Favorite Album, Hip Hop Music, Rap Music, writing prompt

Life After Death – Favorite Album

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What’s your all-time favorite album?

This is actually a tough question for me to answer. There are several albums that I could’ve selected and given an impactful reasoning behind each. For the sake of this article I selected “Life After Death” by the Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie). This album was a double CD and has a major story behind it. The Notorious B.I.G. is an eastcoast rapper who was on Sean “P Diddy” Combs Badboy Records. This was during the height of the eastcoast verses westcoast beef. More specifically the Badboy (New York) & DeathRow (Los Angeles) beef. Bayboy Records had artist such as Notorious B.I.G, Ma$e, the Lox, Craig Mack, Faith Evans, Black Rob and others. Deathrow Records had TuPac, Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre, Lady of Rage and others. During the making of Life After Death, the coastal beef had escalated. Tupac had recently been murdered and Biggie was set to release his second Album. 21 songs on this album and they all were bangers. ( Hypnotized, I Got A Story to Tell, You’re Nobody Til Somebody K*lls You, My Downfall, Victory, I Love the Dough, etc). This album solidified biggie as one of the greatest lyricist in hip hop. While promoting the album, Biggie went out to Los Angeles and stay there for two weeks. Most westcoast rappers and street dudes took offense to this. Biggie’s rival TuPac had recently lost his life. In biggies last interview, he mentioned that he wanted to spread love and bring things together with his new album. Unfortunately, while leaving a party hosted by VIBE Magazine in LA, Biggie was shot and k*lled while sitting in his vehicle. This was a sad day as another big hip hop artist was gunned down. Biggie’s first album was titled “Ready to Die” and he followed that with the “Life After Death” album. If you’re  a rap or hiphop fan, I would recommend giving the album a listen. One of the best hip hop albums ever made, a true classic.

Author, Black Excellence, Motivation, Word of the Day

Get Rid of “Try”

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There are a lot of words that I would like to use a lot less in my vocabulary. https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZHBhBOd4dfiJHGQeNWkG1?si=qary459HSAKliMdUxfHnqA The one that I chose in this case would be the word “Try.” This is not because the word try is a bad word. Actually, the word try do is motivational as we try new things. I do think that the word Try has the potential to set us up for failure. Why do I say that the word “Try” has the potential to set us up for failure?

I say this because the word Try leaves room for an easy exit when working on a task. I sometimes use that word with reservations where I can quit at any time. I would then have the liberty to say, well at least I tried. I don’t discourage anyone from trying anything new. In fact, I encourage anyone to try new things. Trying new things is what keep us moving forward and adding excitement to our lives. I do think that it’s better for me to approach any task with the mentality that I’m pursuing something or working on something. So today, I’m working to use the word Try a lot less in my vocabulary. I’m officially replacing the word try with the word working (working on).

abandoned, Kingpin, Life Story, Street Story

Former Street Hustler Interview

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I conducted an Interview with a friend who is a former street hustler known locally as Kenny G. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ToP0pKxVYreb84aHPDR1N?si=PbjDr-9_T4OHid7M3OHF2w (Audio Podcast) Kenny G had the nice clothes, fancy cars, and the pretty women. Due to Kenny G’s lifestyles he got arrested and ended up serving 17 years in prison. Kenny g is now a free man making the best of his life and living the life of a Christian.

Doing this interview answers several questions of why. Why would anyone chose this lifestyle. Well in Kenny G’s case, he explains how he was abandoned at the young age of 12 years old by his mother. Kenny G was looking for love and acceptance since then. He found shelter anywhere he could. He lived in house to house with different people, whoever would let him stay there. Kenny stole clothes and food to eat each day. While doing this interview, all I could wonder was, where was the help for Kenny as a young teenager? Where was child protect and other child organizations? I guess that during that time there was none. Continuing the interview, Kenny explained that after years of stealing and making it the best he could, he finally got his break. His break came in the form of becoming a high level street hustler. This hustle was were he started making real money. The downside was this particular hustle involved selling illegal substances with a risk of going to prison. Kenny explained that when he got arrested, he was labeled as a kingpin. His case was blown up as if he was a amjor distributor. Kenny explained that wasn’t the case at all. At sentencing Kenny was given 40 years mandatory. He ended up serving 17 years before being released. Kenny G is now a devout christian trying to make the best of his life. Kenny gives God the credit for having the strength to make it through it all. Kenny also explained that he loves his mother who abandoned him when he was only 12 years old. (Kenny G’s mother passed away several years ago). Kenny give God all the praise and encourages others to trust in God through any and everything that you may go through.

Informing, Enlightening, & Encouraging