Chained Brains

I seriously wished African-American/Black people in this corporation of a nation were sick and tired of all avenues being taken to show us and tell stories of us did not use the plight of our ancestors as a means of entertainment. When I hear shit like "oh it's just a film" and the nature of the film is exploitative and addressing a VERY touchy subject, I feel like I'm not saying what I'm saying LOUD enough. The last couple of weeks in this country 2 subjects were addressed in the media. One of course I spoke on before with my man RG3 the CORNBALL BROTHER and now this bullshit blaxploitation slave flick Django by the White Saviour Quentin Tarantino. It has forced both Black and Non-Black people to speak on race in a somewhat real manner. Shit was progressive UNTIL shit got too real and the things being said by prominent Black folks in the media. One incident resulted in a sportswriter (Rob Parker of ESPN)  getting suspended for speaking the TRUTH RUTH, and ironically my man Spike Lee getting portrayed as a hater (AGAIN) in the media for not accepting some bullshit Hollywood wants Black people to accept as gospel. People always talking about "racism is dead," yet when strong intellectual opinions are expressed about race by strong intellectual Black people that shit results in pandemonium. Terms like "reverse racism"(<<<suck my dick what is that?) are tossed around and then these opinions get dismissed as bullshit. The worst shit you can do is dismiss someone's opinion because that is showing how determined you/they are to keep your own agenda rolling, which may be detrimental to the well-being and welfare to a great amount of people. I'd appreciate if people kept it real with me, but I'd really appreciate if you kept it real with yourself and removed those shackles from your cranium. Peace god no pork on my fork!

Check this bullshit out...

So I'm up vamping and around like 7AM-ish I check my Twitter feed and see a rapper whose music I enjoy say something about Cornell West. Now, I usually could give two shits about a rapper speaking about politics and all but what he said weas quite interesting to me. So Cornell West I guess was quoted saying "the President only cares about White children." What the rapper says was "Mr West only cares about Black Presidents and Tavis Smiley." Okay so I'm like WOW because this fucking rapper lives in as neighborhood where Black children are underachieving due to lack of opportunities and he was a couple of those Black children who grew up in that same neighborhood. So I proceed to ask "hey, do you think the President cares about Black children?" Rapper says, "I only care about my family. Goodnight." So I'm pissed he told me goodnight at 7am and he tried to shut me down on some sucker shit when I was asking a legitimate question. I didn't ask him to elaborate, it was a yes or no type of question. So I then proceed to call duke a "nigger rapper" and BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM it hits me; this guy has always showed he was a prick why am I offended? Watched this clown tell a radio host on a very prominent radio station in NYC "fuck my fans I dont care about them" and didn't even feel a way because I was blinded by his bars... Bars which consist of such notions like "make ya moms suck my dick with BBQ sauce." Whose mom? Ayo fuck anything about hip hop/ rap music which mocks you and I. Boycott that shit, rant done. Good morning, Happy Kwanzaa.

I Think My Heart's Gooooooood

As cynical as most may think I am, my intentions come from a good place. Sometimes you gotta rub the dog shit in the dog's face. Gun control/bans have nothing to do with 27 people dying a week ago in CT. We need human control, not emphasis on mental health. When the wrong person dies we care, but when people die whom we expect to die from gunfire we do not discuss these issues. Mental health is an issue in the hood when we think it's cool for people to think people who look like them should die because they look alike. Gun control is an issue when there is no control at the hands of the community of who does and doesnt get a gun in that community. It's not like kids are buying guns at gun shops in Brownsville or Chicago. Who is keeping records of the guns being sold in New Orleans and Detroit? Let's not act like these shootings which pop up in the U.S. aren't scare tactics. Don't get duped into thinking the government should be the only ones armed; why would you give your weapons to your enemy? For one to think the government in America is their friend, you'd have to have an open mind which understands that this nation will try it's hardest to put the citizens in a position which is detrimental to their own health. Try convincing a house nigger they're a slave... I know it may take some persuading by the way of mental waterboarding, but I know my hearts good.

Me, Myself, and Eye

Everyday of my life I try to learn, unlearn, and re-learn. Sometimes I don't even re-learn what I un-learn because it was a waste of time and space in my brain; I'll just take away the lesson from the whole ordeal. I sit back and contemplate shit and analyze it in a manner which others probably wouldn't and it influences how I express myself. I always have to know why things are the way they are, because everything I believe which is taught to us by an authoritive figure comes with an agenda. I've never used a math formula at the Macys or needed to break down photosynthesis in the vegetable section of Pathmark. I mean those were two easy ones but let's look a little bit deeper than that...

The English language is a very peculiar one, a very harmful tool. The fact that we as citizens of this country who now call ourselves "natives," look down upon or discriminate against people who come here and prefer to use their native tongue. I find that shit fascinating being that the United States of America has no official language. What's even more fascinating is that there are African countries whose official language is English, but we'll delve into that later. As a nation (yes all of us) we will unite as one to hate something or someone, and if you're offended by me including you as us then tell me what you're doing that is effective enough to end this hatred; and yes, I include myself. When civilizations were conquered, one of the weapons used to destroy a people was to strip them of their language and force your's upon them.

I may have lost some people (hopefully not) by calling English a weapon, let me elaborate. If you take 10 Black people from 10 different countries, there is a very great chance we all speak a different language. If you take 10 people from Hispanic decent, there is a great chance they'll be able to carry on a conversation. Now this is not to say that all people of Hispanic decent speak or understand Spanish, but there is a greater possibility they'll be able to. My family is from all over the Carib Islands and so are most of my friends. They all speak just about one language which is English or  sometimes a creole'd or patois version of it (except for those from Haiti who speak a Haitin Creole). Them coming to America and learning American English did not really effect their lives like people who've never spoken an English word in their life before they got here. The English language can shape and shift one's culture, because the way it translate other languages is in a manner to which makes no sense to someone who knows no other language except English. To translate a statement from Mandarin or French to English gives it a very literal meaning and no space for ambiguity, two of many contradictory factors the English language thrives on. Double-meanings and vagueness can be harmful to someone whose native tongue spoken to be clear and understood.

Let's explore how the English language views the speakers. When we learn our first words and how to spell them, we break down words into categories. The most simple version: noun, adjective, and verb. I would like to speak on nouns, because nouns are us. We the nouns of the world are usually cultured to care for ourselves and told it is human instinct to be selfish. Through various outlets and influences, we're taught to be selfish and think we are the most important person to ourselves. Now I just used we and ourselves although I meant you which translates to I because you are reading it to yourself. Nevermind the last word "yourself" because that also breaks to you and I. All of those words showed a double meaning except for I, because all of those words could include a group of people. We are a very long way from the days of community, and in fact with the oppressive English language comes a driving force which breaks down that notion of thinking a group of people is more important than you (you meaning I because you're reading it to yourself). We're taught to capitalize the letter "i" (I) when speaking about ourself. I am is not im it's I'm. I have is not i've it's I've. Even when we add a word to the letter, it is still capitalized. Rule of thumb is that we always capitalize the first let of the first word in a sentence. So words like we, they, them, us, you, him, her, etc... are all capitalized (first letter) when starting a sentence, but never again in a sentence. Why is that? Why are we emphasizing on ourselves by capitalizing the letter "i" when speaking about ourselves at all times, but not when we're speaking about us as a whole? Should those type of words which include and involve others be as important as I? People who come from other cultures who do not learn the English language usually come here because of the conditions they've lived in which are most of the time poor countries. They come from a village or town where everyone relies on one another to survive and now they're being taught a language which negates & oppresses any sense or thought of community, just worry about I. We, them, they, us, him, her are just filler words used in sentences to make them complete and bring some sort of awareness that you're not speaking about yourself. Well if you were speaking about yourself we'd all know by that single slither of a font in the alphabet which sticks out in every sentence we write about ourselves; how else would we remember to remember abour ourself? Peace Yall!

Kinfolk

I remember the first time I heard Nasty Nas rap "I never sleep, cuz sleep is the cousin of death." I didn't initially get it, but after hearing the song over and over I eventually got exactly what he was trying to communicate. At first I understood it as sleep being similar to death because of the peacefulness and how dormant one is at the time. Life lessons have taught me that sleeping or not paying attention to your surroundings, can lead to your untimely death. Lately, I've been up at the wee hours of the morning thinking, building, learning, contemplating every single thing I could think of and sometimes it's burdening. I don't mind the pressure, but I often over-think my way into and out of situations. It's a challenge for me to sometimes express my thoughts and I frequently find this journey as an exercise in futility. No matter how I word what I'm trying to proclaim, my way of thinking is quite misunderstood and against the norm. I'm fine with people really not understanding what I broadcast into the atmosphere, because in my eyes a lot of them are sleeping. I find it kind of ill that you and I can look at the same thing and have two completely different views about the situation. The problem occurs when popular opinions are being passed off as gospel, especially when they're influenced by those with an agenda. We're taught to be individuals when it's convenient, but as soon as your individuality rocks the boat you're discouraged from anything seperating you from the pact. I mean it's cool for people to gravitate towards one another because of similar interests, but no two people can think exactly alike on everything. The way we think should honestly have some influence from our emotions. Conditioning us to think with our brain (which are full of thoughts we've been taught to think) instead of our heart, administers a precedent in our lives from such a young age which teaches us to think ONE WAY. If we can only see things through one lense which happens to be the popular lense, we'll be forced to do thing ONE WAY until another lense's view is accepted. The world was flat. Now, the world is round. If they told us the world was square, who'd question it? When the people making up the laws are making up the rules on whether or not a law is lawful, the people are sleeping. Apply that knowledge to any scenario in life and enjoy, Peace!

Daniella mi amor...

5:33AM I'm wide the fuck awake looking at Law & Order and an infomercial comes on with this old White man trying to sell me a child in a poor foreign country; oh I'm sorry he wants me to sponsor one. So I'm half watching, half internet surfing and I look up to see a 9 year old girl named Daniella shedding a single tear while they describe her situation to the viewer. What did they tell this girl to make her cry on cue? Is she a child actor? How genuine was that tear and if 100% genuine, why are they exploiting/capitalizing off of this childs tears? Why not save the money they're using to pay employees to film such a commercial and just give the money to the village so that they create an opportunity for themselves? We used to teach people how to fish, now we feed them Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and guilt, I mean religion. Peace!

Wait, What?

There are so many things in life that make you go “hmm.” And many others that make you say “WTF?” But, this one right here? This shit right here? It clearly qualifies as a classic conundrum, and is one of those things that, unless you’ve been paying strict attention, just might slip in under the RADAR.

What I’m about to say isn’t really news, and I’m sure I’m not the first to realize it or mention it...but seeing as how it’s 2012, the Mayan calendar has predicted the impending end of the world as we know it and Obama has won his re-election bid...it might be relevant and high time for a reminder. So, on to the $64,000 question. In movies, why is there always a black president in the White House during some cataclysm or apocalyptic event? What’s with the black presidents in disaster movies? Given the times, is this a perfect storm of fuckery on an epic scale, or what?

Since life holds innumerable possibilities and experiences, this type of nonsense, when viewed from a purely statistical, probabilistic standpoint, should lead the logical thinkers among us to question the proliferation of these “coincidences.” In other words, the shit that happens in life is, more often than not, so random—in spite of your, or anyone’s, best laid plans and intentions—that when something like this continually pops up over and over again, those with more than a few functioning brain cells should surely, at the very least, raise an eyebrow at this tomfoolery. Of course, it’s also possible that we’ve become so inure to these mass media shenanigans that things like this don’t even register.

Now, coincidences will happen. But it doesn’t take an Einstein to know some real bullshit when you see it. It can be argued that the majority of mass media exists primarily for entertainment purposes. Even so-called “news” outlets (which are owned by major corporations, beholden to government for their existence and profit margins)—for all their size and reach, comprise but a small percentage of media as a whole. And, although their “duty” and primary focus is to “inform,” news programs are still produced in a way so as to make them marginally entertaining. So what are “they” trying to

tell us?

TV, especially, literally has the power to physically change your brain wave patterns, lulling you into a drool-inducing, zombie-like state—perfect for you to passively, unquestioningly absorb the rapid-fire stimuli of images and text—sensory overload further facilitated by the accompaniment of mood-altering music. Of course, this subject matter is far beyond the scope of this post—but true, nonetheless and easily verifiable. Why do you think they call it “programming?” Hmm... I will revisit this at a later date.

Passive entertainment strips you of your ability for critical thought—it’s certainly dimmed a fair degree, for sure.  Therefore, a tough economy (getting tougher all the time) and a mindset firmly routed in escapism will lead you to cheap entertainment. And so I give you: the movies—“we are here now, entrain us.” (No, that’s not a typo. Deep.) Now, I love the movies, and who doesn’t? But to watch a movie and be aware of all the allegory and symbolism, not miss the plethora of hidden meanings and numerous overt references, you must resist your willingness to suspend your disbelief.

On the surface, we can all watch a movie and be quite easily entertained by things blowing up every 5 minutes and bad guys eventually getting their due. I just wish they didn’t wreck so many eighty-thousand dollar cars. Hook me up, yo! CGI that shit next time. Sure, many movies are exactly what they appear to be, “bread and circuses.” But, more likely, the screenwriter/producer/director has something to say. And to say it, they often use a device know as “predictive programming.” Yeah, look that one up and get back to me. Now, once again, consider the question: “Why is there always a black president in the White House in disaster movies?” 

~Brought to you by my good friend... Daryl Hope