Dude where’s my music?

I haven’t heard a remotely decent record in so long. Well scratch that, I picked up Lupe Fiasco’s latest offering, “The Cool”, about two months ago and that was hot. I also got Lil Wayne’s “Carter III” and I honestly wasn’t that impressed. Maybe it was because it had already been over hyped on the airwaves. Either way, I am yet to sit through the whole album.

The problem with music these days is that it has lost track of its most powerful pull; the ability to relate and be related to. You see, when 2pac was talking about the “Rose that grew out of the concrete” we all knew what he was talking about. On the other hand, I have never made it “rain on any hoes” a la Fat Joe and I can’t dream of owning a Maybach (shout out to Rick Ross). Hip hop may not be dying but it is definitely on life support. This goes past hip hop though. Lets take a look at some award winning lyrics from a recent R & B hit by Ray-J “Sexy Can I”.

Sexy can I, just pardon my manners. Girl how you shake it, got a playa like (ohhhh) It’s a kodak moment, let me go and get my camera All I wanna no is, sexy can I. Sexy can I, hit it from the front, then I hit it from the back. know you like it like that. then we take it to the bed, then we take it to the floor then we chill for a second, then were back at it for more.

Ladies, you swooning yet? Someone should tell my man Ray that R & B stands for Rhythm and Blues. I am just tired of waiting for someone to make something that is well thought out and shows more than minimal effort. I miss the days when rap, hip hop, and rock tried to change the world. Those days when musicians held a mirror up to society and raged “against the machine”. Maybe I am just getting old but that was music. These days music like that is only found deep, deep, underground and I am not in the mood to dig. Well, maybe I’ll make a record.

Joining The Round Table

Greetings or Hola as they say around my neighborhood. First off, I would like to say thank you to Ghetto Philosopher for the invitation to this blog. I am not here to try to save the world with my words. I am just here to let off some steam and well just say what is on my mind. I might sound a little self centered sometimes but hey I am just being real.

I bring  a unique and different voice and dare I say; a breath of fresh air. A little bit about myself. I am a harsh critic about everything including myself (it’s a cultural thing). I have an opinion on everything and I am not afraid to use it. I am looking forward to sharing my stance and in the process learning about yours.

Video of the Day

Stop Snitching!!

Bush is our problem

George Bush’s failures as a President have been well documented. You can find a discussion of his incompetence in thousands of blogs, nearly every barber shop in the country, thousands of books, newscasts and political demonstrations. I am not here to try to discuss his merits as a leader of men; I am here to remind us of our role in creating him.

If Bush is so bad–and most people insist that he is–how come we elected him? Last time I checked, this is supposed to be a democracy. A system supposedly built on the ideals that the people should decide who their head man will be. And we did decide, we decided that he was a better option than both Vice President Al Gore and Senator John Kerry. So why then do people act like Bush was always acting alone? I have heard a lot of rhetoric about how unqualified he is. Did Bush then become unqualified overnight?

Of course not. Bush has always been himself. Had we done our homework, we would have realized that. His track record both as Governor of Texas and his stint in charge of various companies is public record. His time at Yale and the decisions he made as a younger man are also notoriously easy to find. My point is, there isn’t and wasn’t an elaborate web of deceit. Has Bush lied a lot? Of course he has. But one would be naive to think that he was or is the only President to have lied. Go back in history and you will find that quite a few Presidents have lied.

The reason we focus on his deception so much is to mask the fact that we were enablers. We want to believe that we signed off on the war in Iraq because we were deceived that there were “weapons of mass destruction”. This is simply not true. I never was okay with the war in Iraq and I got the same information that many other people did. There are also other people who didn’t support the Iraqi invasion including Colin Powell who was a key player in those days. No, the support for the war was because a majority of people in this country thought it would be easy. Go in, pop off a few bombs, win the war, find the weapons of mass destruction and then come home to a hero’s welcome. Had we just stopped to think, we would have realized just how difficult it would be to acheive that. We’d realize that Iraq had a history of Civil War and that it was going to become our problem. We’d find out that Iraq is mostly desert and that it would be difficult to wage and win a war in such conditions. We would have known that Bush’s father, George Bush Sr. who conducted Desert Storm, was against this invasion. Most importantly we would have let the United Nations do their jobs. But we didn’t because we never did our part.

Does this excuse those who didn’t vote at all? No because their vote or lack of a vote helped ensure that things ended up the way they are right now. If they didn’t like the two main candidates from the two main parties, there were other options. They could have made their voices heard in other ways too. They never did though and the rest as they say, is history.

It is the job of the people to police the government. We failed woefully the past eight years and for things to be any better, we need to realize that. We should stop waiting for the government or a savior to ride in and save us. It is past time for us to look in the mirror and realize that no matter who is in office, we ought to keep them accountable. Bush might be a monster, but we created that monster. Doesn’t that just make you proud?

Brother, where is the revolution?

“Death is on the tip of her tongue and danger’s at the tip of her fingers, streets are on fire tonight”-Lupe Fiasco (The Cool).

Gas prices high, war raging in Iraq, inflation, stock market issues, housing market tanking, dollar value going down, down, down, what did I miss?

You get the point. Things just seem to be all bad in this country that everyone now seems to expect the bad. Quite a few times in the past month, I have been engaged in conversation with people and they often punctuated their statements with “the way things are going”……. So where exactly are things going and how can we go back to taking things back to the way they were.

“The way they were”. Were things really better in our past than they are right now? After all, were we not the country of robber barons and inequalities, racial strife and discrimination, classism etc? Yet the general consensus seems to be that things are getting worse.

Tons and tons of books have been written hashing and rehashing this fact. The politicians, the experts in the media, the businessmen, all talking about the same thing; restoring America’s greatness. But I can’t help but wonder; do we even care anymore? Are we so jaded now that we don’t even believe we can make a difference? Or are we just too comfortable in our own skin and our everyday lives? In this day and age where we have the power of the internet and advanced technology and where more people can be reached easier and faster, what have we achieved? Is there ever going to be a change or do we now have too much to lose?

Simply put; More is expected

Last night I witnessed one of the most unsatisfying victories I have ever witnessed as a Laker fan. Don’t get me wrong, I will take it but man did that game make me nervous. The reason? It has been three games already and Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol are yet to show up.

In game 3, Odom had more fouls (5) and turnovers (also 5), than points (4). Pau did get 9 points and 12 rebounds but it really didn’t feel that way as he once again appeared soft and unsure. What worries me is that last night’s game was basically the most important game in their lives thus far and yet they couldn’t even get up for it. If not last night, then when?

Odom needs to become that guy that the other team can’t guard. Paul Pierce can’t cover him and neither can Kendrick Perkins. Gasol is at least tied up with Kevin Garnett who is more athletic and stronger than him. However, the kicker is that Odom cannot be effective unless Gasol is being a force. Odom gets his licks in by playing off of Gasol.

Therefore the key to Odom finding his game, is Gasol finding his. How can the Lakers acheive this? Well, strangely missing from the Lakers’ game last night was the pick and roll between Kobe and Gasol. This might be because Kobe was so aggressive that he kept attacking and a lot of iso plays were run for him. I would go back to it to start game 4 as a way to get Gasol up and rolling. The Celtics have not been able to defend it effectively and they won’t be able to this time either. This would get Gasol some buckets and get his confidence soaring. More importantly, it would establish Gasol as a force and create space for Odom to be dominant.

If this happend to an American Citizen…

http://www.citizensugar.com/1596519

The article I linked to above is about the Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami Al-Hajj who was held by our government for 6 years without a trial. To summarize the story… He was captured along the Pakistani border. He had a valid work visa and was covering our war against the Taliban. He was then held for almost a year without a charge and for 5 more years without a trial. He was released on May 1st of this year (still never having a trial).

This story has not received much attention from the US media. My question… if this were a journalist from the US captured by the Iraqi government… how would we feel? We are moving toward a world economy but we still engage in tribalism as if we were in feudal times. Why aren’t we outraged? By virtue of his nationality he doesn’t deserve the same consideration as an American? That saddens me… as a human. This is not an indictment on our government. This is an indictment against the people who allow our government to commit these acts while defending our actions as “furthering democracy”. Let’s all wake up!!! We make this country great… Let’s take it back from those who have kidnapped our way of life and continue to label this semi-dictatorship a democracy. Vote… please

Creating a straw man out of Reverend Wright

Much has been made out of the fact that Reverend Jeremiah Wright is Barack Obama’s ex pastor or current pastor. Who knows? Apparently your pastor isn’t allowed to have his own opinions if you are running for president since he might be a political liability.

Listen, I don’t agree with Reverend Wright or his opinions. But he has his right to express them. Its called a freedom of speech. It shouldn’t affect Obama’s qualifications to be president. Why is there such a double standard in this country? I am not going to go into George W. Bush’s history but suffice to say that he was friends with shadier men than Reverend Wright.

The issue here isn’t about Reverend Wright’s politics at all. Make no mistake about it, this is about Barack Obama’s candidacy. Obama has been hitting a note with a lot of people with his message of change and being a Washington outsider. He hasn’t been squeaky clean but none of the mud slinging has stuck so far. So what to do?

The old straw man tactic. The straw man argument is when a person can’t win a debate against you so they set up a weaker version of your stance and then try to attack it. In other words, they set up a straw man version of your argument and then attack the straw man. Reverend Wright has become Obama’s straw man. Of course, Obama’s opponents know that he doesn’t believe in the same ideas as Reverend Wright but maybe just maybe they can use him to create doubts about Obama. So far, they have been accomplishing just that.

Meanwhile, Reverend Wright isn’t helping the cause at all. He insists that he isn’t running for president. This is true so he should help Obama out by being quiet and staying low for now. But he refuses to stop. He seems to be enjoying the limelight. I have nothing against him but I just feel that he should help his friend and avoid controversy. For now.

The Power of Sports

Here at the round table, we are all about bringing change and positively affecting the world in one way or another. So when I found this article on ESPN.com, I simply knew I had to share. Afterall, this is what it is all about. Some of Lee Garston and Christina Piranio’s story is highlighted by this youtube video . Amazingly, the article got no love on ESPN. Articles about athletes behaving badly or getting traded or other useless information stay on the front page and are viewed and commented a lot. We just have things backwards these days.

I got to watch Kobe Bryant do his thing last night. 49 points and10 assists and it looked like he did it all without even exerting himself. It was almost like I saw it coming at halftime. I watched his halftime interview and Craig Sager asked him if he was going to change anything when Kenyon Martin came off the bench and got on him again? Craig was trying to point out that Martin was their ace defender and was bigger than Kobe so technically should give him problems. Kobe responded by saying something that as a Laker fan I have come to know as vintage Kobe. “It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if it is Kenyon Martin or anybody else”. I remember believing him. I remember thinking that if this were any other player, I’d wonder if they weren’t putting their foot in their mouth. With Kobe, it just fits. You get the sense that he always has more tricks up his sleeves. Then he went out there and proved it by racking up assists and the rest of his 49 points. I just can’t imagine anyone else in the league being able to say that with such confidence and know he would back it up.

Having said that, can anyone else explain why J.R. Smith would try to rile him up? What was the purpose of that? It only got Kobe angrier and turned Smith into a victim as Kobe got by him on the next possession, scoring and getting fouled on an and 1 play. Why, J.R.? Take it from the man himself; “Better learn not to talk to me,” Bryant said. “You shake the tree, a leopard’s gonna fall out.” Indeed.

It has been a while brethren

Indeed it has been. I hadn’t abandoned this place, my world just got so hectic that it had to go on the backburner for a while. A long while. I am back though and I am itching to make up for lost time.

There is a lot to talk about. First of all, I hope you guys will forgive my absence. It wasn’t planned out to be that way but everything happens for a reason or so they say.

I am yet to fully get over UCLA’s loss in the final 4 (again!!) to Memphis. Congratulations are in order to Rawdawg whose boys made it to the championship game only to lose to Kansas. Still a great season for them regardless. I am looking forward to next season and hoping that Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Darren Collison are staying. That would definitely put us over the top with the great recruiting class we have coming in.

I miss football. I know I broke up with her but I miss her already. Yes I know I am a Rams and UCLA fan and football hasn’t been our strong suit for a few years now but a man can hope right?

I am bored with the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton race. Somebody win already so we can get to the part where they actually face John McCain. Here in California we are dealing with intended budget cuts especially in education. We have been fighting against that and hoping Arnold doesn’t go through with it. But thats a subject for another day.