Category Archives: Retrospect

Sep 3 2011

Saturday Sabbath? – Israel (Back To ’97)

Back in ’97 I spent the whole summer in a Dimona kibbutz in Israel‘s Beer Sheva desert. I stayed with the Hebrew Isralites, a movement of African Americans who trace their roots back to the original Hebrews who settled in the ‘Holy Land‘. They practiced the ‘Shabbat‘, where there’d be no electricity or food to be eaten from friday sunset til saturday sunset. I thought it was weird at the time but looking back, it was great to practice spiritual abstinence and observation. I’ve actually been thinking about applying this to my lifestyle…

A whole lot has changed in the fourteen years since I visited, but here’s part of a documentary filmed by South African film director, Tarryn Crossman of Black Rage Productions. Tarryn travelled to Dimona and stayed for three days, hardly enough time to win their trust to get a well rounded story but more than enough time to document parts of the culture. Having lived with the Hebrews in that very settlement, I wish she would have buried her western perspective and observed using the ethnography approach -participant observation, rather than ethnology -constant comparison to western culture and stating obvious self absorbed opinions. As I said before, three days is hardly enough time to carry out a socio-cultural anthropological study.

My life’s always led me on somewhat of a spontaneous path because it’s always been openly diverse and spiritual: Rastafarian Father, Christian Mother, Parents embraced Islam in the early ’80s, didn’t force us into any particular path but instilled a sense of self exploration to find our own truths through getting to know ourselves and the spirit externally and within… I have a great set of parents.

At the moment I can’t exactly implement my ‘No business on weekends’ policy because I’m not in a position to take days off yet. When I’m on my feet I shall simply switch off all technology such as the phone and laptop on 00:00 on a saturday, and switch back on 09:00 monday morning.

I can’t front watching that vid brought back memories but my biggest regret, if I ever had one would be missing the coach trip to the Dead Sea…

I’ll be back soon.

Peace

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Jul 28 2011

Blonde or Brunette?

I’ve been doing a whole lot of speculating recently, much of it has to do with my pending career but a significant part has to do with the question that has alluded many of the gentry for centuries:

“Blondes or Brunettes?”

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I myself happen to prefer Brunettes. I love the whole dark brown eyes, the wavy curls, I love the mystery as opposed to the siren that is the Blonde. Maybe I base my opinion off of something which has become a folklore of old:

“The way to a mans heart is through his stomach.”

Perhaps this didn’t just mean to feed him good food but if he fux you around pour copious amounts of salt onto his food and watch him slowly deteriorate from heart disease and death as the result of a heart attack at 26. Who in hell knows, well the lady who used to casually sprinkle sodium-whatever-ulphate to her husbands food til he ended up in hospital, check his blood and realized what happened… Possibly a blonde who, by the way, is not dead yet but serving a jail term for being a cunning cactus.

If I were to put this argument into a culinary context and base it off of two fairly recent ex girlfriends, who each represented Team Blonde and Team Brunette, Brunettes would win by a rather astronomical margin because my although my ex girlfriend who was blonde ensured I were fed, she only used to cook fry ups -eggs, beans, toast and a cuppa. I’m not really fussy, but she didn’t add any salt or pepper to the eggs when cooking nor did she do so with the beans. I was also too polite to hurt her feelings or jeopardize my chances of having sexy time on that day, weekend, occasion so I endured the blandness and took my frustrations out in other ways. *laughs to self

The fact that the eggs nor beans were seasoned was problematic because I grew up in a Carribbean household and every time mother or father did a fry up (Jamaican style) the beans weren’t bland but had onions, peppers, tomatoes, whilst the eggs were seasoned with salt and pepper to accompany the plantain and fried dumplins. I’m not tryna say the Blondie should of tried to compete but it was near enough hell enduring the same bland fry up meal for all of three months, gotta be the main reason for the breakup -I think it went something like:

Babe, you’re a lovely lady but I can no longer eat a bland fry up every time I come over. I don’t even know if you can cook anything other than eggs beans and toast but since you have never cooked anything else these past three months I’m better off moving on because my Gran seems to think my Mums not feeding me properly because I look malnourished. I really can’t let mother take the blame for me always being at yours eating your bland food. All the best, I think can’t cook won’t cook is available to watch on YouTube.

In contrast to Blondie, the Brunette was master chef. Never being one to eat salad she converted me with her homemade concoctions. I’d get breakfast in bed, literally waking up seeing her with a tray and a cuppa as if she knew I was waking in the next few seconds, her timing was on point. She taught me how to cook tuna pasta over bbm, and chicken and rice whilst I watched her prepare the lunch. There were never any qualms about this lady’s cooking because she was thorough with the seasoning, even using some of Daddy’s specially imported liquid chicken stock to prepare my meals, vegetables grown in the allotment, and the special homemade pepper sauce and balsamic vinegar, which had been imported all the way from her island to these shores. Fact of the matter is, there were so many parallels in the Brunette’s cooking methods and those at home, I’m not sure whether it was an island thing or simply that she was an exceptional chef. Either way I’ll always prefer an olive skinned Brunette with big brown eyes and light curly hair over a blonde bombshell because there’s this air of intrigue to be found, the air of intrigue which draws you closer…

“What The Fuck?!”

One must stop because all this talk is making me wonder why she’s an ex rather than a wife, and if truth be told I’m slyly getting moshi because her salads were untouchable -cue dramatic violins and the stroking of beard as I look up into the sky. I guess my next debate will be about where the Redhead fits into all of this because I’m feeling the freckles and and the fact that some of you remind me of Spiderman’s missus Mary Jane and Jean Grey from the X-Men. (I’m totally into my Graphic Novels -clever way to describe a comic book)

Brunettes rule from my culinary experiences, how about you?

  1. Are you a Blonde lover?
  2. Are you a Brunette who can’t cook?
  3. Are you wondering why I didn’t mention the Afro’s?

K O

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May 14 2011

Jay-Z: ‘Can I Live’ (Video)

First and foremost, Reasonable Doubt is my favourite album in the whole of existence because that was pretty much the soundtrack to the best part of the noughties. It dropped in ’96 and I would see the videos here and there on Yo! MTV Raps, and listen to the music over the lyrics. In the noughties I was going through old cassette tapes and heard ‘Politics As Usual’, I went to the record shop and purchased the CD and listened to it on loop before progressing through every album. Why did I decide to do that, because Jay-Z announced his retirement after dropping The Black Album so I wanted to appreciate his lyrical prowess as well as his music.

When listening to Reasonable in the noughties, Can I Live always stood out because there were so many levels and entendres. Even to this day, I have moments like ‘rah, so that’s what he meant’. That happened a few minutes ago when I watched the clip where he says:

Streets school us to spend our money foolish, bombed with jewellers -watch for intruders.

The fascinating thing is that I had never noticed the link between the jewellery shop and the watch. It may seem like the most obvious line in the world but for the best part of thirteen years, I had no idea.

I’d rather die enormous than live dormant.

My favourite Jay-Z line of all time, in Rap and lyricism period because he summed up everything in seven words. No one wants to die in the gutter, we all want to be victorious; success, wealth, freedom, happiness, love, adventure, we want it all and this line sums up the mantra that provides fuel for the struggle to get to the stars in the nether regions of outer space. This is a serious line, its more than those seven words can be interpreted because it connotes passion, tenacity, ruthlessness. That’s what I love about Reasonable Doubt, it’s one mans quest to follow his heart in search of paradise, in search of a way out of his environment littered with obstacles designed to make you spiral into traps.

Reasonable Doubt is the album I listen to when I feel like the walls are closing in, where you’ve gotta remind yourself what it is you are fighting for and why. Can I Live is a song full of insightful lessons, which either remind you of the world you hath left behind, or guide you unto a path where you can best avoid those trappings because of Jay-Z’s retrospective content. If you haven’t already listened to the track or the album in full, I suggest you do so without delay because this is not another Gangster/Mobster Rap/Hip Hop album, this is an insight leagues beneath the tough guy exterior to reveal the vulnerable side of someone battling with two extremes of their consciousness. We all can relate to this battle, no matter where you’re from, going, or currently at.

K O

Uwsu
Apr 5 2011

El Presidante – UWSU 2011 ELECTIONS

This election caused quite a stir in Uni last month. There was a whole lot of slanderous propagation and widespread student-lecturer panic. There were also some voting discrepancies that caused for a revote but when you take other factors into consideration, I can’t help but feel the whole thing was orchestrated to benefit the motives of those higher up in hierarchy. As much as this sounds like a big conspiracy theory, it’s just my observational point of view. I was out there speaking to candidates, getting to the root of things. I heard the whispers, and witness the widespread panic on a much smaller level than that of politics on a global scale. Moral of the story: politics is a pantomime filled with characters, it’s entertaining from a far yet it affects us all in many ways… Anyway, I know who I voted for and I know who I gassed, I know who kept their word and was sincere, I also know who cheesed for the most votes. My solution would be for all the candidates to come together and form a coalition of students because ‘We all we got’. It seems like the winner will be the ones favoured by those higher up rather than those who would like to make a difference, fair enough as I refused to vote Lib Dem in the last election because it was a wasted vote. Look what you gullible twats got us into: cuts, cuts, broken promises, cuts, job losses, cuts!!! It’s probably the reason why so many students march and turn nasty to smash things up because they all got spun round and fucked in the ass by Citizen Clegg because he aligned himself with Citizen Cameron, and held two shit stained middle finger up at the have-nots with hope of social and financial mobility. We are faced with a future of cuts, media manipulation to cover up the cuts, and desperate attempts suppress the minds of the masses -continually numbing their senses by desensitising their emotions…

Better the demon you know rather than the one you don’t

The funny thing about these marches is the marchers outnumber the pigs by several miles, think how different it’ll be if these people had nothing to lose i.e. If they were from an estate after they cut off all the benefits, all the resources, everything. People from the inner city areas wouldn’t think twice about bodying pigs or becoming martyrs because they have nothing to lose, these people already have a mind state where they accept death at the next step, whether it be from the rival dealer on the estate or the next gang across the borough who need more stripes.

Listen I could go on all day but I just wanted to show you some of the candidates, and some of their attempts to gain support in the election. This really did get nasty beneath the surface, I really wished the three brothers done a rap song, the four sisters made pop, and jade did some sort of deranged crazy hardcore/drum and bass number.

I can’t help but find all politicians annoying, however these students all want to make a change. I really hope that whoever gets in will give their running mates some sort of responsibility or counsel.

Peace and Love

K O

 

 

Kendrick-Lamar
Apr 4 2011

Kendrick Lamar – The Heart

I love this guy -pause- musically, lyrically, artistically, and content, I’ve got his music in heavy rotation at the moment. It all started when I heard my brother, @AbsoluteBombs, playing The Heart Pt. 2.

I heard this passion in the rap spiralling with energy until Kendrick coughed at the end. The intro to part.2, featuring an excerpt of a Dash Snow interview, summed it up so I went and copped the tapes.

Listening to the tapes and seeing the visuals inspired me to get back on my grizzle because I had seen my vision realised, I couldn’t help but think that if I stuck to the script in 2010, rather than get sidetracked, I could of made a whole lot of progress. I was onto something special when I begun my secret project; I didn’t care about misconceptions, preconceptions, contemporaries… I really didn’t give a fuck about anyones expectations because I was just being creative, in it’s purest form, my first offering would become a foundation for all else which followed. I have the freedom to do whatever I want because I have no body of work which listeners could compare it to.

It’s funny because I tried to run from a dream for so long until I realised I’d become a robot. I didn’t want my energy to become dark, bittersweet, and grey, I wanted my heart and my overall spirit and aura to remain radiant. This was the point where I began to fear my own fearlessness, after much deliberation I stopped fearing my own fearlessness and decided to plough on with my plan.

I sat down and reevaluated because I had told more than a few people about my blueprint, I had to switch lanes and meditate. I realised that it made no sense in me giving my blueprint to others when they neither understood nor implemented any of my counsel. I eventually got fed up when I analysed the operations of others, and decided to apply these strategies to myself immediately rather than look upon my creative energy as a mere past time. As much as I enjoy being creative, both musically and literally, I really see myself doing nothing else so rather than run away from a dream, I thought I’d embrace and make it happen.

What have I got to lose?

There’s nothing to lose in honesty, integrity, and going after your dream, it’s pretty much like faith, it keeps you going on the darkest days. Dreams are what keep you alive, they give you a purpose to live, and share your vision with others who can relate to your honesty. Many people lose their integrity, or sell it for less that it’s worth, along the way but it’s priceless. Integrity and honesty are two things someone should maintain throughout a lifetime, never falter, fuck what all else is doing, fuck what all else thinks, just be yourself because if your energy is honest, you’ll attract honest people, energy, and support far from the fickleness of bandwagon jumpers who are out to make a quick earner.

This is a lifestyle of thought, it’s within the soul, I plan to keep it that way, I don’t fear my fearlessness, I embrace it…

K O