Dr. MLK Jr.

A Collaborative Post is Going Down. This is a Missy Elliot M-Theory Exclusive.

So, a small intro is necessary. The pictures are courtesy of LIFE (obviously). You can browse their archives via Google. It's amazing, I couldn't believe it when I found colour photos of Dr. King! The main Part of this post was written by Vexed, I asked him to write a few thoughts on Martin Luther King Jr. day. Anything Bold-Italic is me inserting my opinion (wise and otherwise (mostly otherwise)).
-Zoop

Wiping the sleep out my eyes this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I just feel I need to address a couple of misappropriations and misnomers running rampant in popular thought today.

1. Barack Obama is NOWHERE NEAR as fine an orator as MLK. Period. Amen!

I understand that vague comparisons and categories are what's hot in the streets because they don't require you to think, but let's not get carried away. Obama's style of oration owes much to Dr. King, but doesn't come close in scope or substance (Sun > lightbulb). We've become too used to having George W. Bush (possessing the rhetorical skills of Foghorn Leghorn Porky Pig) as president, who makes everybody else sound like Winston Churchill. This is not to detract from Pres. Obama's abilities as a speaker, but as ODB might've said "MLK is the father of his whole style". I stood 50 feet away from President Obama whilst he was speaking and there's no question that it was moving. But let that be enough. Go listen to "I Have A Dream" one more time and realize that MLK was in another league. Please? I mean, most people are only familiar with that one piece of work (if any), I beg you to read/listen to something else by him. "What else should I familiarize myself with?" You might ask. Anything. Anything else, and you would understand how well he strung words together.

2. Contrary to what you may have heard approximately 17,000 times between election night and today, when Dr. King said "I've seen the Promised Land", he wasn't referring to today.

Just because we've got a black president, all of a sudden everything's all good? Too often, I fear the collective mentality of white people (gross over generalizations aside) is "Alright black people. You managed to win the presidency. I don't want to hear about racism any more. It's dead". Tell that to the families of Sean Bell or Oscar Grant. As long as black people disproportionately fill our prisons, ghettos and morgues, this can't be the Promised Land.




3. Really, when I think about Martin Luther King Jr. it just heightens my awareness of the vacuum of leadership present in today's world. Most of the problems created over the past 30 years, and the solutions we need today can be attributed to this gaping hole where revolutionary thought should be. I hold out hope that Obama can fill this void, but I fear that America's stagnation (mental and physical) will smother any attempt at change. Maybe Obama can pull Excalibur from the stone where MLK left it when he died, but in my mind there will only be one King.

Let The Hilarity Ensue

And I thought the last one was funny.

This is in my Top 10 Dead or Alive commercials of 2009. Take that ESPN.

New Nike Advert

Mike Epps x Kobe Bryant x DJ AM x Air Yeezy's. Both the Yeezy's and the Kobe's look fresh, but I don't know if my ankles could hold up in some Lows.

[Sidebar]: I got wheels on the low.

Your Toilet Is Killing You

Just read. *Mouth drops to floor*

New World

I'm tryna live in one of these. This is the future right here. Unconventional, progressive architecture meets classic inspiration melded with modern aesthetics. I'm tired of waiting for a New World in which the future will arrive. The time is now.

More info here.

Doomed

As in "Yo, his joints are Doomed out."

More angles here.

*Yiick*

It dropped by how many points?!?

Hey, I have an idea, let's all sell, sell, sell. Maybe that will make it go back up. or I could start distributing heroin...

Beatsmithery

Yeah, that word was just spoken into existence. Remember where you heard it first*.

DJ Premier + Pharrell + Recording Device = Necessary 24/7

The best part tho? Premier producing the Roscoe P. Colchain album? What? It's at classic status. AND IT DOESN'T EVEN EXIST YET.

*And probably last.

3 for Vexed, 1 for Abe.

Back in July. I have never really believed it since it is so inconclusive, but Abe was mentioning hearing something about it, and Banksy has obviously caught your attention, Vexed. So I figured I would supply the two of you with the link, for your own consideration.

Warren G/Travis Barker/DJ AM: Regulators [Live] [Video]

We're Daaaaaaamn good too.

On Some Other Sh!t

"You need some soul searchin', the time is now" - Nas

I just feel that quote is appropriate.

Obligatory Olympics Offering*

*Technically not in direct relation to the Olympics. Just the greatest rendition of the National Anthem ever to be heard by human ears. [The best Anthem heard by Iguana ears is still embroiled in dispute.]

After hearing the plain Anthem rendition after every Phelps swim, I needed something a little Mo' Better.

I coulda used the Olympic games for endless amounts of blogger fodder, but that woulda just been water. [Note: Water < Hot Sauce]

It's Been A Long Time...

I shouldn't of left you, without a dope rhyme to step to. (If you don't know the reference, go back to '86 and punch yourself in the face.)

We'll do it live, fuck it. For whatever reason, Summer and I couldn't see eye to eye (more on this momentarily), and my wondrous witticisms were forced to go on temporary hiatus. Irregardless, I'm goin' in. On the real, there's too much happenin' for me to be posted up, watchin' the world fall apart. Mad ups to Zoop for holdin' down the spot like a champ. From here on in, I'm unleashing terror like the Seventh Seal's been opened.


BONUS-- The actual list of Summer's grievances:

• I'm hotter than the sun.


• She wanted me to wear a crochet hat and pants.


• I told her I don't fuck with her new "Global Warming" look.


• I didn't sell as many albums as Wayne.


• Back in '96, me and Lauryn Hill went and drank some mango juice with Polaris. Needless to say since Summer and The Sun are HEAVY in the streets, she was fumin' and hasn't forgiven me since. Or tango'd in Paris.

International Swag

The streets is talkin'. Apparently Dave Chappell is lookin' to stage a Block Party Redux...in Dubai. Damn. This according to the homie ?uestlove, talkin' to /film. [Sidebar: Is there anyone more in the epicenter of everything still dope in Hip-Hop than ?uest...?]

Just when they said there were no new ideas under the sun.

I'm Just Sayin'

This is why our people don't never have nothin'. (Triple negatives are hot in the streets right now.) This is a real cup made out of glass, that's made to look like a plastic cup. Feels like somethin' that'll receive an LV logo and sell out tomorrow.

While most of the time I walk the line between populist and elitist, I definitely fall on the side of "Mothafuckers don't need to be buyin' $200 cups and dodgin' the repo man at the same time." (Cuz you know in the mind of the masses Semi-ironic Overpriced Product > Car Note.)

Yet because this was found over at 'Ye's blog, the bourgie-ometer is gonna register some major spikes in the next couple days.