Monday, September 21, 2009

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Reflecting in Peace

I am living for love and giving all that i got. I AM listening to I am songs, I Am whatever you say I am, I am the one, I am not my hair, I'm like a bird i wanna fly away I AM: the same dreamer i have always been since i was born. I am my mama in so many ways but not. I AM just beginning to spread my wings and as i do i see all the moments of being a caged bird. I Am someone that refuses to ever let fear or rage dictate my life. I am stronger everyday therefor thankful for even the pain, heart ache, strife and lessons learned thus far. I Am a protector to all that i love, would ride till the end for my fam n friends, and jsut beginning to protect myself in the same way. I AM not the average girl in the video my worth is not determined by the price of my clothes. And i am not my hair is usually what i think when i look at my reflection. There is nothing like a reflection to see your self, looking in the mirror, a look back at a year, making amends with the past, realizing your own evolution, and finding your grace. Between snap shots there are forgotten moments that make those pictures worth a magnet on your fridge. I tried to make it hidden, didnt wanna let myself shine, theres been time i wasnt comfortable in my own skin, ive let myself be fooled into thinking i was a victim, been a slave to guilt, n even questioned if life was worth it, and hurt myself with self hatred, been blinded by love, been stuck on what was, and somehow have always rised above.

Wiser than my years, made amends with faith, been cheated, felt defeated, been stressed, forgotten I Am blessed, shed lots of tears, felt that i was too weird for this earth, but always had an inner peaceful i want to heal the world mentality since birth.

Advice that i tell myself to get through that i feel like sharing with you: Your worth is not determined by what you have and there are no conditions to being happy you are always worthy of being happy. Never compare yourself to others we all have our own path, be inspired but remember that you determine where you are, Your attitide determines your latitude. And to all the other dreamers that dont sleep, freedom fighters who seek to change the world, to people who have had my back, I aint mad atcha= i appreciate ya

When im praising you I'm praising me When I'm praisen me I'm praien you. No neglecting just excepting and Reflecting back to you.

Ealier this year I felt unsettled and at times didnt recognize the (wo)man in the mirror, I had faltered in my faith and forgot that god is in everything, and if change is constant then god is change (just got that from Siaira and it resonated) I feel like that falter that felt like. Downward spiral that would never end was there to teach me this.n that God for that. Cause although i am sure there will be more battles, more struggles, for hard times, I know I'm a little stronger from those experienced thus far.

So for the first time in along time I'm taking fresh steps in my own shoes, walking like a peaceful warrior, and doing it all with in faith, with peace, and knowing there is so much more in store in the days.weeks,and months to come.

Last night I finally broke up with all those things that felt like chains, Its a new day im feeling free feeling good please dont let me be misunderstood, I am still filled with love but working on truly loveing me and then well see...

"im broke right now but i feel rich"


for all the broke folks out there like myself you can hear good music from 2 talented song birds SIAIRA SHAWN and Isis Genisis at FRESH STEPS (lukas) tomorrow night in Oaktown FOR FREE

and in the theme of being broke n on the grind and feeling rich in your heart:
Check A-1 on these two songs Im broke and succesfull cover. Getting it!





"i could die within an instance but life is a long journey and i plan to go the distance"

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

greetings from DreamLand

Back in Oakland is a trip. Funny feeling to realize the place I was raised hasn't really changed much but I have. Throughout my love and, not love, of the Town and the streets that raised me what remains is that We have Hope, and that the people, the culture make this place what it is, make it beautiful. They may tell you its money that makes the World go round but its the people. I've been reading a book passed onto me by the homie Amani (aka iamani aka @onlyiamani) called Soul Without Shame which actually inspired me to write a song on that tip. Its definitely WRENAGADE approved, to make you aware of the internal ways we cause ourselves harms, as well as how we internalize other peoples actions towards us in an unhealthy way. That and Power of Now, and hella school textbooks (that tell you LIES) is what I am currently reading. AM I AN EXTREMIST or just A DREAM-ist? Sometimes i get on a must change the world and make it to success RIGHT Now or i will feel like a failure and die. This little battle of my mentality has brought me down, sometimes pushed me forward and made me stronger, but mostly made me feel incapable and down. So instead of being such a damn EXTREMIST meaning every second of everyday has to be dedicated to the movement, I am back to the DREAM-ist I have always been. I dream about a painting and then I make it. I dream about meeting you at the lake and singing my heart out over a beat, and then the next day thats how it plays. This dream affirmation has always been something I do, it used to scare me but now I accept it as something that a artist dreamer like myself posseses and instead of feeling like its a curse it a blessing (curses are your blessing if you let them be) Sometimes the nightmares actualize and somebody I know dies in a dream and it becomes reality, thats the worst but its happened and I will no longer give it hella power to make me fearful of what I can't control.I am ok with what I dont know and have not achieved because I am making a plan of action and building myself up after taking some punches, and my dreams have begun to come back clearer than ever. As a younging we walk around trying to leave a mark just trying to say "i was here" like a message in the sand you hope no person or ocean will ever step on. Graffiti that same urge amplified through art. Everyday on my way to places I go I drive, or 2 wheel it past this mural, dedicated to one of the Bay Area's finest graffiti artists known as DREAM, i finally took a few flix more to come


Rise In Peace DREAM


...also I will posting murals by the homie DESI WOME and showing you the ridiculousness done by our city, painting over his artwork with information on how to protest this wrong doing done by the city of Oakland dummies that thought it would be prettier with gray paint and tags then beautiful art

Dreamland of graf, too short and graffiti reminds me of my childhood this is what i grew up on...

video via 38thnotes.com


n another one:

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Rise In Peace Tupac Shakur






Every time somebody asked the question who's ya favorite rapper when I was younger dead or alive I'd see the duh who you think look and then "Pac." Last year blender did a right up on Pac ranking him as the most overrated artist ever, which i read about via Krishtine @ www.guerillabusfare.com As many hip hop heads and especially folks my age who grew up in the Bay and Oakland to be specific Tupac was a huge part of my growing up. He may be controversial but his strong positive spirit and desire to change the world shined through any negativeity thrown at him or spit back from him. He himself talks about how emcees are teachers in the hood that take the place of absent fathers. I may not ride with every lyric this young man ever spoke but he is very missed and he lives on through some timeless songs.


Strictly 2Pac


Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Sustenance=Music

Sustenance is the food for the soul what we need to survive, to sustain, to remain sain in the membrane n for me this is music.i WAKE to it i sleep with it i make it write to it paint to it, ride with it bumping, and think its something that should be wise, from the heart, a mastered craft, not without laughs. Once in a blue moon artists make songs that are truly of sustenance. You could listen to the song or the album over and over and get something different o new lyric noted or a feeling from it, a harmony that gives you chills or a flow that goes with the beat so lovely you want to hear it on repeat, so you rewind and open your mind and let the music in.

Siaira Shawn is definitely an artist of sustenance and she even has a song entitled this

Her new EP is coming soon so get ready...

zSHARE - Sustenance mix may 18_2_.mp3

Shared via AddThis

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

its the first of the Month

n its lookn good! just peeped EYEASAGE video World premiere of "MRSHMLO" get Ready for ROCKY RIVERA

MRSHMLO from Mikhail Shapiro on Vimeo.



a lil late wit the post but this shit right here gooooes the homie rafael casal breaking down our slang for some local pride/love or for all the non bayareans an squares of that nature. Yep!: