"In tenth grade, I beat out MJ for the last spot on our varsity basketball team, igniting a fire that inspired him to greatness. Since then I have motivized countless people with my inspirational DVD series and workshops. Now, with the launch of my revolutionary website, I’m finally able to motivate the world, including Canada." - Leroy Smith
Behind every great athlete, is a great motivator. Rocky had Mickey. Tyson had Gus. Michael Vick had a pitbull. Dwight Howard has Patrick Ewing. Who is the motivator behind the greatness of Michael Jordan? It's Leroy Smith. Join Leroy in his quest to the basketball hall of fame.
"It takes a toll motivating the world and motivating yourself to motivate the world. However, for me I don't pay tolls. I use a speed pass," Leroy Smith.
Check out a few tracks from FlashG. Came across dude via twitter and definitely digging his style. The Ohio native has a mixtape in the works, expected to drop June 30th. Check him out.
The homie OnCue has been working on this Cueyfornication project presented with IllRoots, Mick Boogie, Terry Urban and others for a minute. Basically it’s OnCue flowing over Red Hot Chili Pepper tracks. Pretty dope project! Other Side is his first leak from the project.
It was Stream Of Consciousness “It Will” track that initially caught my attention. He creates some real and thoughtful tracks and kind of has that political Dead Prez vibe to his music. And the dude is eclectic in his style.
The 26-year-old emcee out of Appleton (about an hour and a half North of Milwaukee) Wisconsin, grew up in a military family (which is part of the influence in his political messages in his music) so obviously he did a lot of moving and has called a lot of places home. He’s been to South Carolina to Hawaii to North Carolina, and then finally landed in Wisconsin in 2003.
“I really just needed a change of scenery,” he said.
Stream has been a long life music lover and started writing rhymes in high school.
“I was probably about 15,” Stream said. “However, I didn't record a track or perform anywhere until 2007. I'd like to think I've come a long way in that short time.”
What does he sound like? Well, just peep his MySpace description, "The Truth. Freedom. Revolution. Enlightenment. Knowledge. Power. Respect. Love. Unity. Reality. Progress. Hip-hop"
The dude is dope.
We reached out to Stream for this Q&A. Check it out.
Where did the name Stream of Consciousness come from?
Well, I think that an emcee's name should have a real meaning behind it. So I never really put any thought into a name, although at that point I was just writing rhymes. I hadn't done an open mic or recorded a track yet. But the name Stream Of Consciousness just kind of came to me one day while I was writing a rhyme. In fact I believe I used it in a verse and had a sort of eureka moment.
How would you describe your style?
Eclectic… That's kind of a tough question. I'd like to say that I don't think I necessarily fit into one specific style of rhyming. I am always trying to experiment and it is only in the last year or so that I have started to really find myself and become more comfortable experimenting.
Who do you work with on your music?
I hate to admit it but MySpace has been a blessing as far as connecting with like-minded musicians. I'm lucky to work with people whom I have the utmost respect for and vice versa. And I have no doubt we will continue to make music for years to come. You can pretty much peruse my top friends on MySpace to find the people I work with the most. In fact, I recommend you guys do that. Show some love!! LOL.
Your rhymes have a lot of political themes? How did that start?
Guess I'm just a product of my environment. As I said in an earlier question, I grew up in a military family. My father retired as CWO3 after nearly 22 years of service in the Marine Corps. So politics and the military have been a constant force in my life … for better or for worse. I have been in tune to world events since I was a child. And not to sound like a one man missionary, but I can't watch people suffer without at the very least speaking out about it.
Of course, I'd be remiss if I did not mention my musical influences. I always gravitated towards conscious/political music. My absolute favorite band is Rage Against The Machine. They have without a doubt had the biggest influence on me as far as music goes. Bob Marley also comes to mind. Public Enemy is pretty high up on my list as well. My favorite emcee though would have to be Talib Kweli. I'm dying for that new Reflection Eternal album!! I'm a fan of pretty much the whole Rawkus family from back in the day. Shout out to Mos, Pharoahe, Com and Black Thought as well!! Funny enough, a lot of people assume Immortal Technique would be at the top of my influences ... but I never actually heard a Tech track until about 2004. However, I do consider myself very much a fan of his work now.
You can obviously rhyme, but why not just take those dope beats and that skill and make some radio friendly joints?
LOL...I wouldn't know where to start.
In your opinion, what's the state of music?
I think music as a whole is doing pretty well ... although I am not finding too many new acts that really pique my interest these days. Most of these so-called rock bands just don't cut it in my opinion. Of course, I'm getting older now so a lot of the artists I grew up on are no longer making music. While the new artists just don't really appeal to me. I do think the market is oversaturated, especially hip-hop.
If you could change something about the industry, what would it be?
I'm sick of hearing the same recycled crap over and over. In fact, that is one of the reasons I avoid the radio if possible and can't recall the last time I turned on MTV or BET. I know the industry is designed for the fake shit, and it's profitable for these labels to push the trash but it's still a bit depressing. Who can you blame though? It's easy to point the finger at record companies and A&Rs but I think some of the blame lies with us artists and even the consumer as well for purchasing some of the crap these so called artists are churning out.
What projects are you currently working on?
Well, I am finishing up the writing for my debut album "The Pentagon Papers" which I hope to have ready by this summer. I've been slacking a bit lately though. I have a ton of collaborations in the works with various artists I've met online and even a few locals as well. Most notably my dude Verse The Villain. We are planning on doing an entire album together later this year. I want to finish my album up first though and hopefully it will do well enough to allow me to do a bit of touring either this year or in early 2010. Guess I'll just have to see where it takes me!!
A good friend of The Mad Bloggers posted this comment on one of our earlier posts about horrible customer service. We felt that this was too good to be buried a few pages back in a comment. Check it.
I recently went to a mini-mart to purchase one of my favorite drinks, a Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino. After grabbing my drink I made my way to the checkout counter, contemplating the cold creamy delight that was destined to hit my pallet very soon, this is where I had a revelation. The “Lead Sales person”, (I call her this because it said so on her badge), grunts for my attention, not greeted, I guess this meant she was ready to ring me out. I gave her my credit card to purchase my drink and after it was all said in done I said, “Thank you” in which I received another grunt, which meant the transaction was over. The question I asked myself as I was walking out the door of the mini-mart was, when did we revert back to the Neanderthal-like style of customer service? And where is this coming from? This isn’t the first time I received this type of service (Dell), it’s just the first time I actually sat back and thought about it.
Before joining the military I worked seven years in the retail business, from crappy beginnings at CVS to not as crappy endings as a manager at the Electronics Boutique (now Gamestop a.k.a. EB). Through all of these very hard and frustrating times I’ve always maintained my quality of service from greeting to farewell, from old promotions to new promotions. I hated my jobs. I had nothing but clear and outright disdain for the task of pandering to the sometimes undeserving customer, but I knew if I did anything less than pander my job would be in jeopardy. The quality of service that I provided was a direct reflection of who I was and how I was brought up and I couldn’t see myself breaking those vows that I made intravenously. To explain a little further of how much I hated my job here is a direct quote that I said at the closing of one of my holiday shifts at the EB, “I hate my F#$king job, G@#da#$it...” But with that I still provided that best service that I could muster at that time for my customers.
The thing that bewilders me the most is the state that our country is now, financially. There are people that can’t even find a job at McDonald’s and here we have “customer service reps” taking a large ill spirited dump on the retail industry. Where is the accountability? These jerks need to know that their job is at risk for anything less than favorable customer service and every minute of every day that this is not happening is a push out the door of employment to the unemployment line. If you don’t like to smile or greet people go work in a factory or something or maybe in a morgue, I promise you won’t get any complaints there. Oh yeah to you companies that want to save from your bottom line by outsourcing quit it. If I have to call Dehli to speak to 15 idiots that I can’t understand and they can’t understand me, I’m going to flip. Also, I know your game your name is not really “Greg”, so stop it.
So it was true… Kimora Lee Simmons had baby-in-tow and used good ole Twitter to confim that she gave birth to a baby boy with actor Djimon Hounsou. From the look of the hospital pic, she looked FABULOUS, even while in labor.
She posted this announcement on Twitter on @BabyPhat “It’s a boy! Thanks to everyone out there for all your well wishes! More to come. Thank God. And God Bless! Kimora + Djimon Love & Light, KLS”.
Hounsou and Simmons “dating” rumors started flying shortly after she and icon Russell Simmons divorced in 2008. Lee Simmons has 2 daughters from that 10 year reunion, Ming Lee and Aoki Lee Simmons. Baby and mother are doing well and she assures us in her Twitter message that there will be “More to come”… Does she mean news or babies??
Figured I put some input on Music Monday as well. Been zonin' out to this track over the weekend and once more today. Love the lyrics on here because whether about music or whatever it is that you love to do, it rings true. Dope song all around. CHeck it out.....
Continuing with our Music Monday, I threw the iPod on shuffle and came across this week's track. This is Miss Memory off the Refreshing mixtape from Convinced, released a few months back. Pretty dope song and thought I would throw it out there! Happy Monday!
Never heard of dude? Well, you should. He's amazing. We've featured him a few times on the blog. He also keeps it political and have discussed the Somali pirate situation several times too. The dude is dope! Check out this remix of Cudi's Day 'N Nite ... Dayless Nite (click to download)
We caught this story a few days ago. Thought it was crazy. One of our blog followers hit us up with his thoughts on the situation. Some may agree or disagree with his his perspective of the situation. We thought that we would present both sides.
So, to bring you up to speed as reported in the NY Times …
An off-duty rookie cop chasing a suspected car thief in East Harlem with his gun drawn was shot and killed Thursday night when an officer mistook him for a criminal.
"Police! Stop! Drop it!" cops from the 25th Precinct shouted at Omar Edwards, 25.
As he started to turn toward him - the gun still in his hand - an officer opened fire, sources said.
The officer involved in the shooting is white, Edwards is black and had no visible NYPD identification on him, sources said. It was unclear if Edwards identified himself.
"This is always a black cop's fear, that he'd be mistaken for a [suspect]," a source said. His father couldn't fathom how such a fatal mistake could happen.
"If a police officer sees someone with a gun, you don't just fire without asking questions or trying to apprehend the person," said Ricardo Edwards, 72. "If the person was firing at a police officer, I understand."
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Edwards, who had been on the force less than two years and worked out of a Manhattan housing unit, had left work about 10:30 p.m.
He was in street clothes as he walked toward his car parked about a block away on Second Ave. between E. 124th and E. 125th St., where he saw Miguel Goitia rummaging through the vehicle. The driver's side window was busted out.
Edwards grabbed Goitia, who managed to slip out of his sweater and escape Edwards' grip, Kelly said.
Gun drawn, Edwards gave chase.
At the same time, three plainclothes officers in an unmarked car saw Edwards running down the street. The car made a U-turn, and one of the officers, a white cop with more than four years on the job, got out and fired six shots - hitting Edwards twice, once in the left arm and once in the chest, Kelly said. Edwards did not fire his weapon.
Cops discovered Edwards was one of them when rescue crews cut open his shirt to treat the bleeding and saw a police academy shirt. They then searched his pockets and found his shield, sources said.
So, here is another perspective from one of our blog followers …
Everything is Race, right? I know Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson are going to have a say on this, just as soon as they can get one of their party members to create a speech in which Race is the primary thought.
Any officer, in pursuit of a man being chased by another with a gun drawn would've done what in the essence of saving someone's life? Okay, shooting at the torso was a bit much maybe, but hey, the guy had his gun drawn.
Who's to say he wasn't going to turn around and fire back? I believe the deciding factors in this case are: "identification as a whole".
Did the off duty officer attempt to identify himself after the other officer fired the first shot? Does the city have a protocol for off duty officers drawing their weapons in public? If so, does it require wearing a vest? Yes it is a sad thing, but as an officer (and I am speaking solely from an opinionated civilian point of view) I believe their reaction in this is solely upon the individual and his/her judgment.
As far as race, replay the situation but substitute yourself as the triggerman, then ask yourself, "what would I have done?" The City should be held accountable for Protocol of the off duty officer. This has been a Public Service Announcement brought to you by ÜberJess and I'm out.
We don’t know if race played a factor or not but New York City Cops have been at the eye of the storm of various controversial shootings. It also raises the question are police sometimes too quick on the draw. This entire incident needs to be examined and perhaps can be a continued learning opportunity. Again, we just wanted to present both sides.
Torae stopped by the Underground Railroad show last night with the homie J Smooth. He and Marco Polo have an album, "Double Barrel", dropping on Tuesday, June 2. He definitely does his thing on the show. Shout to J Smooth [www.illdoctrine.com / www.hiphopmusic.com]. Check below for the album release events on June 2 in New York.
"In tenth grade, I beat out MJ for the last spot on our varsity basketball team, igniting a fire that inspired him to greatness. Since then I have motivized countless people with my inspirational DVD series and workshops. Now, with the launch of my revolutionary website, I’m finally able to motivate the world, including Canada." - Leroy Smith
