Monday, March 16, 2009

A Forgotten Death...

As I was sitting in my room a thought popped into my head, the following is the thought manifsted into a spoken-word piece. Catch this vibe as you meander over my thoughts:

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY7UG3BFilA (open in a new tab)


As we mourned for the death of one friend we forgot about the other. We cried for hip-hop when it was becoming to commercial and its authenticity was judged on rims instead of rhymes. We sucked our teeth and shook our head as hip-hop was murdered right in front of our eyes. We "Yuuuled" and "Sholda Leaned" hip-hop right into the grave.

Nas made a song about it, friends talked about it, and devout fans cried about it. But where was the mourning and weeping for R&B. Why was there no outcry about the death of this much needed pillar in the music world.

Why was it that no good R&B crossed into the new millennium?? I thought the computer systems were supposed to crash in Y2K not R&B! SWV, Blackstreet, 702, Next, Escape, Boyz II Men, En Vogue, Case, Monifah, Donnell Jones, Lauryn Hill , Jodeci, Total, and Shai got swallowed up in the wave of the ending of the 90's.

Now don't get me wrong there are still some good R&B artists out now but... where is the substance? Why am I not able to feel any emotion from these songs? As I sit in my nostalgic state, I drop into a depression so deep that I just might not make it out.

I scourer the radio looking for good music but my search is in vain. So now I pay my respects to my fallen friend R&B...I throw roses on its grave and pray that just as Jesus was resurrected it will rise again too. That's all for now...

Saturday, March 14, 2009

The Life Cycle...(A Calandra Original)

This is a piece I wrote for a spoken-word show I was in...

As you read please enjoy these melodic sounds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J04B4RH2JFo (open in a new tab please)

When I was born I came through a flesh womb but when I went through my second womb it was not of the flesh but it was of the Spirit.
So let’s switch realms for a minute and focus on the spiritual rather than the physical.
When I came out of the womb of the Blessed Trinity I had to be nurtured, fed, and cared for. But babies grow up and they begin to crawl and try to fend for themselves.
They stumble around a little bit, they fall, they cry but they know they have their protectors’ arms to run back to. One has to wonder how a baby tries to walk before they can crawl.

Why was I trying to take steps when the muscles in my legs weren’t even formed properly? Why was I trying to formulate words and full grown sentences when my vocal box wasn’t even developed?
So I had to go back to the womb, the place where it all began and begin my journey again. Alright I’m a toddler now I‘ve past my baby stage, I’m able to resist the big bully in the sandbox and his many mean friends. When he tries to steal my lunch money, I can now stop him with just one word: JESUS!
Now I’ve met other toddlers on the playground and we are determined to reach our preteen years in Christ. I’m able to read now and comprehend what I am seeing. The Bible makes sense to me, it’s not just a bunch of letters and numbers and red words.

After many tests and humbling experiences I’ve made it to my preteen years, but why am I still stumbling and crawling on the ground. I know right from wrong, no longer can I be labeled as ignorant because I’ve seen the truth with my own eyes.
Why am I still eating baby food when I am old enough to cook my own nourishing meals? Why am I allowing my flesh to rapidly turn back the hands of time and decrease my age in the Spirit? When my Spirit reached high school age, I had to remove myself from some people whose Spirits weren’t born and had no desire of being born. They didn’t do their homework or read over the required text. They clutched ever so tightly to that umbilical cord of sin which is removed when you are re-born.

When a child gets lost it is never the parents who move it is the child venturing off into unknown territory that they have no business going into. Is it possible to stray so far from God and still be alive? Did He know I would come back? Was this the plan all along, to have me leave and then return with a stronger thirst for God and be able to stand up straight.

With upright positioned shoulders and my head held high I finally realize that I’m grown now and my strength in the spiritual realm reflects in the physical realm. The same physical realm where I must have a funeral for my flesh every day.
I repeat a repentant eulogy daily that if anyone else heard it they would call it a prayer.

As I look back over my life and how far I’ve come in God, I realize the importance and necessity of The Life Cycle.

E-Drama + E-Thuggin = E-Bullish

So while I was in my favorite spots (youtube, blogtv, facebook) I noticed that I was surrounded by a lot of e-drama. Lawd I need some calming music to soothe me as I write this bad boy. Come on and jam with me for a second: (shout-out to my bestie/twinny Jen who gave me this music idea)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y78Q6eTrOIY (please open in a new tab)


Notice that everything has an e- in front of so you know that is the first of many problems that I must address. Why are we so attracted to mess and drama that we create even in the cyber-world. It cracks me up how it is not even a real world yet drama always finds it way there. B.Scott calls them e-ballers(haters who gain balls when they get behind their computer) but I call them e-idiots! Why can't we just have a good time online without some cornball saying something immature, ignorant, irrelevant or a mixture of all three? People flock to e-drama (I am guilty of flocking my self) and feed the fires that need to be extinguished instead of further ignited. Are people so bored with their lives that they must create insecure mayhem and confusion wherever they go. I hate when an e-idiot is talking all this trash and then they end up being some pimply-faced nerd from somewhere like Minnesota or South Dakota. Like are you serious?!?!? Is this what makes you happy and excited...starting e-drama from behind the comfort zone of your compute screen. Now I'm no fool so I know that sometimes e-drama can not be avoided but must be met head-on. In those circumstances I feel that the problem needs to be resolved in the most mature and adult way possible. So a word to the wise (or un-wise in the e-idiot's case) is DO NOT (and I repeat do-not) say anything online to someone you know you would never say something crazy to in person. Close your little lap-top or shutdown your desktop and stop starting ish that you know you would never be involved with in the real world! That's all for now...

Thursday, March 12, 2009

My POTUS is black...

My elation for President Obama's win was through the roof! A black President are you serious?!?! Someone pinch me because I must be dreaming (don't really pinch me because I'll jack you up). Even as young as I am I NEVER thought that I would see a person of color be the President. Unfortunately people believe that he is the Messiah, and he is not. He is a mere human just like us, so ease up on the brother (oooh it feels so good to say brother). Republicans desperately want to see him fail and are constantly throwing monkey wrenches in his plans. I shake my head at least 50 times a day at the petty, childish, and futile attempts that RR's (racist republicans if you were wondering) do everyday to deter PO from his goal. Why in 2009 is it still like this? Am I missing something?? The very ones who were pushing for country loyalty and promoting respect for the President (in Bush's term of course) are now disrespecting the person who holds the highest position in THEIR country. Come on, that seems like a double standard to me. Now, I'm neither naive or looking through rose-colored glasses so I realize that racism will always exist but it just seems pointless to waste time rejecting every bill that PO puts on the table. Oh please hold on while I calculate the long list of Repubs. who accepted PO's stimulus package. *scanning an empty paper* Yeah so after countless hours of reading the list, it seems that there wasn't a single Repub who accepted the bill. WHAT??? That has never happened in all the years of America having a President. Hmmm what a coincidinky that it just so happens to occur when the President is black. Gosh-golly what a shocker. Smh @ the people who still deny that the Republicans were not being racist. The only thing I dislike more than racism is the blatant denial of racism when it is so present. That's all for now...