Adrian Smalls

Ten minutes ago I was quite stressed. I need to start working on lines for The Winter's Tale for tonight and I couldn't find anything to put up on my blog. Then I opened an email from my homie Marcel. This is what I found.

Now, usually I'd write something up about something this surreal. (Well, it's surreal to me.) But tonight, I'm hanging back for two reasons. One: I really want and need to get to work. Two: I don't quite know what I think about this. I need a couple of hours, perhaps days to figure out what this means; it may not mean anything.

I do think this, though. Biggie was most certainly a poet and Adrian is most certainly dope for acknowledging that. That's gotta be worth something.

peace.

The Gap

If all goes well, I'll find myself riding this road on Friday.

This is Deals Gap (for more, look here). It's known on a map as U.S. 129 and snakes through the Great Smokey Mountains from Swain County, North Carolina to Blount County, Tennessee. The story goes that this road is 11 miles long and contains 318 corners; almost all of them as spectacular as these. Motorcyclists from all over the world come here every year to ride this ribbon of paved perfection.

And now my trusty SV650 and I are gonna have a go at it.

No matter what happens, there will be pictures. And yes, I will take it easy. Seriously.

peace.

Obama in Joplin

Today I flew from Seattle, Washington to New Bern, North Carolina; I'm certain that I flew almost directly over this as it was happening.



I can't quite get my thoughts together to make an appropriate comment about this tonight, but I will get back to it in the coming days. For now, have a look.



peace.

Emcee of the Month: Eternia

Here's the video for Eternia & MoSS' track "TO THE FUTURE", the third single from the album At Last.



Man, Eternia is nice. It's that simple. I can't tell you how impressed I am by her ability to reveal a balance of thoughtfulness, aggression, and compassion; especially within the context of one track. I think this track provides the listeners equals doses of Eternia's strengths and fears, appropriately coloring the admittedly and inevitably incomplete picture I've presented this month. I can only cover so much!

I've tried a couple of times to write something here that addresses the topic of this song, but I'm feeling wholly inadequate and unable to truly provide useful insight. I sympathize with the story. I'm sad for her final discovery of a reluctant rejection of love. I'm joyful for her choice to speak these words. I feel a little helpless in that all I can do is post this video for my friends instead of putting this track in heavy rotation at your local hip hop radio station. I'm reminded of incredible importance of the feminine energy in the lopsided, male-driven world of hip hop music.

Check for Eternia, for real. She's not playin'.



peace.

The Death of Gil Scott-Heron

This is truly a loss. Scott-Heron epitomized revolution.

Gil Scott-Heron, the musician and poet who wrote The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and was seen by many as “the Godfather of Rap”, has died aged 62.

The US artist died in a New York hospital on Friday, after becoming sick on returning from a European trip.

More here.

In a couple of days I will have the resources to reflect on this event a bit more. For now, I would simply like to spread the word.



peace.

The Rhymes of Our Lives

No, Stankonia wasn't OutKast's first album.



I've told the story before about how I stumbled across OutKast. This track was particularly influential in converting me to a fan of their music. Keep in mind, in 1996 I think I spent more time watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on Fox (Yes, I'm a nerd. Deal.) than checking out videos on B.E.T. or MTV, so I had no idea there was a video for this. All I knew was that I had moved into a brand new neighborhood with peers who were both very foreign and oddly familiar, and this was a sample of my life's new soundtrack. Omarr was especially taken by "Elevators" and we used to crank it over and over on his living room sound system, along with whatever Mobb Deep album he was playing at the time.

This song was a gateway on my journey towards the discovery of hip hop. OutKast is incredible.



peace.

Windy Weather

Ed Schultz drives me nuts. And now he's really done it.

NEW YORK — Left-leaning Ed Schultz has been suspended from msnbc cable television for referring to radio talk show host Laura Ingraham as a "right-wing slut" and "talk slut" on his syndicated radio show Tuesday.

In a statement released Wednesday, the cable channel said: "Msnbc management met with Ed Schultz this afternoon and accepted his offer to take one week of unpaid leave for the remarks he made yesterday on his radio program. Ed will address these remarks on his show tonight, and immediately following begin his leave. Remarks of this nature are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."

More here.

Let me be clear. I am a liberal/progressive. I am pro-choice, a believer in universal health care, and a supporter of gay marriage. There are very few moments in which I find agreement with the current public persona of America's conservative wing.

But this guy Schultz is a huge wind bag.

He bothers me in the same way Glenn Beck or Bill O'Reilly does. He espouses his thoughts and beliefs with such absolution and inflexibility, there is no room for humility or thoughtful discourse. Anyone who agrees with him is a genius, all opposed are raving lunatics and deserve nothing but a place on the gallows.

Last October, Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" was, for me at least, one of the most important political and cultural events of the modern era. Along with his colleague Stephen Colbert, they set about deflating the bubble of divisive and manipulative media coverage that skews the public's perspective of political processes. However, we liberals tend to think Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert only belong to us, and any criticism they make of the political climate only involves those who oppose our views.

Wrong.

Colbert and Stewart recognize that the real problem is not Republican vs. Democrat, but rather the lack of honorable, reasonable, thoughtful debate and discussion between Republicans and Democrats. The immediacy of today's information-hungry society has transformed politics into the rhetorical version of World Wrestling Entertainment. Sound bites and talking points dominate the public's attention, not insightful and inspiring conversation or commentary. So people like Schultz, O'Reilly, and Hannity feed the noise rather than work to silence it. They're all the same dude.

If MSNBC wants a progressive commentator that knows when he's gone too far and doesn't take himself too seriously, there's this guy named Keith they should check out. Oh, wait...



peace.