Slaughterhouse Travis Barker Remix!!! - The One

Dude is nice!!!



Get Slaughtered!!!

New Alicia Keys!

So my verdict is still out on this joint. I will say that I am totally confused by the blatant rip from Usher's "Moving Mountains" video - minus the rain of course. Check it out 4 yourself. Alicia is still dope though! I would just ask the director, "Wadupwitdaaaatttt!?"



Get Love! Strong Love!!!

New Q-Tip featuring Norah Jones

Dope Song! I still need to get the new album.



Get Free! Get LOve!

Johnnie Taylor "Disco Lady"

Shout out to all the Johnnie Taylor lovers. This one is dedicated to Vera B. Woods!

NEW RAHEEM DEVAUGHN ft. LUDACRIS - “BULLETPROOF”

New John Mayer!!!

Kanye West "We Were Once A Fairytale" Short Film

So Kanye posted this on his blog last week, and it was taken down. Its a pretty dope shorty, but it almost seems prophetic given his episode a month ago - at least as far as the drunken ignorance. The whole bathroom scene....yeah....

MOS DEFINITELY DOPE!!!

Saw this on current last week. I just had to find the link and post it.

Chek it out!




Chase Dreams!!!

10 Years Old Cruners on ELLEN

Saw this video on GLOBAL 14 earlier this week. These guys should have bright futures ahead of them.

JD @ the Blogworld event last week...

JDBLOGWORLD from SO SO DEF on Vimeo.

Chris Rock & Nia Long The GOOD HAIR Interview

I am trying to see this movie this weekend. "Reelblack TV's Robin Laverne Wilson caught up with Chris Rock and Nia Long to discuss their award-winning documentary GOOD HAIR. Good Hair is in Theaters everywhere October 23, 2009."

Pray for the Family

Check Out this article from the dasouth.com concerning Juan "Enock" James. I got a chance to meet this brother and the rest of the Cross Movement guys at a youth conference ten years ago (I am getting Old!).


Juan "Enock" James: July 12, 1974 to October 17, 2009
Saturday, 17 October 2009 13:40 | Written by Tre9

On Saturday morning, October 17, 2009, Juan "Enock" James was pronounced dead. While at his job in Houston, TX, he collapsed from what is most likely a severe heart attack. The autopsy results are not in yet to confirm the final cause of death. This was an unexpected occurence and a complete shock to his family, freinds and fans. All that is known of his condition is that he had hypertension and was on medication to stabilize his blood pressure, but nothing indicated he would suffer a heart attack.

Born on July 12, 1974 in Philadelphia, PA, Enock lived his life for the Lord until his death. Juan James was one of the founding members of The Cross Movement and is heard on Heaven's Mentality, House of Representatives and Human Emergency. In 2001, he relocated to Houston, TX to work on his solo album, AWEthentic, with Much Luvv Records. Earlier this year, Enock along with former label mate Cruz Cordero, made a guest appearance on the song "Da Body" from The Tonic's The Dash album. In Houston, he continued working underground with local rap ministries such as PHF Productions, AZA, CRS and Bless'T.

In Texas, he is survived by his wife Natalie James who gave birth to Jana James in 2005. In Pennsylvania, he is survived by Genesis James (9yrs), Juan James Jr. (11yrs.), and Chavonna James (17yrs).

Benefit concert in memory of former Cross Movement founder Juan "Enock" James
Thursday, 22 October 2009 15:50 | Written by Tre9

Many of us have been mourning the death of our dear brother in Christ, Juan "Enock" James, who went to be with the Lord Saturday October 17th, 2009. Although our brother is in a better place, many of us in the Christian hip hop ministry and industry will miss him greatly. In times like these, we come together as the body of Christ to offer a hand to the immediate family left behind. Although nothing we do will take away the grief that his loved ones are experiencing , we can show our love and support in other ways.

We are asking the Christian hip hop community to attend, donate, and support the Enock Benefit Concert celebrationg the life of Juan "Enock" James. Much Luvv Records will be hosting this benefit concert on Tuesday, October 27th from 7:30pm - 9:30pm at The Prince Complex 3000 Jensen Dr. Houston, TX 77026.

Christian artists will have the opportunity to donate financially by paying a $25 per song registration fee. Once your payment is made we will contact you within 2 days about your performance time slot. Admission to the event will be free, and a love offering will be collected at the event. If you are unable to attend this event but would like to make a donation, please see the information below. 100% of all registration fees and donations will be given to Mrs. Natalie James.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE THROUGH PAYPAL
You may mail your contribution, payable to Natalie James at:

Much Luvv Records
c/o The James Family
7640 Lone Meadow Ct.
Houston, TX 77095


The James family appreciates all of your prayers and financial support. If you have any questions please contact tre9@dasouth.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Lecrae ft. Tedashii: Go Hard Video

Yeah Lecrae is one of a handful of christian rappers that I support. The video is short and sweet, but the song got major go!

Get Free!!!

When making men....

I remember vividly what these streets did to me. So picture me letting these clowns nitpick at me - paint me like a "pickaney" (pickney)..."

- Jay-Z
"What More Can I Say!"


I have been working with youth for quite some time now, and a conversation that I had with one of my students put me in a reflective state. This particular student was serving the last few days of his In-School Suspension stay for some poor decisions he made in class the past week. As an additional assignment, I had him read an article about domestic abuse in the black family. After reading the article, I had the student write a reflection and discuss his ideas with me. In his summation of the main point of the article he expressed that black men that commit acts of domestic violence and abuse, typically do so from a baseline of low self esteem. After reading the article, the young man began to piece together the information conveyed in the article with the decisions that he had made in class. Typically for an educator this would be the moment when a little part of you wants to run around the room shouting like the woman that always seemed to lose her damn mind "catch the Holy Ghost" at the same time every Sunday back at my home church.

Why?

Because for a brief moment He got it!

Now don't for a second get it twisted...I in no way assume that this student's one moment of personal epiphany will materialize into some immediate, longlasting change of behavior. His realization will most likely not turn him into an instant success story. This moment is merely a doorway - a doorway that, if taken, can lead him toward self awareness. It will lead him to a knowledge of self that is too often left untouched by young black men - particularly those who live and breath in the war zones that we sometimes mistake for neighborhoods and streets.

*And please call off the "everybody and everything ain't bad/there's some good in the hood" dogs! I am well aware of the fact that not everyone in the hood is a blood thirsty psychopath with a drug cartel, a gang membership card, 10 illegitimate children spawned from 10 separate, but nonetheless, unstable relationships, and a deferred dream of being a rap star/athlete/president(felt good throwing that shit in there)/kingpin ("my nigga" - insert Frank Lucas voice here.)/sex addict(Shout out Eric Benet!).*

Knowledge of oneself should never be mistaken for an awareness of one's situation or circumstance. Black boys and girls from tough neighborhoods and backgrounds are all to aware of their situations. What they many times lack is an understanding of what they truly need to be successful. We (I feel it is better to use "we", because I came up the same way most inner city black youth come up. I had to learn the same lessons - shit, I am still learning.) have to gain an understanding of what it is that we need to grow. We have to begin to question what makes us respond in the ways that we do.

We must all realize that our reactions to life's situations are many times rooted in a our own self-image. Contrary to popular belief, young men have just as many issues with self-esteem and body image as young women; they just react to their issues differently. Unfortunately, in many cases, they react with violence. Black boys with poor self-image become black men with poor self-image; many times still reacting to their issues with the safe methods. We have to begin to help our young men and women learn to love themselves - something I think about when with my son often.

So, if you get an opportunity to help, mentor, or just talk to a young black boy or girl, check and see how they feel about themselves foreal and then act accordingly!

Get Free.Get Love.Get Love for self!!!

Da' T.R.U.T.H.'s "LOST" Music Video feat. Tia Pittman

So, I will admit that I had stopped messing with a lot of Cross Movement artists, but every once in a while Da Truth makes me listen. This song is dope.

My Heroes : Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee to Yolande Cornelia, Sr. and Jones "Gus" Giovanni. She grew up in Lincoln Heights, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1960 began her studies at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, her grandfather's alma mater. She graduated in 1967 with honors, receiving a B.A. in history. Afterwards she went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. In 1969 Giovanni began teaching at Livingston College of Rutgers University.

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She don't hold no punches!

Been a long time.....shoudna left u...

Good evening good people! Its been a second since my last blog (not counting the joint about my heroe big q, which went up like 2 hours ago.). I have been doing some planning and rerstucturing of how I am going to attack the blog. I have also been filling out law school apps, planning for MA Chicago Chapter, working with the kids. Nonetheless, expect to see some changis on the blog. Speak to you soon!

Get free! Quick! Or it will cost you everything!

King

My Heroes: Quincy Jones

Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American music conductor, record producer, musical arranger, film composer and trumpeter. During five decades in the entertainment industry, Jones has earned a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991. He is best known as the producer of the album Thriller, by pop icon Michael Jackson, which has sold over 110 million copies worldwide, and as the producer and conductor of the charity song “We Are the World”.

In 1968, Jones and his songwriting partner Bob Russell became the first African-Americans to be nominated for an Academy Award in the "Best Original Song" category. That same year, he became the first African-American to be nominated twice within the same year when he was nominated for "Best Original Score" for his work on the music of the 1967 film In Cold Blood. In 1971 Jones would receive the honor of becoming the first African American to be named musical director/conductor of the Academy Awards ceremony. Jones was also the first (and so far, the only) African-American to be nominated as a producer in the category of Best Picture (in 1986, for The Color Purple).[citation needed] He was also the first African-American to win the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 1995. He is tied with sound designer Willie D. Burton as the most Oscar-nominated African American, each of them having seven nominations. At the 2008 BET Awards, Quincy Jones was presented with the Humanitarian Award. He was played by Larenz Tate in the 2004 biopic about Ray Charles, Ray.

Jones was born in Chicago, the oldest son of Sarah Frances (née Wells), an apartment complex manager and bank executive who suffered from schizophrenia, and Quincy Delight Jones, Sr., a semi-professional baseball player and carpenter. Jones discovered music in grade school at Raymond Elementary School on Chicago's South Side and took up the trumpet. When he was 10, his family moved to Bremerton, Washington and he attended Seattle's Garfield High School. He then attended Somerset Academy.

In 1951, Jones won a scholarship to the Schillinger House (now Berklee College of Music) in Boston, Massachusetts. However, he abandoned his studies when he received an offer to tour as a trumpeter with the bandleader Lionel Hampton. While Jones was on the road with Hampton, he displayed a gift for arranging songs. Jones relocated to New York City, where he received a number of freelance commissions arranging songs for artists like Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, and his close friend Ray Charles.

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My Heroes: J Dilla

James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006),[1] also known as J Dilla or Jay Dee, was an American record producer who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan. According to his obituary at NPR.org, he "was one of the music industry's most influential hip-hop artists, working for big-name acts like De La Soul, Busta Rhymes and Common."[2]

Yancey's career began slowly; he was highly regarded among the groups and rappers for which he produced, most notably for the production of critically acclaimed albums by Common, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, and The Pharcyde. He was a member of Slum Village for their acclaimed debut album Fantastic, Vol. 2.[1]

In the early 2000s, Yancey's career as a solo artist began to improve; A solo album Welcome 2 Detroit was followed by a collaborative album with California producer Madlib, Champion Sound, which catalyzed the careers of both artists. Just as his music was becoming increasingly popular, Yancey died in 2006 of the blood disease TTP.

Following his death, the hip hop community became centered upon the music and image of J Dilla.[3] Many of the artists with whom Yancey worked performed or recorded tributes, and a large group of followers voiced their support for the late musician. Yancey's music experienced a rebirth as the producer gained many times more listeners than he had during his life, partly due to media exposure. Though several posthumous albums have been released and others are planned, the massive amounts of unreleased recordings by the producer remain somewhat undetermined. Yancey's estate has also been controverted.[4]

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Nice Kicks!!! : Come and Get Em!!!!

Wow! Read This!

From GetFree.GetLove.ChaseDreams!!!

A History of Violence

A good friend of mine always says to me that the definition of insanity is the act of repeating the same behaviors and expecting a different result. Even if this is not the Merriam-Webster’s definition, it best explains my plight of saving black boys.

I’m sure by now we have all witnessed via WorldStar or YouTube the unfortunate and untimely death of Chicago honor student Derrion Albert. The footage sickened me and nearly brought me to tears. When viewing the video my mind put other faces from my childhood in place of the ones I was seeing. I saw Woo Dog and Spanky, both of whom were high school friends and died on Atlanta’s concrete corners, bullet riddled within a year of one another.

I saw Derrion as “Stinky” a small and loved kid who went to another high school and was stomped to death by an older student for speaking to his girlfriend. I saw Ronnie who is now a public school educator, but had it not been for a gunshot to the knee during a fight with students from a rival high school, who would (not could) have been a professional athlete. Even now as adults, when I see him on occasion I still see an 18-year-old on crutches crushed at the thought of his dream being lost because of an interschool rivalry. A rivalry between Frederick Douglass High and Benjamin E. Mays High nonetheless— cold and brutal irony that in the name of a black emancipator and educator, we black boys waged war in the street against one another. Why did we fight, for what? Truthfully, I still don’t know.

I saw over 20 ghosts in that footage. 20 black boys from my past that met a brutal and untimely demise in the 90’s. 20 deaths in the name of school rivalry, starter jackets, Filas, Air Jordans, crack disputes, gangs, neighborhood cliques, but mostly bullshit based on some old code of ethics “don’t let no nigga disrespect you”. 20 were just the victims I knew. I currently have two dear friends and five associates who will spend the remainder of their natural lives in GA prisons, each for murder. I have others that are now, after 10, 12 and 15 year sentences, just coming home. I’m sorry if I’m going too long on the intro as M. Garland let me know I have a habit of doing, but I’m sad man. I’m tearing as I write this actually because I have lived this existence. I know these boys: Derrion (God bless the dead), Silvonus, Eric and both Eugenes.

My friends were victims and perpetrators. My friends were honor students and rouges. My friends, like all those black boys on that video had been failed by the community, the village. If it indeed takes a village to raise a child, it’s time we admit our entire village is broken. We are a shell of the people we once were. A wicked combination of self doubt, self pity and material self interest that has infested our village like a virus.

Like any virus, it attacks the most vulnerable, the young and the weak. Black youth have suffered from this plague of senseless violence too long. We all experience it, though not always fatal. However when I speak to friends of other races who have never been in a fight, or felt pressure to clique up because of fear, or do not own a gun, or know someone who died young due to violence, or have friends in prison since they were kids, I know this is an outbreak in my village it never affected them. I know this diseased existence is not normal and it’s not right. We are 30, our teens are enduring the exact same suffering we did 10 and 15 short years ago and we have failed. The village has failed.

Since the fires and riots of the 60s—when two of our best were assassinated—and the 70s—when black suffering and criminal culture became a cash cow for Hollywood (Blaxploitation)—our village has become the perfect petri dish for the virus of violence to grow. Add crack based alternative economy that employs the young, add the easy access to guns and lack of job opportunity in the 80’s, minus fathers due to divorce, teen pregnancy, unfair prison sentences, deaths and simple neglect for their children, and you have the recipe for 25 years of black male teen violence in the village.

While this happens, black mothers become the face of the new addict in the crack epidemic and they are demonized in the 90s (Clinton era) as welfare cheats and promiscuous vixens that only seek to have sex and breed. Welfare to work takes mamas out of kids’lives during wake hours leaving the young to explore any vice imaginable. Public schools and classes become lager and the quality of teaching and education takes a sharp turn for the worst.

The Church once a haven for self-organization becomes “Mega” and changes its direction to “Blessing Based;” meaning to Jesus, money matters most. Even parents that are physically present are encouraged to value valuables. This presence of things and absence of elders opens the doorway for the disease of violence to infect once hopeful suburban villages like Clayton Co. near Atlanta and Decatur to the east, homes to Creflo Dollar and Eddie Long’s Churches.

I wanna bring this post on home ya’ll but I’m scattered and rambling because I’m sad. I’m angry at myself. I am angry at the village, I mean the entire village. Dozens of children have died this year in Chicago, and we did nothing. Atlanta, D.C, Detroit, Newark, Miami, N.O., Baton Rouge, Lil Rock, Oakland, thousands are dead and we did and do nothing! We watch the victims and families on local news, CNN and FOX and watch the offenders on 48hrs and American Gangster and Gangland and still we do nothing!

We feel a tinge of sadness for the children that die. We feel bone deep anguish and hurt for those black mamas. We look and feel lucky not to live “there.” We thank God our kid are ok and we resume life in this broken model of a village. We do nothing more! By doing nothing more we keep KILLING OUR CHILDREN!?!?!

By blaming rappers, like adults did when we listened to real violent rap like Esham, Geto Boys, Dayton Fam, N.W.A., The Hard Boys, and Spice One, we are KILLING OUR CHILDREN. We knew at 15 that it took some PE, Ice Cube, OutKast, Goodie Mob, Scarface, 2Pac, Tribe, Hiero and De La to balance our self. We knew at 15 how important self knowledge and growth were and we sought it. So why at 25, 35, 45 do we act as though we are still children (making it rain and big toys) or act as though we never were (forgetting the lessons we learned in our own turbulent teens) and asking for the blood of other children in retribution? Any black adult that condones a child being tried as an adult in these United States is a sociopath themselves. If you are from a major metro city and reared in the 80s or 90s chances are you have engaged in at least one act that could have put u in similar circumstances, had you been caught. I guess through these tears and these words what I’m trying to convey is Derrion, I’m sorry. I apologize, this is MY fault. Silvonus, Erick, Eugene R and Eugene B, I’m sorry we let you young brothers down. We shoulda known with Yummy it was time to take control of things and guide you all better, but we failed you. We shoulda known with Fort and Hoover. We did know actually, and we just turned our heads and let thousand before you kill and die. It’s my fault I knew this was waiting for you lil homies and I did what I could (made some rap records about revolutionary realness) but that ain’t enough. In my post drug dealer, pre-rap year, I mentored and organized with six young men. They called themselves Checking Game. They believed that black men, because of the suffering and murder and violence they had endured and perpetuated, are uniquely qualified to be “champions of justice.” One’s name was E.J., who in spite of a threat on his life testified against a criminal. He went on to become a soldier and later was stabbed and hurt very badly. He was discharged, had to fight to get his general discharge upgraded to an Honorable one and he is attempting to become a cop. I am encouraging that attempt. We need more E.J.s on the APD. He and all five Boys were from Boat Rock, one of Atl’s most notorious housing projects. They made it out, they made it out because of me; we the village were proactive in their life and that allowed them to save themselves. By not being involved we have murdered our children.

Adults should be on every corner in the hood standing defiant and fearless. If our men are unemployed, we need you on that corner at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. bruh. If our women tithe another dollar they must require churches to allow the men of the community to have full access to the churches facilities to oversee after school and gym programs. Frats and sororities must establish intense high school campaigns to counter balance kids’ interest in gangs. Gangs must evolve or go. If gangs cannot organize, educate and restructure membership into a true enterprise that is self regulated and legislated like the Shiners or Masons or other social clubs, they must cease to exist. The black ministers, Rabbis, Imam’s Scholars and civic leaders 25 to 45 must establish civic authority and parents and children must be required to attend a non religious meeting around community growth once a week. Kids should also be required to attend and be taught to organize independent of the parents. This is not all the answers to how to fix our village and end the murder and incarceration of our young but it’s all I can get out through the tears honestly. Please, let’s not argue today I don’t have the energy honestly. Let’s just post solutions that we know have worked in the past or will work. Some examples are: Cuba’s Each One Teach One literacy campaign, the Panther Breakfast Program, The South African Truth and reconciliation committees that allowed victimizers to ask the forgiveness from the person or persons family, the injured or killed, and the Brazilian Youth Movement that fought to get the rights of Brazilian street kids recognized, at a time when the police were killing them like dogs.

I know this post was long. Thank you for reading and thank you for asking me to write about it. I would have just buried it deep in me and lived with the tears had Mutada Mullah/ Atari not asked me to blog about it. So there it is, my raw feelings on a post. I hope that, OG Matt Herbs, Shawty J, Kato, Smel, EMcdl, These Post R Racist, Don Rico, Trondadon and all ya’ll have some uplifting solutions cause the village needs them. Andrew Young (google him) said to me two weeks ago that Benjamin E. Mays was addressing a room of black students and said “it is by no fault of your own that you are 347 years behind. All I ask is can you catch up in 25 years.

We are only 40 years into this cycle of violence and we can end it in 10. 25 to 45 year-olds have lived through this like any survivor of a virus. The antidote is in us. We the hip-hop generation must save ourselves with the knowledge we gained by surviving this condition. We must or we lose another generation to the curable disease of violence that’s killing our village’s children. We must rewrite our history of violence now or the death of Derrion, and those other boys, who by taking his life have destroyed their own, are all in vain. The tears of Derrion’s mother and the mothers of the accused will be a repeated event if we do not reclaim our village and end this violence. Be encouraged (key word COURAGE). It’s BIGGA.

Catch me on Twitter @Killer_Mike. I would love to continue this convo. GTRG…BBB

(via XXL)

Going to see PJ!!!!

I am going to see PJ tonight with the wife. Gonna be DOPE!!!

- Get LOVE!!!

Nice Kicks!!! : Smoothness

Lakai’s Leisure Lean Collection


Lazy Hazy Planet - Stamped Sneakers


Gravis Dylan Joints


More Gavis Dylan