dead prez: Radio Freq

First...to the homie R.E., this is not a Flashback Friday swagger jack!



But oh snap! I did not know they had a video for this song! This is one of my all time favorite dead prez songs. This may be TMI for you, but this has been my get-ready-in-the-shower song for about the last week and a half now. Before this it was Goodie Mob's "Fighting."

MAN! I was doing some cleaning aronud the crib a couple weeks ago and found my DPZ Turn Off The Radio Vol. 1 from '02. I had been looking for it for the longest because I was thirsting for this song. But then when I found it, I saw that it had a crack in it. I was like "aw dammit!" Fortunately, it still plays my favorite song, which is this one right here.

GOT DAMN! This shit is hard. One of the trillest songs ever recorded. As usual, both of them go off, especially the last few bars of stic.man's verse. But damn though, M-1 showed his ass on this song: "you wanna know what kinda nigga I am? let me tell you 'bout the nigga I'm not, I don't fuck with the cops."

The song already inspires me, but seeing this video for the first time makes me want to go out and start some shit. Hell, I might even break out my old favorite t-shirt today.

dead prez: Radio Freq

First...to the homie R.E., this is not a Flashback Friday swagger jack!



But oh snap! I did not know they had a video for this song! This is one of my all time favorite dead prez songs. This may be TMI for you, but this has been my get-ready-in-the-shower song for about the last week and a half now. Before this it was Goodie Mob's "Fighting."

MAN! I was doing some cleaning aronud the crib a couple weeks ago and found my DPZ Turn Off The Radio Vol. 1 from '02. I had been looking for it for the longest because I was thirsting for this song. But then when I found it, I saw that it had a crack in it. I was like "aw dammit!" Fortunately, it still plays my favorite song, which is this one right here.

GOT DAMN! This shit is hard. One of the trillest songs ever recorded. As usual, both of them go off, especially the last few bars of stic.man's verse. But damn though, M-1 showed his ass on this song: "you wanna know what kinda nigga I am? let me tell you 'bout the nigga I'm not, I don't fuck with the cops."

The song already inspires me, but seeing this video for the first time makes me want to go out and start some shit. Hell, I might even break out my old favorite t-shirt today.

Taylor Made

[Me and Susan Taylor, circa 2002-03]

From jump...

I can't front, I've been more of a critic than fan of Essence magazine. Sad, but I'm not afraid to say its mostly been over petty shit that did nothing but expose underlying insecurities that I may not have been aware of. I wouldn't say that I would just be angered or set off by some of the things I saw in the magazine, no, most of the time it would just be shit I'd laugh and say "hell nawl" to.

You know, like those articles they'd have when they' tell their female readers: "100 Way How To Get A Man." "100 Ways To Keep A Man." "100 Reasons Why You Don't Have A Man." Most of the time I'd just look at those articles and be like "wrong, wrong, wrong." Like Dave Chappelle said, there aren't 100 ways to please any man, its pretty much 4 things: "Suck his ****, play with his balls, fix him a sandwich and don't talk so damn much."

I could go on and on about my gripes with a magazine that wasn't intended for me in the first place, but Jozen over at King-Mag.com pretty much hits all the nails on the head.

Anyways, I read that Susan L. Taylor was leaving the magazine next month. If you don't know her, she is pretty much the face of the magazine. I've gathered that to alot of Black women, Ms. Taylor is kinda held in the same regard as Oprah. Except Ms. Taylor is more low-key and appears (to me) to be more rooted in her community on a more consistent basis. Might as well say she is the "Black Oprah" if that makes any sense (it should if you feel what I'm saying).

When I read that she was leaving her post to focus more on her National Cares Mentoring Movement, I was happy for her, but saddened at the same time for some reason. I kinda felt like "damn, who are the sistahs gonna turn to after Ms. Taylor's In The Spirit column stops running?" Ever since Essence got bought out by Time Warner, people started worrying that they might go out like BET. They seem to have done a decent job in staying on course (outside of that loud-ass Suede magazine). But, with the woman who put the mag on the map and tried to keep its "Black Woman's Bible" title alive moving on, what now?

I mean, maybe I'm just tripping. Hell, I'm not even completely sure if women still read Essence like that anymore anyway. I guess I'm saying what I'm saying because I got a chance to meet Ms. Taylor about 4-5 years ago and she truly left an impression on me. She came down to Fort Valley State to give a lecture on using your college experience and degree to do more than just get a job. Although she was a woman and was pretty much expected to just give a lecture on women's issues, she spoke a bevy of things that both the men and women in the crowd could appreciate and apply to their lives.

Afterwards, she made herself available for photos, autographs and brief conversations. You can tell she was kinda tired but she still stayed until she shook every hand in the auditorium. By the time I got to her she had to have shook at least 50 hands. I didn't want to be a bother so I just shook her hand and kept it moving. But then, one of the professors who helped plan the lecture grabbed me by the jacket and demanded that I go back and really chop it up with her. So he took me back over there, formally introduced me to her and told her everything that I was doing at and for the school. She must have been impressed because she told the other folks in line to wait for a little bit and took out some time to talk to me and see what I was about.

I won't get into everything that we talked about or how she gave me her info but never responded to my calls or emails (its O.K., we're all busy people), but I will always remember her as a classy, serious, warm, stylish, intelligent, good smelling woman. Hopefully I'll cross paths with her again since her schedule seems to be a little lighter now.

Sorry for rambling, but, after reading that she was leaving, it just got me wondering. Granted, Ms. Taylor is leaving the magazine to really roll up her sleeves and get in the trenches doing much-needed community work, but I just wonder about the impact a voice like her's leaving a magazine like Essence can have. Especially when video hoes and calender models are becoming the most visible spokespeople for Black women. Hopefully Essence's young staff can keep it up. After all, as much as I'd disagree with some of what the magazine said, I'd be lying if I said it didn't have very informative and intriguing editorial besides the "How To Get A Man" nonsense. Much like women deserve to have a song like Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" amidst all the misogyny, women deserve to have Grade A reading material amidst the gossip mags and blogs out there.

Peace.

Taylor Made

[Me and Susan Taylor, circa 2002-03]

From jump...

I can't front, I've been more of a critic than fan of Essence magazine. Sad, but I'm not afraid to say its mostly been over petty shit that did nothing but expose underlying insecurities that I may not have been aware of. I wouldn't say that I would just be angered or set off by some of the things I saw in the magazine, no, most of the time it would just be shit I'd laugh and say "hell nawl" to.

You know, like those articles they'd have when they' tell their female readers: "100 Way How To Get A Man." "100 Ways To Keep A Man." "100 Reasons Why You Don't Have A Man." Most of the time I'd just look at those articles and be like "wrong, wrong, wrong." Like Dave Chappelle said, there aren't 100 ways to please any man, its pretty much 4 things: "Suck his ****, play with his balls, fix him a sandwich and don't talk so damn much."

I could go on and on about my gripes with a magazine that wasn't intended for me in the first place, but Jozen over at King-Mag.com pretty much hits all the nails on the head.

Anyways, I read that Susan L. Taylor was leaving the magazine next month. If you don't know her, she is pretty much the face of the magazine. I've gathered that to alot of Black women, Ms. Taylor is kinda held in the same regard as Oprah. Except Ms. Taylor is more low-key and appears (to me) to be more rooted in her community on a more consistent basis. Might as well say she is the "Black Oprah" if that makes any sense (it should if you feel what I'm saying).

When I read that she was leaving her post to focus more on her National Cares Mentoring Movement, I was happy for her, but saddened at the same time for some reason. I kinda felt like "damn, who are the sistahs gonna turn to after Ms. Taylor's In The Spirit column stops running?" Ever since Essence got bought out by Time Warner, people started worrying that they might go out like BET. They seem to have done a decent job in staying on course (outside of that loud-ass Suede magazine). But, with the woman who put the mag on the map and tried to keep its "Black Woman's Bible" title alive moving on, what now?

I mean, maybe I'm just tripping. Hell, I'm not even completely sure if women still read Essence like that anymore anyway. I guess I'm saying what I'm saying because I got a chance to meet Ms. Taylor about 4-5 years ago and she truly left an impression on me. She came down to Fort Valley State to give a lecture on using your college experience and degree to do more than just get a job. Although she was a woman and was pretty much expected to just give a lecture on women's issues, she spoke a bevy of things that both the men and women in the crowd could appreciate and apply to their lives.

Afterwards, she made herself available for photos, autographs and brief conversations. You can tell she was kinda tired but she still stayed until she shook every hand in the auditorium. By the time I got to her she had to have shook at least 50 hands. I didn't want to be a bother so I just shook her hand and kept it moving. But then, one of the professors who helped plan the lecture grabbed me by the jacket and demanded that I go back and really chop it up with her. So he took me back over there, formally introduced me to her and told her everything that I was doing at and for the school. She must have been impressed because she told the other folks in line to wait for a little bit and took out some time to talk to me and see what I was about.

I won't get into everything that we talked about or how she gave me her info but never responded to my calls or emails (its O.K., we're all busy people), but I will always remember her as a classy, serious, warm, stylish, intelligent, good smelling woman. Hopefully I'll cross paths with her again since her schedule seems to be a little lighter now.

Sorry for rambling, but, after reading that she was leaving, it just got me wondering. Granted, Ms. Taylor is leaving the magazine to really roll up her sleeves and get in the trenches doing much-needed community work, but I just wonder about the impact a voice like her's leaving a magazine like Essence can have. Especially when video hoes and calender models are becoming the most visible spokespeople for Black women. Hopefully Essence's young staff can keep it up. After all, as much as I'd disagree with some of what the magazine said, I'd be lying if I said it didn't have very informative and intriguing editorial besides the "How To Get A Man" nonsense. Much like women deserve to have a song like Beyonce's "Irreplaceable" amidst all the misogyny, women deserve to have Grade A reading material amidst the gossip mags and blogs out there.

Peace.

Hawks Over .500!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a lifelong Hawks fan (except for a brief stint in the post-Dominique era with the Charlotte Hornets during the Larry Johnson/Alonzo Mourning days). I've been laughed at, chuckled at and even felt sorry for. When I used to work at Rolling Out, my co-workers used think I was crazy because how I used to raise hell to get press passes to go to the games.

Well, as small as it may seem to some of you bandwagon Celtics fans, the Hawks having a winning record right now is big news to me. We haven't been over .500 this deep into the season since the 98-99 season. My team is finally starting to share the ball and cut to the basket like all NBA teams are supposed to. We beat the Miami Heat in (an unessecary) overtime last night we're on a 4-game winning streak. We have 13 wins already. Why is this such a big deal? Shied, just three seasons ago we didn't get our 13th win until the last week of the season (ooh, that shit still hurts). If the playoffs were to start today, we'd be in the 7th spot and be playing Detroit, a team I KNOW we can beat, and should have beat at least two out of three times already this season. I knew things were going to be different when we were able to beat both Dallas and Phoenix to open the season. The city is finally starting to get behind the team now too. Well, there really isn't much of a choice now, the Braves suck and the Falcons, eh...you know the story there. But, the games that I have gone too this season have been very exciting, win or lose.

Anyways, I know some of you may be thinking that I'm really tripping right now, but I don't care as of this moment my Hawks have a better record than last years Eastern Conference champs and I'm happy as hell about it. I still think we need a new coach and should give Greedy Speedy Claxton the boot, but I'm good right now. At least I see them on the court more that I do at the club nowadays.



On another note, as happy as I was to see my Hawks beat the Heat, I was saddenned to see one of my favorite players and childhood role models get injured. Alonzo Mourning went down last night after his knee buckled, coming down after trying to block a shot. He's already implying that this injury may force him to go ahead and retire. I hate to see that, I used to want to be like 'Zo growing up. In 3rd grade I used to think I was going to Georgetown University just like him. But I got introduced to reality and trouble in high school so that dream went flying out of the window.

Anyways, get well soon 'Zo! And GO HAWKS!

Hawks Over .500!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a lifelong Hawks fan (except for a brief stint in the post-Dominique era with the Charlotte Hornets during the Larry Johnson/Alonzo Mourning days). I've been laughed at, chuckled at and even felt sorry for. When I used to work at Rolling Out, my co-workers used think I was crazy because how I used to raise hell to get press passes to go to the games.

Well, as small as it may seem to some of you bandwagon Celtics fans, the Hawks having a winning record right now is big news to me. We haven't been over .500 this deep into the season since the 98-99 season. My team is finally starting to share the ball and cut to the basket like all NBA teams are supposed to. We beat the Miami Heat in (an unessecary) overtime last night we're on a 4-game winning streak. We have 13 wins already. Why is this such a big deal? Shied, just three seasons ago we didn't get our 13th win until the last week of the season (ooh, that shit still hurts). If the playoffs were to start today, we'd be in the 7th spot and be playing Detroit, a team I KNOW we can beat, and should have beat at least two out of three times already this season. I knew things were going to be different when we were able to beat both Dallas and Phoenix to open the season. The city is finally starting to get behind the team now too. Well, there really isn't much of a choice now, the Braves suck and the Falcons, eh...you know the story there. But, the games that I have gone too this season have been very exciting, win or lose.

Anyways, I know some of you may be thinking that I'm really tripping right now, but I don't care as of this moment my Hawks have a better record than last years Eastern Conference champs and I'm happy as hell about it. I still think we need a new coach and should give Greedy Speedy Claxton the boot, but I'm good right now. At least I see them on the court more that I do at the club nowadays.



On another note, as happy as I was to see my Hawks beat the Heat, I was saddenned to see one of my favorite players and childhood role models get injured. Alonzo Mourning went down last night after his knee buckled, coming down after trying to block a shot. He's already implying that this injury may force him to go ahead and retire. I hate to see that, I used to want to be like 'Zo growing up. In 3rd grade I used to think I was going to Georgetown University just like him. But I got introduced to reality and trouble in high school so that dream went flying out of the window.

Anyways, get well soon 'Zo! And GO HAWKS!

The Gift That Keeps On Giving!

If you need a bio or a photoshoot done, contact me at maurice.g.garland@gmail.com. Let's break bread! Oh yeah, this deal for indies only. All of you major cats are gonna have to spend some change.