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GUNS IN AMERICA PT.1
(FROM CHICAGO TO SANDY HOOK)
I can remember very clearly the first time I laid my hands on a gun. I can still feel the immediate sense of power and electricity that surge from my hands to my brain. I couldn’t have been a day older then 7 or 8, snooping around 1 of my uncle’s bedrooms while he was babysitting me. It was a small pistol and considering the time frame, probably a “Saturday night special” made popular by “street cats” in the mid 70’s, Popular because they were very cheap and very available. When I first saw it, I thought it was a toy, because I HAD toys that looked like a carbon copy of the very gun I held in my immature hands. I did what most kids who’ve never held a gun do… Pointed the barrel towards my face and click… and then I pulled the trigger again and again, click… It was in that moment, that I became scared.
This thing was different from my “toy guns”. It was heavier and colder and in my naiveté, broke! What I didn’t know was that it was not ‘broken’, but actually, and luckily for me, unloaded. Daam, when I think about it now, that could’ve been a wrap for me! I threw the “broken hunk of metal” back in the drawer I took it from, and bounced before I was caught and got my ass whooped. True, it frightened me, but it also kept a curiosity in me alive, born the very first time I saw gun violence on the television. I didn’t need to wait to see it on T.V. though. No, it was right there for me as soon as I left the safety of my mother’s apartment. I used to collect bullet casings from out of the gutters in the wicked streets of Brooklyn, NY. My buddy’s and I would throw them at each other pretending they were real when we played “cops and robbers”.
I saw a man murdered, shot in the head for his boom box one night while sitting on my terrace. I watched the police, then the coroner, come and pick him up and take his lifeless body away. I listened as the “ol-heads” from the block talk about how that “boy got his head blown off for a goddam radio…” In that same apartment building, a whole family of Columbians were murdered inn an apparent drug deal gone wrong. I got off the elevator one day to visit my cousins who lived in the building and was overwhelmed by the smell of “death”. If you’ve never smelled it you cannot fathom what I mean. I don’t remember how many people were killed but I do recall they were shot, and all of this happening before the age of 13.
AS time passed I began to lose friend after friend leading up to the untimely deaths of my comrades Tupac and Yafeu. Prior to that, my older brother’s dad was even shot, but survived. I say this to say Gun violence is something I know all to well. From an Uncle that I never got a chance to meet to rapper Rick Ross’s Rolls Royce being shot up recently, murder from the barrel of a gun is as familiar to me as the palms of my hands.
Now that was some of my beginning, but lets go all the way back, back to the origins of Guns. That would mean we’d have to travel to China in the 12 century. 3 centuries prior, they invented gunpowder. They started as mini cannon’s, then traveled west, being improved along the way. The Native Americans’ knew nothing of such a weapon and this resulted in them being slaughtered by the thousands, in the name of advancement or exploration by the time the 17th century rolled around. Killing someone became a lot easier and cleaner because of this invention. Our “fore-fathers” knew the importance of the instrument; so much so, it’s the second amendment right after the freedom of speech, assembly, and religion! I won’t even get into the fact that it was only permissible for whites and a “slave’, even a freed black person could be hung if caught with one.
I always felt it was a certain karma that came with firearms, especially when it came to The United States of America. In my opinion this is the exact reason country seems to be the nation who has the biggest issue with them. We out paste most 3RD WORLD countries and “Super powers” in murders per capita. Has anyone wondered why there are so many guns in this country in the first place?
Here are some stats I found that were interesting to me:
Gun Ownership
• The US has an estimated 283 million guns in civilian hands
• Each year about 4.5 million firearms, including approximately 2 million handguns, are sold in the
United States
• An estimated 2 million second hand firearms are sold each year
• The percentage of American households with a gun has been steadily declining high of 54% in
1977 to 33% in 2009
• The average number of guns per owner has increased from 4.1 in 1994 to 6.9 in 2004. Sources:
Injury Prevention 2007; ATF 2000; National Opinion Research Center 2008; Pew Research Center 2009
Gun Deaths: firearms each year in this country More than 30 people are shot and murdered
each day kill More than 30,000 people
1/2 of them are between the ages of 18 and 35
1/3 of them are under the age of 20 Homicide is the second leading cause of death among 15‐24
year‐olds And the primary cause of death among African Americans of that age group
Gun Homicides average annually: Less than 50: Japan Less than 150: Germany, Italy, France,
etc. Less than 200: Canada More than 10,000: USA Source: IANSA International Action
Network on Small Arms of the United Nations
Other countries have citizens who use there right to “bear arms” freely, but as you can see, don’t come close to the U.S. in the amount of deaths from guns. Recently while watching the news, I was amazed at the mile long line of willing participants in L.A.’s “gun buy back program”. Essentially, you can bring you firearm back (to the police); sell it, no questions asked. Of course in these desperate economic times, people were more than willing to give up a couple of their weapons for cold hard cash. Conspiracy theorist cry out “the government wants guns out of the peoples hands, so they can enact Marshall law!” Could there be some truth to that? If so, a gun buy back program is one way to do it, but with over 300 million guns in this country, it would take a hundred years to do this successfully…
After Sandy Hook, there was an outcry for tougher gun laws. Add that with what happened in Colorado this summer and we now have full fledge hysteria! These tragedies stand out because of the amount of casualties that occurred in one setting… But everyday in this great nation’s middle, the city that gave us Obama “the politician”, people are dying in numbers that resemble a small war…
TO BE CONTINUED…
SALUTE.
DJANGO
DJANGO.
(A MOVIE REVIEW AND WHY IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FILM OF 2012-13)
What’s good people! Well the Mayans were wrong, or right depending on how you look at it. Needless to say, we are all still here, on earth and that’s a good thing! Because if they, the Mayans, were right we all would have missed one of the most significant films to come out in the past 10 years or so. Django, starring Jamie Foxx, Samuel Jackson, Kerry Washington, and directed by Quentin Tarentino is really a western styled movie with a slave as its main character. Django is a slave being transported to his new ‘home” after being soled in 1850’s Greenville, Mississippi. Along the way him and His fellow slaves and slave masters cross paths with Dr, Shultz, a German dentist turned bounty hunter. Shultz knows Django can ID his latest bounty and needs him to help him out. In a brutal and typically violent Tarentino opening scene, Shultz takes out Django’s owners and frees him, sort of. That’s the thing about this flick, there’s double messages being thrown at you from all angles at all times. Peep game, I don’t want to tell you the whole plot, incase you haven’t seen it yourself. I must warn you though, it is gory, and it is the type of movie that will make you uncomfortable as you sit thru hearing the word “nigger” about 200 plus times. It’s set years BEFORE the civil war and according to THEIR history books, this is what we were referred as. Samuel L. Jackson, one of our greatest thespians, will make you hate him as he plays the Uncle Tom/house nigga of the worst kind. He is almost giddy as he shuffles to his “master” played by Leonardo DiCaprio, when we first see him. Tarentino, who also wrote the script, magically layers each character, so you almost know them from the screen. Critics complain because slavery is this country’s ugliest past and there is no way to do it right, unless its in a ROOTS styled “whoa AS as me” “sweaty niggas getting whipped and hung” sad ass story kind of way. DJango is not that. He is killing up white people left and right and basically getting away with it in an effort to rescue his wife, Broomhilda, played by Kerry Washington. Django has a mission and “anybody can get it” if they get in him or Dr.Shultz way. In another scene, he literally whips a slave masters ass, and saves a young black girl, who herself was about to be whipped. We have never had THIS story told to us, but it happened. The story of Nat Turner should have been told along time ago. In a way it’s being told through Django. Rebellions happened and they usually ended with some white people dying. With Inglorious Bastarsds, Tarentino showed you the Nazis getting their heads whacked off with baseball bats, in Django you get to see evil, redneck slave owning crackers slaughtered and you love it. It’s guilt free violence served to you on a movie platter. “They aint never seen a nigga on a horse before…” is what Jamie Foxx says to Christopher Waltz as they ride through a small hick town in Texas. Waltz, who also played in Inglorious Bastards as a sinister Nazi General, is grosslyunderrated as an actor, in my opinion. Peep the opening scene in Bastards and tell me you weren’t dam near shiitin ya draws!
IT WASN’T LOSSED ON ME that the Weinstein production company put up the bread to get this done. The only people Jews hate more than a Palenstienie terrorist is a racist white American from somewhere in the South. So sure they green lighted this joint! AND we should all be thankful. Django is a super hero for todays times borrowed from yesterday’s pain. He is the revenge for Alex Haley’s Kunta Kinte Brought to life in 2013. There are two sides to every story and this is the other side of slavery. It was great to see some black characters in control of there on destiny despite being in bondage, You’ll have to see the movie to fully understand that last statement.
This movie is important and timely. There is a shift happening, but its not being televised. There is an awakening happening that was meant to happen right at this very moment.So, rightfully, in 2013 we get to see a “slave movie” where the slave is feared and respected. Yes there are some parts that will make you cringe, and if your black (or a sympathetic white person), make you wish for a time machine and an A-R 15 assault rifle to take with you back to the 1800’s. Still overall, I left the theater feeling somewhat empowered by the experience. I heard Katt Williams had some things to say about the movie and Jamie Foxx’s sexuality, only the latter should any of us care about. His main complaint was about the use of the word ‘nigger’. Like I said before, this is a period piece, meaning it’s set in a different time, during slavery. The movie would’ve lost all credibility if the slave owners referred to their slaves as “sir” or “maam”. Black, yellow, red, brown, or white, go see the movie. Go see the ugliness of slavery and have it shoved back in your face, again. Shit the Jews never will allow the world to forget the Holocaust. This same world should not be allowed to forget Slavery. Unfortunately we don’t get to tell enough of our stories unless we are “shuckle and jiving” or playing non-threatening often demeaning roles. So many actors have had to effeminate themselves to make it to the big-screen (I.e. Eddie Murphy Martin Lawrence, Tyler Perry etc.). Django is a man, black, and you know it right away. Now I don’t know how many “awards’ this motion picture will earn but it would be a crime if it weren’t recognized by both the “industry” and the public for it’s great “big balls”. No pun intended. (Lol) This movie is important because slavery still exist in this country but has been camouflaged in a subtle way and called another name, incarceration.
SALUTE.
P.S. 2013 IS HERE! HERE’S SOMETHIN TO CELEBRATE TO:
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! #OUTLAWLUV #O4L
TODAY’S MARKETING AND PROMOTION
(HOW AND WHY “THEY” GET YOUR MONEY)
DEAR POPEYES CHICKEN,
I HATE YOU MUFUCKAZ!
YOUR’S TRULY
EDIDON
I had to y’all. For those of you who still eat that garbage, don’t take it personal. I to had a love affair with the tasty but unhealthy fast food chicken chain. I remember when they first came on the scene. Being a lil kid in Brooklyn NY, I would pester my mother relentlessly to one day take us there, I naively assumed that my favorite cartoon CHARACTER at the time had ingeniously started selling chicken and I would have to check it out, ASAP! But I do remember thinking “If this is POPEYE’S chicken, how come they don’t sell any spinach?” Wasn’t the wonderful vegetable packed with nutrients essential to healthy living, the very thing Popeye used to kick Brutus’s ass and get his chick, Olive Oil back in almost every episode? “Well why don’t they have any, Ma” I asked. She responded that it wasn’t the same as the cartoon; they just used the name to sell it to us. That was my first experience with direct Marketing and Promotion.
I dislike Popeye’s not only because they sell unhealthy, cheap food, mostly in poor economic areas, but also those horrendouscommercials. We’ve all seen em, for example, the 1 with the older BLACK lady, who wants you to believe she is in every location, somewhere in the back, happily “fryin up some chicken, FOR yall” I’ve done the research and we are not the originators of “Fried Chicken” even though, Historically we (blacks) are considered to be. For the record, Popeyes was started by Al Copeland, a white guy from Louisiana, who also bought Church’s Chicken in 1982. Which brings me to 2012-13. An era that is dominated by hip-hop, not because we sell the most records, that hasn’t happened since 2001, but because we “the hip-hop generation” consume the most! Most records now a days are nothing short of commercials. With your favorite rapper proudly boasting about what he has and buys, while throwing it back into your face that you can’t and probably never will be able to afford any of it.
The major corporations began taking notice in the 80’s. RUNDMC famously made 20,000 people hold up their ADDIDAS in Madison Square Garden and it was officially on and poppin. It took time though and there was some resistance. Timberland let it be known they didn’t give a daam how many “rappers” flaunted and named dropped the boot company they were not made for “us” and didn’t want to be associated with hip-hop publically, but didn’t mind the boost in profits for the fledgling corp. Cristal Champagne dissed us to! After rappers started making real money and hanging with Hollywood stars, they began to get a taste of what the wealthy enjoy. Street cats with large amounts of cash to blow in clubs too were hip to the fancy, sweet tasting drink. But it was the rappers that made it famous to “us”, the consumer.Did Cristal thank us? NO. Jay-Z, a smart dude, began to take notice. He saw the power in his own lyrics and how what HE endorsed could sway his listeners one way or another. Steve Stout, who some of you may remember was cracked in the head by Puffy with a Cristal bottle! (say word,), some years back, is now the liaison between Big Corp USA and the hip-hop world. Him and Jay work together on a number of Ad deals, including Budweiser beer. I can’t knock the hustle (no pun) one bit. He has the Nets thing poppin too. You couldn’t write a better story. Local kid, blows up in the rap world, comes back, and brings an NBA team a few short blocks from the very projects he grew up and sold drugs in. The 4040 clubs, the list goes on. He owns none of them is the face we identify with, so they pay him well. Even Ice Cube, the hardcore political gangsta rapper, now has a deal with Coors beer.Rappers have essentially said, “If you can’t beat em, join em.” Cut me a check. Ciroc is not owned by Puffy, he has a share in the profits, which now have skyrocketed 500% since he got involved a few years ago.
Dr.Dre topped the Forbes list this year, without dropping one record anybody cared about due to the deal he made with Beats By Dre headphones and HTC. Most music videos are sly advertising tools, with product placement throughout. If you see a bottle of liquor deliberately displayed, somebody got a check. But your not getting a dime, in-fact you’re spending hard earned cash, for cds, mp3s, concertsetc.… Can we blame them though? We, the people, are too easily accepting and dismissive of the messages being sent to our children and us. Rappers are capitalist and it takes money to maintain the lifestyles they brag about. Bills got to be paid. All it takes is one MC to name drop on one of his hits, and people run to the mall or the bar and spend money they don’t have to feel like their “in”, or validated. Sure, it’s your paper, spend it how you may. But while you copping them new Js for 250$, ask yourself, do you really like the high priced sneaker? Or did somebody tell you, you liked them.
SALUTE.
P.S. CHECKOUT SOUNDCLOUD.COM/BEATZBYEDI FOR NEW BEATS ON SALE AND EXCLUSIVES FROM “THE HOPE DEALER” ALBUM BY EDIDON DROPPING IN 2013.
What’s Good?
(Do you look at this glass of water as half full or half empty?)
I was wrong.Barack won again. If you follow my blogs you know in my “Like It’s new Years” blog I said he would lose and be a 1 term prez. But hey, I also said the Lakers would win and Miami wouldn’t,so your fault if you believed me! But you can believe this….There’s plenty to be thankful for. So let’s point out a few… What’s really good is that Mike Brown got his walkin papers. Barack is back and A guy named Mitt will not be the nations President. What’s Good is that Melah is doing well and her path to a normal, happy childhood is very possible. Yeah, you guessed right, this is a “happy” blog. I won’t be rantin and raven about fuck shit like normal. I won’t be exposing the “unseen hand” and all it’s treachery. No. We are going languish in the Joy-ness that is life. Now I know some of you on the east coast have no power, still, because of that cold hearted bitch named “Sandy”. To add fuel to the fire a small blizzard just hit y’all up too. And they rationing the gas out. All the more reason to focus on the bright side. At least the Knicks lookin good and thats What’s up! Kendrick Lamars debut album came out a couple weeks ago and iS “really Good”; a complete body of work packed with great lyrics, beats and concepts, a forgotten requirement in today’s rap game. Even the interludes are “good” Salute• What’s Good is watching my peers grind hard and reap the benefits of their labor. What’s good… Is that I’m hearing this ‘Pac movie is finally gonna get done. Fans want it so bad and they deserve it, they and only them are the ones who continue to lift his legacy so high it sits side by side with him in “Heaven” Whats Good… Is the look on racist Caucasians faces the past few days! I live in the south, with Georgia being a “red-neck” state, you see and hear the grumbles. But they keep it to a mumble so that’s good too! What’s good… Is getting a letter from My bro Buck and hearing he’s in good spirits despite being in the “hole” for 23 hours daily (24hours on the weekends) and is taking and doing his time like a Man. He’s Reading, working out an getting mentally prepared for his return. What’s good is… That my other bro CBO will be back on the streets real soon. What’s good is that 2013 Caddy StS (mean!) I could go on… Sure there’s things we could complain about, but why? Nobody cares! Most people you may tell your problems too, can’t help you or are happy to see you down. So we most count or blessings and not the problems. Learning to enjoy life’s gifts, even while in the midst of struggles will help you to not stress. Studies have shown that stress kills more black men then the LAPD. A true survivor knows the things he/she can’t control do not deserve the energy and attention that’s better suited for things one can manage. So the next time somone Asks you “what’s Good”?” Tell em the truth… Tell em “Life!”
Salute.
P.S. @Young_Noble1-Son of God drops Nov. 13 on iTunes.
TheHopeDealer
@TheRealEDIDON
RELATIONSHIPS 101 (LUST OR LOVE?)
If u break down the word “relationship” you have two words combining to make 1. Relate and ship. Two people must “relate” to hop aboard that “ship” to understanding and over-all happiness and bliss. Communication is essential to accomplish this. Now I’m no expert on relationships. I have had my fair share of failed unions. Recently divorced, I’ve been guilty of cheating and being somewhat difficult to live with, not communicating my “real feelings” etc. I realized, through trial and error that my former lovers and me did not relate to each other unless it was sexual. I was a typical man, focused purely on the physical and never giving any time to the inner unless I was “in her”! There is a saying that goes “men are from mars and woman are from Venus.” There are a plethora of books out there teaching us men how to better “relate” to the complex creature we call a female. But honestly, in my opinion, a book can only give you some hints or maybe an idea or two. Every person is different. What makes “her” tick might make “her” sick, and vice versa. A lot of what we as men do to attract woman, is closely related to our pockets. Most men feel as though, now days, a woman isn’t interested in a guy with “financial issues”. “Romance without finance is a nuisance…” is how I heard it as a youngster. In some cases it is 100% true. Lets be real ladies! I will say in defense of the ladies though, they are far less superficial then us dudes. Men are visual. If his lady isn’t visually appealing, then he does not feel proud when he’s around his homies and won’t bring her around, opting to save his attention and affection for those behind closed-door moments. This being the case, we now have an epidemic of artificial breast, ass-shots, facelifts, tummy tucks, weaves… I can go on and on but you get the photo, I’m sure. The ladies feel an overwhelming amount a pressure to look as good as can be to catch a mans eye.
Over 50% of marriages end in divorce these days. I’ve spoke on ‘marriage” before in previous blogs, so you may know how I feel on that subject. Here’s another statistic for you, civil unions or better put “marriages with out the ring or paper work” have been known to last longer than the traditional option.
It’s a bitch (no pun intended) to find love being an artist. You never know who’s really down for you or on they come up and you are their latter. Ladies have a difficult time trusting famous men, because of the readily available pussy that surrounds us. Sex, drugs and Rock and Roll is a true description of “this thing of ours”, so can you blame them. It takes a strong man and an even stronger woman to maintain a solid bond under the brightest glare of fame and money.
Love and Hip-Hop ATL was a huge hit for VH1 this year, ratings out the roof week after week. Now sure Stevie J was the most talked about “character” from the show. Yet it was the “relationships” of all that were involved that held viewers captivated. We all like to see others go through something similar to the things we deal with in life. Sex, emotions, insecurities, egos, lies, truths, and a whole list of other things make up the gumbo called “love”. It ain’t easy but it’s worth it, if you want it. Most of the time it’s as simple as just being honest you’re your significant other about your wants and needs. Remembering that none of us are perfect and there’s always room for improvement can help you out on those rough days when you feel like walking away is easier than another argument. Also every relationship you have may not be the “1”. You may have a few bumps in the road on you way to meeting your “soul mate”. There’s someone for everyone. You are what you attract, so if you keep running into asshole men or scandalous woman,
Well…
SALUTE.
P.S. NEW MUSIC FROM EDIDON THIS MONDAY AT MIDNITE OFF THE OUTLAW NATION MIXTAPE dropping OCTOBER 15!
WWW.O-4-L.COM EDIDON Exclusive Interview #2
VIRTUAL REALITY (NO, REALLY….)
Sup People, long time no talk to! Ya boy has been busy dealing with life and all it’s wonderful interruptions. Honestly, I took some time off to kick it with family and friends, something I was failing at, miserably. We tend to get caught up in the rat race and forget the things (people) that are REALLY important. In the midst of all this, I made some observations, one of which I want to bring to everyone’s attention. OUR CELLPHONES, COMPUTERS etc., ARE A BY-PRODUCT OF THE DEVIL HIMSELF!!! If you decide to keep reading after that inflammatory statement then there’s hope for you. (lol) Of course I don’t mean it literally, but the seriously, we as a society are in trouble and here’s why. One day I was out with the fam having dinner at a local Red Lobster when I looked around and noticed everyone in the joint had cell phones or some sort of electronica gadget in there hands. No one was even talking to each other! Couples, families of 3 or more, sitting together but paying each other no attention, except to place their orders or to say “Past the ketchup…” I mean, even the little kids had their own phones or I pads too. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Now, I’m sure some of you have seen this before, but just never paid any attention to it. Some may say it’s the wave of the future and we are powerless to the natural progression of this world we live in.The problem with that is, technology advances faster than man. We as humans cannot compete with evolution, in my opinion. Social media has replaced the conversation. We would rather text, tweet, or “inbox” more than ever. How many phone numbers do you know by heart? If you didn’t have your cell or computers, how would you communicate with your loved ones? When’s the last time you’ve written a letter, with your hands! I am planning to write the homie Buck over the next few months while he is doing his bid, (Prison sentence, squares!) and I’m wondering if he will even be able to understand my depleting hand writing skills. SMH. Repeatedly, over the last view years I have observed couples out on dates, both on their phones totally ignoring the other. I stop and think, “What the hell is their sex life like?” Are they tweetin while they screwin?“I’m Wearin @So-and-so’s thang out right now!” And she retweetin it! Man that’s some sad shit! I feel Facebook ruined it with the timeline and pictures. Now any idiot can post, whether its true or not, what he’s up too. Women steal other women’s avi pictures and use them as their own! Fellas, How many of yall have bagged a chick on Facebook, looking at her pix like “DAAM, MS PARKER!” (Smokey voice), only to meet up in person and she’s 3 inches shorter and 12 inches wider! Ladies, I’m sure some loser miss-represented himself to you too and is currently cyber stalking you as we speak. Every rapper and his mama are constantly attacking you with their latest smash (this one included!) via social networks. After you fight through them, spam will invade like the Nazis did London in the 40’s. Shit is real son. Instagram, for some is the newest form of computer crack to hit the virtual streets. Every-fuckin-body is takin pictures and shit. I mean “Ma how MANY angles you gon give us of that fake ass booty of yours?” (THATS A WHOLE ‘NOTHER BLOG!) I’m not “liking” every goddaam picture you post, I’m sorry! And what the hell happened to MySpace? That shit disappeared faster then those fugazi all-clear air-force 1’s that came out a few years ago. Will FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND INSTAGRAM, go out the same way? We should all be so lucky. Maybe we would get back to actually interacting with each other like back in the old days, the 90’s! Remember the 90’s? Before the Internet. Historians will refer to that time like they do the “Before Christ” era. BC. Now it’s BTI. Before The Internet. Things Done Changed…
Word to Biggie.
SALUTE.
P.S. STAY FOCUSED.
INDEPENDENCE DAY (R U STILL DOWN?)
in•de•pend•ent/ˌindəˈpendənt/
Adjective:
Free from outside control; not depending on another’s authority.
If you take the word “Independent” literally, using the Webster’s dictionary version, this country should not be celebrating at all right now!!! First, a lot of y’all will be to busy shoving burgers and shit down ya throats to even read this today. The rest will read that first line and surmise that I’m a kill joy and keep it movin to Porn Hub or something (lol). Anyway, I would not make a statement like that and not have any proof to back up my opinion, which I see to be fact. I mean, Just look at how much we depend on other nations for our survival and luxury. You wanna drive? Our gas comes from where? Duh… Shit we owe China so much bread, they could evict us from our own country, just like these crooked banks do to Americans daily! Independent? Stop it. This countries very work force is comprised, mostly of our primos from south of the border. If they got together under one common belief and decided to go on strike, they could bring America to her knees and make her “take it to the head”. The whole world depends on each other, and it’s becoming more obvious everyday. When I watch the news and they get to the economic portion, I’m always a little perplexed when I hear that the NASDAC is down because the NIKKEL is down way over in Japan, or vice versa. So how are we Independent? I’m sure the founding fathers felt good signing the Declaration in August 1776. Yeah August, Drafted in July, wasn’t exactly signed by all 13 colonies until a month later. The great state of New York was the last to sign.On paper, no pun intended, it’s a great concept. Freedom to worship, carry yablammers, say what you want, so on and so on. We were now Free from Great Britain, the over bearing and controlling mother. Truth is, back then it really balled down to one thing and one thing only. MONEY. Britain wanted to raise taxes, we weren’t with it, they also undercut us on some Tea revenue leading us to the “Boston Tea Party” and the rest is history you fell asleep on in the 9th grade. Still, they had to fight a war that lasted 5 years (American Revolution). Eventually America would win, but not without the help of the French! Independent? We all know nothing in life is free. What did we owe France for helping us out? I don’t write this shit to be a party pooper. No, this is just to start a trend of going beyond the surface of what has been fed to us all of our lives. The Fourth of July is another, in the long list of bullshit holidays, force fed to us until we regurgitate. The U.S.A is not independent because it’s Congress is controlled by money wielding lobbyist that make it rain on politicians like rappers do strippers. These lobbyers are often paid stooped money by big Corporations to push a specific agenda that more than likely has nothing to do with you and I. Realistically speaking, if weren’t for the fact that we spend 10 times as much on military as the next 26 countries combined (all of em happen to be our allies, go figure…) we’d be an occupied territory along time ago. So here’s to the troops who lay it on the line for our “freedom” everyday…
SALUTE.
TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR
People always ask me “what was 2pac like?” I usually tell em “We don’t have enough time to really do him any justice, So…” Then they usually give me a look like…”Whatever, asshole…” (LOL!) It’s not that I’m trying to be rude, but it’s such a broad question, that for me to really answer it, truthfully, I would have to break down a person that @ 25 had more layers to him than an onion! Had done more than most will do in a lifetime and did it in a span of about 5-7 years, roughly. Had and still does, influence generation after generation of rappers with this body of works. More than just some rapper, dude is a movement still in motion. Literally, has given birth to numerous careers, accidentally. Niggaz owe his moms, A revolutionary in her own right, racks on racks on racks… SO as we embark on his 41st birthday, of course the phone rings a little more this time of year. Promoters wanna book the typical “Happy Birthday 2pac bday bash parties/shows.” Journalist call to do the “In memory of Tupac interviews…etc” Dj’s will make mixtapes of his music for die hards to buy, even though they already have these songs. Fake friends of the man will spark up blunts and pour out liquor, all claiming love for their “nigga.” Ever the “prophet” he said this very thing would happen to him. He would say “When Nat Turner died, the slave masters feared him so much they chopped his body up into as many pieces as possible and sold him as soap and other house hold products! They gonna do me like that too!” Cats take bits and pieces of Pac everyday, whether its with a quote of some of his lyrics or a bogus project “dedicated” in his memory, or during some VH1 “Behind The Music” interview littered with inaccuracies and blatant lies. Quick question for some of these artist “If your so great, why cant you tell your story minus 2pac? Oh yea not much of a story then, huh?” Sad.
“STREETZ CAN’T LET EM GO!” I said this on the GMIX version of “2PAC BACK” we dropped a year ago. I was actually, somewhat incorrect, because the WORLD can’t AND hasn’t since that dreadful September 13th day we all despise. I’m always amazed when Pac’s name pops up in some new rappers rhymes, still to this day. The irony is that he didn’t fell appreciated, musically, right up until the day he passed. He worked like a cat tryin to get in the game instead of someone, who at the time, was King on top of the hill to many. Recently, Dr.Dre did a historic concert at Coachella that drew ohhs and ahhs worldwide, when he unveiled the 2pac hologram. The faux Pac came out arms swingin, thug walkin and talkin shit before a shocked and awed crowd. I was in the studio when my phone began blowing up about the event and had little interest in seeing it. Actually I still haven’t in it’s entirety, and probably never will. Not hatin 1 bit, but im not a fan of fake shit, and the older I get the less I am am willing to front to make other people feel good about themselves. But, I will say this, Dre took care of his biz ($$$) with Moms so at least, karmectically speaking, He did his thing. 16 years later he’s still snatching headlines and attention form the competition and I’m sure they love it. Yeah, they love it because he’s not here. He’s just the big mouth, naturally talented, tragic hero, who got taken out way to soon, but is no longer a problem for them. They’ll give him shoutouts and such, but it’s the empty kind. 16 years later, 23 years in the public eye, 25 years on earth, the peoples champ lives on. Thanks to YouTube, and the Internet in general, “the general, Makaveli” can be scene in HD, live in living color!
(2pac hologram eat ya heart out! Ha) Fuckin sucks celebrating the Born Day of a man that’s been gone for…16 years. The Irony, right? 41? Tupac will for ever be 25 to us, because he was snatched from the world in the beginning of his prime. The greatest? Top 5 dead or alive? Best rapper ever? Cut it out, it’s almost an insult to the man to even put him in these silly little back and forth debates. Son, was and is, beyond the rhetoric, in my opinion. Of course some will label me bias, and there could be some truth to that. Still you can’t argue with the numbers, haters. The impact is there, still. “Niggaz talk alotta shit but that’s after I’m gone….” You know the classic line from “Troublesome96” and how real as that? Everybody from Jimmy Henchman to Prodigy of Mobb Deep have foolishly stuffed their feet into their own mouths with mis-information and blatant lies. Not here to fight Pac’s battles I just call it like I see it…. But again, they must feel they can’t tell their own stories without mentioning the big homie. So yea I get it…
I was at the Tupac center, down in Stone Mountain Ga recently and proud to see a full scale school filled with vibrant young minds and spirits. You wanna know Pac? You gotta go there and fill his spirit looming all over the place. Pieces of his art and image scattered about amongst the smiles of the very children he championed. He was about the kids and not just the ones in his own family. Telling me on more than one ocaasion “Be the Father you never had…” Can’t begin to tell you what he taught me, because the truth is, we learned together. I’m still learning from him to this very day. To the fans, its’syall who lift his spirit up more and more everyday, so the glory really goes to yall. The die hards that wont take no for an answer when they say to me “I know he’s in Cuba somewhere smoking a fat ass Cohiba filled up with the loudest of the loud, chillin with Assata…” That would be the perfect ending to this story, wouldn’t it? Fortunately, the saga continues….
SALUTE
P.S. NEW SONG! “IT’S GON SHOW” PRODUCED BY ME AND @AKTUAL4EVER
#O4L
Listen Now – It’s Gon Show
Gay Marriage, Obama And The Bible
I have friends and family that are gay as the day is long. Some in the open some in the “closet”. It was never a big deal to me. In Most cases we all knew from a pretty early age who and what they were. I remember hearing the ol heads saying things like “Yeah, that one got a lil sugar in his tank….” I believe people are born homosexual, just like others are born straight. In MY opinion people don’t wake up and say “Fuck it, I’m gay today!” NO, even if it was suppressed or denied, it was always there. I love the whole “gay debate” because it gets the religious zealots and fake tuff niggas all riled up! Lol. I been round cats and the subject of homo’s come up and these fools start goin in, fa real… “Man, I hate fags! That shit is disgusting… Shit if I ever went to jail, I aint washin no niggas draws! Imma Die first! But shit, I do like to see two chicks gettin it in, ain’t nothing wrong wit that…!” The extra religious ones will hit you with bible scriptures “Leviticus 20:13 says “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” Then swear up and down that gives them the right to harm these people! What’s really funny, is that now you have people who don’t want to appear homophobic, sounding like the classic racist… “Look I have friends that are Gay, I just don’t want them around me or my children…” Sounds awfully familiar. They said the same thing about us back in the day and even still, today. The Preachers, who in the day time, quote the Bible verse I quoted earlier, at night, use their power and influence to manipulate young boys and for their own sexual desires. They act like they don’t remember that their own people faced some what similar obstacles in their quest for equality and basics liberties.
Some of these guys slammed Obama, because Recently, this country’s President came out In support of Gay marriage, causing a stir within the media. I could be wrong, but I believe it’s a first.Although it’s kind of like a President saying he’s in favor of Blacks or Mexicans being allowed to marry. It should be a natural right. Now I’m no fan of the institution Of marriage in an of it self. I believe that two people., in love, can exist without the paper work! We all know things change, people change, along with feelings. That little piece of paper can hold up a persons whole life. Divorce sucks! Still, if two people wanna travel down that road, more power to ya! They should have the right. Who cares? Well apparently alot of people do. A recent poll had the country split down the middle on the subject. If you poll the Hiphop community, it becomes a whole other ball of wax. (No pun…) The often overused catch phrase “No Homo” is popular amongst some. I recently had a young artist try to express what our music meant to him. But In doing so, he kept repeating ” yo Fa real, no homo, I love y’all dudes…” Since when did showing “love” and admiration Become a possibility of being Gay? So much so, you had to remind me you weren’t. I’m positive we have gay fans and it’s no Biggie. Lady Gaga has made and sold millions of records pandering to the LGBT community. Rumors of Nicki Minaj’s sexuality run amuck. There has never been any major openly Gay rapper, ever. But trust, some of your biggest names are in the closet on some ol RKelly ish. The very ones that’s be talkin that player/thug shit too! To me, if your secure in your own sexuality, what people do with there genitals wouldn’t matter to you. How many times have we heard about a right-wing uber christian politician, being caught in a “sticky situation” and exposed. Maybe if they could be themselves and not fear backlash for being gay, they wouldn’t have to hide in a cesspool of hypocrisy. There is some form of Homosexuality in every living species on the planet (look it up)… TO EACH HiS OWN.
Salute.
P.s. New song with this blog, y’all enjoy. The Hope Dealer.
Listen Now – 1By1 EDIDON F/ Laza Morgan and Mavado (GMIX)
TheHopeDealer
@TheRealEDIDON
