Descarte questioned if we even exist,
I am ... therefore I spit.
I'm hoping written expression
Leads to mental ascension
Ignorance prevention, and denial of convention.
Trying to be a stand out individual
Mental calisthenics are critical
It's pitiful how far complacency has gone,
bodies shrivel and minds wither too,
But what would I amount to
If I was a sheep who never got counted?
I dressed in what was hot, listened to pop
Another stalk waitin' to get chopped in the same crop.
Don't think for myself or got respect for others,
Don't question blunders. Wake up. Live. Slumber.
Never allow my conscious to wonder
About anything that's going on under
That cap, or retro faded denims
Only concerned with gettin' in `em.
Sure there are civil wars, but I'm not affected.
Sure there are continental pandemics, but I'm not infected.
My brothers are dying daily, So? I only spray disinfectant.
Look son, I'm just trying to get by, I'm spent -
Trying to achieve a vision that everybody else has dreamt.
I want to fit in like trendy breezies and skinny jeans,
Don't give a fuck the little people, I love mini-me
If cats are sufferin' and don't have a voice I'm not tryin' to speak for `em
I only care about things that are important, like
What's he wearin', who's she fuckin', what you snortin'?
Maybe everything in this world ain't how it's meant to be
But I'd rather not have my own identity -
That's how you disappear completely.
Don't change your colors ChameleonKids..
Dream Big
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
"A,B,Y - always be you"
DISCLAIMER: i don't pass judgement on anyone else that i claim to not be guilty of myself. but we gotta push ourselves.
So I'm sitting at the front desk of the illustrious Patapsco Residence Hall, doing what I do best - getting lost in thoughts about la vida loca. And it's hitting me just how much we were born into the world we live in, and what that means. We didn't create it, but we sustain it.
One thing that is mind-blowing to me is the inability that I and i think most people around me have to answer simple questions, the answers to which should be guiding our lives.
for example: What are our goals in life? Do we seek to be as happy as possible? If so, what makes us happy? Why does ice cream and a movie with Ben Stiller getting bit in the balls by a cat make us happy? Why do new clothes make us happy, or feel good about ourselves? Do our sentiments of happiness that arouse from these 'things' carry so much clout that we deserve to spend the same money that could be saving babies on them? Who are we fooling...
Tell me we're not getting lost in time and I'll ask you what has changed in the 3 hours since the scoreboard in the gym was turned on and fans filled the stands, and when it was turned off and popcorn littered the floor? Is life that sweet that we have time for playing games, or better yet watching them? Are everyone's stomachs filled enough that I can drop $15 on a 30-pack and laugh the night away?
so yo, what are we doing?? I don't know how we got to where we are. we're certainly not the brainchilds of it. But we're the children of this madness and the apples aren't falling far from the tree.
Prescription? Listen to the gods - Saul williams, mos def, common, or whoever else will be the apples that hit ya on the head screaming "ollyollyoxenfree" as they free fall from the branches that found the truth in the wind.
Elevate,
John D
So I'm sitting at the front desk of the illustrious Patapsco Residence Hall, doing what I do best - getting lost in thoughts about la vida loca. And it's hitting me just how much we were born into the world we live in, and what that means. We didn't create it, but we sustain it.
One thing that is mind-blowing to me is the inability that I and i think most people around me have to answer simple questions, the answers to which should be guiding our lives.
for example: What are our goals in life? Do we seek to be as happy as possible? If so, what makes us happy? Why does ice cream and a movie with Ben Stiller getting bit in the balls by a cat make us happy? Why do new clothes make us happy, or feel good about ourselves? Do our sentiments of happiness that arouse from these 'things' carry so much clout that we deserve to spend the same money that could be saving babies on them? Who are we fooling...
Tell me we're not getting lost in time and I'll ask you what has changed in the 3 hours since the scoreboard in the gym was turned on and fans filled the stands, and when it was turned off and popcorn littered the floor? Is life that sweet that we have time for playing games, or better yet watching them? Are everyone's stomachs filled enough that I can drop $15 on a 30-pack and laugh the night away?
so yo, what are we doing?? I don't know how we got to where we are. we're certainly not the brainchilds of it. But we're the children of this madness and the apples aren't falling far from the tree.
Prescription? Listen to the gods - Saul williams, mos def, common, or whoever else will be the apples that hit ya on the head screaming "ollyollyoxenfree" as they free fall from the branches that found the truth in the wind.
Elevate,
John D
Friday, February 23, 2007
Food for thought, you do the dishes.
I recently read a blog that discussed whether or not the new culture of 'gangsterism' is ruining hip-hop. This isn't so much a response to that as it is inspired by it. So read on, and discuss.
For most of the history of Hip-Hop it has been widely recognized that there are four main elements: MCing, Break Dancing, Graffiti, and DJing. These four elements sparked competition among individuals and crews in the early days of the artform. Unfortunately it seems as if today's culture is goverened by four new, subversive elements: Shooting, Robbing, Hustling, and almost as an afterthought, Rapping.
The new culture harms the urban environments and low socioeconomic populaces from which today's rappers more than likely rose from. As the other editorial read, "If a rose has grown from concrete, it's ok to rap about the garden, just don't only focus on the dirt." By glorifying crime and material possessions the vision of life outside of the `hood is tremendously warped. It severely limits the solutions for those who take rappers as role models. There are surely many ways out of the ghetto or harsh communities, but when the two most popular often end in leaving in a body bag or jail cell, something has to give. The lyrics of the current top artists give false representation to what life is really like. There are many legitimate ways to improve your socioeconomic status. Rapping is even one of them. The chances of blowing as a rapper, or making it as a professional athlete are highly unlikely. Not to discourage youth from trying to pursue something they're passionate about, but when there are rap songs that actually promote dropping out of school, promote gang life, drug selling and/or taking, that's really not helping anybody but the rapper. It feels as though rap albums are not blueprints for making it out of the hood, but rather for getting buried there.
Rap is not going to change. Hip-hop culture and commercialism is far too profitable for rappers to ever consider trying something different. Currently we are in a rut, entrenched in a game that only creates clones, one after the next. It seems as though another generation of great hip-hop is on its way out the door and ushering in cash cows that only differ in the dance that goes along with their radio single. Everywhere you look in urban America there is rap culture being mimicked. The only problem is none of it is authentic. Cheap knockoffs of everything from polos, allover print hoodies, rims, shoes, wallet chains, run rampant. Everybody seems to be benefiting from the culture except the consumers. They are a passive mass that just eats up whatever is put in front of them, be it on the radio, BET, MTV, or mixtapes. Anybody producing these products can't be expected to try and fuel change. Maybe it can come from within though.
Jay-Z, arguably the best MC of all time, has branched far outside the boundaries of rap. He has his own color for GM cars, his music video is also a commercial for Budweiser, and he is the head spokesman for the reintroduction of Cherry Coke. He also still makes music. His last album, Kingdom Come sold it's fair share of records. On it he spoke of his maturation and what life is like as one of Forbe's richest businessmen. The Grammy's, although no bastion of hip-hop culture, saw fit to nominate Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, and Ludacris for album of the year, with the latter winning it. All three are more conscious rappers who shun the popular convention of drug talk and gun play. This also doesn't try to ignore the contribution of artists like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, and the many other well and unknown rappers willing to buck the trend in expression.
As promising as that sounds, the media is not committed to projecting more positive music. On another hip-hop awards show sponsored by and aired on by BET, awards like "Hustler of the Year" were given out. Here is a mass media outlet, dedicated to Black Entertainment and giving air time to African American perspectives often ignored by other avenues, glorifying this gangsta culture. It's original programming, with shows like "American Gangsters" serve to perpetuate the stereotype that if you want to get rich, there are limited ways to go about it. If a channel like BET was willing to ignore the bottom line and produce something more constructive, perhaps we could see a great change in a culture that seems to offer little in the way of realistic and productive inspiration.
I understand this is not a complete essay, with arguments from many sides left out, but hopefully it gets you thinking about the music you're listening to, and the culture and products you're consuming. Let me hear your side of things, comment!
For most of the history of Hip-Hop it has been widely recognized that there are four main elements: MCing, Break Dancing, Graffiti, and DJing. These four elements sparked competition among individuals and crews in the early days of the artform. Unfortunately it seems as if today's culture is goverened by four new, subversive elements: Shooting, Robbing, Hustling, and almost as an afterthought, Rapping.
The new culture harms the urban environments and low socioeconomic populaces from which today's rappers more than likely rose from. As the other editorial read, "If a rose has grown from concrete, it's ok to rap about the garden, just don't only focus on the dirt." By glorifying crime and material possessions the vision of life outside of the `hood is tremendously warped. It severely limits the solutions for those who take rappers as role models. There are surely many ways out of the ghetto or harsh communities, but when the two most popular often end in leaving in a body bag or jail cell, something has to give. The lyrics of the current top artists give false representation to what life is really like. There are many legitimate ways to improve your socioeconomic status. Rapping is even one of them. The chances of blowing as a rapper, or making it as a professional athlete are highly unlikely. Not to discourage youth from trying to pursue something they're passionate about, but when there are rap songs that actually promote dropping out of school, promote gang life, drug selling and/or taking, that's really not helping anybody but the rapper. It feels as though rap albums are not blueprints for making it out of the hood, but rather for getting buried there.
Rap is not going to change. Hip-hop culture and commercialism is far too profitable for rappers to ever consider trying something different. Currently we are in a rut, entrenched in a game that only creates clones, one after the next. It seems as though another generation of great hip-hop is on its way out the door and ushering in cash cows that only differ in the dance that goes along with their radio single. Everywhere you look in urban America there is rap culture being mimicked. The only problem is none of it is authentic. Cheap knockoffs of everything from polos, allover print hoodies, rims, shoes, wallet chains, run rampant. Everybody seems to be benefiting from the culture except the consumers. They are a passive mass that just eats up whatever is put in front of them, be it on the radio, BET, MTV, or mixtapes. Anybody producing these products can't be expected to try and fuel change. Maybe it can come from within though.
Jay-Z, arguably the best MC of all time, has branched far outside the boundaries of rap. He has his own color for GM cars, his music video is also a commercial for Budweiser, and he is the head spokesman for the reintroduction of Cherry Coke. He also still makes music. His last album, Kingdom Come sold it's fair share of records. On it he spoke of his maturation and what life is like as one of Forbe's richest businessmen. The Grammy's, although no bastion of hip-hop culture, saw fit to nominate Lupe Fiasco, The Roots, and Ludacris for album of the year, with the latter winning it. All three are more conscious rappers who shun the popular convention of drug talk and gun play. This also doesn't try to ignore the contribution of artists like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common, and the many other well and unknown rappers willing to buck the trend in expression.
As promising as that sounds, the media is not committed to projecting more positive music. On another hip-hop awards show sponsored by and aired on by BET, awards like "Hustler of the Year" were given out. Here is a mass media outlet, dedicated to Black Entertainment and giving air time to African American perspectives often ignored by other avenues, glorifying this gangsta culture. It's original programming, with shows like "American Gangsters" serve to perpetuate the stereotype that if you want to get rich, there are limited ways to go about it. If a channel like BET was willing to ignore the bottom line and produce something more constructive, perhaps we could see a great change in a culture that seems to offer little in the way of realistic and productive inspiration.
I understand this is not a complete essay, with arguments from many sides left out, but hopefully it gets you thinking about the music you're listening to, and the culture and products you're consuming. Let me hear your side of things, comment!
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
history's not a griot
john mac gets the Visa for demanding from us some print, reminding us that just talking a good game is about as useless as thinking one. and you get some credit too, because "you could be anywhere else on the internet but you're here with us..."
You all better write your own shit too so I could learn about what really goes on. but for now it's my blog, so i'm about to get self-centered for a minute, don't mind me...
so who i am? I am. my mom's pancakes, my father's rough draft letters to the editor sitting on the coffee table, my brother's picnic table backlifts. oakwood blvd block parties, 2 slices of napoli's and a coke for 8 quarters, kick the can behind that ranch on santa anna, bike helmets strapped to handlebars banging forearms but sparing embarassement, lunch without a lunch card. i am PK's willie mays, shaky murph's sixth man, and hayes' cranium competition. i am kaza's fan club, tom quinn's smuggler, beehive's nemesis and ms. mauriello's greatest admirer. i am PMS's luke warm water, vassar's tea bag smokestacks, and the southside's streetsweeper. i am a fucking Cold Vein, indebted to the pain in the poetry of all the rappers who have been the soundtrack to my life. i am every friend, family member, teacher, crush, and stranger who fill the scenes of my childhood memories.
you have defined my existence.
One thing I have learned, one of the few things i know, is that there are multiple truths. For myself, life has been beautiful. and I'm convinced of this fact so don't try to tell me that life's a bitch . But my life has been in the shadow of, even at the expense of, many whose lives have been tainted. These are both realities - meaning just that - they are both real.
So I write, and seek to exist, with the hope of my reality prevailing - to let it be bright.
If there is a life after death, and a God that judges us, (which i believe there is) i think God will do just that. He will judge US. There's one life, one love, and I got a feeling we'll all be sitting in front of God together, being judged as ONE. No heroes, no scapegoats, no saved, and no damned. Just us, the world we've left, the progress we've made, the love we've showed, the justice we've found, and the humanity we've defined.
Love life. Be humbled by death. And like Tupac said,
"It's time for us as a people to start making some changes..."
The past was. The future's ours.
it's that serious,
John
You all better write your own shit too so I could learn about what really goes on. but for now it's my blog, so i'm about to get self-centered for a minute, don't mind me...
so who i am? I am. my mom's pancakes, my father's rough draft letters to the editor sitting on the coffee table, my brother's picnic table backlifts. oakwood blvd block parties, 2 slices of napoli's and a coke for 8 quarters, kick the can behind that ranch on santa anna, bike helmets strapped to handlebars banging forearms but sparing embarassement, lunch without a lunch card. i am PK's willie mays, shaky murph's sixth man, and hayes' cranium competition. i am kaza's fan club, tom quinn's smuggler, beehive's nemesis and ms. mauriello's greatest admirer. i am PMS's luke warm water, vassar's tea bag smokestacks, and the southside's streetsweeper. i am a fucking Cold Vein, indebted to the pain in the poetry of all the rappers who have been the soundtrack to my life. i am every friend, family member, teacher, crush, and stranger who fill the scenes of my childhood memories.
you have defined my existence.
One thing I have learned, one of the few things i know, is that there are multiple truths. For myself, life has been beautiful. and I'm convinced of this fact so don't try to tell me that life's a bitch . But my life has been in the shadow of, even at the expense of, many whose lives have been tainted. These are both realities - meaning just that - they are both real.
So I write, and seek to exist, with the hope of my reality prevailing - to let it be bright.
If there is a life after death, and a God that judges us, (which i believe there is) i think God will do just that. He will judge US. There's one life, one love, and I got a feeling we'll all be sitting in front of God together, being judged as ONE. No heroes, no scapegoats, no saved, and no damned. Just us, the world we've left, the progress we've made, the love we've showed, the justice we've found, and the humanity we've defined.
Love life. Be humbled by death. And like Tupac said,
"It's time for us as a people to start making some changes..."
The past was. The future's ours.
it's that serious,
John
You're kind of like a hip-hop song, yah know?
I've got a few thoughts brewin', but I still think that we have to lead things off with a little introduction. If you're reading this (through luck, accident, serendipity, or a favor ha) then you tuned in to the new blog for free expression brought to you by three of PK's finest.
I like to think of us as a constellation right now.
I'm John Mac, burning bright in Poughkeepsie. I'm in between schools right now, but still very much a student. Between trying to figure out what school I'm gonna be at next semester (or what country, right?) and handling school right now I've got a lot cooking. I love to read, novels, non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, drama -- good looks on that topdog|underdog Pat-- and catch flicks. I listen to a ton of music, mostly hip-hop and rap though. I'm interested in a whole lot, but I'm caught up in the education game hardbody. I'm on the track to becoming an educator myself right now, either at a secondary or [under]graduate level. My path's not straight and it's taking what seems more and more twists on a day to day basis, ce la vie.
Of course there's my right hand man, JD shining in Ballamore. I'll let the man do his own intro and background. On some real though, this is the most socially conscious dude I'm down with right now and for all the heat he takes (from me mostly) I got a lot of love for what he's doing - and is gonna do! Big things! Listen up especially to his blogs y'all, he's got a lot to say. Let's spark the discussion.
Right now the roster is rounded out by the final star, Patrick Cervantes, currently shooting over the Atlantic and into Paris. He's gonna bring international flavor to our little slice of Heaven. My man is down with culture, production and consumption. He drops real fresh writtens, freestyles - you name it. But again, I'll let the god speak for himself when the time comes.
So listen up y'all, you might learn a thing or two. Hopefully we learn something from you too, participate in the discussion forreal. Our goal is to express ourselves when we need to blow, and inspire those of you kind enough to read. If you want to contribute, hit me up, there's always room for more.
Word, get out and do it. We're shining together but as Camp Lo says, "Don't watch the stars, the stars ain't fallin'."
I like to think of us as a constellation right now.
I'm John Mac, burning bright in Poughkeepsie. I'm in between schools right now, but still very much a student. Between trying to figure out what school I'm gonna be at next semester (or what country, right?) and handling school right now I've got a lot cooking. I love to read, novels, non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, drama -- good looks on that topdog|underdog Pat-- and catch flicks. I listen to a ton of music, mostly hip-hop and rap though. I'm interested in a whole lot, but I'm caught up in the education game hardbody. I'm on the track to becoming an educator myself right now, either at a secondary or [under]graduate level. My path's not straight and it's taking what seems more and more twists on a day to day basis, ce la vie.
Of course there's my right hand man, JD shining in Ballamore. I'll let the man do his own intro and background. On some real though, this is the most socially conscious dude I'm down with right now and for all the heat he takes (from me mostly) I got a lot of love for what he's doing - and is gonna do! Big things! Listen up especially to his blogs y'all, he's got a lot to say. Let's spark the discussion.
Right now the roster is rounded out by the final star, Patrick Cervantes, currently shooting over the Atlantic and into Paris. He's gonna bring international flavor to our little slice of Heaven. My man is down with culture, production and consumption. He drops real fresh writtens, freestyles - you name it. But again, I'll let the god speak for himself when the time comes.
So listen up y'all, you might learn a thing or two. Hopefully we learn something from you too, participate in the discussion forreal. Our goal is to express ourselves when we need to blow, and inspire those of you kind enough to read. If you want to contribute, hit me up, there's always room for more.
Word, get out and do it. We're shining together but as Camp Lo says, "Don't watch the stars, the stars ain't fallin'."
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