urban candle

Black Consciousness vs. Gangster Mentality

2006-01-03T02:04:00.000-08:00

Well i went cd shopping and bought the "Blackstar" CD from Mos Def and Talib and it was better than i thought it was going to be with so much collected wisdom i am gonna have to put it in the top 5 cd rotation.

As for other more personal thoughts I was talking to a friend of mine from my upstate new york state college And I realized that my College is gully like a brooklyn High school. Like no one is popping off but god damn is their a lot of petty violence up there. And the worse part of this realization is that I have helped make it this way (long story.........)

Now here I am trying to raise my consciousness by engaging my reality as an African American for what it really is. And I am having conversations about how "So and So is a pussy" and that " you know who is just a poser from the suburbs" god protect me.

I am not even sure I should right down these feelings just cause this might be seen as glorifying a past that while I accept and am far from proud of. Like not for nothing I really wonder can i move on with my future as a college educated "black man" and not completely deny my past as a "crazy niggas"

And then i watch my favorite cartoon "the Boondocks" and my shame only grows cause just like characters like Ajax from the "Warriors" (my favorite old school movie) and Gansterlicious from "the Boondocks" I see the inherent homosexuality that is involved with the hypermasculinity of that lifestyle, damn being a thug is just not something to be proud of. Especially when you consider most thugs are not brave just hyper agressive and followers of a pack mentality.

2005-06-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

i guess nas lives by the belief "know thy enemy"

cartoon violence

2005-06-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

while i have heard many accusations that hip hop has evolved into the new WWF (cause lets be real the WWE sucks) but the newest sign that the end of days is here has just occured. Why would any rapper with any self respect allow himself to be animated and given super powers.

Where is the self criticism that should kick in and make them say "hey that is a real cornballish move.

See the probelm with rappers today is that while chasing that dollar they forgot that they owe the street nothing more than keeping it real . and it dont get no farther from real than chilling with with spidey between the pages of a marvel comic.

I wish biggie or tupac were still around just so people would at least be able to bite off of someone who knew what was real.

summer dreams are made of these

2005-05-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

I think I am getting old, real quick. Just a few years ago I partied my way into an ulcer. Now I read and study for test and talk about the good old days. Good Lord what is happening to me?

On another note summer is finally here and the combined census on all the minds that make the unlikly predictions in life (aka the news) is a blackout is going to occur at least once. If that happens hopefully i will have at least a gram of my personal stash available so as to make the transition back into the light a smooth one.

i just turned 21 and i feel it

2005-05-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

Look at the situation/ they got me facin/I can't live a normal life,/ I was raised by the street/So I gotta be down with the hood team/Too much television watchin/ got me chasin dreams/I'm a educated fool/ with money on my mind/Got my ten in my hand/ and a gleam in my eye/
-coolio

Basically the hardest part about becoming aware is self analyst. Looking in the mirror and basing your faults on the expectations of others while denying the actual faults of your character forces you to be a bit actor in your own story. Then when you realize that it is your life hasn't been worth shit and you have been acting like a child in a man's body. that makes maturity all the more bitter to swallow.

so i write this update with the honest motivation of finally getting my shit together.

Wikipedia

2005-05-06T18:55:00.000-07:00

I have found the endless well of internet knowledge and its name is Wikipedia.

Beanie Sigel

2005-05-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

After hearing the newest Beanie Sigel I have to admit that it was a damn good CD. It could actually go up their as best CD made by a former Rocafella member who wasn't Jay-Z. Yes Kanye has amazing beats and says noteworthy things, but everyone who knows what a good rapper sounds like can't deny the fact that his lyrical skill (specifically flow/breathing) is a step behind par of most other rappers.

When it comes to actually ripping a beat with flow, Beanie not only rips into, he rips it apart. Going word for word with Redman on the track "One Shot Deal" is a special treat not only because it shows Beanies's lyrical skills. It reminds listeners that Redman is more than the character he played in "How High" he can really rap too.

Then on standout tracks like "Bread and Butter" (where his flow sounds to much like Jay-Z to exempt him from having possibly had it ghost written by one of Brooklyns finest) we are nonetheless given a glimspe of a Beanie who could possibly (once he gets out of jail) become a new mainstream rap phenomenon.

Which leads me to the biggest surprise on the whole CD for me personally. The track "Can't Stop" which features Snoop Dogg. Not only is pop friendly (recycling an old but still highly effective Neptune sound) it doesn't emasculate Beanie either.

When it is all said and done i have to give it up to Beanie (and through obvious connections Dame Dash) this CD is probably one of the best commercial/lyrical records to have dropped since Kanye. Beanie has always kept it street (for proof go and listen to the battle track he created against jadakiss) and he might have finally realized that the Blueprint Jay-Z left behind is ceritified platinum.

Other stand out tracks include "Purple Rain", "Oh Daddy", and "Feel it in the Air"

New Phenomenon

2005-05-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

do white girls really act like this .fuck that does any girl really need to know how to make gold fronts and look a like lil kim bikini's?

well this website thinks so and goes about expressing everything that is wrong with modern hip hop from a white womans point point of veiw They put the satire on so thick though it makes my spine hurt. I mean I cant explain how wrong this site but maybe using a Dave chappelle qoute can

" it makes my penis soft"

It also makes me wonder how would they feel if someone took whatever suburban culture they prescribed to and mocked it ( these women are professional too I mean one of them worked for David Letterman and the other for Seventeen Magazine dont they have better things to do)

God's Son

2005-05-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

as i walk in the streets tonight/and nobodys really feeling alright/ I got a blunt for my chronic/ a juice for my tonic/ i know now/ that im feeling right if it goes down/ cause my/ fiance's the low down/ and i know its not my time to go now/ cause god's got my back in this showdown/ so i know we'll be alright
-Quan

Man when its all said and done Nas is gonna be declared a hip hop maestro. My man hasn't just dropped incredible albums. He has grown up on and become aware on record, look at the growth from "life's a bitch" to "war". You see him dealing with the disapointment of adulthood and life in general on some "Catcher in the Rye" shit. You then see him struggle to find his own individual voice over the course of records like "Project Window" "If I ruled the world" and "Self Conscience". And while Nas's is far from perfect because of things like the Firm Controversy and his several attempts to get mainstream money (oochie wally, you owe me, hate me now remix with the shiny suit man).His eventuall awakening (or birth in 5 percenter standards) due to his mothers death is what completes him. Stillmatic is an equal is not superior record to his first classic Illmatic. then to follow it up with "God's Son" and "Street Disciple" automatically put him up there with the other G.O.A.T's of hip-hop and he is still doing his thing.

So to anyone who needs to download a best of Nas CD here you go but trust me buy the CD's legit he deserves the cash for making real music in this ever growing world of fake Ice and Shiny suits.

Best of Nas
"Self Conscience" ft/Prodigy
"Lifes a bitch" ft/AZ
"Serious" ft/AZ
"If i Ruled the world" ft Lauryn Hill
"I gave you power"
"Heaven"
"WAR" ft/Quan
"Ether"
"Thug Mansion" ft/Tupac
"2nd Childhood"
"Rewind"
"Phone tap" ft/the Firm
"One Mic"
"New York State of Mind" I & II ft/Alicia Keyes and Rakim
"Fast Life" ft Kool G Rap
"Reason"
"Made you look Remix" ft/ Ludacris and Jadakiss
"Poison"
"Get Down"

so till next time True Believers stay safe and maintain

the Quiet Storm

2005-04-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

like a jazz player playing the ethereal substance of his spirit for anyone who will listen. I am gonna write for anyone who will read.