Mindspacing

Yep, I'm biting Jameil's style.. Let's go mindspacing...

1. I think there must be a memo that goes out to women, that says if the temperature falls below 70, then wear your fuzzy boots. I’ve seen so many today, it’s ridiculous. Black ones, beige ones, green ones, purple ones…

2. Despite my penchant for being a jerk, I hold it in when I’m at work. My immediate co-workers still feel the wrath, but I’m actually pretty darn nice to customers and client managers. One thing that makes me be a jerk however is when people interrupt me. I’ve been known to just stop talking for a good 30 seconds and then say… “are you ready for me to continue now?” in a jerky voice. I feel like a teacher when I do that and as an added bonus, it makes them feel stupid.

3. I’m so over the mohawk. I get it, it’s trendy. But enough. You look like a kid. There is a grown man with  a dreadlocked mohawk at my job. I was looking at him like he was a clown playing dress up in his daddy’s suit. Judgmental? You bet. But you did it to yourself!!!

4. It always trips me out when white people beg for money. It seems like a waste of whiteness. I was at a gas station on my way to Florida the other night and this white guy came up to me with a sob story. He was intent on telling me the whole story about how everybody did him wrong. I finally said, “if I give you a dollar, will you go away?” He said yes, so I did. LOL

5. It’s been a good month for hip hop. Jay-Z’s joint is good, although there are a few tracks I wish he would have left on the cutting room floor. Raekwon’s Cuban Linx 2 is even better and now Ghostface has an album coming out today. I can’t remember the last time there were 3 hip hop albums came out that I was actually excited to hear.

6. Every year for the last 4 or 5, I’ve decided that I wasn’t going to watch any new television shows, and every year I fail. Same thing this year. Flashforward looks pretty cool. I’ll also probably watch “The Cleveland Show” since I like “Family Guy.” Luckily, I haven’t watched too many other new shows, and the ones I did watch (Mercy, The Forgotten), I wasn’t really a fan of.

7. Why do I still have water in my car from last weeks flooding/rainstorm/tsunami in Atlanta. I scooped out a bunch, and then when I got back there was still some under the rug. I thought going to balls hot Florida would have dried some of it, but all it really did is to create it’s own humidity that made my windows fog up.

8. It’s like 73.8% harder being away from Jameil for two weeks at a time this year, than it was last year. I think I got spoiled having her with me for most of the summer. I’m a need her to hurry up and get that degree so we can live in the same city.

9. I don’t understand people who are intentionally cryptic. Why is everything so secret? And if you don’t want to tell us about it, then don’t tell. I’m not going to ask you what you are talking about. I’m sure not gonna ask twice. Hit me up when you want to converse like a normal human being.

10. Can someone please explain to me why so many bloggers have hair care, fashion and makeup blogs? Not everyone is a fashionista. A lot of your hair care tips are the same, can y’all go ahead and consolidate? Some of your ideas about makeup involves looking like a clown. Can’t people just write about their lives anymore?

11. Somebody at work thought I wasn’t food adventurous because I said I prefer a sausage or pepperoni pizza to those crazy Mellow Mushroom/California Pizza Kitchen concoctions. I’m just saying, I like spinach, olives, and feta cheese, but I don’t want it on my pizza. And certainly not for as much as they cost. $20 for a pizza is out of control unless it’s one of those Chicago Stuffed Pizzas from Giordanos. I’ll pay whatever they charge.

12. I’m finding it really hard to keep come up with things to blog about. I always seem to have ideas when I’m driving, or in the shower, but when I actually get a free moment to write a post, the thoughts keep escaping. I need one of those voice recorders to record my thoughts.

You Play To Win The Game

I love this clip...




Maybe I don’t have a heart, but certain sports stories kinda make me sick. I’m talking about all these heart warming stories about how high school athletes should not run up the score, or how an athlete didn’t score a touchdown when he had a chance because the other team had some sort of tragedy. These stories get major play on ESPN with the sappy sentimental music playing and the narrator using his “I’m so sensitive” voice. Or you’ll read about how parents are upset and coaches are getting reprimanded because the other team sucked too badly to stop them. They call it sportsmanship, and I get where they are coming from. But the thing is this: That don’t make no sense!!! While I understand the need for compassion, I don’t see any place for that in a game. Save that for after the whistle blows. What is the object of a game? To win, right? It’s not to make the other team feel better about themselves. You better believe that if they could beat you they would. If you are better than the other team, then you deserve to win. Don’t have to tiptoe around your superior athletic prowess just because some parents might get mad.




You aren’t going to see that in real life. Steve Jobs isn’t going to stop selling the iPod just because the Zune can’t keep up. He’s gonna keep selling until Microsoft can stop him. Do you think the US should all of a sudden stop the war in Afghanistan because there was an earthquake? No, you’re trying to win that war! Take it back to high school. How would you feel if the valedictorian tanked her SATs because someone else had a death in the family? Or should they downplay their intelligence because they are surrounded by dummies? Nope! I mean you can empathize, but you don’t have to get extreme with it. Sometimes, you just don’t win. You need to be prepared for disappointment. It’s not the end of the world.



When I was in high school our girls basketball team lost 100-2 to Beach High School. I’m pretty sure that one game didn’t ruin their lives. Drugs and promiscuity did that. LOL I’m only playing. I’m sure they are fine upstanding citizens now. Or maybe I’m the wrong one. Maybe it is important to preserve these athletes self esteem. I’m sure these same athletes aren’t going out of their way to preserve the self esteem of the nerds, freaks and weirdos, but that’s probably another post. It just seems that the object of the game is to win, not to coddle someone’s hurt feelings. Disagree? Hit me up in the comments and let me know. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna cry if you present a better argument than me. It’s just a game.

My Life According To Prince

Instructions: Using only song names from One Artist cleverly answer the questions below. You can’t use the artist. Try not to repeat a song title. And, then repost as “My life according to (artist name)”.

I chose Prince..

1. Are you male or female?: If Eye Was the Man in Ur Life

2. Describe yourself: The Beautiful Ones. LOL

3. How do you feel: Something In The Water (Does not compute.)

4. Describe where you currently live: America

5. If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Around The World in A Day

6. Your favorite form of transportation: Little Red Corvette

7. Your best friend is: How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore?

8. Your favorite color is: Black Sweat

9. What’s the weather like: Purple Rain

 

10. Favorite time of the day: It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night

11. If your life was a tv show, what would it be called: Pop Life

12. What is life to you: Life Can Be So Nice

 

13. Your relationship: Te Amo Corazon/Adore

14. Your fear: The Ladder

15. What is the best advice you have to give: Love 2 the 9s

16. If you could change your name, you would change it to: Sexy MF

17. Thought for the Day: Money Don’t Matter Tonight

18. How I would like to die: Condition of the Heart

19. My soul’s present condition: Free

20. My Motto: Baby I’m A Star

Mass Appeal

I get props like a slogan and no man
Could ever try to diss when I kicks my jam
Lyrically def and connecting complete mic wrecking
No double checking vocals kill like weapons
But if I have to I go all out with no mic
Yeah that's right cause I survived mad fights
And for my peeps I truly care
Cause without some of them I wouldn't be here
And they all know how I feel
Cause suckers be like playin themselves to have mass appeal

GangStarr “Mass Appeal”

Every once in a while, I want to be one of those mass appeal bloggers that has a bunch of people following them. I used to be that back in the day. I just don’t have the time and wherewithal to read everybody’s blogs like I used to. I know that’s how it’s done, but that still doesn’t stop me from wishing that I had more readers, without me having to read their blogs. It’s selfish, I know, but that’s how it is. Especially on days like today, when I see from my sitemeter that I’ve only had 7 visits, 2 of which were from me, and 2 from my girlfriend. It’s like where are all my blogging homies? And even on days when I get more frequent visitors, they don’t comment. I know.. I know.. I lurk sometimes too, but that doesn’t stop me from wishing that the lurkers would say a little something.

It’s funny. When I first started blogging I used to always say I’m blogging for myself and if other people want to read then that’s just an added bonus. Wow, was that some BS. If I really was writing to myself, then my blog would be private, or I wouldn’t tell people things about me that I already know, or I wouldn’t get such a kick out of reading other bloggers comments. No, I don’t write for myself. This ain’t no diary! This is a blog, son! So misguided I was back then. I’m here to entertain and it’s a whole lot easier to do that when I know people are reading.

Wait, I hope that didn’t sound like a threat. I’m not planning on stopping blogging, but I’m saying. I like people to read my stuff. If that means I have to suck it up and find new blogs to comment on, then I guess I will. It’s just incredibly hard to find someone that posts often and that I actually want to read. But one thing I won’t do is play myself to get mass appeal. I’m not gonna just comment on a bunch of random blogs so they will come visit me. If the substance isn’t there, I’ll have to pass. And I’m not going to start writing about sex and dumb things to pander to people. That’s not me. I’m not going to play myself like that. It’s not that important to have people reading. And finally, I’m not going to temper my opinion about anything to get people to read. When I used to be on Yahoo Messenger, I would talk to a lot of bloggers that had definite opinions about stuff, but wouldn’t write about it on their blogs because other people wouldn’t agree. What the heck ever!!! Say what you gotta say. Don’t dumb your stuff down for the popularity.

Yeah, so sometimes I want the mass appeal, and then I think about what some people do to get it, and I’ll pass. I’ll let them be Soulja Boy, I’ll be Talib Kweli or somebody. Not a lot of people listen, but those that do, definitely appreciate it. I’m not gonna play myself to get mass appeal. But tell your friends to read my stuff. LOL

I Don't Care

And if you're dumb, you'll ask why
I am from that Do-or-Die
The Audio Two, the Two's Audio
I got a brother and his name's Gizmo
Milk is chillin, Gizmo's chillin
What more can I say? Top billin
That's what we get, got it good
And since you understood, would you
Bite a rhyme, if you dare
I get the paper so I don't care


Audio Two “Top Billin’”

Hey Rashan?
What up?
Did you hear…
Yeah, I don’t care.

People stop talking to me about stuff that was in the news last week. I have the internet, cable tv, and more timely people around me. So when you ask me if I heard about the latest celebrity marriage or that so and so is so and so’s baby daddy, not only did I already hear about it, I don’t care.

That’s the real thing. I don’t care about celebrities. I mean I enjoy watching their movies, and listening to their music and cheering at their sports matches, but I don’t care anything about their personal lives. It doesn’t benefit me, and I’m not quite sure that their lives are any more interesting than mine. Sure, they have more money and do more shopping, but they aren’t buying me anything. I’ve never understood why people clamor to go to clubs because a celebrity is going to be there. How much fun are you going to have just gawking at them in VIP? I guess if you are a groupie, it makes sense, but for a normal guy? It makes no sense. Watching someone else having a good time does nothing for me.

And then another reason I don’t care. I know I’ve talked about this in the past, but being a celeb gives these people a platform to say whatever they want. Usually, whatever they want to say is stupid.. or misguided.. or at the very least disappointing. I’m not going to get up in arms about Kanye, because he is a celeb and they do and say stupid stuff just like everybody else. We all know a Kanye type that can’t stop talking. He just does it in public. I’m just waiting for another album. But the hero worship of celebrities is bound to backfire. How many times have we seen people that were put on a pedestal only to have a very messy, public fall after details of their sordid lives come out? I just choose to look at them as people, and like most people, they are flawed.

Maybe that’s why I haven’t had a celebrity crush in a minute. The last one was Amerie and that was like 5 years ago. They aren’t any great shakes to me. They may be pretty, but the prettiest people do the ugliest things (Kanye 2002). Or if they don’t do ugly stuff, they do dull uninteresting things or say stupid stuff. I really don’t see any need to check for them other than for their talent. Just keeping it in perspective.

So, if you ask me if I heard about this or that… more than likely I did. But even more likely is that I don’t care.

The Choice Is Yours*

Know you've heard the others, phonies to the lovers
Then of course, the choice is yours

Black Sheep “The Choice is Yours”

Dear African-American Women,
I wanna tell you something that you may not hear too often on the internet. Come closer… it’s a secret..

*whispering* You don’t have to go natural.

Yep, I said it. It is okay to put a perm in your hair if you want to. It won’t make you less of a Black woman to relax your hair. You can even wear a weave if you want. Let it flow. You can rock a wig if you want to. I mean, I personally hate it, but it has nothing to do with me. If you want to do it, then do it. It’s your hair. The choice is yours. Don’t listen to all these spiritual bloggers and faux afro centric poetry spouting incense burning 100% black power preaching “sistahs.” If you want to perm your hair, then do it. You can still be a sistah if you prefer Dark and Lovely to herbs and berries. It’s gonna be okay. It’s not like the police are going to stop recognizing your blackness when they pull you over. It’s not like little old ladies are gonna stop clutching their purse because of your silky hair. You are still tied to your roots, even if your roots got lye on them.

And while I’m on the subject, have you ever noticed when someone asks if they should cut their hair off, it’s only the women that tell them to do it. You wanna know why? Come closer, it’s another secret..

*whispering* - Most men want their women to have longer hair than them.

Yep, I said it. Women see a cute cut, men see a lack of hair. Don’t hate us for it. Just like you have your standards of beauty, so do men. Don’t knock them for it, unless you are prepared to abandon everything that you find attractive. You wouldn’t want to date a dude with a jheri curl, would you? Why? Cuz you don’t find it attractive. Like it or not, it is what it is. Men can be superficial, but we aren’t the only superficial ones. I’m just saying.

And let’s talk about this natural thing. What makes someone natural? Is it because you don’t get a perm? But what about the other stuff you put in your hair? I use coconut oil in mine, but it has other stuff besides fruit in it. Am I no longer natural? If my shampoo has anti dandruff stuff in it, does that make it unnatural? If so, I might as well get a perm! And why stop there with the natural standards? You weren’t born with clothes. Wouldn’t it be more natural to just walk around sans clothes? And toothpaste has chemicals in it, are you going to stop using that too? Wait… I feel like I digressed or something.

Back to what I was saying.. natural hair? It ain’t for everybody. Don’t be browbeat into doing it because all your facebook friends are doing it. Don’t feel obligated to prove your blackness by throwing out the perms. We come in all sizes, shapes, hues and hairstyles. Your hair – It’s Yours. If your happy being nappy, do your thing. If not, then by all means feel free to make that appointment with Dawnquesha every 2 weeks to get your hair did. The choice is yours.

Sincerely,
Rashan Jamal

*inspired by reading several facebook comments over the last couple of days where women were looking down on other women for having perms.

Keep To Myself

I get hot, and still be gettin warmer
And I don't have beef with no other performer
Keep to myself never bother another
But if a rapper tries to diss I crush the motherfu---

Big Daddy Kane "Mortal Combat" 

I like to keep to myself most of the time. I'm not the type that's prone to complaining about stuff that other people can't fix. I see it as being the strong silent type. Other people see it as me being closed off. I promise that's not what it is. I just like to deal with things my way. I suspect that most people also do things their own way, they just talk about it first. I choose to eliminate the middle man.Right or wrong, I feel that I'm the best authority on what goes on in my life.

I think it just goes back to my youth. As the middle child, I was always the responsible one. I won't say that I was ignored, but I always self reliant. Nobody had to worry about me doing something stupid. I was steady. It taught me to make me the best decision for myself at the time. I didn't always make the right decision, but I did make it for myself. And I still do that. I don't necessarily seek other opinions. I don't see the benefit of letting other people know what I'm thinking. It usually works out for me knowing that my destiny lies in my own hands.

The one thing that reinforces my keeping things to myself is past experience. On those rare occasions when I have let other people in, I find that people don't come through for me. I'm not the "misery loves company" type. If I come to someone for help, it's because I actually need help, not platitudes or inspirational words. I am my own motivation. I can read the Bible myself. That's not what I'm looking for. If I need advice, I need practical advice, not parables. If I need someone to talk to, I need someone to listen, not make it about them. In my experience, that's what I've found.  I don't know... maybe its me.

Maybe I choose to keep things to myself because my pride doesn't want me to let other people to know that I don't have all the answers. Maybe it's because people in the past have let me down.  Maybe I'm just an egocentric that thinks I know everything. It's probably all of the above. Regardless, I found that keeping to myself works out better for me.

Glorifying Dying

I'm sick of lyin' I'm sick of glorifyin' dyin'
I'm sick of not trying, shit I'm sick of being a nigga
Destiny sent me to this dread and she said she felt led
to offer me some wisdom from this notebook she read
and it said that right then the black man's downfall
was to not know that we were not ever niggas at all, hmm


Goodie Mob “The Experience”

Ever since MJ died, I’ve been noticing that people are becoming a whole lot more vocal in their grief. Maybe it’s because I see it all the time on Facebook, but whenever a celebrity or pseudo celebrity dies, people lose their ever loving mind. It seems like overkill to me. While, I can understand friends and family being grief stricken, for the life of me, I can’t understand the outpouring of emotion over some of these people that I just know people didn’t care about when they were alive. For example, a couple of days after MJ, that guy Billy Mays died. I don’t know anything about the guy personally, but I seriously doubt that he had a large impact on the culture. At least not large enough to elicit the level of faux grief that was displayed all over the internet. I’m just saying, his death was not an OMG moment for most of the world. His friends and family – absolutely, but a stranger that only saw him on commercials? I can’t see it. I don’t think I’m being heartless when I say that.

DJ AM died the other day. People in my demographic don’t know nothing about him except that he used to date Nicole Richie and survived a plane crash. Pretty sure you didn’t cop that new DJ AM “Playing Other People’s Music” CD. Or you didn’t go to the DJ AM “Foam and Jagermeister” party hosted by Nicky Hilton. Why are you so sad? Because you heard of him a little? What’s your connection to him? Would you care if it was some regular dude that died with a bag of crack and a pipe under him? Would you turn up your nose and call him a junkie, or would that be a tragedy as well? (Don’t get me started on the word “tragedy.” It wasn’t tragic if he did it to himself on purpose. )

But for real, it just seems like people are either pretending to be sad or are actually sad just to be sad. Family, friends, someone that you have a connection with, a cultural icon -- I can understand. But I’m not gonna cry because someone I’ve heard of died. People die every day. I’ll reserve my grief for people that actually mean something to me, not pseudo-celebrities. It just seems like, people are glorifying people for dying. If they didn’t matter to you while alive, then death shouldn’t cause you to all of a sudden act like they were your favorite entertainer.

True Beef

A tree died for me to scribe on this loose leaf
Shallow brothas like “median is too deep”
Cats stay frontin’ like they runnin who streets?
World trade terror? Now that’s true beef.
The innocent fear for their lives now. Running out the White House
Shut down airlines, they turning lights out
Temperatures rising, melting ice now
At the polars of the earth, and we getting high now.


Median – “How Big Is Your World”

What’s Beef? Beef is when your mom’s ain’t safe up in these streets (Biggie 1997). It’s not this internet stuff. I can’t stand how people get all brave in an anonymous format. They use it as an excuse to say the most ridiculous, antagonistic, racist, sexist things, knowing there can be no recourse for it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a rider in real life. I don’t think I’m a tough guy, but then again, I’m not saying stuff online that I wouldn’t say in person. It just really kills me how strangers can have so much e-beef. Full disclosure: I’ve been involved in my fair share of blog beef as well, but I think blogger is a little different because this format is a little more intimate, and you get to know more about the people you read and that read about you. But for cats to get mad about stuff that happens on Facebook , Twitter and various entertainment blogs seems dumb to me.
Case in point: One of my former co workers that I’m friends with on Facebook was going through some stuff the other day. Apparently, some chick that she was messing with her dude and decided to blast her on Facebook. Then they went back and forth all day with accusations and insults. While it was entertaining to me, I’ll be darned if someone is gonna attack me on FACEBOOK!!! You know what I would have done? Hit delete. Why even argue with someone on a format that you can control? You don’t have to be her friend. Getting caught up in that old fake e beef. That’s not true beef.

I realized the other day why I don’t like Twitter. It’s too many people on there with too many mean spirited opinions. I’m mean as hell, so if I think it’s too mean then that’s saying something. I read this trending topic the other day.. and people were just sniping at each other for no reason. Somebody said something that the other person didn’t like, so they just kept going back and forth with insults and threats of violence. Why waste your time? That’s not real beef. You don’t know that person. You don’t even know their real name. For real, you gonna spend your energy hating @thugnificent?

Not that I’m advocating having beef. But if you have to have some kind of beef, don’t let it be some old fake internet stuff.