..Wild thangs n Monsters..

Just rolled to the movies last Friday with the fam bam of homies to see 'WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE' which i thought was really fresh. I am not really a fan of kids movies, i always appreciate the animation but this was definitely a fresh translation from a classic book of few words to a whole movie. The magic was captured.

















And another wild thang of the talented emcee hip hop breed is coming out with a album on Halloween called 'Monster' and his first video is just that. I'm loving the visual metaphors in this video and all the flows Rafa is definitely rep'n for the Town, and a good example of the talent and diversity in the Hip Hop and overall music scene.

i miss them...

...How its going DiZown!

Love this joint...reminds me of east oakland corner stores, b ball at diamond park, go carting and walkey talkeying wit dwane, and drawing and playing in the street wit Jesse, and overalls with on hooked cause that was the cool way to where em, and bubble gum in the pink rolley case...and east coast trips as a kid when you didn't have to pay the airfare....(when he says 35th i stayed on 35th and i thought thats what he meant...loved the vocals and "respect is not expected but its given cause its real".. "we gon always be best of friends, haha, mad love boo till the end, haha..."

...the ones you bumped when you was a youngin...

Pharcyde - Passin Me By - Pharcyde
Listening to this music got me thinking bout the young Wren...

Could not get enough Push Pops...

Loved me some b-ball

...and doodled on the regular...

All while listening to that funky muzic!

TLC - Creep - Jigdo

THUGGISH RUGGISH BONE - Bone Thugs

sprinkle me - e-40

Hip Hop 101 for those melaninly challenged

1. Don't think cause a rapper says it you can say it too, or you can say it as long as there is no black people in the room

2. The whole "er" "a" thang is irrelevant cause in the south everybody says everything with a a

3. You can sing along just don't sing that part and be aware of the lyrics you are injesting.

Alright heres a little story bout a girl from East Oakland, who grew up on Hip Hop and saved up her bus tokens, to trade em for money to buy her some hip hop musica, she would sing along to the words except that one part, when the rapper would get on the track on some rapper type yap, and over the beat that slaps all you'd here is N-word N-word this N-word that, now that lil girl of about 8 new better then to repeat that word, she new better then to think just cause it had "a" at the end that she could bend the rules and sing along to the song, so from then on she started listening to songs, that were labeled as "conscious" cause for one they talked about the shit that mattered to her, instead of rims and champagne and fur, they were talking bout coming together and building up our community, respecting sisters and having unity, but another reason that this girl liked this style of hip hop that she has never admitted to for personal reasons and what not, is that the music didn't say the n-word as much so she could sing along and on and on and on, and lyrically spit back every verse, so this is just one story about a hip hop head, with a thirst for good music that she would bump loud from the time she woke up till she went to bed...

1. My cuzo suggested making up another word while singing along
2. Some folks just pause
3. Other people say Brotha or Sista instead of...
4. I have heard people say "wigga" as a joke but i think thats hella dumb.
5. You could chose to not sing along to any song that has the N-word in it so then you would not be tempted to say or even think the n-word, cause on the real if your a non racist white person you should not want to say a word that puts you in the same category as some of your cracker ancestors, right?

to be continued...

..::back in the day::.

these joints always have me thinking bout middle school and elementary when it was pagers on the hip and knockers and braids in the hair, and candy from the liquor store, but i was born in '87 so some of these songs came way before me, but I am an old soul so i feel like these old school hop hop songs represent my child hood, i still remember wearing jellies and listening to sprinkle me, walking home from Glenview to my "not as good neighborhood" known as the dirty thirtys, hanging out with Dwayne hooping all day, I remember when me and my sister took a grocery cart and made it our go cart and ran round the neighborhood playing, and made a tree house out of a refrigerator box, and wanted to be like them older fly girls that were cross walk monitors with the white gloves like Micheal Jackson. When I played b-ball everyday, and drew ninja turtles with Jesse my homie from around the way. Tamara stuck to my sister like glue and they painted there nails, and we made up dances to TLC songs, and listened to Bone Thugs and Harmony on the daily, I, as always was a wandering soul who never stuck to one thing or one person, or one group. Still this day I cannot fit in one box and hold many titles. All this retro music coming out right now got me reminiscing, so all the people born in the 80's this is for you. and Kid Sister does it well like with this ish right heeeere:


i love her flavor...(1:09- the other half of Yellow Cakes my homegirl Kara's group in the Chi)

All i need is a pen and pad headphones and a mic...

(props to Chinaka for making a blog like this-that was my inspiration, that and having a crappy freaking monday)(this was one of my favorite books when I was little and my god mama would read it too me and I would feel like I wasn't alone like even though I was struggling that some little boy, in where ever the hell he was from had it bad too, and instead of comparing myself to some kid in Australia, I would think about the kids in Haiti that we were fund raising for, or any kids around the world in third world slums, and I'd realize I had it good, in fact I would feel appreciative for my payless shoes, and a lunch it in my lunch box, for my second hand toys and clothes, and the village of women that raised me, and my mama who put in long hours saving peoples lives, to provide and see her baby girls smile)

It all started off like this: I woke up to the sound of Kanye's Champion-ringtone on my partner's phone at 4:00AM, don't ask me why it was 4:00 and not the usual 5:30 and why I woke up when I usually sleep right on thru the second snooze until I usually hear "get up baaaaby", but as I heard Did you re-Alize that UUU R a Champion in my Eyes, yes i did...i felt the morning migraine that usually visits me when I'm stressing, or once a month, but I hop my ass up and head to the bathroom take 2 Excedrin and head back to bed thinking I can get at least 30 more minutes, no such luck some car outside my window was making hella noise and my head began to pound. It probably didn't help that i stayed up the night before finishing a project, but that's the usual, I get up brush my teeth, take a shower, and go into the kitchen to make breakfast, two scrabbled eggs just the way he likes, a piece of toast and potatoes, with some kiwi on the side, and I put the water on for coffee for myself.

My partner gets up does his routine eats and I send him on his way, but he takes my keys by accident. This is OK I think I will just take his keys...if I can find them. Anyway I was just in a funk and I once i found the keys I had to go to the bank and deal with some bull crap and then get my car registered pay off a couple parking tickets that I didn't know about, and head to school, to roam around on campus looking for a parking spot, when I finally found one, this beezy swooped in front of me like she didn't see my blinker on, first thought was its cookies i bet you gon be scared to get out of ya car now sucka if I just park it and mean mug ya, but then I scratched all that negativity and kept driving. Finally found a spot hella far away, I walk across campus past the Pyramid, past the track field, past the computer lab, with t-square, portfolio, tool box in hand, and my back back filled with books like im carrying a damn coffin on my back. Some how managing to be on time, but on time for this class means late cause you can rarely get a seat and it's a studio class (design drawing) and the only table left had a broken a mayline, so I went to the office to check a t-square out but they weren't open. So far my day just kinda sucks...

Then my coo coo for co co puffs teacher who always wears tropical shirts like he's on vacation in Hawaii, decided to give us a pop midterm, really? in a class where all we due is draft, perspectify, draw and pin up, and sketch, and draw some more, you gave us a drawing pop quiz mid-term, maybe in rapid vis. but in 132 foreal? anyway didn't do so good on that but o well. Then come to find out the one drawing I took out of my portfolio is the one we need today to work on our next project, whoops.

Anyway next it's on to my Lighting midterm and that would be the- some good- cause I did good, wrote out 7 pages of short answer essays and it was an open book test, but it ain't all good cause that's a studio class too since when is there Midterms in non lecture classes. I Anyway the book is nice i recommend it to design students in architecture related fields but the cheapest price is $58 dollars...
Anyway then I hit up my homegirl Y'vonne to chat while I walk to my car, this is about the highlight of my whole day, she's visiting from the East Coast, she's a fellow singer song writer fly mama and it's been since April and she's fenna come down and visit me (she's in SF rite now) so that's cool, but I get off the phone to drive to work, and there's construction all around uggggh, then I get to work 5 minutes early but that's 5 minutes late of stuck up white people time, and homie tells me that I should work for 2 hours and then leave, waste of my f*cking time, but anyway get home realize that I haven't even eaten all day, and my cup of coffee that I made this morning is still sitting on the counter un- touched where I left it. I take off my shoes take another Excedrin (the migraine won't let up) draw out some sketches for the GD project me and Phil are working on, take a deep breath, and think to myself goddamn this was the Monday that I thought would never end.
Then I turn on the stereo, blast it until my man says "damn baby you tryna make the neighbors hate us." nope just habit I grew up in a basement I like my music LOOOOud. so I put the head phones on and listen to a mix of some of my favorite songs and it goes little something like this:(this is a run through of some of my favorite Hip Hop songs, and the lyrics i like...
(i didn't take the time to check them and i've never looked em up its just the line that stick in my head, be my guest to correct me if i got anything wrong)

Pharcyde-Passing me By
Now there she goes again, the dopest Ethiopian
And now the world around me be gets movin in slow motion
when-ever she happens to walk by - why does the apple of my eye
overlook and disregard my feelings no matter how much I try?
Wait, no, i did not really pursue my little princess with persistance;
And I was so low-key that she was unaware of my existance
From a distance I desired, secretly admired her;
Wired her a letter to get her, and it went:
My dear, my dear, my dear, you do not know me but I know you very well
Now let me tell you about the feelings I have for you
When I try, or make some sort of attempt, I slip
Damn I wish I wasn't such a wimp!
'Cause then I would let you know that I love you so
And if I was your man then I would be true
The only lying I would do is in the bed with you
Then I signed sincerely the one who loves you dearly, PS love me tender
The letter came back three days later: Return to Sender
Damn!
She keeps on passin me by...

Heart of the City-(married to the Hustle-EyeAsage!)
"the inner city was a trap, so I learned how to rap,
salt and peppa and monie love yeah they had my back,
if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't know how to push it..."

This my One-E-40 TooShort
"Where I stay they dye the tip of they locks
Get they hair done down at Nappy or Not.BAY AREA!...
Droppin off lola in the Wal*Mart parkin lot"


When we were Kids-Luda and the fam
"We were trying so hard
Hard to survive
Cause even though we were young
We had to stay strong
No matter what we went through
It was me and my crew
And thats how it went
When we were kids
A child of the cOrn been wild since I was born
Climbin' over barb wire clothes got torn
Shoes got muddy and my click turned cruddy
Wherever I go they went they my buddy's
I brush teef brush naps and cause treats
Dreamin' of Cadillacs with wheels and plush seats
Cats with gold teeth and raps with such beats
Macks with no grief and some sacks of green leaf "

Dear Summer -JayZ
"I drop heat like you bring the sun up...In all the success i received I know you can't believe I still love em but they don't love me, they like ya drunk uncle in ya family, you know they lame still you love em the same..."

Till the End of time- Pac
"please lord forgive me for my life of sins...for quiet times disappear listen to the ocean
smoking ports, think my thoughts, then it's back to coasten, who can I trust in this cold world..."

I know I can-Nas
"this is for the grown girls who's only ten the ones who watch video and do what they see
up in the club with fake id, careful b for you meet a man with HIV, you can host a show on t.v like Oprah Winfrey..."



All falls down- Kanye
"that mojor that she majored in don't make no money but she won't drop out her parents will look at her funny...her hair so long that it look like weave, then she cut it all off now she look like Eve, she be dealing with some issues that you can't believe


Say Nothing-A-T-T-I to the K
"Should know better than to try me by now you couldn't under mind me if ya was my eye brow...I speak up speak out my action follow my mouth I figure out what I want and than that's what I'm about.."

Resurrection-EyeAsage and Bambu
"Don't let the white people tell you the formula for succes
cause history will tell you that would be a knife in the chest
they shook our hands and they smiled, while they stood there and lied
and systematically attempted at complete genocide..."

Resurrection-Bone Thugs and Harmony

Streets are on fire-Lupe Fiasco
"Death is on the tip of her tongue and dangers at the tip of her fingers
streets are on fire tonight
Disease the virus is spreading in all directions no safe zone no cure and no protection
no symptoms define the signs of an infection no vaccines, remedies, and no corrections
Quarantine the dreams and seal off the connections don't let them in not a friend not a reflection everybody's got it and want you to have it next and don't accept them if you want to stay as an exception no pill can heal the ill of this sickness some are still in doubt of its existence some call it forgiveness and some call it the vengeance
some say it's an exit and some say it's an entrance
the poor say the rich have the cure
the rich say the poor are the source
revolutionaries say it's physiological war
invented by the press, just to have something to report
some say the first case came from a maternity ward
some say a morgue, some say the skies, some say the floors
whores say the nuns, nuns say the whores
and everybody is sure
the scientist say it only affects the mind
the little boy said it only affects the girls
the preacher man said it's going to kill off the soul
a bum said it's going to kill the whole wide world!"

International Guerilla Anthem- Bambu & Do Dat
"I typed a text to a girl I used to see
saying that I heard the new about her brother over seas...
Hide ya Heart- Amerika don't love you all she want is the money
got a uncle been pimp'n since the 1700's
Bomb all the haters
Invade all the neighbors
got this country built up off of our free labor..."

Diamonds frm Sierra Leone-Kanye West

Mnah No Sleep- The Attik

Drop it like its hot-Snoop Pharrel (mostly for the beat)

Thugish Ruggish Bone-Bone thugs and Harmony

5 on it Remix

Pull it Back -Bambu

I'm On One- The Team
"Been a month, a week, couple days without smokin
Smoke blunt, got weak, broke the weed down split the swish open
Yeah east oakland boys tend to spark alot
Transform a drop buttons transform the top
Just bought the box 8-80 a killa shox
I'm Bay Bridge on my way to that Mission Rock...
shit I'm 4 hunned miles away
sunset knockin somethin bounce back to the bay
trap dump from the jump I'm all out of my scape
Go Guriella gotta get it Spectator parade..."


Elevator (Me and Youuu) -Outkast
"I know y'all got buku of hoes from all them songs that y'all done made
And I replied that I had been goin through tha same thing that he had
True I got more fans than the average man but not enough loot to last me
to the end of the week, I live by the beat like you live check to check
If you don't move yo' foot then I don't eat, so we like neck to neck
Yes we done come a long way like them Slim ass cigarettes
from Virginia, this ain't gon stop so we just gonna continue"


Change the World-Bone thugs and Harmony
"Raising hustlers, thieves and prostitutes
Young homie, think before you shoot, murderer
Where will our children go
When there's no place safe where they can go
And trouble may come and sometimes
You'll get pulled over by one-time
And when the 1999 rewinds, you didn't even make any strides
Murder all around the whole world, it's nauseatin
Everybody's hating everybody, overrated
Why everybody acting agitated, I thought we graduated
Back in the saddle waiting, aboard the battle station
Hating is a birth defect and you know ain't nobody perfect
And when the curtains, close open up the door, no more"



Waterfalls-TLC
"My only bleedin hope
Is for the folk who cant cope
Wit such an endurin pain
That it keeps em in the puourin rain
Whos to blame
For tootin caine in your own vein
What a shame
You shoot and aim for someone elses brain
You claim the insane
And name this day and time
For fallin prey to crime
I say the system got you victim to your own mind
Dreams are hopeless aspirations
In hopes of comin true
Believe in yourself
The rest is up to me and you"

gotta be twice as good...

(Love and Basketball is my favorite movie of all time...)

In a mans world a women has to be twice as good to get the same respect. oh and lemme add Being a lady is anything from whooping your boyfriend on the basketball court, to holding a nine to five and paying bills, to cooking and cleaning and being a mama, to making art and beats. In other words I don't limit what a women is to stereo types put on us.
When I was about 7 I fell in love with basketball (my first love was music) I could not get enough and it was never about impressing a boy. I would bounce the ball and that was my beat and I would recite my dreams in my head and they would only come true, when I took the shot if I heard a swoooosh. In the 4th grade I transferred to Malcolm X and had to re-affirm to everyone that I could play. I realized then that as a girl to be treated the same, or even be considered to play, I had to be twice as good. So I had to up my game I played at my god mama's house with all the neighborhood boys who were a lot older. Ever since then I have used that same mindset that as a woman in a man's world you gotta be twice as good.

As I am considering what career path to take, and how to prepare myself for not just internships and work experience, but for my career, including any business ventures, and non-profit work that I plan to do, I am faced with this same need to prove myself as twice as good. So even though I don't have a desire to see my name written on any sky scrapers, I have decided to go for getting a Masters in Architecture, just so that any man that wants to question my skills and call me a "decorator", can't say shit. To me that would set the playing field even to allow me no limitations in my design career.

When I was up in Brooklyn last spring I went to a conference that Saul Williams was speaking at, along with some other talented writers, and a lot of the students there were saying that they were going for there law degree not because the necessarily wanted to be lawyers but so they had that behind them when they did what they wanted to do. So besides the fact that I am obsessed with architecture, I'm going to get my masters in it in order to be twice as good as the next man, because in a competitive world that's what you gotta do to survive.

Saul Williams is a Genius!

oh yeah and this is my last post with out illustration or sketches...anybody got a scanner?

When I was little i wanted to live in a tree house...

...When I was little I wanted a tree house but I never lived in a place that had a tree. That couldn't stop me from building one though I found a friend that had a tree and we built one together. one summer my god mother sent me to a camp in Oakland called Touch the Earth, where we would build forts in trees, i loved it i guess that was the first sign that I would some day want to pursue architecture. I would always come home everyday hella dirty, so my god mom started calling it touch the dirt camp...
Some of us think that our far off ancestors lived in the trees – and during our childhood, when our thoughts and memories are most pure, we yearn to climb trees growing in our gardens, in our parks, in our cities. As we get older, the urge to climb trees subsides as we ride elevators up to our offices in the sky and look out across the cities where we live. Yet occasionally, as we’re sealed up tight in our artificially climatic spaces, we long for a breath of fresh air.
At a German company called baumraum an architect, a landscape architect, an arbologist, and a craftsman design modern, natural and solidly constructed treehouses. Each treehouse project is assessed individually. The team takes into consideration the condition of the environment and of the tree, with the size and features the clients desire. baumraum offers a range of wood-types as well as options for insulated walls. Treespaces can be outfitted with sitting and sleeping benches, storage spaces, a mini-kitchen, heating, glass windows, lighting, as well as a sound system for multimedia. Every piece is prefabricated in a workshop, and then brought together on site. Sound like something you’ve been wanting? The baumraum team offers free consultation where they can talk you through every option available as you put together your dream treehouse. The treehouses can span multiple levels and sit among several trees. Treehouses are mostly secured with ropes, thereby minimizing the impact of stress to the tree or trees on which the house is placed. And if a tree is particularly weak, or even if a treehouse is wanted where there is no suitable tree, stilts are used to guarantee people everywhere can once again climb trees. (from thecoolhunter.net/architecture)