November 14, 2008 | Tags: none

I enjoy being fashionably late in regards to finding about about the world’s happenings (except for politics, which I really try to stay on top of). Actually, it’s not so much that I enjoy it, but that it’s just the way it has to be thanks to a busy life, and I’ve become accustomed to lagging behind everybody else when it comes to things. Like figuring out how good the last Snowgoons album was. Or even that Nas mixtape. Or just what the hell “Pineapple Express” was.

OK, actually, aside from it being a movie, I still don’t know what “Pineapple Express” is about or anything. Oh well.

So if you couldn’t see where this was going already, I’m going to discuss something that’s kind of out of context now that the moment has passed because I’m just nonchalant like that. Let’s get into this. You know what really pisses me off? People that follow you around and harass you about voting. The day of the election there were people all over campus, wearing signs or whatever, going up to everybody they passed like “did you vote?.”

It’s nice that they’re trying to involve everybody in the democratic process, but I can’t help but feel that this is inappropriate. I have the privilege of attending one of the consistently most diverse campuses in the country, and I’m sure that there are a number of students on campus that aren’t even citizens and therefore can’t vote at all. I wonder what it feels like when you’re walking around and suddenly you’re being mobbed by people asking you if you voted, when maybe you really wanted to but just weren’t able?

What if I was a felon? What if my right to vote was taken away? There’s no way to tell if a person is a felon or a non-citizen just by looking at them (unless you’re trick-or-treating in Maryland, in which case you’d be able to obviously tell if someone was a sex offender*). Plus, it’s election day. If people were even considering changing their mind about voting or who to vote for, do you think a total stranger that appears to be a crazy man wearing a 4-foot-tall sign is going to change anyone’s mind?

I’m always tempted to reply to one of these people and say that I’m a felon and can’t vote, just to see what they’d say or observe the look on their faces, but lately I’ve been too busy to bother with conversations for the purpose of social experimenting.

Anyway, speaking of felon voting rights, I’d like to take a minute to give some props to The Source. I hope all of you had a chance to read their politics issue that featured Obama on the cover. I tend to have low expectations for magazines these days – they feel like they have more advertisements than articles, or the content ends up dated because the internet got to it way before the issue had a chance to be printed up and distributed, but The Source really got it right this time. Not only did they give shine to an important issue and relate it to hip hop, but it was full of useful information that I would have never thought to look to a magazine to find. One of these things was a full-page chart listing what voting restrictions felons face in each state in the U.S. It was concise, organized, clear, and most of all, relayed information important to the public despite it not having anything to do with hip hop. It said whether you were eligible to vote in jail, on probation, on parole, or in post-sentence in every state, as well as left links where you could find more info pertaining to your state and the deadline for voter registration. The magazine branched out, and if you ask me, it was successful. They had great quotes from artists about the election, and did a great job of balancing political commentary with the hip hop that they knew their audience was craving. Finally, a magazine that I may consider keeping on stash instead of tossing into a fireplace to keep me warm this winter.

And to end this post, a belated (of course) birthday shout out goes to Von Pea** of Tanya Morgan. And rather than getting gifts, he ended up giving one to the world. Check out his new mixtape, “The Further Adventures of Von Pea”, by clicking here*** to download.

****

For some reason I can't post links today. I hate technology sometimes, I swear. See the link that corresponds with the number of stars near a word to see what I had intended to link to. Apologies for the mess this caused - I'll fix it later if I can figure out how. Maybe it's time to download Google's web browser. Any of you tech fiends out there have any insight on if it's worth a download?

* http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-pumpkin31-2008oct31,0,2115760.story

** http://www.vonpea.com/

*** http://sharebee.com/f15b2d7c [just in case there's confusion, this is the link to Von's mixtape.]

**** http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitter_production/profile_images/61470076/Further_Adventures_of_Von_Pea_cover.jpg [and this would be the cover art.]

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

The Beauty of Unification

November 06, 2008 | Tags: none

I know I haven’t been around much lately. I also know that I say that a lot. But in the past month or so, despite being busy with the usual school and work, I’ve been making it a point to get out and take some trips and catch up with people. And although it was nice to see some friends and some new scenery, there’s one constant theme that has presented itself at essentially every event or place I’ve gone to in the past month or two: unity.

I know that recently the internet has been filled with a bunch of twinkie-soft rambling about the election from usually-cynical bloggers and writers, and I hate to add to that (I am not a fan of sappiness), but this goes far beyond the election. Take, for instance, the radio show that went down on election night that I gave you a heads up about in my last post. An incredible amount of people showed up, and yet there was no bickering, arguing, etc. This is the DMV, people. The same region where I’m sure at one point in time most of us from here have complained about a lack of unity. Hell, I think Wale even drops lines about it in some of his tracks, but I just woke up and my quoting game hasn’t had its daily caffeine jumpstart yet. Forgive me.

The point is that various rappers and producers who are all trying their best to make a name for themselves in the music industry and live out their dreams put their personal goals to the side for a minute, took the spotlight off of themselves as individuals, and placed it on the group as a whole. It felt amazing to see artists from the District, Maryland, and Virginia all supporting one another for once. So props are due to everyone that came out, and to jben.ok and his Funkadelic Freestyles show for organizing everything and sharing his time and resources with so many people.

But it doesn’t stop there. Word that Obama had won the election came while everyone was in the studio. And while all of us were jumping around, screaming, and celebrating, I didn’t realize what was going on in the streets. And at this point I’ve learned that it wasn’t just in the streets of D.C. (where Obama won with 97% of the votes!), but it was happening all over the country. All over the world. Now, I haven’t been alive long enough to see a huge number of elections go down, but from the ones I can remember, the reaction to this one has been tremendously different than the ones that came before it. Of course this is significant because we have our first black (well, half?) President. But look at all the people that took to the streets. They were all ages, all walks of life, all colors, all religions. Everybody ran outside not to fight and riot, but to celebrate. To share the joy they were feeling. People took to the same streets of D.C. to celebrate where 40 years ago people were rioting and burning buildings to the ground after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Incredible.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying America is perfect yet. We all know there’s a lot to be improved upon around here and that the “unity” mind state still hasn’t gotten to everyone, but for at least one evening it felt like that was all put to the side and positivity prevailed. Even the news channels didn’t feel so depressing, for once.

I won’t bombard you with the detailed itinerary of the trips I’ve been taking recently, but I’ve been seeing people come together prior to this election, and not even for political reasons, from VA all the way up to New England, and everywhere in between. Whether it was to come together to make positive change, to learn from one another and attain knowledge, or to simply have a good time and celebrate, it’s nice to see people from so many different backgrounds come together and peacefully make themselves heard. Although I have dismal hopes for the immediate future of the economy, along with other political issues, I remain hopeful that as President for the next four (or eight?) years, Obama will be able to successfully change some people’s outlooks on races and cultures that differ from their own. That he can prove to all the people that called him a Muslim (which I still can’t understand how people believed) as if it was a bad thing, or didn’t vote for him simply because he has a little more melanin than they do, that thinking that way is doing nothing but holding us back. If nothing else but that gets accomplished in the next four years, I might be a very happy woman.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

It's a Big Week...

November 03, 2008 | Tags: none

Before I get into things, let me just say that if my phone rings one more time and the person on the other end is affiliated with the campaign, well…the friendly side of me is going to disappear. I’m beginning to run out of insanely stupid comebacks for these people, too. First it was, “elephants are red, donkeys are blue, I’m not voting for McCain, and neither should you!”. Then it was, “sorry, you’re too late, I did the early voting thing.” Or the classic “I’m taking note of how many times each party calls me. The side that calls me the least is the one getting my vote.” Each of which has thrown them off a bit, but now the entertainment factor of fucking with them is wearing off. Especially when someone from McCain’s camp calls the crib at 9:45pm. Do you really think you’re going to be able to change my mind less than three hours before election day? Over the phone?

Is this happening to anyone else? I’ve asked around and I feel like it’s only me. Campaign volunteers are the new telemarketer.

So we all know that this week the election is happening. That’s great and all, but let’s talk about something that you might not know. I’ll save my political ranting for now…maybe I’ll bring it back when you least expect it.

Want to hear what your favorite up-and-coming DMV artists have to say about the election? Want to hear Che Grand premiere his newest release, Everythings Good Ugly? Tune into WRGW Radio (of George Washington University) at gwradio.com on election night to catch the Funkadelic Freestyles show, starting at 7pm. At 8, after the Che Grand premiere, a large handful of some of the names you all have been hearing about from the DMV will all be in the studio showcasing their music and their thoughts on the election. Expect to hear Tabi Bonney, Judah, R.E.U.B., Marky, RAtheMC, Southeast Slim, Pro’Verb, Panacea, D. Omen, NandoMcFlyy, and more. Yeah, all in the same studio for one night. Pretty crazy, right?

And once you catch up on your sleep from staying up and listening to that, you can spend Wednesday evening seeing Brother Ali live at the Rock and Roll Hotel. An appropriate show for the day after the nation votes for who will yank the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW out of Bush’s hands, don’t you think?

What I'm trying to say is that if you're absolutely sick of politics, there's surely a ton of things going on around the nation that will help to cleanse your brain of all those negative campaign tactics after you leave the voting booth. At least take some time to enjoy some of the events before you start planning your move to Canada if your candidate of choice doesn't end up winning the election. And once again, if you're one of those telepoliticians, I advise you not to call me tonight. Unless you want an earful of very profane language and some serious attitude. That is all.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the writer and not necessarily those of HipHopDX.com or Cheri Media Group.

	November 2008
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30
« Oct					Dec »

Use these links on your blogs, messageboard posts, etc.
URL
HTML
BBCode

Your Name: (Required)
Friends Email Addresses: (Comma Seperated)
Message:
Verification Code:

Use these links on your blogs, messageboard posts, etc.
URL
HTML
BBCode

Your Name: (Required)
Friends Email Addresses: (Comma Seperated)
Message:
Verification Code:

Blogs

The Undisputed Truth

A Delayed Rant

Share Blog Link

The Beauty of Unification

Share Blog Link

It's a Big Week...

Share Blog Link