Ya’ll please be patient with me. I am trying to write a book all on my lonesome. The purpose is not to be published or for mainstream recognition but only to voice my words, views and experiences in a way that may help someone else along this journey we call life. If you have any suggestions on format or editing help please feel free to leave them in the comments below. Thank you in advance. Love you all and God Bless.

Introduction:

Born in rural South Carolina life was usually pretty laid back. I lived off of Hwy 81. Right down the street from Wren High School and Canes Corner. Now if you know this area then you know the mixture of cultural values and beliefs that existed in this little piece of heaven on earth that we called home. If not, let me give a brief overview.

Imagine huge rolling fields and pasture on each side of two lane highway that stretches from Greenville straight to Anderson County and on through to………

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I first fell in love with music because it gave me the  ability to share my words and the emotion that comes with them at that very moment. I never intended to see myself onstage or perform in front of crowds, opening for industry artist. I only wanted my words to reach and touch or possibly help someone, anyone who read or heard them. I wanted to make a difference in the world with my words, but I was hesitant. My first experience or endeavor began with poetry and short stories. Poetry gives the ability to express complicated emotions in patterns of words. This is something I had a hard time doing verbally as a child and still to this day. It’s easier for many of us to write about how we feel rather than say it directly to the person. Something about that brain to mouth connection that just does not connect and can sometimes leave us with the derpy face, as my sons would say. The derpy face is the well known stage fright look. All the words are running through your mind but they just don’t seem to come out right.

The comfort and the artistry of writing became the second most intriguing attraction of my newly found favorite pastime. I quickly learned that quality, product, and content are far more respected and required for longevity in the career field. I promised myself to never promote or portray myself in a contradictory manner to my true character. My writing would reflect my morals, my love, my soul. As we all know, through the course of ones life our situations change and so does our way of thinking. We allow ourselves to detach from our true selves as a means of survival. On those occasions I reacted in ways that my mother would not be proud of. So I decided to change. In hindsight the change came a tad bit too late but also just in time.

After looking at my kids and asking myself would they be proud of what I write as adults? I came to the conclusion that I must evolve as all great artists do. Its not about making money and being famous when making art. Its all about inspiring your peers and others for generations to come. Your words can be your legacy. So choose them wisely. What do you want to be remembered for?

So now I find myself taking a hiatus from making music. The industry is filled with narcissistic pre Madonna’s intent on bringing focus, only on themselves instead of shedding light onto others. Many have the knowledge but chose not to share the message. It’s not only the words but the tone in your delivery. B**** this B**** that hoes always feeling ya. Seriously? Is that or is that not pure negativity. Positive messages are what we need. We complain about the state of our people and continue to contribute to our own demise by condemning our young people to a lifetime of idolatry instead of giving them respectable leaders.

Through our words we condone the genocide of our own people by advocating drug usage, declining morals, and materialistic ways. We have created a divide between ourselves culturally once again as house or field niggas just as in slavery days. Bickering amongst each other not realizing the real enemy is the perpetrators of instigating this internal strife of being, as our generation would say a real nigga or a lame. Why point out and celebrate all the negative and nasty things in this world if you’re not going to give an alternative way of doing things or respectfully explaining why their actions aren’t helping the progression of our people. Nah we wanna make money off of calling women bitches and hoes and talking about the materialistic worshipping we do of the dollar while hollering Amen, God is good on any given Sunday, I think we call these individuals Pharisees’.

Many of the kids and adults that your music reaches and is targeted to are not awarded the knowledge of the world that is in many of our hands. They don’t get taught Pan African History or African American History pre or post slavery. As artists it is our jobs to spread this knowledge and give our people a sense of pride and self-worth of our ancestry.

In many instances of today I see the opposite happening in our music and entertainment. The degradation of our culture and its rich history is exemplified in the state of our hip hop music or rap as I call it. Hip Hop is a rare commodity to come by and only few artists adhere to or practice the true form. I speak of it in such high reverence because it is well deserved. Hip Hop is the evolution of the culminations’ of music forms invented by our people. Any and all genres can be integrated into Hip Hop. Just like the color black all others come from this and came to form this. But the consciousless version it has taken the shape of under the reckless usage of today’s youth is better known as rap. Pointless, meaningless, random, statements of narcissistic rage and arrogance scream through the airwaves.

Is this a reflection of what our people have become or only what they want us to be. Programming us through the only means of a decent and relevant education many of us have is through music. So as the holders of the pen shouldn’t we influence our progression in a positive manner? Do we let the Industry dictate what we feed to our youth through our lyrics. Whether you believe it or not, they listen. They listen and recite your every word. Just watch any vine. You will see the youngest of children singing what they hear on their parents mp3 players word for word……