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Quote of the Week: Gilbert Highet
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“It is easy to like the youth because they are young. They have no faults, except the very ones which they are asking you to eradicate: ignorance, shallowness, and inexperience. The really hateful faults are those which we grown men and women have. Some of these grow on us like diseases, other we build up and cherish as though they were virtues. Ingrained conceit, calculated cruelty, deep-rooted cowardice, slobbering greed, vulgar self-satisfaction, puffy laziness of mind and body–these and the other real sins result from years, decades of careful cultivation. They show on our faces, they ring harsh or hollow in our voices, they have become bone of our bone and flesh of our flash. The young do not sin in those ways. Heaven knows they are infuriatingly lazy and unbelievably stupid and sometimes detestably cruel–but not for long, not all at once, and not (like grown ups) as a matter of habit or policy. They are trying to be energetic and wise and kind. When you remember this, it is difficult to not like them” – Gilbert Highet (from The Art of Teaching,1950)The Panhandle of Panhandling
I’ve lived in my current Columbus neighborhood almost my entire life. I did leave for college and to work for a few years in Cincinnati, but that was it. The rest of the time, I was living in the same neighborhood that I grew up in. Most of my neighbors have known me and my family since I was just a little kid. The elementary and high schools I went to are both less than half a mile from my house.
Basically, I grew up on the south side of Columbus and feel really comfortable out here. Most of that comfort comes from the fact that I understand my neighborhood. While things have naturally changed over time, I had never felt like I had seen anything out here that was out of place or flat-out bizarre.
When A Simple Home Repair Gets Complicated
I’m no stranger to home repairs. I’ve been a home-owner for about eight years now and have had some good experience in smaller remodeling projects and making repairs. In addition, I remodeled a property (mostly by myself) about 5 years ago. That was a long, drawn out process with a lot of twists and turns, but I learned a hell of a lot. Not just about remodeling, but about the process and how patient you need to be. Speed is definitely the enemy when it comes to home repairs.
Book Review: Sugar Blues
I’m not exactly sure how I learned about Sugar Blues. If I remember correctly, it was casually mentioned in a youtube clip from a natural dietician and herbalist that I respect. It caught my attention because he mentioned that the book was over 30 years old but was still one of the most complete writings on the history and current effects of sugar that existed. It also caught my attention because as I get older I start to really understand the gravity of what diabetes is and what it has done to a lot of my family. Diabetes has done so much damage that I feel compelled to gain a better personal understanding of the circumstances and factors that contribute to it and process all the information (and misinformation) that I have been given about it thus far. At the root of all of this confusion is one thing – sugar.
I’ve Got A Dust Problem
I’m not talking about drugs.
Last week I discovered I had a big dust problem in my house. My mother mentioned it to me last year when she was living with me, and even paid to have the air ducts cleaned out, but I didn’t pay it much attention at the time. I thanked her and naively thought I was in the clear. Boy, was I wrong.
A Birthday and an Anniversary
July 11th was a special day on a couple different fronts for me. First of all, it was my birthday. I’ve never been one for doing huge birthday celebrations – even when I was drinking I didn’t go too hard at it – but I do recognize the blessing and spirituality involved in being given another year of life. In light of that recognition, I’ve always had a more reflective relationship with my own birthday than celebratory. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the process, I just feel awkward about trying to make things too much about me, and I’m definitely not they type of person who does the “birthday week” thing.
The Last Five Albums I Bought: June 2012
The Large Professor “Professor @ Large”
This album completely snuck up on me. It wasn’t like the Large Professor hasn’t been putting out music over the past several years and put this out unexpectedly. Actually, it was the opposite. Large Pro has been pretty consistent with his releases, but nothing moved me like the legendary work he released in the early 90s with his group Main Source. I had pretty much assumed that he would never put it together again. Boy was I wrong. His new album, “Professor @ Large,” is the album that I’ve been wanting him to make for the past decade. The production is nothing but great loops and chops, and the rhyming is super-solid throughout.
El-P “Cancer for Cure”
I’m a huge fan of El-P and have been since the late 90’s when he was a part of the group Company Flow and own pretty much every album he’s ever released.
From Stuck to Unstuck: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
About a week ago, I realized I was stuck. I noticed it because I was having one of those days where I wanted to do something creative but, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t produce anything. As I took a step back, I saw that my lack of productivity had lasted a lot longer than I had initially realized. It had been going on for over a month.
I had to admit that I was officially stuck.
My First Time in Atlantic City, NJ
Rhymesayers logo hanging at the House of Blues in Atlantic City I played a show in Atlantic City, NJ for the first time last week and found it to be a really interesting place. Prior to that, I had only heard about it and knew absolutely nothing.
Usually, when you get done driving seven or eight hours and arrive in a new city, the first thing you wanna do is roll down your windows and take in some air. Unfortunately, the air smelled really weird, and by weird I mean not good. I knew that we were near the ocean and expected it to smell like the ocean but, instead, it smelled more like a giant swamp.
Then I checked into my illustrious two-star hotel.
We All Need Inspiration
I haven’t been blogging as much the past couple weeks because I’ve been dealing with a very serious family situation. It’s been one of the toughest things I’ve dealt with in a many years, and I’ve found a need to back away from social media in attempts to put things into perspective.
Finding inspiration has been tough. Yet, today I was able to find some from a familiar place. There’s a motivational speaker named Eric Thomas, whose career was propelled into the spotlight from a youtube video titled “Secrets of Success.” I’m definitely a fan of his work. Last week, Eric Thomas did something that is pretty revolutionary for a motivational speaker–he released a mixtape titled “The Blueprint to Success.” The Mixtape has some of his best moments in motivational speech. I downloaded it today and I’ve gotta say it’s lifted my spirits tremendously.
That said, if you are down and need a lift, check it out HERE
Word is Blog
I’m Scoring an Independent Movie
In my book, The Making of Adventures in Counter-Culture, I go into great detail about the role that television and movies have played in creating my music. During my most intense periods of music creation, there are times when I will watch three or four movies a day while I’m in the studio. Although I don’t actively “watch” them – the sound is usually off or very low – they are on in the background providing images and inspiration.The Return of an Inspiration: O.C.
- Rapper O.C.
For those that have been listening to hip-hop as long as I have, the artists and time periods that have influenced my music are pretty obvious. My first album solo album, 1988, was probably the biggest example of this, but even on the Soul Position albums I was exercising my influences. I’ve always paid homage by referencing lines, phrases, and samples that I considered classic. I’ve even went as far as rewriting entire songs (e.g. “No Half-Smokin”). I guess I’m just a huge fan of hip-hop, and will always be. Hip-hop has influenced my life in a way that no other artform has; taking me places I wouldn’t have gone and showing me things I definitely wouldn’t have seen otherwise. It’s only right that I pay homage.
The First Show I Ever Played in Cleveland, OH
The first time I played a show in Cleveland was around the year 2000. I was still living in Cincinnati at the time and the rest of my crew lived in Columbus.
We had just released the first Greenhouse Effect and Illogic CDs and were beginning to play shows outside of our city. Everybody was still working full-time jobs, so doing shows felt more like weekend getaways than touring; Inkwel would get the rental car, we would drive a couple hours to play the show, and all be back home by Sunday morning. Back in those days we would usually roll at least six or seven deep to the shows: Me, Inkwel, Manifest, Illogic, Plead the Ph5th, DJ Drastic, DJ True Skills, and our dude Juan who did merch.
Performance Tip: Start Early
Photo by Joe Crimmons For the past couple of months, I’ve been considering writing a book about how to become a better live performer. I’m still in the brainstorming stage of writing down rough outlines and topics that I think should be covered, but so far it’s going pretty well. If I get a solid enough outline I’ll give it a try.
I would like to start giving some basic tips about performing here. I’ve realized that what is unspoken and normal to me may not be normal to others, especially those that are just starting out. I would like to share these things from time to time.
The first performance tip I have is to start early.
Zeroing in on What You Really Love Doing
A couple months back, I read a story about a man who says he gained happiness when he gave up doing what he loved and took a regular job. The man studied math in college and his first job was as a high school math teacher.
His first year as a teacher was amazing, but his second year is when the trouble started. He started noticing that dealing with the children’s personal situations and problems robbed him of the joy that teaching math brought. He became depressed and began to resent his job. The man resigned a year later. Eventually, he went back to school to take some additional classes in accounting, then took a job as an accountant. The man said he found happiness by giving up a career he “loved” to take a “regular” job. He said he wrote the story because he often hears too many bloggers suggest that true happiness comes from an endless pursuit of doing what you love, a suggestion that causes them to overlook the fact that many people can find happiness by taking a regular job with less stress. These people choose to put emphasis on areas of their lives they deem more important like children or family and look at work as just a paycheck they need to maintain a stable life.
