Jeru The Damaja - W.A.R.s Thoughts

Today I popped in Jeru The Damaja’s first joint “The Sun Rises in the East” and an epiphany came. It’s funny how you don’t realize how dope something is until you listen to it with more mature ears. It was that classic vibe of one producer and one MC…the perfect vibe.

I guess way back in 1994, being a senior in high school, I didn’t realize the shear nuggets Jeru was spitting. Back then I was still soaking in the mere dopeness of Primo’s boombap and never paid that much attention to what this man was saying. Now, almost 20 years later, I realized that this man was a thinker in every sense of the word.

The album was a complete album. Witty wordplay, skits interweaved into rhymes, history lessons, philosophy, and a somewhat eerie prophecy of
what we are glorifying in hip-hop today.

Every single song had a purpose, a lesson if you will. Either Jeru was
teaching the solution to our grim reality or preaching his dopeness as
an MC, and even that was minimal. Simply put, Jeru summarized the
plight of black men, societal woes, heritage, and hood commentary in a
mere 13 tracks.

Songs like: Can’t Stop The Prophet was a vivid account of Jeru playing
the role of a superhero committed to saving the black man from traps
set by government and even the community. Ain't The Devil Happy was a
masterfully executed lyrical thesis on how we have become our own
worst enemy, done in a reverse psychological fashion that makes anyone
listening take an introspective look at themselves and society.

I could go on and on. However, I began to ponder another element. We
had Jeru, Rakim, KRS, and Public Enemy to teach us. Who do the youth
have today?  Gucci Mane, Rick Ross, OJ Da Juiceman, and a host of
other rappers/druglords who cannot decide which profession they want
to stick with.

Jeru spoke of ridding the community of crack. Gucci speaks of flooding
the said community with crack. It’s a dynamic that is sad yet widely
accepted in hip-hop.  I could go on and on but I think the viewing of
these 2 videos will explain it perfectly. Evaluate the difference.
Till next time…Think about it.

Take a look for yourself.

Jeru- Cant Stop The Prophet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBQDWsBewSs
Gucci Mane- Street Niggas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNsCxa4BZB8&feature=channel



Contributor:

W.A.R.

Joyce Meyer - The Battlefield of the Mind

Having been published in October of 2002, my only regret about reading Battlefield of the Mind – is to have not read it sooner.  Joyce Meyer has done a splendid job in writing this book, and I sincerely feel that it is a God inspired work.

Joyce is a well-known Biblical teacher and multi-million selling author of more than 70 books.  As a child, she was sexually abused, and was also a victim of an emotionally abusive first marriage.  She is no stranger to negative thinking and strongholds of the mind, and has personally experienced the worst of it – but more importantly, she has lived to conquer these strongholds and turn her life around.

For anyone struggling to gain control of their mind and their emotions – and that would be most of us – this is a must read!  The entire book is scripturally based, to the point, and filled with a wealth of knowledge.

As a Believer in Christ Jesus, I found it to be encouraging, inspiring, and right on the money. However, I would also recommend this book to anyone – regardless of his or her belief system, as the challenges faced on the “battlefield” of the mind is something everyone faces on a daily basis.  As long as you can keep an open mind, the core principles and ideals of this book, however “religious” they may be, can still be applied to your benefit. 

Meyer’s writing style is easy to read and understand, but this is not a novel.  It is packed full of information and insights that can help you arm yourself against the attacks of the devil and negative thinking, and reads as such.  It’s not something you speed through or read for pure enjoyment, but something you should really take your time with, and allow the information to fully sink in. 

Battlefield of the Mind really does shed light on the ways of the devil, and even our own ways, that can have serious negative impacts on our lives and of those around us.  I encourage everyone to read this book – and then to read it again!  You won’t regret it.  And, if put into practice – along with the Word – it can really change your life.


Battlefield of the Mind
By Joyce Meyer
Publisher: FaithWords
ISBN: 978-0446691093
List Price: $14.99




Contributor:
Mz Nokz

The Roots - how i got over

Do you remember when you were between the ages of 5 and 10 and your parents used to groove to music from the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Earth Wind and Fire, Gil Scott-Haron or Frankie Beverly and Maze?And as you got older you remember these bands but more importantly you remember the way they made your parents feel as you begin to develop the same feelings for music the way they did?

In my opinion this can be said about the Roots Group for our generation. More specifically about their latest Album “How I Got Over”, which will be their ninth studio album.

In these days where the lines have been skewed between what is considered real Hip Hop or just stuff to make a buck. The Roots continue to remain tangent to these arguments by consistently giving us a broader spectrum with a firm foundation rooted in the Hip Hop Culture. Introducing new and innovative ways of building this culture up, to me, has been The Roots greatest accomplishment.

There is hardly a question when it comes to Quest Love and his masterful skills on the drums, which provide that authentic boom bap that is sometimes missed in today’s Hip Hop. Just listen to tracks such as “Doin’ it Again”, “Web 20/20” and “Radio Daze.”

Verbally, Black Thought put it best when he said “The unsung, underrated, under-appreciated / The one the underachievers had underestimated Finally graduated,” though it is the sad truth about this fire spitting MC from Illadelph. Let me be the first to tell you that he has not lost a step in his skills and I feel safe to say he is at the top of his game. Consider this – you have featured artists on the album sound as if they’ve stepped their game up just to hang with Thought – now that’s really saying something. “To me” Phonte sounds like he walked away from this project with a whole new prospective of what it means to be an MC.

Tariq Trotter’s raspy vocal gives us no reason to count him out as one of the most prolific MC’s of our times, with lines such as “Straining to carry the weight of my brain like a genius/ Knowing I’m sowing seeds, let’s see whose thumb is the greenest/ If I said it I mean it, I did it because I need it”. Don’t think just because this is rumored to be their last Album that Black Thought can’t still eat MC’s like a carnivore, proving that cats can’t walk while chewing their gum and all. With “Web 20/20,” featuring Peedi Peedi and Truck North, he lets would be competition know “Sucker like you just has to get blasted/ Ashes to ashes, Frasier to Cassius/ No homo, y’all some pains in the asses”. So please don’t take Riq Geez as a lightweight MC. PLEASE

The most standoutish artist featured on this album is Blu. I say that in the respect of when I first heard Mos Def introduced on De La Soul’s “Big Brotha Beats” – expect more from Blu in the near future. His poetic cadence and fluid flow on “Radio Daze” and my personal favorite, “The Day,” provides a breath of fresh air for the new generation of Hip Hop artists to inhale. With lines like “…lost in a mass mess task-less dilemma to match somebody’s status” from “Radio Daze” or “Handpicked to live this life we take for granted like a child with and upright bass, we can’t stand it” from “The Day.”

Other artists that appear on the album are Dice Raw, Phonte from little Brother Foreign Exchange fame, Patty Crash, John Legend provided his melodic vocals on “Doin’ it Again”, Peedi Peedi, STS, Truck North, and Monsters of Folks, who accompanied The Roots on a remake of their song “Dear God.”

From start to finish this album has everything a Hip Hop fan needs – consider this a classic and place it in heavy rotation in your car, your PC or even your iPod while your walk around the house doing lil’ odd jobs. I can’t wait until the same feeling I have for The Roots overcomes my 6-year-old son the same way it did for me when my Father used to play Cutis Mayfield.

Contributor:
The 5th illa (etc.)

Studio Session With Flight

So what’s good world?!?!? Its ya man JonBlaQ back on my blog thing once again haha. Anyway my new update is on a recording session I had over the weekend (Aug 21st) with some young cats from Raleigh named “Flight”.

Now honestly I’m not much for the younger generation’s version of Hip-Hop, no disrespect, but Soldier Boy and Waka Flaka (Gosh I just feel dumber saying his name) just don’t do it for me, but I can understand the appeal that some of the newer artists of today have so it’s all good. I got a phone call from one of my team stating that he had a friend who was looking to get some studio time for his kids and some of their friends, and of course I was like cool but honestly in the back of my mind I was preparing myself to sit through a few hours of a lot of chanting, little to no flow and in general, no subject matter to think of.

Saturday morning arrived and like clockwork, the first thing I noticed was that they were right on time, which was out of the norm for any rapper, present company included, but then they began to file into the house one after the other and I started to think, “dang I aint know I was gonna be recording the Wu- Tang” – there were so many of them lol. As we got in the lab and all the introductions went down we decided to get right to business. I popped in the first track and thought ok here we go… and then it happened, these cats (six of them to be exact) proceeded to run through rhymes like they had practiced these joints in their sleep, one after the other each individual stepped up to the mic like they had been doin’ this all there life, and mind you this was their first official studio session.

Needless to say, I was impressed. Now the first track, “Take over” is just one of those joints that grabs u from the giddy up!! No denying it, if it hits the radio the “Take Over” will officially begin for “Flight”..but then they went on to do something I didn’t expect – a song called “My Cinderella,” which caught me out there with the word play, flows and the whole subject matter of 3 individuals from  a group of 14 yr olds. This song, like Take Over, was lyrically on point, from the way they bounced on the beat, to the cleverness and thought put into the rhymes, again I was a lil beside myself.

As we moved on to the third and final song, that also has a feature from OnOurGame artist Rashad Yarnell and consists of all 6 emcees was  such a banger!!! The engineer in me was literally itching to mix all there joints down right then and there LOL. At this point, myself, my home boy Remington and two of the kids father, Darnell Ellis( who by the way is an Emcee himself) got into a conversation about how dedicated they had been on working on their rhymes, and basically preparing these songs …..

Then it dawned on me, for all of my complaining about what Hip-Hop was and how its changed, over all it really hasn’t... see – after watching these young cats at work and seeing how hungry they were, I realized that Hip- Hop is not dead in the younger generation, and although it may change in ways some of us older cats don’t understand, there are still young people coming up who do care about lyrics and still get super excited to spit a hot 16 over a beat, just like we did when we first got started, and as long as that’s the case, Hip Hop could never truly die, not to say that most of what the industry is pumpin out nowadays is hot or even luke warm, but I gotta say if “Flight”  is the future, I think the game is in good hands!

Till next time holla at cha boy –JonBlaQ
Peep more pics in the gallery section of the website from the session and be on the lookout for Flight!

Contributor:
JonBlaQ