put her on

recently my girl asked me to introduce her to hip hop. You know the non radio play, club banging, might hear at a poetry night hip hop. She is a straight up R&B head with her favorites like Monica, Anthony Hamilton, and Chrisette Michelle. She's from Oklahoma so she is used to a lot of southern hip hop.

So I took on the task and made her a mixtape. Being 27, I consider myself to be from the G-Funk era of hip-hop: Fuggees, ATCQ, The Roots, Black Star, etc. My plan was to let her hear some familiar smooth tunes that she can bump in the ride. I chose songs from artists that affected me very early on in my rap listening career.

Let me know where I might be going wrong and what I missed? Or if anybody else already made a flawless mixtape, put me on please.

Here's my playlist

Title: I Luv Hip Hop
1. Act Won... Things Fall Apart THE ROOTS
2. The Next Movement THE ROOTS
3. The Light COMMON
4. Ready Or Not THE FUGGEES
5. Umi Says MOS DEF
6. You Got Me THE ROOTS
7. Pay Day SLUM VILLAGE
8. Whatever You Say LITTLE BROTHER
9. Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik OUTKAST
10.Definition BLACKSTAR
11.Staying Alive WYCLEF JEAN
12.Mr. Nigga MOS DEF
13.Art of Storytellin' Pt. 1 OUTKAST
14.Royalty GANGSTARR
15.Check The Rhime ATCQ

lets reoccur

a reoccurring dream has been haunting me for the past year. I can't pin point the first time I had this dream but I know it was a long time ago. What scares me the most about this dream is that it is not just the same action that is happening over and over. The dream picks up from the last time I had the dream.

Here's what's happening: I'm in one of my high school classrooms (shout out to BHS, go boxers!). The teacher is one of my favorites from the four years I spent in high school, my architecture teacher; but this time she wasn't so nice. The first dream was about the first day of school. I was late to school and I had to go to the main office to get my schedule and my locker combo. The hallways are exactly as I remember them. I get my schedule and head for my first class with no time to get to my locker.

Next dream: I make it to my classes and I'm going over my schedule for the week as I head to my locker. My high school is separated into four main buildings of different colors. I'm walking the hallways of the red building, trying to get to green. I'm walking up and down stairs, going through the cafeteria, running around like its a maze. I make it to my locker and its the end of the day.

Next dream: Its the end of the first week and I'm looking at my schedule. I realize that I missed a class on Tuesday. The class meets twice a week and I didn't go to the first one. I begin to worry about what the teacher will say, if I've missed too much already.

I don't recall having any more dreams like the these for a while but that is not the scariest part of my dreams.

Next dream: I'm in class with my favorite teacher who isn't my favorite at the moment because its an English class. I realize this is the class that I missed on Tuesday, so the teacher starts talking about things that I don't recognize. One of the subjects is of this semester long project that she will assign but not monitor. Basically, we have to do a lot of research on our own and present the project at end of the semester. Every couple of weeks she will have us present where we are at with the project. In this class she had us choose the topic we are going to research.

Next dream: It's time to present an update on the project. I have nothing done. I watch everybody else present journals and diagrams that show their work. I have nothing and I'm trying to think of an excuse. I can't say I left it at home because that would mean I had to bring something the next class and that would mean I would have to pull an all-nighter. I didn't want to do that so I just told her I have nothing.

Several more dreams: I still have nothing to present every time I go to class. When it becomes time to present an update I try to hide from the teacher and hope she doesn't notice that I haven't presented. The dreams never make it to the end of the class so I don't know if she hasn't figured me out yet. What's scary is that when I wake up from the dream, I get the feeling that I forgot to do something and that day is the due date. I think this project is real. I have to keep reminding myself that it's just a dream, but the feeling comes back throughout the day.

This morning's dream: It's the last day of class. Our projects are due. I'm sitting in class looking around at students who have boxes full of notes, journals, diagrams for each month of the project. The teacher wants us all to package our project for her to grade it. The grade for our project is worth 80% of our semester grade. My desk is empty. I have nothing. I start thinking of hiding again and hoping the the teacher won't notice. Then I'll pull an all-nighter to get this project done and put it in her office tomorrow. My only problem with this idea is that it's the last day of school. I start just thinking that maybe I should just fail. It's senior year; I won't have to worry about school after today. Who cares right? Somehow I make it out of class and I'm walking down the stairs in a straight line. I want to go to my locker and get anything I left in there the first day of school but since I haven't been back to my locker since the first day of school, I have no idea where it is.

Long story short, I think I failed the class.

things I miss about being young

we all grow up. But am I just silly for believing that I wouldn't. I truly believed I was a Toy R Us kid even though I only got toys from Walmart and Family Dollar (if you never bought the bag of army men from the dollar store, then you are probably spoiled). To this day I still feel like that 7 year old boy whose biggest concern was eating pizza on Saturday morning and getting a turn on the Nintendo. The only difference these days are these mounting bills that seem to have been placed on me without my consent. I grew up.

Here are a few not so obvious things I miss about being young:

1. Watching a scary movie and actually being scared. I miss just believing. Believing any and everything that was shown to me. Oh, Freddy Crugar can kill me in my sleep? Pass the coffee. If I put on a red cape I can fly? Where's my bed sheet?

2. The last day of school. To be honest, the last week. No matter what grade I was in, that last week was the "f*ck if I care if I'm supposed to be learning something; I ain't going to be here in a couple of days, b!tch." And it always felt like I would never go back to class. As if some magic would occur over the summer and I never had to attend school again.

3. Being outside all day long; rain, sleet, or snow. I am so ashamed of my co-dependence with air conditioning. I remember enjoying the mid day summer shower as a way to cool off from the fun filled day. Then do it all over again until the lights go out.

4. Picking up any object and using it as a toy. My imagination has never been as strong like when I was a child. I remember when I was in Haiti a slanted column in the front porch was a helicopter. I could play in my helicopter for hours.

5. The weekend, mainly Saturday. I woke up early with no alarm clock, no plans; just one goal: have fun today. I'd run around with one of my parents doing errands, ride bikes, go on adventures, play countless tournaments with video games. I had nothing to do but to do nothing.

What do you miss about being a kid?

— the Chef

its a Cole World.

http://www.jcolemusic.com/

who dat! who dat! Its J. Cole. Now I know I need a late pass and I look like I'm jumping on a band wagon now that J. Cole was crowned Who Got Next but I'm being honest I've been digging this cat for a while. I'm just glad to see a new artist that actually has talent. And I would be remorse if I didn't give a shout out to any artist who personifies the true meaning of hip hop. So if you haven't heard of him yet (shame on you), check out the mixtapes: The Come Up and The Warm Up.

"Now who else wanna f_ck with Hollywood Cole."
*I know, I know. Its Hollywood Court, but I though it was a good use of mispronunciation in the urban community.

movies and smoothies: The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard

so refreshing when the preview to a comedy is not the funniest joke of the movie. Why this movie was over looked as a great, laugh my ass off classic; I have no idea. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard is a close comparison to the latest classic comedies like The Hangover and Superbad. Jeremy Piven does what he does best as salesman. This guy can act like a guy who can sell a guy that only acts like a guy (I'm just as confused as you). The film has you dying laughing from the beginning and keeps you laughing until the most famous scene from the preview when the old war veteran beats up on the Korean who he thinks is a Veit Khong. The whole scene does not disappoint.

The supporting cast does a good job of carrying the story when lead character reaches his moment of existentialism. Ving Rhames search for making love and snappy one liners were well placed and believable. Kathyrn Hahn playing the sexy sells woman who uses intimidation along with sex to make sells is a good twist on an old stereotype.

If you haven't seen the The Goods, its on Netflix instant. I hope this becomes a cult classic. So many good scenes in this movie.

RATING: a good punch in the nuts cranberry daiquiri, with sprinkles