What the hell is a dollar?...

Diddy: "What the hell is this?!!"

Can you hear it?!

Now this is the Raheem DeVaughn I remember and like!!....that bold, speakin' on the issues, with the soul, sangin'!  Please don't get me wrong; his last album showed the smooth R&B Mr. DeVaughn and that joint was hot, too.  This video is pretty animated and meaningful;  good cut by Luda on this one (as if that aint usual)



Get Started feat. Strong Arm Steady & Talib Kweli --> Strong Arm Steady & Talib have done a duo or two before.  S.A.S is not a bad lyricist, not one of my favorites but he def deserves some credit when ever he hits a track with his delivery.



Suckas feat Jay Electronica --> You can never go wrong with a J. Dilla track.



Try Sleeping w/ A Broken Heart feat. Alicia Keys --> I like this one from the beautiful New York soulstress Alicia.  Let's see how this next album of hers will shape.  Soundin' aiight, so far.



Unabomber feat. J.Cole --> Jayz sure knows how to pick 'em. J. Cole continues to bring that fiya and I'm lovin' it. Let's get it! p.s. this has a 50cent-ish type of feel to it, to me, i dont know why...



Excibit C Feat. Jay Electronica --> "Just Blaaaazze!" .... did you hear the shout out to Richmond, chyeah!



It's Alright feat. Saigon & Marsha Ambrosius --> Saigon is always coming hard with some REAL things to talk about. He always got my respect. (did you hear the shout out to Mr. Magic at the beginning?)



Letter feat Ryhmefest --> I put this one on here because it is using a John Mayer sample. :-)

------------------------
Enjoy the weekend! You made it once again.

First All Hip-Hop Radio DJ Pioneer passes

Just wanted to share some history with you all (I know I am little late on this, too).

John "Mr. Magic" Rivas was the first radio disc jockey to have an all hip-hop radio show on WBLS in New York, of course.  Also a co-founder of the oh so legendary Juice Crew. (Masta Ace is still doing his thang on the mic til this day)

"Mr. Magic's Rapp Attack featuring DJ Marley Marl."

It was the year of 1983, the explosion of hip-hop truly making it to main stream.

The years of the Beastie Boys, Afrika Bambaata, Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, Kool G Rap, Roxanne and host of other great mcees and music pioneers could be heard no where else but on this radio station.  Well if it was heard somewhere else, it did not receive the attention and acclaim this radio station and dj received.  A lot of my close associates and very good friends of mine are djs.  Mr. Magic paved the way for them and many great radio djs of the 20th and 21st century.

Not only is he black history, he is an eternal musical presence.

I am in love with my hip-hop and good music.

RIP MR. MAGIC

-juskev

Strength in Relationships

San Juan, Puerto Rico taken from my camera phone

Where does my strength come from?
The relationshipS we hold.
Different types but the friends and family are the ones which mold
Us into the beautifully strong people we are.

God's love provides eternal strength and joy
But because we are human
God also provides us structure within our environments
The people who are placed there to uplift us and truly give us unconditional love
It is our choice if we choose to see it or not
To run with our low-self esteem greed
Believing that things won't happen to us
And when they do
Project our disbelief and anger when we were wrong
Onto others
Then also believing because it could happen that you are now much weaker for it and you fooled yourself

This clouts your thoughts and manifests into your relationshipS of the very people who truly love you
And creates a repetition of behavior of unhappiness to restore your thoughts of comfort you may have once had
Only to blindly push away the gifts God set forth in front of you.

So again I ask where does my strength come from?
How do I get through the struggles of making just decisions in a unjust world?
There is a people whom of which I share a rich tradition where the village, the community, raises a child.
My relationshipS developed from the environment from which I was presented, then eventually chose, to continue to perpetuate through my spirit of love creating an aura which rejects your projection of low self-esteem, anger and negativity believing my world of positivity has no place in this reality because it does not give negative notions a priority in the progressive journey but yet recognizes that no success is without failures for which those failures are only progressive pit stops to refuel yourself with inspiration lost during the journey.
Inspiration carried from my blood to the muscles built from my community of hardships unshared but recognized by those held in my relationshipS.

If your relationshipS are weak, you will be weak.
Use God as your root and your branches will be strong.
----------------------------------------------

Just wanted to share my piece of inspiration to the family and stress the importance of relationships. I know I have not shared much of my writing in a while but that's because I didn't want to...

-juskev

Fried Pork and Cookies, mmmmm...

Yall know I can be a health nut when I want to be; but at the end of the day just keep ya self happy and as healthy as possible within your means and taste buds cause anything can take you out.  With that said here is my spill...

So, you like dipping those Oreos in milk?  Well after a dinner table discussion with some colleagues and friends of mine I discovered some interesting facts about cookies, specifically the Oreo, made by Nabisco. 

Here is fact #1:  Oreos are not kosher and "used" pork fat (i.e. lard) when quick frying the cookie after it was baked.
That leads to fact#2: Oreos are flash fried, as I've heard it referred to i.e. they quickly dip the cookies in a deep fryer for a few moments.  It is a very common practice in the U.S. to fully fry an Oreo at carnivals and festivals.  If you do not believe me about the "flash frying" of a the cookie.  Check out the trans fat content of a Nabisco Oreo;  very high.  Then ask, why is it so high?... (but just b/c it has an extremely high trans fat content, does not necessarily mean that it is still currently being fried but my guess is that it is..)
-----------------------------------------------------------

It was very hard to pull any truly concrete sources on this one but I know how to use the internet as an extremely powerful and resourceful tool.  But once again, I am only disseminating this information to provoke thought and discussion.  I really like that coin phrase "u do the dishes", haha.

Peace!
-juskev

The litte guys can win, too

I read this article this morning.

A small media firm (turned global) that specializes in online music retail has turned the hearts and minds of the CEOs of Google, MySpace, and Facebook. Lala Media, Inc, has won contracts with these internet giants to offer music media service such as streaming and purchasing mp3s.

I wanted to share this news because of the huge paradigm shift that has been going on in the past few years with the purchasing of music.  This is huge mark as continue to step even further away from the purchasing of compact discs.  Yes, many of us may still enjoy the satisfaction of having some of the artwork included with cds but now and days, we just want to here the music and could care less how it is packaged.

La La pretty much gives you your own online iTunes...very interesting.  They have been around for several years.  They are similar to places like iLike and Imeem but they seem a bit more structured and offer many more features.

-------------------
enjoy your Friday and the weekend!

Stress Reliever kit

Shout out to Miss Eley for this one!

Gold Fronts, Bling Bling!

Listen up!

The Foreign Exchange - ''I Wanna Know'' from The Foreign Exchange on Vimeo.
Man, this video holds a lot of value for me...FYI: this is album is GREAT, GREAT, GREAT!!!!


Fire feat. Lupe Fiasco --> The title says it all...Lupe is coming back soon!




From Rapper Big Pooh of Little Brother and his debut "Sleepers"....Bought this album back in 2004 and has been in heavy rotation every since!  The production that went into to the album was pretty decent since 9th was behind it.  Great album along with Elzhi's Preface; the type of albums that you can just let play.

And if you like that track definitely check out these joints: Just Friends feat. Big Pooh and On my mind feat. Big Pooh




Just plain beautiful...I love it. Blending of artistic talent around NYC(my fam & friends outta the boroughs will appreciate this one) with Miss Melanie Fiona



Wale feat Colin Monroe - "Bittersweet" --> Feelin' it...November 3rd!



The legendary Bernard "Pretty" Purdie --> Rag time, baby!



Solar Midnite feat. Lupe Fiasco --> Like the mix of rock and hip hop... this is reminiscent of a song on his last album The Cool (i.e. Hello/Goodbye)where he embraces his rock and roll and influence; this one is a lil more upbeat.

Bad Habits - Maxwell --> I know yall have heard the singles from the Maxwell's latest, Black Summers' Night, but this joint is reminiscent of the "old" Maxwell and one of favorites....smooth out the afternoon to that.

Left vs Right

If you want a simplistic view of this whole "Left" vs.  "Right" when it is referring to government politics....here it is:

Left vs. Right

That is, if you actually care...I am just disseminating info.

Can you guess where President Obama may lie?

I see you, Tiger!

Tiger Woods has become the first athlete to make a billion in earnings!

Some more black history for ya!

BE YOU!

"I can't base what I am gonna be, off what everybody else isn't" (saw this quote from my boy Mr. Austin, good look)

I post this quote because I just want to simple say and remind us that just because someone else is doing the same thing you are doing or thinking the same way you are thinking, does not mean that YOU are not original yourself.  Don't always try to create the wheel; the ingenious ones often times reinvent and reuse it. As I always try to push to others and remind myself, don't worry bout the next person or the last person, BE YOU!

-juskev

It's still here and alive...

Interracial couple denied marriage license

What exactly is the "It" I am referring to?  The closed-mindedness of not living in 2009 where multi-cultural intertwining (or interracial mixing) thrives.  It is one thing to have your personal beliefs it is another to impose them on others and denying their rights...

Tangipahoa Parish,  a Louisiana justice of the peace, decided to use his powers of justice to deny an interracial couple their right to a marriage license....I don't believe I need to say more to spark discussion on this one.

Still in 2009 as President Barack Obama resides in his current presidency...yup!!

In the words of my boy Samir, "you do the dishes"...

Even Dogs Pray!

Would like to personally thank "Bonita" Chambers for forwarding this!

I had to share this one! The quote sent with this pic stated:
"Dear Lord:
Thank you for bringing me to Timmy's house and not to Michael Vick's -- AMEN!"

Yeah, this one gets a "Wow!" with a long loud laugh! (It's all love here though, not hate, lol)

Open your door to endless possibilities

I took this picture while was in San Juan, Puerto Rico last year. Just wanted to use the picture to share a message of encouragement to the family that you hold the power to open the doors of opportunity God sets forth in front you.

It is you, you have to blame for missed opportunities. It is you, you have to blame for continual unhappiness and held anger. It is you. You are not a victim but a VICTORY because you are still here and were kept for the opportunities that await you, if YOU take personal responsibility for your emotions, your actions, your thoughts. YOU ARE GREAT. BE YOU!

(No poem this time, just a message, lol)

Someone is always listening!

People around say some wild and disturbingly funny things...this ish is not made up cause a lot of it i hear on the metro my self!

Here is one conversation from a recent post:

Greatest girlfriend ever?

Outside the Bethesda Metro, post happy hour:

Early/mid 20-something guy and girl who appear to be new co-workers, after several drinks.

Guy: "It took me more than 2 years to pay off my credit card after college."
Girl: "Yeah, my boyfriend has some serious credit card debt. So, I told him that if he got it under $1,000 I'd give him all the blowjobs he wanted for a whole weekend."
Guy: "Uh, wow. Sounds like a good deal for him?"
Girl: "Yeah, so he got it down to $900 a few days ago."
Guy: "Woah."
Girl: "But his car just broke down and he had to put like $1,000 on the card. So, should I still do it?"
Guy: ...

------

Overheard in DC

Fat people....starving

Hope this gave you a laugh or a smile, even though it's sad, haha...Enjoy you weekend my people!

Delusion of Awkwardness?

Man, where was I when this news came out? lol.  I don't care what you all really think about this photo but ANY good man, such as President Obama, appreciates booty...I mean beauty.

A child of the soul in musiq

BK-One & Benzilla "Philly Boy" feat. Black Thought --> Black Thought bringin' the heat with some soul-backing as usual


Novel - Mama Said --> put this one up here because I know how the brotha felt at that point in his life; lyrics are a little hardcore...



Lee Bannon feat. Saigon --> Simple hot head nodder from Saigon



Good Will Hunting feat. Theo --> Theo always has some good feeling hip hop.  Pretty good producer and writer (though this one is not produced by him) I got a mixtape of his from a year ago that is still on rotation.  Look him up



804, VA representin'!!!---> I heard this on the radio, on 106.5, and just wanted to share it



Wayna feat. Wale "Billy Club" --> DMV collabo!...FYI: Wayna was a speech writer for former President Bill Clinton...she's talented and intelligently beautiful...yes!


Impossible by Daniel Merriwether ---> you may remember this man from a song he did with Wale several months back.  I like him.  He has a pretty original style, little bit of a Justin Timberlake/Robin Thicke thing going on.



Let's be honest feat. Kom Moye ---> definitely a banger, with a good message....ill end with this one

Let's go fishing for.....Deer?

Deer fishing

Yeah, I just thought this would be an interesting posting.  A man sailing out in the ocean found a deer treading in the water...yeah, in the middle of the ocean. Interesting, right???

Warning!