Single At 30 Sometimes Sucks

Most of my best friends are married, happily at that. One day while just shooting the shit, one of my friends wondered out loud what it would be like to be single in his 30's. This scene form the classic Eddie Murphy film Coming To America pretty much sums it up.

10 Random Songs Wednesday

All That I Got Is You by Ghostface Killa feat. Mary J. Blige

If you were not close to tears the first time you heard this song there is something wrong with you.

Dance Tonight by Lucy Pearl
This was group was made up of Raphael Saddiq, Dawn Robinson, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad. It's one of those really great R&B songs that people forget about until someone plays it, and then everyone will get a look on thier face that says "that was my shit". Too bad we only got one album from them.

Cheers To You by Playa

When I did the quiet storm on my college radio station, I played the hell out of this. This is a very under rated slow jam. Timberland did a lot of work on this record. This was before Timberland decided he was going to work mostly with established white pop stars.

Last Days by Onyx
Everybody thinks of "Slam" when Onyx is brought up, but this is my favorite Onyx song. This song sounds like concrete and blunt ashes coming out of your headphones. That is a good thing.

Coolie High by Camp Lo

My friend Chris worked at Dr. Wax in Chicago during school breaks just for the record hook up. He always came back to Carbondale with so much good stuff everybody else would not be on until months later. I remember when he came back with this song on white label. I made a tape of it and wore it out. That summer after my freshman year I bought the soundtrack for The Great White Hype just so I could have this song on CD before their album came out.

The One And Only by Snoop Dogg

I know a lot of people stopped taking Snoop Dogg seriously after he signed to No Limit Records but Paid The Cost To Be The Boss was probably his most solid album since Doggystyle. This song was produced by DJ Premier and came out as a b side on promo only vinyl.

Nutmeg by Ghostface Killa

I have a lot of Ghostface on my MP3 player.

The Death Of Optimus Prime by Vince DiCola

Yes, I have the entire soundtrack from the Transformers movie that came out in 1986 on my MP3 player. I am that much of a nerd. I usually never listen to the whole song because near the end of the song the drums remind me of Optimus Prime's body turning gray as he dies. Vince DiCola also did the score for Rocky IV. It sounds like he was working on both movies at the same time because the music in both films is very similar.

Early This Morning by Jay-Z
This song was leaked in 2002 between BP1 & BP2 and never saw an official release. It sounds like a Just Blaze track. I actually have an instrumental and clean version of this.

Telling Me Stories by Big Bub
I don't know if this was a hit anywhere else, but in St. Louis this was a big hit on what was at the time Majic 108. It was a slow Jam about a man wanting to help a woman with a substance abuse problem. It is still a powerful song to this day. Even when he was with the group Today, I never felt like Big Bub got the love he should have.

Some Of My Best Friends Are......

I don't remember who coined the term "post-racial America", but whoever it was was clearly on dope and not the good kind. Listed below are a few tips for my Caucasian brothers and sisters not to get looked at funny or beat up in "still-racial America".

If you are about to make a statement that starts off “I don’t mean to sound racist”, you are about to say something racist. It’s just like when an athlete goes on television and starts out his statement “It’s not about the money”. When you hear that 99 percent of the time it is about the money.

It is not flattering to tell a black person that they are "not like other black people." The only people who are happy to hear something like this are usually black conservatives who think that white people’s ice is somehow colder. (See Jesse Lee Peterson & Armstrong Williams) What you are really saying is, because you are smart, well mannered and/or articulate you are an exception to the slow-witted, ignorant, unintelligent stereotypes that I have internalized, and have always believed to be true.

Do not a tell a black person they look like a famous black person unless they really do look like that famous person. One time this guy told me I look liked Scottie Pippen. I did not really think he was racist but I was offended because I am a lot better looking than Scottie Pippen. It is also not a good idea to tell a black person that they look like Buckwheat, even if they do look like Buckwheat.

Don’t ask light skinned people what they are or if they are mixed with something. Most light skinned black people hate having their blackness questioned by other black people so they really don't want to hear it from a white person.

If you get into a jam, saying “some of my best friends are black” is not going to help you. No one who has any black friends would say that

If you have anything bad to say about President Obama, it should be based on the things about his policies you disagree with, not some email forward you got from your grandmother in West Virginia. I could write a book on the things I disagree with President Obama about. No President is above criticism, but when you criticize the the first African American President based on nothing but him being black, it is pretty easy to see through. Also, It is pretty much in your best interest not to say ANYTHING bad about Michelle.

Do not ask to touch our hair, and certainly don't take the liberty to just come over and touch it. we are not at a muthafucking petting zoo Justin Beiber. I have been in relationships with black women and not been given hair touching privileges.

Last but not least, don’t ask why you can’t say the word nigga while some black people use it like it is their first name and no one seems to care. I don’t care if your into Hip-Hop, have a black husband or wife, or are the best point guard in the Western Conference. You just can’t say it. I’ll be honest most black people cannot give you a good reason why this is, because there really is none. Just know in almost any context, you are setting yourself up for a potential ass beating. White people tend to replace the “a” with an “er”, which never has an endearing ring to it. Every black person does not listen to rap music and and sit around memorizing old episodes of Chappelle Show, so repeating lyrics and jokes is a minefield you may just want to steer clear of. Also don't expect white people who know the rule to jump in and help you if you say the word and start to get your ass kicked. Your best bet is hoping some sell out or the police come by to break it up.

BLACK POWER (Rangers)

Happy Black History Month

Esperanza Spalding

If you watched your local PBS station or listened to your local NPR station. you would not have had to Google Esperanza Spalding when she won best new artist at the Grammys.

By the way, if the only reasons you dig her are because she has an afro and beat Justin Bieber and Drake, you are a lame.

Spread Love, It's The Brooklyn Way

Happy Valentines Day

Lady Antebellum, Really?

Last night I watched most of the Grammys. I say most because I am going to enjoy Bob's Burgers before it gets canceled. During the evening I saw a group I had never heard of called Lady Antebellum win 5 awards at the show. Now I am admittedly not the biggest country fan so I looked them up on Wikipedia to see what the fuss was about.

Much to my surprise I find out the word "Antebellum" commonly refers to pre-Civil War America, especially the pre-Civil War culture in the slave holding southern states. I don't know if anyone in the group knew that, hell I had no idea and from what I can tell they don't have any "south will rise again anthems" on any of there their albums. The thing is major record companies go over things with a fine toothed comb. How did not one A&R at Capitol pick up on that they has signed a group that had a name linked to pre-Civil war slave culture?

During the evening a lot of my friends were on Twitter during the show, my man Vernon who is getting his PhD in American History had the tweet of the night. @Negrointelect Today Lady Antebellum...next year, there is a rap group coming out called The White Citizen's Council.

Real Love

This is a really cool image. I don't have any intention of starting a tumblr site, so sometimes cool pictures are just going to show up on my blog. Also, shout out to the one person who checks out this blog on their Playstation Portable. It's good to know that game system is good for something.

10 Random Songs Wednesday

Staying In Love by Raphael Saddiq
This song is off of his last album The Way I See It. If anybody else would have tried to attempt a project like this they would have effed it up royally but these songs actually sound like they were created during the late 60's.

Krystal Karrington by Camp Lo
This is how you start an album! This was the first song off of "Uptown Saturday Night" and it is the hardest joint on the whole record. I saw them in concert a few months ago and they put on a good show. They announced that they are doing an album with Pete Rock called 80 Blocks From Tiffany's. I hope this project actually comes out.

Color Blind by Ice Cube
Krystal Karrington was hard for a Camp Lo song, but it did not have shit on Color Blind. This song is from an era when white people had good reason to be scared of rappers. In fact during the time when Death Certificate was out, the state of Oregon declared that displaying Ice Cube's image in any retail space to be against the law.

MC Hammer by Rick Ross
If I was 14 years old I might think this was hard, but because I grew up on Ice Cube I think this is one of the funniest songs that came out in 2010. That said I finally put a decent stereo in the Accord so on a sonic level, I enjoy a lot of Rick Ross' music but white people should not fear him for any reason.

Heaven Sent by Donnie
The album The Colored Section is an under appreciated soul gem. It was put out by Giant Step in 2002 and re released by Motown in 2003. A lot of people get compared to Stevie or Donny Hathaway but this gut actually deserved that praise, not only for style but for subject matter. I was lucky enough to see him in concert in St. Louis along with Julie Dexter. His music is available in digital form on Amazon. Do yourself a favor and check this record out.

Escapism (Getting Free) by Digable Planets
I was lucky enough to see them live a few years ago at the Vogue in Indianapolis on a Sunday night. At the end of night I got a chance to meet Ladybug Mecca by the merch table. When she gave me her hand to shake, I broke into stone cold gentleman mode and kissed it. She seemed surprised and flattered and she talked to me for a few minuets about female emcees and her solo project. That was a good night.

Sound The Alarm by Black Milk feat. Guilty Simpson
This is another song that will always remind me of Coaches Tavern on Tuesday nights in Indianapolis.

Havin' Thangs by Big Mike
At point I was not feeling Big Mike because in my eyes no one could replace Willie D in the Geto Boys. That said, I used to play the shit out of this song. Pimp C produced it and was on the song's hook.

Can't Tell Me Nothing by Kanye West
When I first heard this song I heard in through computer speakers and I hated it. A couple of days later I heard it on some real speakers and loved it. The only problem I had with it after that was the line where he says "I ain't one of the Cosbys I ain't go to Hillman". The HUXTABLES went to Hillman, not the Cosbys.

Pink Cookies In A Plastic Bag Being Crushed By Buildings (remix) by LL Cool J
If 14 Shots To The Dome was LL Cool J's second album, it would have ended his music career. There is not one good song on that entire record. The version that most people remember from the video is a remix, that is not on the album.

This Book Is Popular Is Prisons

I got my Godson the Little Golden Book entitled The Pokey Little Puppy. I will not be getting him this one because I suspect that reading this will sound like one long dirty joke. I am going to try and find a copy of this just so i can read it outloud at cocktail parties.