look out for us in the crowd

dave chapelle block party 2004 that's us right here ^=amazing!

What's good Fam!!
Well, we are in New York right now. We did everything we said we were going to do in the last post. Except Dance Africa. Today, we are buying the Dance Africa tickets for the Saturday night show. Last night we saw "Passing Strange" on Broadway. Lots of Black folks on Broadway huh." Go out and buy your ticket right now-THE BEST MUSICAL PLAY WE EVER SAW! In speaking with our artistic elders we are told that Stew has been doing his thing for a minute- Black Rock ain't nothin' nu. Gotta get that score.

Since we have no TV at home the boys go bonkers when they get to Grandma's house. Oh and sometimes their Dad- still got a thing for crap TV- "The Real World" is so exploitative, but I still took invaluable time to watch that crap. We all got things to work on huh. Ethiopia knows something about that- we saw this beautiful film, "A Walk to Beautiful"- woman go thru alot (words from my mom in her jamaican dialect- peep the use of woman for plural) this movie will make you reflect on how people can be so beautiful and not know it.

Oh and speaking of Black women- we just copped Santogold and Estelle yesterday fresh voices in music and tight production. Until next time... here's a poem Asad wrote in NYC transit.. oh and by the way we are so over throwing bows getting all five of us and a stroller on the bus. "You saw us coming down the bus aisle carrying a baby and a stroller so of course the wheels are going to hit your leg if you don't move buster." New Orleans we miss you- see you in a minute. We hope to see you too- look out for us in the crowd!

Thinking of the God
yoga mat prayer mat
pieces of intimate unknown
relaxed poses and arabic slogans
a quiet rah ra
this world ain't all belly full ha ha
incense burning walks in the park
la la la la la la lah's
or
maybe it is
or can be

cause i'm working to see my babies get married
be a daddy
it's lonely not walking
in the shoes of just a baby daddy
or living the life of a middle class black
turning my back and turning up
the volume in my headphones
tuning out the echoes and ghosts in the ghetto

cars don't make me a happy camper
taking flight to the suburbs in the woods
ain't moving on up
moving on up is more like moving on out of this country
connecting to ancestral memory
jumping ships and climbing fences
living off the land
instead of eating out of the palm of the man's hand
seeing your future in the culture of lines
that translate to
war time and made up governments

this ain't no "i'm loving it" fake behind commercial
crap
slapped in the face of the
masses masking massacre

YOU AIN'T NEVER TOO OLD
TO BREAK FREE, THINK FREE, EAT FREE, RUN FREE
WE MAKE IT UP AS WE GO
DEPRESSION HITS TRYING TO PERFECT
THIS ABSTRACT LIFE
THIS GOOD TIME
TRYING TO CREATE THE PERFECT MOMENT
WITH STALE RECIPES AND A SCRIPTED SPEECH
DICTATING A SCRIPTED LIFE
HAND ME DOWN OPPRESSION

PASSED DOWN

generation to generation
tongue in cheek
belly full starving artist generation

WE NEED TO EMERGE OURSELVES IN WATER
OR TEARS
find ADAM
(pEACE bE uPON hIM)
AND THE TREE IN THERE SOMEWHERE
SIT IN THE GARDEN
FACE EAST>
AND GIVE THANKS IN PERFECT SPEECH
FOR MAKING YOU WORTHY.