Dennis Kucinich - PBS, News Hour

You know, if anyone else was saying what he was saying, people would be falling over themselves to support him.

Just because he's Dennis Kucinich...

Kucinich represents what's best of Cleveland. He makes me proud to be from the 'land.

Why I Love Hip-Hop: Foreign Exchange - Sincere

Hip-hop has been international for a long time. Thanks to the Internet, it has only become more so. The Foreign Exchange is a collaboration between Phonte Coleman (1/2 of Little Brother) of North Carolina and Nicolay of the Netherlands.

Yes, the Netherlands.

This doesn't sound like Little Brother in style and in substance. Phonte even sings on some tracks of their initial CD, Connected, which has this song, "Sincere". A new Foreign Exchange CD is expected soon called "Leave it All Behind".

Hip-hop at its' best can bridge language and cultural barriers...like any good music can.

Why I Love Hip-Hop: Cesar Comanche - Lamb to Lion

The independent MC. Many MCs decide, for many reasons, to go the indie route. Some are trying to secure major deals. Some enjoy the freedom that is part and parcel of independently produced music. Some want bigger creative control and/or financial rewards.

The brothers of the Justus League are some MCs that represent what's right about independent hip-hop. They are just regular brothers with wives, kids and a love for hip-hop. That's what it's all about.

Hip-hop heads are real people. We were kids, we hung out. We have relationships, some work, some fail. We have jobs, some we like, some we don't. We go to college (which is how much of the Justus League met each other).

I chose this song because Cesar Comanche is one of the founders of the Justus League. One of my favorite groups, Little Brother, is among the members of the Justus League and they have cameos in the video.

Why I Love Hip-Hop: Kurious feat. Sadat X, Mike G - 'Mansion And A Yacht'

Hip-hop has dictated some good fashion statements as well as some more forgettable ones (think Kris Kross...). This video has a lot of things in it. A reference to Madden (for you non-gamers out there, Madden = John Madden Football, the biggest selling video game series ever. It's most recent iteration, Madden NFL 2008 is available for the PC, XBOX, XBOX 360, PlayStation 2, PSP and the Nintendo Wii -- not sure about the Gamecube). Also, you have a lot of blacks and latinos in...hockey jerseys? Before this, you didn't see people wearing hockey jerseys unless they were heading to a game.

This song is also one of my favorite b-sides ever. Ok, for the peeps that don't have or have never had records, sometimes an artist would put 2-3 songs onto one 12" piece of vinyl. This, in hip-hop parlance is called a twelve-inch. There was a popular song (or song that they wanted to garner popularity for) on the "A" side and a more obscure song on the "B" side, much like how it worked with other genres. See my post about the remix to understand why remixes and b-sides are a boon to hip-hop fans.

Why I Love Hip-Hop: Leaders Of The New School - Case Of The P.T.A. (Video)

1991...the key word in this post is yes.

Yes, that is Busta Rhymes along with Charlie Brown and Dinco D and yes, they make up the original line up of Leaders of the New School (Cut Monitor Milo/Milo in the Dance, cousin of Busta Rhymes, would join the group for the second album, T.I.M.E(The Inner Mind's Eye). Yes, Charlie Brown is wearing all Cleveland Browns paraphenalia. Yes, Chuck D of Public Enemy fame, christened this group, Leaders of the New School (known by heads as the LONS). Yes, this intensity while spitting rhymes that make sense is not seen enough today. Yes, this tape (yes, I had tapes) Future Without a Past stayed in my Walkman. Yes, this album helped me survive 10th grade...my worst year EVER. Yes, I still remember the words to this song. Yes, I screamed them when I saw Busta Rhymes perform last year. Yes, this was my second favorite group -- my first still being De La Soul -- until they broke up due to personal infighting.

Why I Love Hip-Hop - Nas - World is yours (Q-Tip Remix)

The Remix...House music and club music did it but hip-hop took it to another level. Yes, this is the same artist and song that I just posted...but Nas decided, well, let me change some lyrics here and there and get a beat from Q-Tip instead of the Pete Rock classic. It's the same song but reworked enough to give it a different vibe.

Why I Love Hip-Hop - The World is Yours

I am starting a series that combines my love for hip-hop with my jones for YouTube...it's called Why I Love Hip-Hop.

Hip-hop is catching a lot of crap lately. Hip-hop is the music of my life. The essentials of hip-hop, the writing (graffiti art), the rhyming (rapping), the djing and the b-boying (breakdancing) are the cultural expressions of working-class black and latino youth...but, it has spread world wide. Some of this spread has been perpetuated by those who wish to profiteer off of hip-hop. But there are some that still believe in the power of words and a beat and believe in the core of what made hip-hop special: stories told with honesty and dexterity. The flair doesn't come from jewelry, cars, and scantily clad women...those are machinations of those that see hip-hop as a cash cow. The music is about the rhyme, the beat and the interplay between both. I will highlight some examples that I feel that merit mentioning. There are so many more...this is just one fan's opinion.


Whose world is this? It's mine, it's mine, it's mine...

This song was damn near my anthem summer of 1994. I had just graduated 2 weeks earlier and I was participating in my normal Friday night ritual. Yo! MTV Raps! from 12am to 2am. I did it before I took the ACT and the SAT and I did it after I got back from prom. This is the second single from one of the most highly regarded hip-hop albums ever, Nas's debut Illmatic.

As soon as that Ahmad Jamal trio sample (from the song "I Love Music" hits), it takes me back to the optimism I had back in 1994. This was before 9/11, this was before the petty east coast/west coast stuff, this was before Bush's robbery of the White House, before Monica Lewinsky, before Katrina, back when Pac and Biggie were tight with each other...those were the days.

This is how hip-hop should sound...it should have this kind of soul, this kind of personality. This is why I love this music.

Do YOU know about the Jena 6?

This video is about a travesty in Louisiana...no, not Katrina.

Chris (from Columbus) puts it extremely well.

While it's not right to meet intimidation with violence, our legal system doesn't seem to have come very far in the days of horribly lopsided and unfair trials that were consistent with the Jim Crow days. The legal system still dogpiles on people of color without the means to defend themselves. Speaking up for legal rights doesn't imply condoning of actions (the argument of many opponents to real judicial reform). It's just the right thing to do. If you are going to send people to jail, do it fairly.

Def Poetry - Common - A Letter To The Law

And y'all thought I was kidding when I called Cheney gangster...

KRS-ONE - Sound of Da Police

If anyone ever feels why black folks are hostile toward crooked cops (legit cops are too few and good human beings and the bad ones mess it up for them too.)...

TELL THE TRUTH - Mos Def - Immortal Technique - Eminem

Weapons of mass distraction...

What Cleveland Metropolitan needs.

Maybe this is all the CMSD needs...(thanks Carmen)



Why aren't there movies about black and latino teachers inspiring their youth other than Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me. I know Jaime Escalante and Joe Clark aren't the only educational role models for Latino and Black students. There are teachers, black, white, asian, latino, male and female that won't let kids fail without the drama and the schmaltz. I know some of them personally.

Chocolate Rain / Best Week Ever Version

Tay is a very good sport. I love the R. Kelly shot...

Are you ready...

Are you ready for some kickball?

Maybe you're thinking "man, I haven't played that since elementary school". Well, some adults were playing kickball yesterday at Shaker Middle School...and I was among them. A fun time was had by all. Why were we playing kickball?

Because of WAKA: the World Adult Kickball Association. There are two Cleveland-area divisions: The Great Lakes Division, which is scheduled to start play a week from yesterday and the Rock and Roll Division, which is having a preseason pick-up game next Tuesday.

For more info, hit up WAKA . Yes, that's a working URL.

the losses of insularity

Sometimes, you lose a lot in life from what you don't do and who you don't connect deeper with. I have met many people in my life that, because, at one point, I was so insular, I didn't connect with as deeply as I should have. These were people I could relate to and people I could understand that understood me. I ran into one of those people a couple of days ago....actually, this week, I have run into a few of those people.

Handsome Boy Modeling School promo video

Handsome Boy Modeling School...this is my next career move. Forget web development...anybody got 60 dollars?

Oh no, not you too Lime Spider!

I just read this today and it broke my heart. One of my favorite haunts in Akron (it's a damn shame that it took me so long to find it) is The Lime Spider and it's closing in September. It's the only place in Downtown Akron that has 1) independent rock shows, 2) a plethora of beer, both mainstream and microbrew and 3) WIRELESS!. I was trying to think of a place in Akron proper that has decent food and wireless.

All I could think of was Panera Bread (which, technically, is in Cuyahoga Falls)..and the Lime Spider late nights. ( Big ups to the bearded grill guy whose name I don't know).

I will definitely represent there a few times before it's last call for the Lime Spider.

Common's new CD or Why People Don't Buy Music as Much...

I bought Common's new "Finding Forever" CD 2 days ago (it came out 3 days ago) and...wow. Common is the same man as he was when he started rapping...but he has not been shy about the fact that he has grown since "Can I Borrow A Dollar". Growth is a part of life that is often devoid of hip-hop. People don't talk about how to grow themselves, their communities, hell even the losses that result in growth experiences. This is real life. Forget what BET is showing you. Forget what MTV is showing you. Common is real to me. I can relate to songs like "Book of Life" from "Resurrection" about being young, black and full of life questions after college doesn't go as planned.

People don't buy music because they don't feel music. It doesn't touch your soul, the essential part of who you are or who you are aspiring to be. Common's CD does that for me.

I hope you all find music that strikes you like that. If you don't have a relationship like that with music (or some kind of art), you are missing out.

A fine example of journalism...

I got a bulletin from the Dennis Kucinich for President campaign and they sent a YouTube video with a 1978 interview of Dennis by Tom Snyder (who just passed, RIP). Tom is asking some hard-hitting questions and Dennis isn't ducking.

They don't make politicians or journalists like that much anymore.

He's been saying the same things for the last 29 years. It's all about the people and serving the will of the people not, as he put it, genuflecting at the altar of big business.

The video is here...

I also love the blacksploitation-esque music.

Straight Outta Touch

As any of my five readers know (Tim, next time I see you,I owe you a Red Stripe on me. Hooray beer!), I have been critical of Mansfield Frazier's writing (see my post from April of this year called "Imus and Gangsta Rap") on CoolCleveland in his Straight Outta Mansfield column. While I appreciate the fact that CoolCleveland has a black writer, he is very critical (though some of it is deserved) of youth -- especially black youth.

This week's column is no different. Mr. Frazier makes some strong points about the complacency of councilpeople in areas that started to brown over the last 30-40 years. Instead of creating structures that promoted racial harmony such as Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights, they let the people in the neighborhoods (mostly white) see them as a threat simply because of their skin color. I partially blame realtors (I think that any realtor that said sell because "they" are moving in should be punished...and not in a nice way.)

The youth that Councilman Polensek railed against (which is quite unbecoming of a representative of the City of Cleveland) was acting up not just because his mom didn't raise him right. I don't know her or him so I can't really say. But, I can say this. Many kids, black and white are getting the short shrift from the city. Where is the rec center that was promised to the Collinwood neighborhood years ago? Where are the after school activities? When kids have nothing constructive to do, some become destructive. While personal responsibility should govern every young person's actions, they are more likely to make constructive choices when there are more constructive options are available.

This kid is an example of what neglect of neighborhoods has done to Cleveland. It's not just about black kids, white kids, Latino kids, Asian kids or Native American kids. It's about the green that these kids grew up without because if any of these kids had parents with green, they wouldn't be in this environment. The massive selling off of Cleveland's jobs, the expense of retooling and the inability for the educated to find jobs have created a downward spiral for all of us.

The mom of the kid threatened to sic Al Sharpton or George Forbes on Councilman Polensek? What are they going to do? Please, don't get me started on black "leadership"...if Councilman Polensek did make the race of a kid an issue, then black Collinwoodians should remember this when he comes calling for re-election and proceed to use their vote to get him out. As far as if he would do the same to a white ne'er do well, only Councilman Polensek can answer that one.