My Two Cents Are Priceless

There's a war going on outside nobody's safe from. The war we are fighting is mental, psychological, spiritual, economical & cultural. These fronts are more discreet and covert. In destabilized countries around the world, these fronts take a backseat to coups, bloody struggles, drones, and military intervention. Yet, they still work in conjunction with each other to achieve the specific needs of the objective. For the proletariat, if not engaged in guerrilla warfare, they must still face the threats that seek to create inner turmoil for the individual & divide communities. Their existence/survival is based on the level of resistance they show on the psychosocial front. In this age of social media, the access to information grants everyday people the power to consume information at a much more quicker pace than previous generations. With this comes much responsibility, especially in regards to culture. The images projected are created for various reasons, but they...

Let's start with facts. Jay Z is a hypercapitalist. The foundation of his economic principles were built & solidified in the vicious drug game of the 80s. All he did was take that same model into the rap game at a time when the industry was being co-opted by institutions who had the resources to take advantage & exploit hip hop culture's limitless earning potential. He's the product of a Post-Civil Rights marketing of individualism, Reaganomics being the standard. Woven into his lyrics are vivid elaborations of obtaining & maintaining wealth for himself & his small circle of trusted associates. Now, I'm not against the accumulation of capital to better the life of self & loved ones. At the same time, in the cultural tradition of Blackness, social responsibility comes with that territory. A certain degree of integrity must be shown. Especially if you made your fortune off the strength & support of those same Black people. He can't blame us f...

There comes a time in life when we must step outside of ourselves & ask an honest question: What is our purpose? Why are we doing what we do? For the love? For the money? For the fame? I had to ask myself these questions when it came to this blog. This is why I haven’t posted a new piece in almost two years. I've done plenty of writing in this duration of time, but posting it felt forced.  I caught myself worrying too much about the opinion of others. It impeded & stifled my creativity. I questioned everything I wrote & it's validity in the space I created for myself.  Along with that, my personal growth in this same span of time radically changed my train of thought. I questioned everything around me, and the contradictions showed in my work. At first, I thought it was a bad thing. In hindsight, I realized that it's all a part of progression. If growth isn't seen in your craft, than what's the use of perfecting it?  Also, why should you suppress y...