Meyhem Lauren: Live at the Knitting Factory Brooklyn 6.2.16

June 6th, 2016

piatto

Meyhem Lauren’s latest project Piatto D’Oro is out on Fools Gold Records

Meyhem Lauren – H8

Sean Price Is Right…

November 22nd, 2015

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props to ncberko for the photochop

I met up with Sean Price a few weeks ago to do a little grocery shopping. I thought that a play on the ‘Price Is Right’ theme would be funny. I didn’t think to myself as to whether this was some shit that Ruck had to hear from kids all of his life. Even though I have known this dude for over twenty years I realize now how little I know about him.

Sean Price is definitely a smart dude, but also a sensitive and considerate man [ll]. You don’t expect to connect those ideas with a hardcore rapper. I should be smarter than that. My father was one of the baddest motherfuckers I ever knew and he was also the most considerate and caring dudes I will ever meet. Sean Price is cut from a similar cloth.

I wanted to do a series of videos with Ruck (Sean P) to allow him to speak his mind. His recollections of growing up in the projects with a dysfunctional family are priceless. With all the things that would make any of us assume he was disadvantaged are where he lets us in and shows us how took that strife and made it work out for his gain.

The biggest credit that I have to give Sean Price is not about how well he rhymes, but about how hard he works. God gave him his mind. Sean P returns the blessing by putting in the constant work to get better as an emcee and as a man. His latest mixtape, Kimbo Price, was released today. I’m sure its available somewhere that you can help support his efforts.

Do that much for him. I’m sure he would do it for you.

Sean Price Is Right… from dallas penn on Vimeo.

A Soldier’s Story…

November 11th, 2015

dad

I just came home from Cypress Hill Cemetary where my dad is finally resting from his long journey.

Even though he was only on the planet for three score rotations around the sun, he had traveled to the ends of the planet and back again. He was hardbody and he had logged in a lot of mileage. I can remember him telling me how tired he was one evening as we sat on the deck in the back of his house. He was tired of the heavy lifting and the emotional baggage was dragging him down. In all of my life I had never heard my father sound so vulnerable. He was clairvoyant also because the following morning his heart failed him as he was leaving for work.

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If there are any U.S. servicemen overseas that can read my blog in their downtime I salute you men and women for your sacrifices. The ideal of America that you put your lives down for should represent you better than it has. Part of the problem is that we citizens don’t demand courage or compassion from our elected leaders. Instead we have rewarded complicit duplicitous cowardice. We are to blame for the senseless deaths of U.S. lives abroad as much as the greedy war mongering power brokers. As long as our lives are relatively easy and filled with leisure we will never demand justice for all of the people of this planet..

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After my father’s passing I discovered some of his old paperwork and keepsakes from his time in the U.S. Marines Corps. One of the most startling items was my dad’s draft induction letter. There was an NYC subway token taped to the top of the letter. The scotch tape was that industrial type from the 1960’s that could rip the hair off your arm. The imprint of the token was embedded in the tape’s glue, which was long dried solid.

It startled me that the Armed Forces was so dead serious about draftees making this induction physical so much so that they were mailing you the carfare if you didn’t have the means. My dad was always bitter about being drafted since he was in college at the time and there were plenty of people standing on the street corners or hiding behind their parents’ wealth that could have used the discipline that the Army provided.

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My dad actually did two tours of duty in Vietnam. When he returned home after his first tour in 1968 he found out that America was deadlier on a Black man than Vietnam was. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr. had been assassinated earlier that year and the subsequent civil unrest that followed removed much of the opportunity that he had seen as being progressive for Blacks in America. He returned to Vietnam where the color of your skin meant little or nothing to all of the grunts that were over there just trying to survive another day.

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An interesting sidenote is that one of the men in these pics with my dad would be one of our neighbors in Queens where I was raised. He and my dad never shared more than a word with one another. I have no idea what those two men experienced and my father never volunteered any stories to me about his time spent in the Marines. My dad did take me to see ‘Apocalypse Now’ during the opening weekend in 1979 and he told me that it was an actual account of what Vietnam was like.

Suffice to say, I never completed my Selective Service registration. I sit here relieved of my duty because so many brave men and women have volunteered their freedom. Veterans and active servicemen deserve our unfailing support even if their captains and commanders are men with only the conviction for money and ill gained trappings. Without their sacrifice this blog would never have been possible.

Thanks dad.

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SNEAKER FIENDS UNITE!

October 24th, 2015

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#SneakerHeads: How a new generation of sneaker fans are taking over the Internet

SneakerCON will be in…
Charlotte, NC 11.07.15
Washington DC 11.14.15
Chicago, IL 12.12.15

The ADDICT Is On eBay…

December 26th, 2014

gabe p-wing

The ADDICT is doing some housecleaning on the eBay system. If you were looking for some crap for your crib put in a bid with the kid.

FANCY PANTS GANGSTER

gabe p-wing