Music playing on my iPod

Lately I've been listening to several things. In hip-hop, of course I've been rocking Cudi, Jay-Z, a Raekwon but I've also been getting into UNI, Pac Div, and the Cool Kids(I been on them but I just started back heavy listening to them). UNI and Pac Div make the hip-hop I remember as a kid. Its like Fresh Prince meets Tribe Called Quest. I have been listening to alot of alternative rock/pop. Of that genre I'm really getting into the bands MGMT and Vampire Weekend. MGMT is unlike anything I've ever really liked before. They've got a downtown electric sound to them that has influenced rap as of late(Kid Cudi's album, Jay-Z's album, and Drake's So Far Gone all have a lil MGMT DNA in them lol). As far as Vampire Weekend goes they have a laid back feel and I've been listening to the for a while. And as far as the throwback music I've had in rotation: Debarge, Blackstreet, Prince, The Beatles, and Weezer have been getting a lot of play on my Ipod as of late. So here is a playlist of songs you should have:

1. Forever-Drake ft. Kanye, Wayne, Eminem
2. Think Good Thoughts-Drake ft Phontae
3. Soundtrack to My Life-Kid Cudi
4. Up, Up, and Away-Kid Cudi
5. Thank You-Jay-Z
6. A Star is Born-Jay-Z ft. J.Cole
7. Beautiful Day-U-N-I
8. My Life-U-N-I
9. Electric Feel-MGMT
10. Oxford Comma-Vampire Weekend
11.A-Punk-Vampire Weekend
12. Passin Me By-Pac Div
13. Driving Down the Block(remix)-Kids in the Hall
14. Juicy-Emily Wells
15. No Diggity-Blackstreet
16. Come Together-The Beatles
17. While My Guitar Gently Weeps-The Beatles
18. I am the Walrus-The Beatles

The World Is Yours

We are living at an interesting time. We have war, calls for anarchy, liars, hypocrites, pimps, preachers, and politicians. We also stand at a moment were it is one thing our generation has the chance to stand for....truth. Now by truth I dont mean what ur moms, pops, pastor, teacher, friend, or politician says is truth but what is actual truth. Truth is something we find only after learning all sides of what different people call the truth. For too long in this country we have let people tell us what is truth. But in an age where on your phone you can google anything we must look past the old ways of determining facts. In my History as a Discipline class we learned about the 4 processes to learning the truth as far as history. The first is what you think you know, the things people have been telling you your whole life and what you have come to decide is fact. The next part is learning the actual truth according to statistics, testimonies, and different opinions. The third is the realization of everything you were taught about history and the world is just someone's opinion and you are stuck in confusion. The final stage is when you learn that history and fact is only what people make it. To get to that forth stage you have to realize that people want you to think a certain way to control you. And you also must decide that when you hear the truth you have to options-choose to accept it and try and learn more or go back in the cave and believe the lie. Its like in the Matrix when Neo has to decide if he will choose the red or blue pill-reality or the false reality he believed in his life. And for too many people they choose to ignore the facts and be a drone. But can we change anything as drones? Of course not by choosing lies we choose continuity instead of change. And without change we are left with the same problems that always exist. We havent chose fact in our politics we chose simplicity. When we find out or schools are failing and the children arent ready for life, what do we do? We say, hey, lets make school easier and maybe people wont fail as much. But thats not the answer how about parents step up and get involved with their children and give teachers more money to get the best possible. But parents dont want their children to learn, they want them to make As. We dont want our children to change the world, we want them to be part of the normal working class that hates their meaningless jobs and do it just for a paycheck. But it doesnt have to be that way, because at the end of the day-The World is Yours. You can choose to be that drone, that pawn. Or you can choose truth and stand up for truth and tell the establishment to fuck off, we are tired of living the lies you want us to live. We can change most of the problems in this world by doing something about it. Want better education-work with kids and make sure parents do their jobs, we want more control over the truth-demand it. We are not talking about protest we are talking about revolution and the revolution starts with knowledge. Dont stand by old excuses demand answers to the questions we all want to know. Why do schools fail so many? Why are we in a war that is killing more of our people than our enemies? Why do people in America die of hunger and are denied rights? Why do we want to talk about celebrities more than race, health care, and overall truth? We can get these answers, but you have to choose to come out the cave and swallow the pill. We have to decide complacency is not want we want we want change. We want the truth. And then and only then will we be free from mental shackles. And then-The World is Yours....holla

Why America is scared of everything....

Why are Americans' scared to talk about race? It could be we are afraid to open up the sins of our forefathers(yes some of my ancestors owned slaves). It could be that we think that racism doesnt exist unless black people are sprayed down with hoses, only allowed to go to certain restrooms and drink from certain fountains, or are not denied constitutional rights. Or maybe the answer lies in the fact that none of us want to recognize our natural prejudices. I think its a combination of all of those things. People often make the mistake of thinking racism is only about the overtly racist things in the past. Racism isnt about that, its about not thinking that someone is like you just because of their skin color. And we also make the mistake in thinking that racism is only about black and white people instead of everyone from Native Americans, Mexicans, Italians, the Irish, and any other race in the world. But I feel like everyone is so scared to talk about race because its such a confusing topic and it makes people feel guilty. But we only add to that by refusing to recognize it or by painting anything directed to someone of another race as racist. Like I said earlier, I dont think Joe Wilson was racist is saying "You Lie". I do think it was dumb but that shit happens everyday. But there are things directed at the President that are racist. Comparing him to a monkey, a witchdoctor, or anything else is racist. And I think by saying that racism doesnt exist is horrible. I've experienced things in my life that had to do with race. They include experiences with black people and white people. Black people and white people in the past have treated me different because of how dark my skin was. Yes I get racially profiled by police more than alot of white ppl, but I also get profiled more than alot of lighter skinned black people. Racism exist in every culture of the world and the only way to change that is to quit throwing words and start listening to one another. And its not just race we are scared to talk about. We are scared to about education, sexism, politics, and anything else important. But we will talk about what Kanye West says at the VMAs, how Michael Vick is a criminal, how Brittney Spears is crazy, how Michael Jackson was weird, how Madonna was a whore, and how Whitney Houston was a drug addict. You know why....because America is scared of anything. We are scared to live in reality so we make celebrities gods. And we drive them crazier than they were before they became celebrities. Yeah Michael Jackson was weird but we made him seem so crazy that his own friends avoided him and let him die alone. We drove Whitney and Brittney to do mass amounts of drugs and craziness. Why? Because we dont want to live in our lives so we pressure other normal people to be superior. So the cycle continues. When will we learn to quit being afraid of shit and listen to each other. Maybe never but at least for me I will change the world around me. And if everyone started changing the way they act and how they listen and argue maybe the world wouldnt seem so different in someone else's skin. I put the picture of slave shackles above because we are SLAVES. One of my teacher's (Dr. Greene) talked about how there cannot be a slave without a master. So we are the slaves to the norm or what we feel is normal and the masters are the people who control what we think is normal. But thats another discussion isnt it? Think about it.....

Why I think part of the backlash against Obama has to do with race.

The picture above could be left without caption and it would just prove what I am about to say. This picture was held by protestors at the National Tea Party, Saturday. People have been saying they dont agree with Obama. I can understand that at certain points but when people say that some of the backlash is not about race, that is a lie. If that was true alot of things wouldnt happen. People wouldnt have called him a muslim, sent in more death threats than any president, circulated fake food stamps with Obama's picture on it (along with a bucket of chicken, some watermelon, and the kool aid man), people wouldnt question was he born in America, and all the other things that have happened that step out the bounds of a genuine debate about policy. Now alot has happened over the last few weeks. First Congressman Wilson said that dumbass comment calling the president a lie. Do I think that was about race? Actually no but it was stupid as hell considering the thing he said Obama lied about was clearly written in the healthcare(no healthcare provided for illegal immigrants). But I do think that things are out of control. The reason I feel this bullshit is partially racist is that when people are speaking out against Obama it is not about why healthcare should be changed, why we are building debt, or any reasonable argument it is about Obama is not one of us, a real American. And because I am studying history in school the only times people have asked that question in the past is about foreigners and minorities. So if its not about race what is it. And dont say that Socialist or Fascist bullshit FOX and all the other fringe people of America say. All that is, is a distraction. From changing America. When will people realize the things that make us similar are greater than the things that divides us. And when will people realize people have invested intrest in dividing us. Healthcare reform is not about the government taking over. The public option is about taking the power of life and death from insurance companies. Its only a few insurance companies in america-Blue Cross and State Farm being largest. And they have so much power because of little competion that have established a monopoly on insurance. So why is it that people say they dont want a public option? Because the insurance companies are paying them to say that. In a recent poll, most doctors support a public option because they actually will get paid more if insurance companies dont have as much power. Life and Death in america is decided by insurance companies and they dont make their decisions based on anything besides money. But to get back to my original point I think we are stirring a pot of hate that can only lead to tragedy. Hate groups numbers are up along with death threats to politicans so how can we say race has nothing to with this debate. The picture above isnt about anything other than race. It shows the first african american president as an african witch doctor. How is that not about race? This conversation is not over so stay updated...

Album Review: Man on the Moon: End of Day

I have listened to every type of music. On the 10,000+ songs on my laptop & iPod i have hip-hop,R&B, blues, Alt. Rock, Punk Rock,Classic Rock, Country, Bluegrass, Jazz, and anything else. But Kid Cudi's MOTM is by far the most unique hip-hop album I've ever heard. This CD is amazing. The set up of the album is really interesting in how he made the cd tell the story of dreaming rim cycles. The album is pretty dark to be honest and since I'm usually blue I can relate to mostly every lyric on here. He has some really deep intimate lyrics on this CD. In songs like "Sountrack to my Life", "Sky Might Fall", and "Solo Dolo" he explains his pain and how he wrestles with demons alot. Even his biggest song, "Day N' Nite" is about trying to find solitude in marijuana in the midst of death and change surrounding him. So with that in mind I wasnt that suprised to hear the level of heaviness. The only hip-hop album I can compare this to is 808 (which he wrote like half of). And since I loved 808 I also really like this CD. If I made an abum right now with a huge budget it would sound like MOTM. So in the end I think this CD is a game changer and a great debut album for probably the most diverse rapper since Lupe. And also this CD shows how this new class of hip-hop is the best in a long long time.

Album Review: Blueprint 3

This week, BP3 dropped officially. By now I'm sure you have heard at least a couple of tracks not already released as singles. So I have decided to give you my point of view. First, let me say that this is the album of the year hands down. And also this might be Jay-Z's best album since Black Album. Now I love both American Gangster and Kingdom Come and both brought him fans that would have never listened to him. But this album is a Jay-Z album. What I mean is American Gangster was a concept album and told the story of a hustler, Kingdom Come told the story of a grown ass man, and BP3 reminds you why Jay-Z is hands down the best rapper alive and probably the greatest MC to ever live(scandalous). When the Black Album dropped it showed people who had doubted for so long that he was and is the best alive. Black Album is one of the top 10 albums of this decade for sure and one of the greatest rap albums ever. BP3 shows you once again that all that bullshit about Lil' Wayne being the best rapper alive is bullshit. Now if Lil' Wayne would sit his as down as make an album and not a collection of singles he might have a lil more consideration in my book. But as for now Jay-Z is it no debates. And w/ this album he proves it. I mean the first single of his album was D.O.A. which killed every rapper using it and might have killed auto-tune period. And this album has many songs that remind you the best rapper alive is 6'2" has no tattoos and is from Brooklyn. My favorite tracks personally are: Thank You, Empire State of Mind, As Real As It Gets, On to the Next One, and a Star is Born. That is alot. And with the singles added that is fucking amazing. This is off one disc. So yes BP3 is a classic and Jay-Z just dropped the first pure Rap Classic in almost 2 years. So please support good music buy it....HOLLA

The importance of mythology in Hip-Hop

The fact that the multi-millionaire(near billionaire) above started life as a kid who lived in poverty and turned to drug dealing is amazing. That is to me the most amazing thing about hip-hop and in all America. And it also speaks to the mythology of the American Dream. The most important thing about an artist is image and backstory. And Jay-Z image is near mythological. Look at Reasonable Doubt. It is as much about living in hell and wanting to get out. Yes he talks about drugs but it is from the positions of the evil and pain involved in it. One of my favorite Jay-Z lines is from Fallin'(American Gangster) in which he says "I guess its 2 sides to what substance abuse is". Also, many times people try and make Jay-Z seem out of touch or "not hood enough" which is absurd. Just how the Wu-Tang Clan got there style and swag from watching Kung-Fu movies on Saturdays, television and movies helped develop Jay-Z. Gangster movies are the most popular movies especially to men. Scarface, The Godfather, Goodfellas, Carlito's Way, and ever other crime drama has molded American Pop Culture. And it has definately molded hip-hop. Remember, Biggie called himself "Frank White" who is a character in the movie "King of New York". Also, Jay-Z first album featured him on the cover wearing a fedora and scarf looking like he was Frank Lucas himself. And to say a dude from Bed-Stuy is not hood is ridiculous, he is from the streets but became a man and dresses and acts like it. Why would he talk about tee-shirts, js, and chains when he can afford Gucci suits, louie sneakers, and Rolexs? And the thing I like about Jay, is he isnt satisfied. He is already rich, he is trying to be wealthy. Wealth means if Jay and B ever have kids, and then grandkids them muthaf- will still be rich. Black people always wanna get rich to flaunt that shit and we never want to leave things for our kids and its cool a dude is trying to change that. So hate him if u want but Jay-Z is the American Dream....