This Show Was The Sh!t

Last night I went to a dope ass show. I was going to support the homie Small Eyez, but I didn't quite know what to expect from Spree Wilson and Tendaberry. I'd heard some of Spree's music before, but I really didn't enjoy it at the time. Tendaberry, well I'd never heard their stuff.

But man...I think I'm a fan of everybody on that stage now...all three of these acts ripped it.

Spree went on first and dude pretty much set the tone for the night. Dude played guitar, rapped, told jokes...quite entertaining. But, and I'm sure others will admit to this as well, his drummer stole the show...hell, he damn near ended it!

First, I saw the drummer doing shit I'd never seen before. He would be banging out on the drums and then he'd get up and walk around the drumset, still playing and playing on beat! At one point he messed around and let one the sticks fly out of his hand, so someone tossed it back to him and he caught it on some one-handed Randy Moss shit and stayed on beat with what he was doing.

Unfortunately, he was rocking out so hard that he put a hole in the snare. So at that point, Spree's show came to an end. And it also put Tenderberry's show in jeopardy too, being that they are a punk rock band.

After that, Small Eyez went up and did his thing as usual. I've only heard his stuff through myspace and CD, but seeing him do his thing live was an added bonus. I suggest that you keep up with his schedule so you can see what I'm talking about.

I think he only planned on doing a certain amount of songs but he kinda had to stall until that snare drum got replaced so that Tendaberry could go on. He did a good job in stalling because all of the songs he did were damn good. "Score," "Blink" and "Cruise Control" were my personal favs.

By the time Small Eyez finished a new snare had showed up so the show could go on. I'm not gonna lie, when I saw Tendaberry, I didn't know what to expect. I don't judge people by their appearance, but, from looking at these cats, you knew what they were NOT going to do, but not exactly they were going to do.

Turns out, they were a Punk Rock band and they are dope as hell. Seeing them perform reminded me how much I like Punk and made me go home and dig up some of my old Bad Brains records. I really need to cherish my little punk collection more than I do. I think the last thing I bought that could be classified as such was that first Yeah Yeah Yeah's album a few years back. I'm slipping...

Anyways, these dudes had a wealth of material in their catalog and all of it was dope. They also played some punked out versions of "Cherchez La Ghost", Prince's "Controversy" and Kanye's "Can't Tell Me Nothing." I was in that bitch rocking out!

The climax of the night was when all three acts ended the night with a jam session where Spree and his guitar joined Tendaberry to play a punk rendition of Outkast's "Elevators" with Small Eyez freestyling over it, shit was dope. Oh yeah, the drummer was banging out on the back door...

Anyways, I just felt I had to share that. I have so many peers complain about the quality and freshness of music, but yet, I don't see alot of them in the quality and fresh places. I mean, yeah, I do my share of complaining about what's out there, but I've found that in order to find the new new, you have to go outside and play. Its that simple.

Seeing this show last night really has me kicking myself for not buying a video camera yet. I have to put that on my list of purchases for next month. This would have been a perfect youtube moment.

You can peep the mixtape made to coexist with the show HERE

This Show Was The Sh!t

Last night I went to a dope ass show. I was going to support the homie Small Eyez, but I didn't quite know what to expect from Spree Wilson and Tendaberry. I'd heard some of Spree's music before, but I really didn't enjoy it at the time. Tendaberry, well I'd never heard their stuff.

But man...I think I'm a fan of everybody on that stage now...all three of these acts ripped it.

Spree went on first and dude pretty much set the tone for the night. Dude played guitar, rapped, told jokes...quite entertaining. But, and I'm sure others will admit to this as well, his drummer stole the show...hell, he damn near ended it!

First, I saw the drummer doing shit I'd never seen before. He would be banging out on the drums and then he'd get up and walk around the drumset, still playing and playing on beat! At one point he messed around and let one the sticks fly out of his hand, so someone tossed it back to him and he caught it on some one-handed Randy Moss shit and stayed on beat with what he was doing.

Unfortunately, he was rocking out so hard that he put a hole in the snare. So at that point, Spree's show came to an end. And it also put Tenderberry's show in jeopardy too, being that they are a punk rock band.

After that, Small Eyez went up and did his thing as usual. I've only heard his stuff through myspace and CD, but seeing him do his thing live was an added bonus. I suggest that you keep up with his schedule so you can see what I'm talking about.

I think he only planned on doing a certain amount of songs but he kinda had to stall until that snare drum got replaced so that Tendaberry could go on. He did a good job in stalling because all of the songs he did were damn good. "Score," "Blink" and "Cruise Control" were my personal favs.

By the time Small Eyez finished a new snare had showed up so the show could go on. I'm not gonna lie, when I saw Tendaberry, I didn't know what to expect. I don't judge people by their appearance, but, from looking at these cats, you knew what they were NOT going to do, but not exactly they were going to do.

Turns out, they were a Punk Rock band and they are dope as hell. Seeing them perform reminded me how much I like Punk and made me go home and dig up some of my old Bad Brains records. I really need to cherish my little punk collection more than I do. I think the last thing I bought that could be classified as such was that first Yeah Yeah Yeah's album a few years back. I'm slipping...

Anyways, these dudes had a wealth of material in their catalog and all of it was dope. They also played some punked out versions of "Cherchez La Ghost", Prince's "Controversy" and Kanye's "Can't Tell Me Nothing." I was in that bitch rocking out!

The climax of the night was when all three acts ended the night with a jam session where Spree and his guitar joined Tendaberry to play a punk rendition of Outkast's "Elevators" with Small Eyez freestyling over it, shit was dope. Oh yeah, the drummer was banging out on the back door...

Anyways, I just felt I had to share that. I have so many peers complain about the quality and freshness of music, but yet, I don't see alot of them in the quality and fresh places. I mean, yeah, I do my share of complaining about what's out there, but I've found that in order to find the new new, you have to go outside and play. Its that simple.

Seeing this show last night really has me kicking myself for not buying a video camera yet. I have to put that on my list of purchases for next month. This would have been a perfect youtube moment.

You can peep the mixtape made to coexist with the show HERE

Something To Talk About

Since I'm blessed enough to have a handful of friends who are teachers, I occasionally get the honor of being invited to speak to their students for Career Day and other forums. I've spoken at quite a few Elementary, Middle and High Schools...even my college Alma mater. But next month, I am especially looking forward to talking to some students at my old school, Redan High School.

Now, I wasn't the best student in high school. In fact, alot of my teachers probably considered me one of the worst. Not as in fighting, bringing weapons or selling drugs...just as in being rebellious, mischievous, disinterested, lazy and blatantly disrespectful. I wound up having to go to alternative school my entire senior year playing catch-up behind that dumb shit.

But, I did go to college, graduate and become a productive citizen, so, yeah, I am really looking forward to going back and hopefully running into old teachers who counted me out (my punk ass Spanish teacher Mr. Dorce, "como estas nuuccca!")...and the ones who knew I was better than how I was presenting myself.

When I've spoken to kids in the past, I've tried to encourage them without selling them fantasies. I also encourage them to do their own reading and not just take everything in the textbooks as law. I hate to sound cliche, but I "keep it real" with the students.

I like to think I have a positive impact most times, since I tend to get invited back to talk to them year after year. But, I think a lot of them are just impressed that I've met some of their favorite singers, rappers, actresses, athletes, etc. Oh well.

Anyways, most times when I talk to the kids the teachers give me an outline of what they want me to talk about with them. Other times I'll just come up with my own points to make. But, this morning, I came across some scary news that I feel I might just have to touch on with them.

This morning CNN reported that at least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease. That's a whole damn lot of kids man. I mean, when I was in high school, yeah, STDs were around but it didn't seem to be THAT BIG of an issue. I mean, we'd see the stuff in the newspaper ranking what high schools had the highest number of infected students. My school usually ranked 2nd or 3rd in the county, which is the main reason why I didn't mess with any of those chicks, as fine as they may have been.

But even then, it didn't seem like we really took that news that seriously. Really, we used joke about the shit because our rival, Southwest Dekalb (SWD) would always rank 1st. So, at the basketball and football games, we'd counter their "S-W-D" chants with "S-T-D"...cruel? Yes. Funny? Hell to the yes.

But, after seeing these kinds of statistics as an adult, that shit ain't no joke. Makes me worry about these kids even more. I mean, we all like to think we know whats going on with these kids, that's why we're always so quick to call them crazy, retarded or high off drugs. But man, to have a report like this just stare you in the face, got damn.

So, I'm gonna try and figure out what I can say to tell these youngsters to be more careful out there. I don't think there is much you can say to keep them from having sex. I mean, education and even scare tactics may work for some, but not all.

Any suggestions?

Since most of them are Lil Wayne fans, maybe I should bring this ad for Strapped condoms with me...

Something To Talk About

Since I'm blessed enough to have a handful of friends who are teachers, I occasionally get the honor of being invited to speak to their students for Career Day and other forums. I've spoken at quite a few Elementary, Middle and High Schools...even my college Alma mater. But next month, I am especially looking forward to talking to some students at my old school, Redan High School.

Now, I wasn't the best student in high school. In fact, alot of my teachers probably considered me one of the worst. Not as in fighting, bringing weapons or selling drugs...just as in being rebellious, mischievous, disinterested, lazy and blatantly disrespectful. I wound up having to go to alternative school my entire senior year playing catch-up behind that dumb shit.

But, I did go to college, graduate and become a productive citizen, so, yeah, I am really looking forward to going back and hopefully running into old teachers who counted me out (my punk ass Spanish teacher Mr. Dorce, "como estas nuuccca!")...and the ones who knew I was better than how I was presenting myself.

When I've spoken to kids in the past, I've tried to encourage them without selling them fantasies. I also encourage them to do their own reading and not just take everything in the textbooks as law. I hate to sound cliche, but I "keep it real" with the students.

I like to think I have a positive impact most times, since I tend to get invited back to talk to them year after year. But, I think a lot of them are just impressed that I've met some of their favorite singers, rappers, actresses, athletes, etc. Oh well.

Anyways, most times when I talk to the kids the teachers give me an outline of what they want me to talk about with them. Other times I'll just come up with my own points to make. But, this morning, I came across some scary news that I feel I might just have to touch on with them.

This morning CNN reported that at least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease. That's a whole damn lot of kids man. I mean, when I was in high school, yeah, STDs were around but it didn't seem to be THAT BIG of an issue. I mean, we'd see the stuff in the newspaper ranking what high schools had the highest number of infected students. My school usually ranked 2nd or 3rd in the county, which is the main reason why I didn't mess with any of those chicks, as fine as they may have been.

But even then, it didn't seem like we really took that news that seriously. Really, we used joke about the shit because our rival, Southwest Dekalb (SWD) would always rank 1st. So, at the basketball and football games, we'd counter their "S-W-D" chants with "S-T-D"...cruel? Yes. Funny? Hell to the yes.

But, after seeing these kinds of statistics as an adult, that shit ain't no joke. Makes me worry about these kids even more. I mean, we all like to think we know whats going on with these kids, that's why we're always so quick to call them crazy, retarded or high off drugs. But man, to have a report like this just stare you in the face, got damn.

So, I'm gonna try and figure out what I can say to tell these youngsters to be more careful out there. I don't think there is much you can say to keep them from having sex. I mean, education and even scare tactics may work for some, but not all.

Any suggestions?

Since most of them are Lil Wayne fans, maybe I should bring this ad for Strapped condoms with me...

B*tch Please!

I haven't voiced alot of opinions on this blog about this presidential election. I guess I spend so much time talking about amongst my family and friends that I never think to post alot about it. But, you should know that I'm rolling with Obama (and yeah, its because he's Black). But besides that, I really think that dude has some of the answers we need in this country. Everybody talking about this "dream ticket" stuff, really, I would have liked to see Obama and Huckabee join forces, dude had some dope ideas.

Anyways, I wanted to do a post about two things that's been on my mind lately and it seemed like the stars have aligned for me to do so.

First. I had another one of my random YouTube flashback moments. I'm sure you've had them too. You know, when you go on YouTube and just look up old ass music videos, SNL skits, interviews or sports highlights. Well, for some reason I'd gotten the urge to look up some old Xzibit videos, man, that nigga was a beast! I always thought dude was dope, but I never just waved the flag for dude like that. But, I just started remembering that I pretty much liked everything dude ever put out up until maybe 2005 or so. It really made wonder what the hell happened? I mean, you used to be able to turn on your television or radio and hear songs like "Front2Back" and "What U See Is What U Get." Just raw shit, not that "for the club" or "for the ladies" shit.

The second thing on my mind pertains to the election. Me and my brother actually got into a brief argument with our parents about them choosing to support Hillary instead of Obama a few months ago. I'm glad to say that since then they have come to their senses. I'm hoping that the rest of the country does too. Hilary ain't about shit and she proves it in her tactics.

Her latest example is how she's been going around talking that mess about her and Obama being a "dream ticket." She's trying to put out the notion that Obama (who is winning) should bow out and be satisfied with being vice-president. Now, just for comic relief, I used to agree with Chris Rock. You know, when he said no brotha should try to be the First Black President because it would be hell. Instead, he said that the brotha should run for VP and just hire some niggas to assassinate the Prez so that he could take over.

But now, nah, I'd really like to see Obama win the whole thing. Plus, how does Hillary come of her face and say this right after declaring that Obama isn't fit to be the president, yet.

Well, I don't really have say much more about it because earlier today Obama went off in a speech, pretty much saying "Bitch please!"

So, keeping in that context, I am sending Hillary a YouTube tribute courtesy of Xzibit and Snoop Dogg.

"Bitch Please"...Hillary's arms are too short to slapbox with Obama...fall back in line, breezy.

B*tch Please!

I haven't voiced alot of opinions on this blog about this presidential election. I guess I spend so much time talking about amongst my family and friends that I never think to post alot about it. But, you should know that I'm rolling with Obama (and yeah, its because he's Black). But besides that, I really think that dude has some of the answers we need in this country. Everybody talking about this "dream ticket" stuff, really, I would have liked to see Obama and Huckabee join forces, dude had some dope ideas.

Anyways, I wanted to do a post about two things that's been on my mind lately and it seemed like the stars have aligned for me to do so.

First. I had another one of my random YouTube flashback moments. I'm sure you've had them too. You know, when you go on YouTube and just look up old ass music videos, SNL skits, interviews or sports highlights. Well, for some reason I'd gotten the urge to look up some old Xzibit videos, man, that nigga was a beast! I always thought dude was dope, but I never just waved the flag for dude like that. But, I just started remembering that I pretty much liked everything dude ever put out up until maybe 2005 or so. It really made wonder what the hell happened? I mean, you used to be able to turn on your television or radio and hear songs like "Front2Back" and "What U See Is What U Get." Just raw shit, not that "for the club" or "for the ladies" shit.

The second thing on my mind pertains to the election. Me and my brother actually got into a brief argument with our parents about them choosing to support Hillary instead of Obama a few months ago. I'm glad to say that since then they have come to their senses. I'm hoping that the rest of the country does too. Hilary ain't about shit and she proves it in her tactics.

Her latest example is how she's been going around talking that mess about her and Obama being a "dream ticket." She's trying to put out the notion that Obama (who is winning) should bow out and be satisfied with being vice-president. Now, just for comic relief, I used to agree with Chris Rock. You know, when he said no brotha should try to be the First Black President because it would be hell. Instead, he said that the brotha should run for VP and just hire some niggas to assassinate the Prez so that he could take over.

But now, nah, I'd really like to see Obama win the whole thing. Plus, how does Hillary come of her face and say this right after declaring that Obama isn't fit to be the president, yet.

Well, I don't really have say much more about it because earlier today Obama went off in a speech, pretty much saying "Bitch please!"

So, keeping in that context, I am sending Hillary a YouTube tribute courtesy of Xzibit and Snoop Dogg.

"Bitch Please"...Hillary's arms are too short to slapbox with Obama...fall back in line, breezy.

Dude...

I don't do this often because um, I not too fond of lawyers and lawsuits. But I figured I'd share this with a couple of ya'll.

Smoke Sessions, Vol.1 is Devin's first release since he left Rap-A-Lot earlier this year. It sounds pretty dope, but, there aren't many of the Richard Pryor-moments that you'd expect to hear on a Devin release. Its basically just a bunch of A.D.I.D.A.S. wearing going on here. Not that that's a surprise with him, its just that there's hardly any of the sobering moments, working-class humor or straight up genius shit that you've grown to love. But, if you are a Devin fan or a avid smoker, then this is the CD for you. I guess what I'm trying to say is listen for yourself, because the last time I said anything less than favorable about a Devin release, niggas went off on me!