The Regal Eyes of Valentines Heart

Love /lʌv/ Show Spelled [luhv] Show IPA noun, verb, loved, lov·ing.
noun. 1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend. 3. sexual passion or desire. 4. a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.

Today is the day set aside to celebrate LOVE. The definition of the word Love is much to small for Webster to define. There are no words to describe a feeling or emotion which has the capacity to change as well as save a person's life and soul. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

We should practice Love as a daily action towards one another for love as a verb has the power to change the world. In passion and in truth we must take love action without hesitation but with full dedication in creating this on-going emotion which at its very root lies truth. The greatest antidote for FEAR is FAITH and the best medicine for HATE is LOVE.


Regal Eyes by Michael Merritt

My life's destiny has been defined, you are my diamond crushed from coal, heavenly polished, perfect and fine.

A love that grows out of time is like a caterpillar transforming into a beautiful butterfly with wings of violet, indigo and yellow, born to fly.

You are the prized ending to my blessed beginning, the regal eyes to my battered soul looking ahead full of hope and love, my endless rainbow of strength from above, let's conquer the world together.

Through the Eyes of a Revolutionary Panther (Notes on the Black Side)

An illustration from the interior panel of a Black Panther Logo The Lowndes County Freedom Organization, or Black Panther Party, was a short-lived political party that formed in 1966 to represent African Americans in the central Alabama Black Belt counties. Though the organization failed to win any election, its influence was felt far beyond Alabama by providing the foundation for the better-known Black Panther Party for Self-Defense that arose in Oakland, California.



"History's Forgotten Heros" by Michael Merritt

History's forgotten heros were passion people in motion.

They fought against society's odds and won. They starred down double barrow shotguns of death and did not flinch.

With their souls united in righteous struggle and their feet deeply rotted in the moral high ground they vowed to change the course of the day. Armed with the knowledge of their past they were steadfast in their vision of a equal and brighter future for the world.

History's forgotten heros had firm brows, signifying struts and clinched fists and shouted: "Black is Beautiful, (FREE HUEY!) Set our Warrior Free!!"

Armed with a shotgun full of ammunition of not only bullets but knowledge of self and responsibility and involvement within the community they established free breakfast programs for children before going to school , medical care and education classes for the poor. They declared: " We will feed our children, teach the masses and take care of our community by Any Means Necessary" (David Hillard, Masai Hewitt, Eldridge Cleaver, Sam Napier, Emory Douglass).

History's forgotten heros had unwavering faith , humble hearts and the patience of Job. They marched down racists streets and sang "We Shall Over Come!"

For the right to vote their blood flowed along that bridge in Selma.

For public equality their skin burned from fire hoses of hate sprayed in Birmingham, Alabama, but they continued to sing: "And We Shall Over Come Someday!" (John T. Porter, Fannie Lou Hammer Ozzie & Ruby Davis, Andrew Young, Fred Shuttlesworth, Medgar Evers)

Their reward was found in knowing that their fight was right and that people all over the world understood their plight and discovered that they were not alone. They will never be forgotten.

I have assembled different interviews and information gathered, read and discovered over the years about the Civil Rights struggle. In this blog I will spotlight Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. who was a member within the Black Panther Party in the 1960's to its emergence with Tupac Amaru Shakur and T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E. in the 1990's

Fred Hampton - The Black Panther Party

In Chicago, the leader of the Panthers local, Fred Hampton, led five different breakfast programs on the West Side, helped create a free medical center, and initiated a door to door program of health services which test for sickle cell anemia, and encourage blood drives for the Cook County Hospital. The Chicago party also reached out to local gangs to clean up their acts, get them away from crime and bring them into the class war. The Party's efforts met wide success, and Hampton's audiences and organized contingent grew by the day.

About the same time that Hampton was successfully organizing young African Americans for the NAACP, the Black Panther Party (BPP) started rising to national prominence. Hampton was quickly attracted to the Black Panthers' approach, which was based on a ten-point program of a mix of black self-determination and certain elements of Maoism. Hampton joined the Party and relocated to downtown Chicago, and in November 1968 he joined the Party's nascent Illinois chapter — founded by a student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizer Bob Brown in late 1967.



Over the next year, Hampton and his associates made a number of significant achievements in Chicago. Perhaps his most important accomplishment was his brokering of a nonaggression pact between Chicago's most powerful street gangs. Emphasizing that racial and ethnic conflict between gangs would only keep its members entrenched in poverty, Hampton strove to forge a class-conscious, multi-racial alliance between the BPP, the Young Patriots Organization and the National Young Lords under the leadership of Jose Cha Cha Jimenez. Later they were joined by the Students for a Democratic Society, the Blackstone Rangers, the Brown Berets and the Red Guard Party. In May 1969, Hampton called a press conference to announce that a truce had been declared among this "rainbow coalition," a phrase coined by Hampton and made popular over the years by Rev. Jesse Jackson, who eventually appropriated the name in forming his own unrelated coalition, Rainbow PUSH.

Hampton's organizing skills, substantial oratorical gifts, and personal charisma allowed him to rise quickly in the Black Panthers. Once he became leader of the Chicago chapter, he organized weekly rallies, worked closely with the BPP's local People's Clinic, taught political education classes every morning at 6am, and launched a project for community supervision of the police. Hampton was also instrumental in the BPP's Free Breakfast Program.

When Stokely Carmichael in the FBI-fomented SNCC/Panther split, Hampton assumed chairmanship of the Illinois state BPP, automatically making him a national BPP deputy chairman. As the Panther leadership across the country began to be decimated by the impact of the FBI's COINTELPRO, Hampton's prominence in the national hierarchy increased rapidly and dramatically. Eventually, Hampton was in line to be appointed to the Party's Central Committee's Chief of Staff. He would have achieved this position had it not been for his death on the morning of December 4, 1969.



At 4:00 a.m., the heavily armed police team arrived at the site, (2337 W. Monroe, Chicago, IL) dividing into two teams, eight for the front of the building and six for the rear. At 4:45, they stormed in the apartment. Mark Clark,a fellow BPP from Peoria was sitting in the front room of the apartment with a shotgun in his lap, was on security duty. He was killed instantly, firing off a single round which was later determined to be a reflexive reaction in his death convulsions after being shot by the raiding team; this was the only shot the Panthers fired.

Hampton's funeral was attended by 5,000 people, and he was eulogized by such black leaders as Jesse Jackson and Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King's successor as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In his eulogy, Jackson noted that "when Fred was shot in Chicago, black people in particular, and decent people in general, bled everywhere."

Tupac Amaru Shakur - THUG LIFE

T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E. is a word that evolved by the late Tupac Shakur. Commonly mistaken for a Criminal. Thug Life is the opposite of someone having all he needs to succeed. Thug life is when you have nothing, and succeed, when you have overcome all obstacles to reach your aim. "When my heart beats, it screams THUG LIFE! Thug Life is a acronym for "The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everyone". This acronym was made popular by American rap artist Tupac Amaru Shakur. The Codes Of Thug Life where a set of codes written by Tupac in collaboration with Mutulu Shakur and various people in the street life across the country. The codes where designed to give order to the rise of gang violence and drug dealing. It made certain immoral actions against the code which would become a code of the street. These codes where signed by heads from the Bloods and Crips at a peace treaty picnic called the Truce Picnic, in California in 1992. Thug Life was a rap group as well formed by Tupac which consisted of him and 4 others: Mopreme, Macadoshis, Big Syke, and The Rated R after 2Pac was imprisoned on rape allegations the rappers would disband. Some would regroup after 2Pac's release and signing with Death Row Records and form the beginning of rap group called Tha Outlawz.



“I didn’t create T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E., I diagnosed it.” – Tupac Shakur

CODE of THUGLIFE: http://www.thuglifearmy.com

TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR FOUNDATION: http://www.tasf.org

The Influence of the Divine Nine

Many of my adolescent years were spent discussing, planning and researching Historically Black College Fraternities that I almost feel like a professor on the subject. My world as a young impressionable adult was centered on these organizations as well as the colleges and universities that housed them. My youth was filled with questions about what frat was the coolest and which girls were the sexiest according to the stereotypes of each group. My view on women at the time was formed by the attitudes I picked up from these fraternities and led to the same sexist attitudes that were sometimes acted out as well. I 'pledged' a High School fraternity which was founded in the turbulent civil rights struggle of the 1960's in racially charged Birmingham, Alabama. The bonds of this group were so strong that brothers still today draw upon its rituals, secrets and memories shared. But this was supposed to be a prelude to the 'real' fraternal bonds of the 'Divine Nine' that awaited in college.

There is a renewed interest in the practice of hazing recently
due to the death of a young person at Florida A&M University initiating in its marching band program. Hazing is a term used to describe various ritual and other activities involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiating a person into a group. Sadly this activity is common place inside the culture. I remember heavily debated discussions on which frat pledged the hardest and exactly what was involved. Paddling, rough housing and various acts of humiliation, some physical and others mental were the law and was to be expected if you wanted to be a 'real' brother in the frat.

Throughout my journey I learned various poems and principles but on many occasions I've stopped to question myself on those very principles that made such a strong impression on me as a teenager. How ironic that I did not attend a HBCU (University of Montevallo) and I am NOT a member of one of these Historical Black College Fraternities today, but not for lack of trying. It seemed life wanted me to learn about the good as well as bad images of this culture to mold me into the man that I am today. They say you can't talk about something unless you've been through it, well I've learned enough to share my knowledge on the subject, which has led me to ask:

What is the influence of the Divine Nine?

Beginning with the Prince Hall Freemasonry, there are many historically African American fraternal organizations. The organizations include members such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi; Jesse Jackson, a member of Omega Psi Phi; and Wilt Chamberlain, Phi Groove don't use Greek letters solely. The first and oldest successful African-American collegiate fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, was formally established as a fraternity at Cornell University in 1906, though it operated as a social study club in 1905. Precursors to Alpha Phi Alpha included Sigma Pi Phi (a non-collegiate fraternity), and
unsuccessful attempts such as Gamma Phi Fraternity at Wilberforce University (first campus recognition documented in 1923; a 1923 yearbook entry reported operation as early as 1905), Alpha Kappa Nu at Indiana University (formation attempted in 1903, but involved too few registrants to assure continuing organization), and Pi Gamma Omicron at Ohio State University (formation originally reported in the Chicago Defender in 1905; but organization failed to receive school recognition).

Through 1920, the eight organizations who made up the National Pan-Hellenic Council until 1996 would be formed. Black fraternities and sororities were based on existing fraternities and sororities but cultural additions were made including calls, open hand signs, and step shows; though social in nature, many African-American fraternal organizations were formed with an emphasis on public service and civil rights.

The Story of NPHC 'The Divine Nine'

One day, the Greek gods Brotherhood and Sisterhood realized that they were lonely in the world. They had given birth to various children, but all seemed to forsake their parents. So they decided to join together and create a new breed to fraternal children. Brotherhood was given the opportunity to create the first child. He decided to take something from the two hemispheres of the world. So he gathered some "old gold" from the sun and black from the night in Egypt. There he created his first born, Alpha Phi Alpha. He granted his son wisdom as a gift of love.

Seeing the child that Brotherhood had created, Sisterhood realized that APHIA should not be alone in the world. Sisterhood roamed the world, looking for entities that she could create her first daughter from. On her journey, she came upon a field of pink flowers surrounded by a fence of green ivy. She knew that these were what she wanted to create her daughter from. Taking the beauty from the flowers and the ivy, Sisterhood created her first daughter, Alpha Kappa Alpha. As a gift for her daughter, Sisterhood created a mirror for AKA not only to view her outward beauty but her inner beauty as well.

Seeing the greatness they had created separately, Brotherhood and Sisterhood decided that they would join together and give birth to the rest of their children. Their first union brought about the birth of their twin sons Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi. These twins from birth were opposites. For one, they were born in two different locations.

Kappa had obtained the beauty of his parents while Omega received the strength attributed to the parents. Though there was much conflict between the two personalities, Kappa and Omega expressed much love for each other. Brotherhood and Sisterhood decided to give their twin sons gifts as signs of their personalities. Kappa was given a cane created out of red and white revealing that his beauty only came through blood and sweat. They gave Omega a pair of boots of gold that shined with lightening where ever he stepped and a vest of purple as a sign of his royalty.



To Sisterhood’s delight, their next child was a girl who they called Delta Sigma Theta. Delta, like her older bother Omega, gained more of the strength attribute of her parents. Because of this, her parents gave Delta a red elephant with bright ivory tusks as a sign of her strength.

Shortly after the birth of their daughter Delta, Phi Beta Sigma was brought into this world. His birth occurred as the moon was in its crescent phase. So his parents gave Sigma the sign of the crescent moon. His peaceful nature was ascribed by the parents to the dove that sang the coming of his birth and would sing to him throughout the day.

Sigma’s greatest pride would come in the form of another sister, Zeta Phi Beta Sigma and Zeta developed a bound that was greater than any of the other siblings. Because of their close relationship, Brotherhood and Sisterhood decided to give their daughter a gift of a white cat as an expression of her peacefulness.

These proud parents would soon welcome their next and last daughter into their family. She was given the name Sigma Gamma Rho. She would have an association with her brother Kappa because of the sharing of their birth places. Due to a certain degree of elegance that Gamma Rho exuded, her parents gave her the gift of a well-groomed poodle to express this elegance.

The elite eight would come together to establish their own nation called the National Pan-Hellenic Council. The children of eight would become siblings of nine after a long period of time. The last child that Brotherhood and Sisterhood brought into the world would be their baby boy, Iota Phi Theta. To celebrate this addition, they created a centaur as a gift for their son. The other siblings were somewhat cautious of granting their brother citizenship, but finally did. Thus becoming known as the "Divine Nine."

The Greek gods looked down on all their children and say "Well done my children may your light sign in the East forever and may your glory never fade in the West. Never forget that you are all one and from one."


Pledging Black Greek Letter Organizations: Did You Cross the Burning Sands? Special Report: ‘Underground’ Pledging vs. ‘Membership Intake Process’ by Lawrence C. Ross Jr. author of the best-selling The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities. The Root October 18, 2009 at 10:23 PM

For most black fraternity and sorority members initiated before 1990, pledging is when they formed their first fraternal memories. The identical uniforms, marching across campus, reciting poems and history, fulfilling the whims of their big brothers and sisters—these pledging activities were all designed to create an experience through which the pledge would be bonded to their new organization for life. These organizations are an important, often integral, part of college life for thousands upon thousands of African-American college students at HBCUs and more mainstream campuses. These organizations do important community service—scholarship funds, operating food pantries, self-esteem and teen pregnancy programs—around the country, and sometimes, around the world.



The dark side of pledging, though—the way into these organizations—the physical and mental hazing that has maimed scores of college students for decades, in certain circles, continues still, even though it is outlawed in some states and is cause for suspension of membership in each of the nine largest black organizations. Over the last few decades, black Greek national organizations have shortened the pledge period from a year to a semester, and by the mid ‘80s, it was down to six to eight weeks. In theory, a shorter pledge period meant reduced risk for the pledge and reduced liability for the organization. It didn’t work.

After the death of Joel Harris, most of the Divine Nine black fraternities and sororities immediately declared a moratorium on pledging, and within a year, had dissolved pledging altogether, and replaced it with a new, highly controlled membership intake process (MIP). Initiation would take place over the course of only two weekends. But 20 years after Harris’ death and the “official” end to
pledging, a new illegal form of pledging not only exists, but thrives. It’s called “underground” pledging, and while the national organizations decry it as illegal and issue statements about trying to eradicate it, it’s clear that none of the black Greek organizations are close to a solution.

“Underground pledging really isn’t underground,” says Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, president of Philander Smith University and author of Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs, and Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities (Fairleigh Dickenson University Press, 2003). Dr. Kimbrough is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha. “Everyone knows it’s happening, so maybe we should more accurately call it “low-key” pledging. Nothing has been successful in [terms of] stopping it, so I think the national organizations are trying to manage rather than eradicate it. We’re simply treating the acute cases, but aren’t looking for a cure.”



Nicknamed the Divine Nine–Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.—were founded between 1906 and 1963, and have been at the forefront of the
most collegiate and post-collegiate African-American life for the past 100 years. Nikki Giovanni is a Delta. Michelle Obama accepted an honorary membership from AKA. Zora Neale Hurston was a Zeta. Tavis Smiley is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, as is Congressman John Conyers Jr. The list of acclaimed, talented and successful members of the Divine Nine reads like a Who’s Who of African-American history.

There are incidents of hazing in Historically Black University marching bands also. December 2011, three Florida A&M band members were charged Monday in the beating of a woman during hazing rituals that became so severe that her thigh was broken, police said. The beatings came about three weeks before drum major Robert Champion was killed during a band trip to Orlando. Police say hazing also was involved.

Tallahassee police said that on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, Bria Shante Hunter was beaten with fists and a metal ruler to initiate her into the "Red Dawg Order" – a band clique for students who come from Georgia.)

Tradition and fraternalism are great unifiers among the organizations. Whether it’s at a step show before thousands, conducting a community service project in the inner city or fellowshipping over drinks, black Greeks believe in creating bonds that move beyond friendship, and instead are centered around deeper ideals and principles like brotherhood and sisterhood. For many, the trials and tribulations around pledging are symbolic of the trials of life. And without an official pledge program, recent black Greeks continue to emulate that tradition by creating their own illegal process.

You don’t have to look far to find examples of the underground pledging culture on the Internet. Pledge Park, a social network for black Greeks, proclaims that those who “pledged” will be able to handle their community, while those who “skated” won’t. On Facebook, a popular black Greek group called “Paper Burns, but Sands Last Forever” thrives. Paper refers to initiates who don’t pledge underground and instead are initiated via MIP (hence signing a piece of paper), versus those who
pledge and cross the “burning sands.” Those who pledge underground don’t think they’re perverting their organizations rules and bylaws, but instead, believe that they’re upholding a tradition.

Anjan Basu, a 33-year-old English graduate student at North Carolina A&T, pledged Alpha Phi Alpha on an underground line for eight weeks in 1999. Last March, Basu wrote “I Love Hazing—Can We Bring It Back?” a controversial editorial for Black College Wire that advocated for a return to pledging as an official policy.
“I feel that in the development of young men, which is what the undergraduate fraternity is supposed to be aligned with, a degree of physicality is called for,” Basu wrote. “And regardless of political correctness, sometimes a young man’s convictions can only be tested through action, and consequently, physical violence.”

Is Hip-Hop Dead Yet, I Think I Still LOVE H.E.R.

Peace,
This is a blog that I wrote some years back on the subject.

The other night I was having a discussion with some friends recently who are all in their 30's raising children about rap music and hip-hop culture and questioning weather or not it's still relevant today or just trash.

They were saying how all the rappers today talk about is their cars, clothes, selling drugs, sex and money and that it has turned into an exploitative and corrupt music and whatever happened to hip-hop being fun and uplifting anyway? They were saying how they all liked rap growing up but now don't like their kids listening to it. So I playing the antagonist was saying that rap music is pretty much the same as it was when we were growing up (except for the uplifting part) and that rap and hip-hop has become a business and entertainment just like the movies and television and that it should be viewed as such. Plus rap started as party music anyway and the m.c. was the person that kept the party going.

(But I do feel that there are people in powerful positions that could support more original hip-hop instead of whatever sales, which I think is where some of the monotony comes from, as well as all these cornball rappers now a days ("I mean if you ain't got it, then you ain't got it mf.." -GURU).

But music of any sort shouldn't be held responsible for raising our kids anyway, I mean if a 10 yr. old is more prone to listen to their favorite rapper on how to live and handle life situations than their parents then who's really to blame? Hip-hop is a reflection of youth culture, it's loud, rebellious, and controversial and I think that's what makes it so successful.

This led me to ask the questions: As the first generation of hip-hop listeners matures then should hip-hop music mature as well? And if so then why is it not o.k. for kids today who like rap to have those same emotions we got from listening and being apart of the music? This also led me to reflect on how hip-hop has affected my life and how it has always been there with me.

My first hip-hop memory was walking through Cooper Green Projects over my cousin's house holding the first rap record put out trying my hardest to sing the words on the vinyl inside of that sky blue album cover with the colorful horn looking thing that looked like it was shooting out candy by the Sugar Hill Gang - "it goes a hip hop a hip it, a hip it to tha hip hip hop and ya don't stop a rocking..." I couldn't have been no more than 6 yrs. old at the time and like millions of other people I was hooked!

I remember walking through West End carrying cardboard "battling" in my Addadis warm up suit and suede pumas holding my first "boom box" on my shoulders (it was red and black with speakers that could adjust upward!) playing the first rap tape I ever had, The Fat Boys (don't do it, you'll just be spitting on yourself! lol). Writing my first rap (it was hella deep for a 9 yr. old, it was based off my favorite rap record at the time "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five) to the first mix tape we got from New York where I first heard: Slick Rick and Dougie Fresh (La Di Da Di), Rakim (I Ain't No Joke), Big Daddy Kane (RAW), KRS ONE (Criminal Minded), RUN D.M.C. (Sucka M.C.'s) and L.L. Cool J (Rock the Bells)!

At 11 yrs. old I was totally engrossed with hip-hop, from break dancing and rapping (my rap name was M.C. Mike C-the C stood for cool!), wearing the Kangols and gold chains (mine was fake and I got it snatched late one night walking from Fair Park-"damn Debo, my grandma gave me that chain!"), graffiti (my tag was MIKE with the E written backwards) to the slang, FRESH...now say WORD! Yep, I was a hip-hop junkie!

Then in high school when I was a hardcore prep (that was after I cut off my jheri curl!) hip-hop was there. I remember listening to ICE T's "6 in the morning" and Too $hort's "Freaky Tales" everyday after school and at the time I didn't wear tennis shoes or sweat suits or gold chains. I was wearing sports jackets; button downs, khaki's and those penny loafers where I would put a dime in the little slot. But I remember dancing like M.C. Hammer on stage at Birmingham Southern College at a high school step show with my fraternity to M.C. Lyte's "Lyte as a Rock"! I was getting freaky with the girls to Uncle Luke and the 2live Crew and when N.W.A. came out with that "Straight Outta Compton" I was with hip-hop and loving every minute of it.


In my black righteous days with the Spike Lee movies like "Do the Right Thing" (doctor, remember always do the right thing"! RIP Ozzie Davis), I was heavy into Public Enemy (Fear of a Black Planet), Brand Nubian (Alll4one), X Clan (To the East Blackwards, sissies!), ATCQ (Peoples Instinctive Travels..) an the Jungle Brothers (Done by the Forces of Nature. It's the jb's, the jb's...).

I was listening to that shit in Mod Dog's "blue car" with the radio under the seat ('cause we didn't have a radio in the car) drinking Wild Irish Rose and Thunderbird wine. That was the hip-hop in me.

In college I remember getting faded in Peck Hall listening to the Wu Tang Clan's "All So Simple" and I swear it seemed like the walls was melting in that dorm room hearing that beat ride! Black Moon (with the off beat head nod! Big up D.J. Evil D!), E-40 "Sprinkle me Mane", Spice One, and the Fab 5's "La Flem, La Flur, Eskurshka", now that's hip-hop! EPMD, Redman, DAS EFX, Big Snoop Dog, Eightball and MJG and Outkast's Playa's Ball" (I still remember Bro. J pulling out that '38 and busting in the air in that white 'lac riding down the back roads of Montevallo at 2 in the morning going to Waffle House! What up Premo!).


And even when I got my first car, a light blue 1984 Pontiac Sunbird, the first tapes I used to bump in that thing was Del's "I Wish My Brother George was Here", Ice Cube's "Amerikka's Most Wanted", UGK's "Riding Dirty" and Gang Star's "Step into the Arena".

Man I could go on forever with this, those were the days! I say let the youngstas do their thang and have fun! As long as they know what's entertainment and not reality! Long Live HIP-HOP!