Thanks to you all! My friends and friends of my friends, and friends of those friends…
Thank you dearly for helping out with pushing the “I LIKE IT” VIDEO.
It quickly went from 200 views to 11,000 to over 80,000 in just a few hours. I am incredibly thankful and appreciative for each and every one of you who kindly and yet aggressively spread the word.
Check out the VIDEO again and again…and feel free to leave a comment.
My Favorite comment so far, “This sucks…Soldier Boy is better.”
LOL…
I can respect that, opinions are great things to have, but I AM wondering how of all people, this guy put Soulja Boy in the same sentence as myself…
I was recently invited by Mrs. Silda Spitzer (wife and first lady of the Governor) to speak before hundreds of people about HOW and WHY I choose to “LIVE NEW YORK.” The I LIVE NY Summit held in Cortland, NY was the first step and intiative towards addressing the issue of how to keep the young and talented individuals of New York State from taking their skills and knowledge to other cities, towns, states etc.
I hitched a last minute ride with three wonderful women who were also making the same day-turn-around trip to Cortland.
***Super cool, intellectual and talented ladies. Each was a business owner, young, highly spirited, with lots of energy to bring to the conference/summit. Thanks Ladies!
Before walking onto the stage along with 3 other business owners from Niagara Falls, Rochester and Cortland, we were each briefed on keeping it short and under 2 minutes. We’re all like, “OK! We’ll do our best.” We get out on the stage and there is a ticker, a digital timer center stage that only the speaker/guest can see. It literally said 2:00, and started running as soon as they called each persons name. I believe I was third in the line up out of 4, and this cat Alex from Rochester finished up last.
I had this whole little thing in my head of what I was going to say, and points I was going to hit..and when the time came…”Damn…they’re really only giving me 2 minutes…” I think I may have even said that quite audibly to the small rumble of laughter from the crowd.
Speaking is something I love to do, and I hope to get the chance to do it again soon, as it has been announced that the I LIVE NY Summit may be centered in Buffalo this year.
By the way, if you ever get to meet Mrs. Silda Spitzer, she is one of the warmest, most genuine persons you’ll meet. A real sweet heart.
**NO Disrespect to the Governer, but she is also very attractive..or a “hottie” so to speak.
peace
In honor of the MLK Jr. Weekend, here is a pic of the bus seat that my dad and I worked on together for an event called “Seats for Social Justice.” Many of my friends know the story about this chair, the work that went into it, the many ideas it spawned for the artists that jacked my style afterwards, and the contest surrounding it. I guess the professional term for “biting” is “Appropriation.”
The bus seat was a nasty, dark, moss-like color that you should remember from back in the day of riding the cheese bus to school. The challenge was to create a unique, creative work of art with a message relating to civil rights and the climate of the civil rights movement.
The chair is hand-painted with images from the civil rights era with people being attacked by fire hoses and police dogs with Rosa Parks sitting in the front seat of the bus looking out of the window as she was watching history being made as well as becoming a part of history herself.
The back side of the chair has a silhouette of Rosa with her jail number across her chest. We also built a faux prison door, made of pvc pipes and paint.
enjoy…appropriators
Photo provided by Kuroji Ntu
Be sure to check out his work out as well.
I LIKE IT – the single + VIDEO
…yeah I know…”You Like It!”
Directed by: Hezues R
Hezues is a real dope videographer and he is serious about his craft..PASSIONATE to say the least. Check him out for yourself because I can’t list all of the things he has his hands on right now. “Zues…thanks a million my friend. I’m eternally thankful!”
Shouts:
DreHow – Andre Howard – the connect-4-man
Liza – actress/singer
The Eye On It crew + the bro’s
Q – good looks
The Vault in Harlem
Here is a new Dope45 – The Wrestler. I decided a couple days ago after talkin to my good friend Tom, who’s a real dope artist as well, that THIS Dope 45 will be now known as “The Rassler” instead of the Wrestler. Tom had me in tears when he said he and his brother used to say “Rasslin” and “Rasslers”, which I thought was indigenous to some folks I knew in the projects. HA! Sweet. Thanks Tom. check him out
By the way, my sister would continuously try to convince me that wrestling was fake and of course, for many years I defended wrestling. I was positive that when Rowdy Roddy Piper cracked Jimmy Snuka over the head with a Coconut, that it HAD to be real the way he fell over the chair and everything. The Bliss of Ignorance.
Here’s something for you “Movie Go Crazy Heads.” The Sundance Film Festival is coming up this month with the high-anticipation of some really great films for 2008, one of them being the Black List Documentary
Directed by a well-seasoned, not to mention famous photographer with works in countless galleries and by a highly regarded former NY Times film critic known for his unique style of journalism and legendary commentary, Black List is the film to look for in the months to follow. Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and Elvis Mitchell have cooked up an Independent Film CLASSIC…and I haven’t even seen it yet. LOL!
But let me explain why it’s a winner already:
√ Finally a production featuring 20 positive African Americans from politicians to athletes to actors…DOPE
√ I LOVE Documentaries/Biography and Autobiography related films and books
√ I Love photography and films that are shot with an artistic aesthetic
√ Black is my favorite color
√ I LOVE INDEPENDENCE! Anything independent is pretty much DOPE!
Lastly, every movie + film should have some theme music, and thats what sweetens the deal. My “little brother from another mother” Neal Evans was responsible for scoring the Black List. Also, his good friend and former Buffalonian (my hometown), Lukas Hauser is credited with editing the film. Now THATS dope! So cheers to the heros of this independent film.”Every hero needs some theme music.” – I’M GONNA GET YOU SUCKA
My man Uncle Lee put me on to this news, which will be the first and certainly not the last post of its kind, because generally I like to keep it pretty mellow, fresh, funny, etc. But I am a thinker and I like to provoke thought into the minds of the educated and uneducated alike.
So, basically, this young lady, Juashaunna Kelly, a gifted track star in the District of Columbia at Theodore Roosevelt High School, is the center of attention in light of her recent disqualification at a meet due to her modified Muslim wardrobe.
She actually may be only the center of MY attention, which is why I’m writing this.
The parties responsible for her disqualification claim the outfit was against policy (code) and basically was not a standard issued uniform, so on that technicality, she was not allowed to run the race WHICH, could have positively influenced her track career and college selection, as this race was attended by top college officials/recruiters. Keep in mind she had worn the same modified outfit that covers her entire body, in respects to her Muslim faith, during each of the previous seasons. But this year its a problem?
(read below for a detail from the article or click the link for the entire read)
STATS:
√ She is a FEMALE
√ She is obviously ethnic, whether African American or other
√ She is Muslim
Clearly those facts won’t stack in anyones favor whether work related, sports or otherwise.
So, basically my thought is this…
Is this racism? Is this sexist? Is this infringing on her right as a citizen to freely practice her religion? I can’t quite figure out how to look at this.
I’m wondering how long before Al Sharpton comes along to kick up some dust on her behalf, but then I think to myself, will it be in his interest to defend her as an African American or defend her as a Muslim.
I must profess my love for “plain” M&M’s. There seems to be less chocolate when dealing with the peanut M&M’s and they just don’t have that crackle that the plain M&M’s have when you bite them. I’m putting my money on the crackle of the plain.
Crunch vs Crackle! Playoffs start now!!!
After watching the little link up above, look again, because you may have missed this one.
