Down With The King

"I'm takin' the tours, I'm wreckin' the land
I keep it hardcore because it's dope man
these are the roughest toughest words I ever wrote down
not mean for a hoe like a slow jam, check it
sucka emcees could never swing with D
because of all the things that I bring with me
only G-O-D could be a king to me
and if the G-O-D be in me, then the king I be
the microphone is granted when it's handed to me
I was planted on this planet and I plan to emcee
the emcee fiends only seem to agree
that I rock all the world and the society
I rages on the stages with a tune of verse
I get praises from these pages to the universe
my voice is raw, my lyrics is law
I keep it hardcore like you never saw."

- Run-DMC, the title track from the album "Down With the King"

I love this verse. DMC totally wrecks it. Awesome lyrics and a great delivery. Great job!

This is my favourite group of all-time. If you want to check out my autograph collection, head on over to Silent Cacophony and check out the door poster I had these guys autograph back in 1994.

Battles Teach

"All battles in life serve to teach us something, even the battles we lose." 

- Paulo Coelho The Fifth Mountain 

Happy Monday Everyone!

Head on over to my main blog Silent Cacophony to find out why I highly recommend Paulo Coelho's excellent book The Alchemist. 

In the meantime, remember that this quote is not about war. We have personal battles every single day. We win some, we lose some, but each battle has the power to teach us something important. 

Sharing is Human

"Since the dawn of time, human beings have felt the need to share – from food to art. Sharing is part of the human condition. A person who does not share is not only selfish, but bitter and alone.” 

- Paulo Coelho

I snagged this quote from a blog article that interested me on Twitter this morning. 

Check out the article if you want to 

http://blog.thoughtpick.com/2009/07/paulo-coelho-knows-how-to-use-social-media-better.html 

I really like Coelho. He is an amazing author who always has something to say.

Story Plays to the Universal Desire

"Curiosity is the intellectual need to answer questions and close open patterns. Story plays to the universal desire by doing the opposite, posing questions and opening situations."

- Robert McKee. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principals of Screenwriting. ReganBooks: New York, 1997. pg 346

Gangster Rap Made Me Do It

Beware: Explicit lyrics in this video and post.

Blame the music. It's an easy scapegoat. But don't forget that you have a brain in your head. You can make your own decisions and are responsible for your actions. Now, let Ice Cube speak.

"Thank God when I bless the mic
You finally get to hear the sh*t that you like
A n*gga talking bout real life
so you can try to get this sh*t right
Use your brain not your back use your brain not a gat
It's a party not a jack
Don't be scared of them people
Walk up in there and show them that you equal
and don't be material
a n*gga grew up on milk and cereal
I never forgot Vaness and Imperial
Look at my life, Ice Cube is a miracle
It could be you if you was this lyrical
It could be her if she was this spiritual
Because me and Allah go back like cronies
I don't got to be fake because he is my homie"

- Ice Cube "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" from the album "Raw Footage"

The Dividing Line of Sex

"There's this dividing line between girls who have had sex, and girls who haven't. And all of a sudden you realize you're looking at each other across it."

- Angela on an episode of My So-Called Life

I used to hate that dividing line. It always felt awkward for some reason. It shouldn't have. People shouldn't feel pressured or rushed. That's my advice for today. Take it as you may.

Habits Make the Difference

"In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits."

- Og Mandino

This is just one of the great quotes that Deb Austin Brown list in her "443 Character Quotes and Words of Wisdom" from her excellent book Growing Character: 99 Successful Strategies for the Elementary Classroom.

Orwell vs Huxley by the Postman

http://hiphopisread.blogspot.com/2009/07/orwell-or-huxley.html

Please follow the above link. It is such a great coupling of cartoons with Neil Postman's words on the power of media. I have posted a few quotes from his seminal work Amusing Ourselves to Death here before. If you enjoyed those, I think you will like this post as well. Go check it out.

Most Efficient Signal

"Language is more efficient than any other form of human communication except in one or two special cases, where a touch might be the most efficient signal."

- Joseph Gold. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990. pg 68

Nostalgia

"People in the audience, Masta Ace the name
I write rhymes and insert them inside your vein
They run through your bloodstream, get inside your brain
Since I first put my name up inside the train
My mic control has been unprecendented
And you wrong if you thought you was the best that did it
See you just started messing with it, I been married to the game since '88
You just committed
The entire fate of the whole Empire States
into hands of a man that's here to inspire hate
Hate for the state of the music
and all these other cats looking for another way to abuse it
I wake you up like a gun in the face
I'm just here to let you know who's like running the place
And everywhere that I preform and do a show
As long as you know

You love to hear the story, again and again
How it all got started from beginning to end
When cats used to run in a pack and slaughter
The rooftop, Union Square and the Latin Quarter
And if you came alone than your chain was gone
Unless you was from the hood and your name was known
And even than you was taking a risk
They would rush you for your chain while you was taking a piss
Hip hop used to be so thick in the air
When it was there you ain't even needed to kick and a snare
It could have been finger snaps and hand claps
But nowadays it feels a little different when a man raps
The track commence and these cats are french
The media lacking sense, what I rap's intense and
I be the best in these rap events
And how I got this far?
It's called experience, come on.

Yo it's the Ace in the flesh, of course I'm fresh
Oh you thought that I was rotten?
Huh, you must have gotten a bad sack of weed cause I track your speed
I run up, fondle your wife and smack your seed
I've been a star since Pat Benatar and I still want the house, the boat, the truck, and the car
The limousine with the big screen and the bar
I'm trying to eat, watch it pour on like vinegar
Cause I'm old and grey, control the day
I'm kinda like the light cause I show the way
I'm the one to collect the funds and hold the pay
The kind that fold away than I stroll the way
Shit, I can't name all the hits we charted
That crazy ass Crooklyn ass shit, we got it
We came here tonight to get started
To go, act ill and get retarded"

- Marco Polo featuring Masta Ace "Nostalgia" from the album "Port Authority"

Masta Ace continues to be one of my favourite MCs. And Marco Polo is a dope producer. If you don't know, you better check out this album and his new one with Torae called "Double Barrel"

Real hip-hop is in the building whenever you see the name Masta Ace or Marco Polo.

That's What!?! for this weekend. ENjoY!

Throw It Down a Hill

"Michelangelo said the best way to judge the essential elements of a sculpture is to throw it down a hill and the unimportant pieces will break away. Sometimes life is like that. It tosses us down a hill. But when we reach the bottom and only the important things are left, that's when our vision clears. That's when we hold on tight to what we know, while hope stirs inside us. It's all a matter of perspective."

- Narrator on Everwood (Irv Harper played by John Beasley)

Lawyers and Poets

"What's the difference?

To my mind they're practically the same thing.

Let me explain.

In both professions

reality doesn't have to be

an objective reality

as long as you can prove it. 

AND I ALWAYS CAN."

- Anita Liberty from the novel "The Center of the Universe: Yep that would be ME." pg 197

What a great little rant about how poems work and how an author can use words to say whatever she wants. 

A word of caution though to anyone who chooses to read this book. I really enjoyed it but it does contain mature themes and coarse language. And it is aimed at teenagers. 

I really think books should have ratings like movies, television, and video games. 

Oh well. Enjoy!

Happy Monday Everyone!

Read For Your Life

"Story is basic to how human minds see their world and to how those minds work.  I call this story-thinking."

- Gold, Joseph. Read For Your Life: Literature as a Life Support System. Fitzhenry and Whiteside: Markham, 1990.

What an awesome title and theme for a book! 

If your familiar with this blog, you know that I have found this book fascinating. I really like Gold's views on literature and the importance of Story in our lives.

So go pick up a book, and Read For Your Life.

Cheers!

(Don't) Compromise

"Like lord please can we speak on this frankly
Like God why you letting this happen?
Amen, he answered, son I'm askin you the same thing
Cause you're supposed to be my servants
Out here working
Like you're my hands reaching out to those that's hurting
You don't have long on this earth
And I hope you won't compromise...

In this life we just can't compromise
It's a fight but we just can't compromise
With our time we just can't compromise
With these rhymes yo I just can't compromise
We just don't compromise..."

- Shad "Compromise" off his album "The Old Prince"

Thanks to The Real Frequency for sharing this video on their blog and always representing the real hip hop in their podcasts and radio shows.

Make it So!

"Make it so!"

- Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation

What a cool tag line. 

Who says that? 

Only Captain Picard. 

Okay, I'll admit it. I've said it before too and I will probably say it again. It's just cool.

Realize Your Personal Legend

“Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At one point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend.”

“To realize one’s Personal Legend is a person’s only real obligation. All things are one. And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” 

- Paulo Coelho. The Alchemist. Harper Collins: New York, 1998. pg 21.
2. Ibid pg 22.

The novel deals with finding your place in the world and realizing the connections we have with the world itself. This story is very touching and it tells us to follow our hearts. What a great message.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Political Commercials are Hazardous to Intellectual Health

"I am particularly fond of John Lindsay's suggestion that political commercials be banned from television as we now ban cigarette and liquor commercials...To those who would oppose my testimony by claiming that such a ban is a clear violation of the First Amendment, I would offer a compromise: Require all political commercials to be preceded by a short statement to the effect that common sense has determined that watching political commercials is hazardous to the intellectual health of the community."

- Neil Postman. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Penguin Books 1985, 2005 edition. pg 159

Stories are Fundamental

"Stories are fundamental to being human.  Without stories, life would appear as a meaningless jumble of facts and ideas.  Stories make facts, and great ideas, meaningful.  They connect with the everyday life and experience of their listeners or readers."

- David Masters blog entry "Campfire Writing: Why Stories are the Writer’s Elemental Tool"

Oh...Canada!

"From the land of the lost
Trans-Canada crossed
patriotic and a honor
with a hand on my heart
from the greatest of lakes
to the greenest of greens
to the rockiest mountains
and everything in between

o-o-o Canada
oh you’re no fan of us?
cause our movie and TV shows are so amateur?
yeah, we laugh at off, that don’t really bother me
look, we ain't serious unless you really gotta be
humorous attitude like kids in the hall
like Jim Carey Mike Myers yeah we claiming them all
it's the great white north
home of the funniest actors
the front of the joke
with an abundance of laughter

the red and white flag
keep it high keep it visual
people see Canada and get stereotypical
think we finish every sentence with buddy or bye
and if it ain't that its either do, eh or guy
yeah we consider it people
and smoking marijuana
we consider it legal
still doing rap like the 1990’s
but that's how we like it off timed and grimy

I know where I'm from and i told ya before
north of America hard to ignore
every time i go away i tell them for sure
I'm from Canada o-o-o Canada

(O Canada)
O Canada o-o-o Canada
(O Canada)
I'm from Canada
o-o-o Canada

Class makes a sick beat, we call it a classic (x4)

I've been around the globe and
heard the confusion
honestly a lot of y'all are ignorant and stupid
yes, we have microwaves, tv’s and cell phones
unintelligent f*ck we invented the telephone
we made Yahtzee
the light bulb, hockey
and bred the greatest players Gretzky to Crosby
we all got at least one drinking buddy
and after one drink, all of us think we’re funny
our national mascot’s a damn beaver
O Canada we love our beaver
home of Hell’s Angels, the RCMP
home of Gordon Lightfoot and nasty tv
the underground rail road
Georges St. Pierre
right here is where he calls home

our health care system
y’all know its free
keep a girl banging with a full mouth of teeth
I wont even get into the music on the streets
they say hip hop is dead
naw its up north with me
I could do this all day its a part of my routine
but supper’s almost done and tonight poutine

I know where I'm from and i told ya before
north of America hard to ignore
every time I go away i tell em for sure
I’m from Canada o-o-o Canada
(I'm from the east coast of Canada)
o-o-o Canada
(I'm from the east east east coast)
yo yo!
see I'm from Canada so sometimes the words come out of my mouth like this
get used to it

(O Canada, we stand on guard for thee)"

- Classified "Oh Canada" from the album "Self Explanatory"

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!

Read the interview I did with Classified here.