hearin good news
I keep my ears open and stare to the moon
I know theres more than hope when I put out the feelers
We all want the same things when we’re bein our realist
Collective consciousness
let's form a village
Then spread good feelings till there aint no more killers" -The Grouch