Optimist

We break their stride cause we break our mirrors
They hugging that pride like its all there is
We make our own and if they dont feel it
Then we are not for them (we start a riot)
- P.O.S.

We will overcome.
- Geoff Rickly

I started rhyming just to be somebody
Found out that I already was
Cause can't nobody be free unless we're all free
there's no me and no you its just us
- Brother Ali

One outta 1 million resident
Being dissident
Who ain't kissin it
The politics of chains and whips
Got the sick
Missin chips and all the championships
What's love got to do
Wit what you got
Don't let a win get to your head
Or a loss to your heart
Nonsense perseveres
Prayers laced wit fear
Beware
- Chuck D

This is a call to all you sleepin souls
Wake up and be in control of your own cypher
And be on the lookout for those spirit snipers
Trying to steal your light
- Flavor Flav

Just feeling inspired today, by life, by creativity, by positivity, even a little bit by hope. Haven't heard that word come out of my mouth in awhile, or felt it. Gonna try and do more good things, stand up for the right things, and begin a better, stronger, just life. And fight the powers that be.

The thin red line

Have You Passed Through This N...

I've never seen a war movie where I actually looked forward to the parts where there was no fighting until I watched The Thin Red Line today. Don't get me wrong, the battles were intense and realistic, and brutal and things of that nature, but the monologues, spliced with incredibly vibrant scenery and unique images were what made the movie so unforgettable. One of the monologues was sampled for this Explosions song, which happens to be one of my favorites. Sometimes life just understands me. This one was of those moments.

"This great evil. Where does it come from? How'd it steal into the world? What seed, what root did it grow from? Who's doin' this? Who's killin' us? Robbing us of life and light. Mockin' us with the sight of what we might've known. Does our ruin benefit the earth? Does it help the grass to grow, the sun to shine? Is this darkness in you, too? Have you passed through this night?"

Under the $cope

I know I've already posted about this before, but this project's got me buzzin harder then 4 beers and a blunt. In case you don't know, Curren$y, one of my favorite current rappers, has been working in NYC in Dame Dash's (former Rocafella Records co-owner) studio with Mos Def and producer Jay Electronica. I can't wait to hear what will come of it, but Spitta has been letting some of his own stuff out, and its decent. Peep the video here, and you'll see some familiar faces throughout. Also check out the entire website Creative Control. There's just some cool shit on there. Curren$y - Under the $cope

Enemy of the State

With that little bit of negativity released, I would like to turn it around and express another thanks to the best rapper alive, Lupe Fiasco. Dude, in my opinion, is without a doubt the smartest, and lyrically greatest rapper out there, and yes thats including Hov, Weezy or or Yeezy. He simply can't be touched. But even more important then his skills are his message. Its one of the most refreshing things to have a rapper be synchronized to my idealogy as well. Basically its just nice having someone be able to say what I wish I had the ability to say. And in such a filthy fresh way. So, dick riding aside, Lupe Fiasco's Enemy of the State. And be on the lookout over Christmas for another tape. Lupe Fiasco, the man with lyrics that just keep on giving.

thanksgiving prayer

I'm not gonna go on my own separate rant, at least for now, as Mr. Burroughs does a more then adequate job on his own, but I wanted to post this for people to see so they can at least open their eyes to the other, darker side of the national holiday we call Thanksgiving. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot to be thankful for, and am all for a holiday that allows us to express that thanks, but the foundation of this holiday is corrupt to say the least. If you don't know the history you better study up and get your mind right.

With that being said I am absolutely thankful for my family, my friends, and everyone else in this world that have good, honest, hearts. I hope that your "Thanksgiving" day is the most wonderful it can possibly be. I love you all.

illest turned iller

One of the dopest hip hop songs of 2009 just got doper. Hands down dopest dope I ever smoked. Off Consequence's upcoming album ConsTV, the original song just had John Legend and Yeezy, the remix features every rapper on the G.O.O.D. Music roster, aka the dream team of hip hop. I'll probably be riding out to this song until this time next year as well. GOOD music has arrived.


Consequence Feat. Feat Kanye West, Common, John Legend, Kid Cudi, Big Sean - Whatever U Want (G.O.O.D. Music Remix)

Early

Freeway - The Beat Made Me Do It!

city year

Things that should be going on during city year time.

Things that actually go on during city year time.

Over the last week or so my homie Alex and I have been freestyle spittin across a few blocks from each other via cell phone texts.
Best lines so far
My flows so focused,
I wrote this,
then it flows from brain to tongue like osmosis

My balls and a mic is what i stay grippin
step to me son you must be trippin
climbin to the top while others keep slippin
cus im nice with a mic just like scott pippen

followed by

I speak from my mind everybody be flippin
my words spread around like a new weed shipment
all them other rappers better know they need to listen
cuz the shit i be spittin is the best shit ever written.

Yea were the next slim shadys.

memory lane

The stroll down Memory Lane is full of moments that I don't want to remember, but are too hard to forget. For some reason Present Ave is only given thought when it merges with Memory Lane, and Future St is a destination that can't be reached. So I'm stuck walking this endless road of a short lifetime's worth of moments that have made me who I am. Me, here on Present St. Will I find a dead end? A fork in the road? Or countless more street lights of varying degrees of illumination. Flickering, shining, to guide the way, on this unknown pavement.

creative constipation

I'm finding my inability to put pen to pad and fingers to keyboard more and more frustrating lately. For whatever reason I have been plagued, no scratch that blessed, no, plagued by an influx of deep, inciteful, original ideas, and some very decent rhymes, only to have them lost in translation from my mind to my fingers to the pad or computer screen. I've been in a very weird space the last few weeks of absolute vulnerability to the spectrum of emotions. I've run the gamut from bliss to near depression, everywhere inbetween, and all the way back again. It has resulted in an avalanche of life wandering , philosophical pondering, thoughts/question/concerns about the human condition, as well as the Tyler Boeyink condition. Unfortunately for me, and the 3 people that read this, these thoughts have not been able to make the jump to tangibility. At one point I considered myself a decently talented and creative writer, but recently have fallen far short of my own expectations and standards. I'm not sure if I'm just getting rusty, if I've killed too many brain cells, or maybe the talent was never there to begin with, but the goal is to get the creative juices (and the sexual reproductive juices) flowing, and start putting some more shit out. Even if it is just that, shit.

pick 6 pooty

fast forward to 3:13. thats all you need to know. nfl scouts already know what you havent heard about yet.

sheesh

Center Edge Territory

(in my greatest chris farley voice: oh. my god.)

current obsessions

Oh you didn't know? Then your ass better call somebody.

Iowa Hawkeye Football being 9-0

P.O.S. - Never Better (being one of the best underground mc's in the game)

Brother Ali - US (being the other greatest underground mc in the game)


Green Lantern - Blackest Night series (being epic as shit)

"I swear to god hip hop and comic books was my genesis."


Peanut Butter Jelly sandwiches (as if thats ever changed)


online blackjack (actually making money)

spittin like a python, runnin it like M. bison

being poor all the time
is teachin me how to grind
got me showin my behind
like my ass out
working so damn hard until I pass out
pull the flask out
put it to my head, pull the trigger
watch my mind blast out
life spiralin outta control on the fast route
but im still grindin from the grass routes
oops i meant grass roots
no high class suits
im grindin in my timberland boots
red jacket some khakis and a backpack
no louie knapsack
peanut butter sandwich an apple and a snackpack
you know thats all i need
my students for who i bleed
expectations we will exceed
well blow your back out
so im shuttin shit down like a black out
no ballin throw jordan, throw kobe throw shaq out
no quittin, no cryin no lyin
im here to get it crack out
yea I meant crackin, no im not slackin
no financial backing or money stackin
just microphone attacking MC sacking
running shit like im meet tracking
and im track meeting
keepin it dirty like im Nike cleating
flow so warm and its only heating
call my mic Tyson the way you catch a beatin

weekend roundup

Sorry for the hiatus folks, but its been an extremely busy, extremely stressful and all around shitty week. My school situation has majorly worsened, my city year situation has pretty much hit rock bottom, and halloween was a bore. I pretty much gave up on p.o.s.v.o.t.d. cus most of his videos were getting too hard to find, and lets be honest, I'm probably the only one that is actually watching them. If you really want them, hit up youtube yourself.
Iowa football has legitimately taken at least 10 years of my life this year alone, probably 5 those years lots yesterday. 9-0 never felt so awesome and horrible ever. Chiefs football looks good today.
Musically speaking last week was flush with good. Lil Wayne released his mixtape No Ceilings which has proven to bring him back to old mixtape weezy form. His verses for swag surfin and d.o.a. are among the best I've heard from him in a long time. Upon being left out of MTV's top 10 hottest mc's Lupe Fiasco has been dropping freestyle after freestyle of some of the illest, most intelligent lines I've heard in hip hop. Find the song "Say Something" and look up the lyrics and you won't be disappointed. Wale's album debut Attention Deficit has proved to be a mild let down for me. His mixtapes have always been fire, his lyricism amongst the top in the game, but he has chosen to dumb it down for the album, and left his punchline delivery mostly at home. Its a well rounded album about decent topics, but I usually like Wale for his braggadocio "I'm the best" lyrics, not his concepts. A delightful surprise that has been filling Wale's void has been Skyzoo, with his latest release The Salvation. His lyrics are also pretty solid, but there's something about his voice and smooth Brooklyn flow that really does it for me. If you haven't already, you should definitely be checking him out, be it this album or his other drop with the producer 9th Wonder titled Cloud 9: The Three Day High, that they created in 3 days.
Outside of this I'm still bumping P.O.S pretty hard, and really starting to proliferate my Brother Ali jams, in anticipation of his show at the Church this week.