Posts from — April 2007

Over the last couple of months, I’ve been reading 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Márquez (great book, just takes some getting used to), and the central theme of the book is the idea that life simply works in cycles: it doesn’t just move forward, but plays hopscotch with its past.

While that may not seem like a detriment in the general sense, the characters might have had a better chance of preventing the tragedies that occur in their lives if they actually took the time to learn the lessons form the past. As this town of Macondo changes, the family Buendía develops a pattern of misfortunes that only give credence to the last one. The matriarch of the family, Úrsula, observes that the many characters in in her family are really doppelgangers of their ancestors. (Won’t spoil the rest for you, really. Just go read it.)

It made me wonder how the past entraps us as a society, especially in light of the recent Virginia Tech tragedy. Unfortunately, not only did the killer fit the “suicidal and ostracized loner” profile, he also laid his plans out for the media to see. I have to ask, when will we come to a consensus on the way to make sure these events don’t happen? Unfortunately, the shock factor has died amongst some of this country’s citizens for various reasons, and it will only continue to dissipate …

Not only do I see this as a security issue, but also student development issue. If, for instance, institutions of (any level of) learning took a hard look at themselves and decided to take preventive measures against these incidents from happening, we would most likely see a change for the better in the student population as a whole, not just those who are at risk for passive-aggressive behaviors.

More importantly, though, those of us who aren’t part of the infrastructure of these institution (as in people like you and me) need to become aware of ways to prevent our loved ones from becoming a Cho Seung-Hui or one of the Columbine shooters. Unfortunately, the hateful speech made against Cho spurs on the very violence and isolation that begot this incident to begin with.

Somewhere, Márquez must be observing us the way he observes Macondo …

jose, who wishes the families of the tragedies his deepest condolences …

I wrote this a few weeks ago in another site in response to someone’s inquiry as to why I believe Rakim’s the greatest rapper of all time. It bothers me a little that he doesn’t have an official website, and the last time someone tried to pay homage to him through a site, it was taken down. Yikes. Rakim’s the greatest. Timeless …

Venturing onto Jamaall’s blog, I noticed a comment by my homie Kika, who asked, “What makes Rakim the best rapper ever?” I thought it was a valid question, and one that I could respond to while Jamaall was coming up to on his own time. Rakim is the greatest rapper of all-time for 3 main reasons:

1) He is the absolute embodiment of a Master of Ceremonies in terms of presence and confidence behind the microphone

2) He achieved and continued to achieve at least some commercial success without selling his own message and agenda of P.E.A.C.E. short, which means that people are bending to him, and not the other way around.

3) He was a revolutionary when it came to rap flow. Rather than stick to the simple subject matter and rap flows that were popularized by his predecessors, he used tons of alliteration, alliteration, and other techniques that many rappers hadn’t even thought of to that point, and did it with such ease, that every rapper after him thought they could somehow emulate that.

To this day, people still can’t touch his combination of flow, charisma, and omniscient. Even his worst rhymes have often been favored by true hip-hop fans versus the more contemporary artists. He’s had the greatest influence of any hip-hop artist, living or dead, just off fact #3, and he also made it cool for rap lyricists to jump on an R&B track, now a staple for many rap and R&B albums for collaborations.

Jamaall went on to call him the Wilt Chamberlain of rap; I guess that’s an OK analogy, but I would more readily compare him to Muhammad Ali or a Malcolm X in his later years: awesome storytellers and lyricists, who didn’t necessarily have a “team” around them, and who people regarded highly in their respective populations. Then again, I would more compare him to Malcolm in his later years only because people only talk about him as part of the Nation of Islam, and not when he founded his own organization and spoke of peace after coming back from Mecca. Even those are weak analogies to the god MC, whose legendary status was sometimes ignored by younger rap fans.

By the way, that “Classic” with Kanye, Nas, Rakim, and KRS-One is nice, but honestly, they could have all hit harder. Maybe it’s because it became part of a Nike promo.

Updated: For more Rakim, you MUST listen to:

“Follow the Leader” by Eric B. and Rakim
“I Ain’t No Joke” by Eric B. and Rakim
“Microphone Fiend” by Eric B. and Rakim
“Don’t Sweat the Technique” by Eric B. and Rakim
“Eric B. is President” by Eric B. and Rakim
“Paid in Full” by Eric B. and Rakim

features he’s done:

“The Watcher 2″ with Jay-Z, Truth Hurts and Dr. Dre
“NY State of Mind” with Alicia Keys and Nas
“R.A.K.I.M.” off the 8 Mile Soundtrack (*** HIGHLY SLEPT ON ***)
“Militia II” with Gangstarr, and WC

Whatever happened to P.E.A.C.E.?

PEACE PEACE PEACE!!!

jose, who tells competitors to not sweat the technique …

p.s. - Anyone that mentions Lil’ Wayne, Juelz Santana, or (insert random rapper who doesn’t even belong in the same paragraph except with the word “not” in between) needs to check themselves before they wreck themselves.

Breakthroughs in the way people communicate often leave the older technologies at a search for its own identity. This is especially true in today’s media (most visible within sports and news). Sometimes when the old media tries to find its identity, it finds ways to destroy any and every other media outlet without much success and with a heavy backlash.

For instance, there’s been a few instances in which radio or television personalities will lash out at bloggers for simply reporting on rumors or offering their (often popular) opinions on certain topics.. While it’s true that sometimes the bloggers get it wrong, it’s equally true that these entities have also gotten it wrong. Hence, bloggers end up looking like saints while these older media entities look like morons for not adapting.

Of course, there have been many trailblazers on the corporate level that have adapted to the ever-growing blogosphere. Some, such as Keith Olbermann and Mark Cuban took it upon themselves to become more accessible through this media, and that’s awesome. Also, some of the independent bloggers have been bought up by the bigger media companies, and that sounds like a win-win: the blogger gets more publicity for their own writing and the corporate looks like it’s in tune with the people’s wants.

But, but, but … there we run the risk of another big-company takeover. The trend happens all too often: small startups start a trend and shift the way people think, and the media company, whether it be fear or similar goals (usually the former), take that company over before it becomes too big and out of their control. While it profits both entities in some way, the movement itself usually suffers. It hurts to say, but blogs will go from buying in to selling out.

Does this mean that whenever the masses have an independent and opinionated movement, it’ll get bought out by one of the big companies out there trying to control every and any form of communication out there? Who knows? Personally, because there is a movement that still hasn’t been squashed (”illegal” downloading), there’s hope for the people just yet. Until then, I can only hope that blogs carry on the independent tradition we’re so desperately in need of.

(By the way, I’m doing alright after having written my most personal post on here. I’m only scratching the surface in terms of my writing / poetry / publicizing, but it’s coming along. )

jose

Alex Rodriguez comes up to bat against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, bottom of the 8th with the bases loaded, and I’m yelling at the screen like, “PLEASE! Oh my G_D no! They’re gonna boo him, and he’s going to blow it.” I shut my eyes for a bit and went back to my writing as A-Rod struck out in fashion.

Of course, the boos came with a thunder only NYY fans can produce, and it hurt a little bit because I’ve pulled for him since 2004, when we wouldn’t have even had these A-Rod conversations if it wasn’t for our choke at the hands of the Red Sox that year. I’ve also denounced what it means to be a true Yankee other than years as a Yankee, only because some of the Yankees we consider to be “true” were paid mercenaries, and before free agency, the best players came to the Yankees with no restrictions.

Yet, we lay all these ridiculous expectations on A-Rod because the Yankees are paying him 16 mil a year (the Rangers took 9 mil off Steinbrenner’s hands), which makes sense on paper, but ridiculous in real life. Often, what matters in a person’s image is the ratio between people’s expectations of you and how you as a person react and enact those expectations.

I’ve done a lot of thinking about myself in that respect. People who love(d) me have always had high expectations for me, and have looked to me because I wear many hats. I’ve succeeded in many aspects of my life, and often carry an omniscient demeanor. I play the role of brother, son, teacher, student, friend, listener, lover, … the list goes longer than I could have imagined and I play these roles as well as I could.

As of late, though, I’ve felt these roles become far too heavy for my person. I began to take out my frustrations on the easiest parts of my life, such as my loved ones. At first, it showed up as a little acid in my stomach, but by today, it grew to a full-blown cancer. My childhood ailments began to resurface in a cloud of insecurity. For the first time in a few years, I feared not having the fortitude to play these roles for the ones I loved.

After some counseling over coffee from a loved one, shopping and a wicked double feature also known as Grindhouse, the stars realigned in my favor. I look at my own life now and realize that only I can live my life and this never ending quest for excellence will come with pain and suffering; if not, then I’d have nothing to sell in my soon-to-be best-selling biography (Even in pain, I have to have my wits about me).

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Down 7-6 with the bases loaded, A-Rod came up to bat again. Down 2 strikes, A-Rod saw the ball coming at him and turned it back around in glorious fashion. The Yankees win 10-7, and A-Rod comes out for the curtain call. It’s still April, and when October comes, he’ll now look back to this moment and become the A-Rod we hoped to acquire way back in that infamous winter.jose, who’s the first teacher ever to get a multi-million dollar signing bonus from the NYC Board of Ed, so don’t hate

This is just another one of those stream-of-consciousness poems. I’m at a point in my writing where I can just write well without thinking too much of the consequences … if that makes any sense. Check the rhyme …
“They Reminisce Over You”

What will they say when I’m gone?
Will they look back to my electronic words as testimony
To everything I believed
Or everything I could have been?
Will they reminisce on conversations we had
And silent yet powerful moments we shared
via instant messaging?
Will they research on the small instances of my gratitude?
Crossing old ladies through the snow
And passing along his dinner to perfect strangers in the frigid cold
With no audience but the people in his mind?
Will they look up my file at the Board of Ed, SU’s records, and the CIA to inform them of my own, sometimes subversive, activities?
My teaching as well as my learning have certainly broken the effervescent barriers
between people such as myself and the mainstream idea
Of what a Black / Latino man’s supposed to be
Will they do those cool personal interviews with my mom, father, stepfather, brothers, sisters, cousins, ex-lovers, friends, co-workers, passerbys, and comparable visionaries of our time to explore my essence like they do in those VH1 specials?
Or will they simply look back in the words I laid out as the prophecy and the history of one man’s journey to understand his own surroundings
By expounding on the little that he really knows?
Who knows?
You do, because when my time has come,
Certainly my legacy will precede me through my words
Not just in the rhyme scheme and structure
But that this poet brought every word he put on page
Off the ink and into existence …

© jose vilson 2007