Hip-Hop Quotable Wednesdays – Kendrick Lamar – “Mortal Man”

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'Moses, 2014, Black Hippy, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, California, Chalice Recording Studios, Compton, Detroit Red, Digi+Phonics, Downtown Studios, Fela Anikulapo, Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Quotable, Hip-Hop Quotable Wednesdays, Hollywood, Huey Newton, Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, JFK, Kendrick Lamar, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Key Yemaya Walker, Los Angeles, Malcolm X, Mark Spears, Martin Luther King Jr., Michael Jackson, Mortal Man, Nelson Mandela, New York, New York City, Poem, poetry, Prose, Rap, Rapper, Record producers, songwriter, Sounwave, To Pimp a Butterfly, Top Dawg Entertainment, Tupac Shakur, United States

The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my n—-a, let me ask this question
When s–t hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When s–t hit the fan (one two, one two)
When s–t hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When s–t hit the fan, is you still a fan?
The ghost of Mandela, hope my flows they propel it
Let these words be your earth and moon you consume every message
As I lead this army make room for mistakes and depression
And with that being said my n—-a, let me ask this question
When s–t hit the fan, is you still a fan?
When s–t hit the fan, is you still a fan?
Want you look to your left and right, make sure you ask your friends
When s–t hit the fan, is you still a fan?

Hip-Hop Quotable Wednesdays – Skillz – “2012 Rap Up″

Tags

2 Chainz, 2012, 2012 Rap Up, 2Pac, Atlanta, Atlantic, Atlantic Records, Aurora, Barack Obama, Bath salt zombies, Beyonce, Big Beat, Big Bird, Big Kidz Entertainment E1 Music, Blackhand label, Blue Ivy, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Brian McKnight, Cassie, Chad Johnson, Chick fil A, Chris Bosh, Chris Brown, Coachella, Common, D'Angelo, Detroit, Diddy, Drake, East Coast, Eddie Murphy, Election, Elmo, Frank Ocean, Gabby Douglas, Gangham Style, Gays, Ghostwriter, Giants, Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Quotable, Hip-Hop Quotable Wednesdays, Hurricane Sandy, Jay-Z, Jersey Shore, Key Yemaya Walker, KONY, Lakers, Lance Armstrong, LeBron James, Lil Wayne, Linsanity, Mad Skillz, Madd Skillz, Mary J. Blige, Mayan, Mayan Apocalypse, Mayans, Miami Heat, Michigan, Mike Brown, Mitt Romney, Molly, music, New York, New York Football Giants, New York Giants, Obama, Ocho Cinco, Olympics, Prince Harry, PSY, Rap Up, Rap Ups, Rapper, Rawkus, Richmond, Rihanna, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, Same Sex Marraige, Scrappy, Sean Combs, Shaquan Lewis, Snoop Lion, Songwriter Producer Actor, Sure Shot, the Tupac hologram, Trayvon Martin, Trinidad James, Tupac, Tupac Shakur, U.S., VA, Venus Williams, Virginia, Whitney Houston

[Verse 1]
Yo, it’s the rap up 2012, let’s get this thing crackin’
I’mma tell y’all right now, this whole song gon’ be ratchet
Common threw a shot at Drake, but he ain’t wanna catch it
Giants won the Super Bowl, plus that whole Kony madness
Linsanity had New York on fire like wasabi
And you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about Blue Ivy
Congrats to Jay and B for adding to they crew
I mean why was y’all so shocked, ain’t that what married people do?
And I’m still in my hoodie cause this violence ain’t stopping
Hope we see justice for the youngin’ Trayvon Martin
And Nicki dissed the fans, bands a make ’em dance
We got that iPhone 5, and ran to Instagram
Brian Mcknight, dumbest song of the year
Let me show how your —– works, but he ain’t get no volunteers
Kim and Kanye, huh, had us all tripping
Yeah, Mary J. Blige was out here singing for chicken
Y’all slipping, man
Bath salt zombies was all over the tubes
Same sex marriages, yes, Obama would approve
Drake met Chris Brown with a bottle in between
D’Angelo came back, LeBron got that ring

Foto Fridays – Best Of 2012 – Music Festivals

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405, 5, Aaron Bruno, adidas, Adidas Superstar, ALLEN STONE, Alternative, Amtrack, ANDREW BIRD, ANIMAL KINGDOM, Atlanta, Avcii, AWOLNATION, Azalea Banks, •ALABAMA SHAKES, •AMADOU & MARIAM, •ANTIBALAS, •BOMBA ESTEREO, •CITY AND COLOUR, •FUN., •JOVANOTTI, •MIMOSA, •OF MONSTERS AND MEN, •SHARON VAN ETTEN, •TAME IMPALA, •THE WALKMEN, •TRAMPLED BY TURTLES, •WASHED OUT, •WOLFGANG GARTNER, •YACHT, BART, Beats By Dre, BECK, Beer Lands, Big Boi, BIG GIGANTIC, BIRDYH, BLOC PARTY, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Blue Lines Coachella Weekend 2012, Bon Iver, Bromance, CA, California, CAVEMAN, Coachella, Coachella 2012, Coachella Valley, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Comedy, concert, CORY CHISEL AND THE WANDERING SONS, Dabs Myla, David Grohl, DIE ANTWOORD, DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND, DISPATCH, Do Lab, DR. DOG, Dr. Dre, dubstep, Earth Day, ELECTRIC GUEST, Empire Polo Club, End, Explosions In The Sky, FATHER JOHN MISTY, Feist, Festival, FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS, Foo Fighters, Foto Fridays, FRANZ FERDINAND, FUTUREBIRDS, Gary Clark Jr., GEOGRAPHER, Golden Gate, Golden Gate park, GRANDADDY, gravel, Haight Ashbury, Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Music, iMovie, Indio, INFANTREE, Instagram, Intel Outside, iPhone, iPhone 4S, iPhone Post, iPhone4s, iPhoneagraphy, iPhoneography, JACK WHITE, Jerseys, Jukebox the Ghost, JUSTICE, Key Yemaya Walker, Lands End Stage, Last Time, Little Dragon, Live Music, Los Angeles, Love, Marraige, Marta, Metallica, MICHAEL KIWANUKA, MSTRKRFT, Muni, music, Music Festival, MW, Myla, Myla Watson, National Basketball Association, NBA, NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE, Norah Jones, Norcal, Northern California, Occupy Coachella, ONE MusicFest, ONEY ISLAND SWAMP BAND, Outside Lambs, Panhandle Stage, PAPA, Park, PASSION PIT, Photography, Portugal. The Man, Proposal, Radiohead, Raise Your Weapon, REBELUTION, REGGIE WATTS, REGINA SPEKTOR, Richmond, Ricky Watts, Roadtrip, rock, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Francisco Outside Lands, San Francisco Outside Lands 2012, Santigold, SBTRKT, SEAN HAYES, Seek Bromance, Shutte, SIGUR ROS, Skrillex, Snoop Dogg, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Socal, Southern California, Stevie Wonder, Straits, Sutro Stage, TANLINES, Tennis, THE BE GOOD TANYAS, The Black Keys, The Grande Wheel, THE KILLS, THE M MACHINE, THEE OH SEES, Tim Berg, TOM MORELLO: THE NIGHTWATCHMAN, Train, Truth, Tupac, Tupac Hologram, Tupac Shakur, Twin Peaks Stage, TWO GALLANTS, UN Square, Vacation, WALLPAPER., Wedding, WHITE DENIM, Wine Lands, YELLOW OSTRICH, ZOLA JESUS

A “Best of… Foto Fridays” Essay of 2012’s Music Festival travels.
2012 Ranking:
1) Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (Empire Polo Club, Indio, CA)
2) Music Midtown (Piedmont Park, Atlanta, GA)
3) Outside Lands: Music, Food, Wine, Beer, Art (Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA)

A combination of Porta-Potties, Hot sun, VIP Showers, compressed hot bodies, cold, fog, band reunions, amazing covers, crowd surfing, 90’s classics, dirt, dubstep, car camping, road trips, bad artist scheduling, vacation, plane flights, MARTA, BART, gravel, fun!
A super-hot weekend in the California desert where NBA Basketball jerseys seemed to be the uniform, water was the best thing, and music was unbelievable. Enjoy.

Coachella Music And Arts Festival, Weekend 2 2012

Overhead view from “The Wheel.”

Alarm Clock…HOT!!!

The weekend’s boarding.

Foto Friday – Coachella Weekend 2, 2012 Photo Essay

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405, 5, Aaron Bruno, Atlanta, Avcii, AWOLNATION, Azalea Banks, Beats By Dre, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Blue Lines Coachella Weekend 2012, Bon Iver, Bromance, California, Coachella, Coachella 2012, Coachella Valley, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, concert, Do Lab, Dr. Dre, dubstep, Earth Day, Feist, Festival, Gary Clark Jr., Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop Music, iMovie, Indio, Instagram, iPhone 4S, iPhone Post, iPhone4s, iPhoneagraphy, Jerseys, Key Yemaya Walker, Little Dragon, Los Angeles, music, MW, National Basketball Association, NBA, Occupy Coachella, Photography, Radiohead, Raise Your Weapon, Roadtrip, rock, Sacramento, Santigold, SBTRKT, Seek Bromance, Snoop Dogg, Snoop Doggy Dogg, The Black Keys, The Grande Wheel, Tim Berg, Tupac, Tupac Hologram, Tupac Shakur, Vacation

It has been a few weeks, but I finally got around to my Coachella Photo Essay. A few shots, that I still don’t really capture the weekend, but a post nonetheless. A hot weekend where NBA Basketball jerseys seemed to be the uniform. Enjoy.

Coachella Music And Arts Festival, Weekend 2 2012

Overhead view.

Alarm Clock…HOT!!!

The weekend boarding.

Good thing we rode on day one, before standing in long HOT lines.

AWOLNATION Frontman Aaron Bruno literally surfs the croud during a rousing rendition of their hit, “Sail.”

Yeah, that’s reading correctly…a whopping 107 Degrees…whew.

The amazing Gary Clark, Jr. performing “Things Are Changing,” instant zone-out song.


Feist during her powerful set, before Bon Iver.

SBTRKT Killing “Wildfire” with Vocals by Yukimi of Little Dragon and Drake.

Radiohead Destroying It!!!

The Beats By Dre tent, where we listened to bad Pitbulls songs, on great Dre Audio, and got AIR CONDITIONING!!!

The Do Lab, where they played LOUD Dub Step and sprayed you with waterhoses. Skipped that this year.

Everyone had the same idea, hide from sun, charge your phones.

Santigold after a late morning Sun nap.

Tupac Hologram rising to perform with Snoop.

Way to end…on Earth Day.

A beautiful sunrise, a bittersweet reminder of the weekend.

On the Road Home.

The manuscript Blue Lines is the fictional coming of age narrative of a young California woman Key Yemaya Walker, and her 2 year growing journey through school, love, and life period piece, written by Kenneth Suffern, Jr., taking place at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill between the years of 1997 – 1998. Loosely based on true events, and experiences during that time, told through the eyes and voice of the main female protagonist, a freshman first attending the school.

What I Learned Sundays 4/29/2012 – Interruptions, Family, Coachella…

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2Pac, Atlanta, Blue Hurt, Blue Lines, Blue Lines Blog, Blue Lines Coachella Weekend 2012, Bon Iver, California, Coachella, Coachella 2012, Coachella Valley, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Desert, Dr. Dre, emotions, Feist, Georgia, Hot, Indio, Key Yemaya Walker, Little Black Submarines, Los Angeles, Love, MW, Myla, Photography, Pinks Hot Dogs, Radiohead, Sacramento, SBTRKT, Skinny Love, Snoop Dogg, Snoop Doggy Dogg, The Black Keys, Tupac, Tupac Shakur, UNC Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Warren G, What I Learned Sundays

This is a post that had been postponed be real events in real life for quite some weeks. Planned previously, but life changed that. Losing (figuratively) a loved family member, and regaining them back. Communication is key, along with understanding who we are as people.

I stood there, singing along to Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love,” feeling things that I shouldn’t have. A song that should have stood alone, and again, like always, I knew…something. The dark night engulfed me (us)…and the world became more real, as it always will.

Coachella Good, Bad and Ugly:
– Amazed to go to my first Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
– The design allows for some music to cannibalize the artists (ie During The Black Keys, Explosions In The Sky’s set flooded the lower volume sets and breaks between music.)
– The artist selection was amazing.
– Sharing the experience was great, especially since I planned to go solo.
– Camping was an experience within itself, though I was told, “This isn’t real camping.” I’ll accept that.

Hip-Hop Quotable Wednesday’s 2Pac/M.C. Breed “Gotta Get Mine”

Tags

2Pac, Gotta Get Mine, Hip-Hop Quotable, M.C. Breed, Tupac Shakur

Not the most lyrical or poignant song, but I guess it fits the day.

Reminds me alot of High School.

{chorus}
I gotta get mine, you gotta get yours
I gotta get mine, you gotta get yours
I gotta get mine, you gotta get yours
get yours