The Sunday Itis.

Chin Chin - "Go There With You" from Okayplayer on Vimeo.

Saturday Jammy Jam.

LA and all that. I miss my pals.

60minutemix

This is a cool site for downloading various DJ mixes. So far, I have only seen house,trance,electronica genres but it's dope nonetheless.

Unplugged.

Last night I was in bed oozing with disdain over my somewhat dependent and addictive relationship with Facebook and his homie Twitter. I felt an epiphany coming on, and the need change this pattern of reliance on cyber "relations" came to full fruition. At 12am, in a moment of strength and clarity, I got out of bed and removed myself from the Matrix. I didn't feel it necessary to remove my Myspace account as I don't have the same addiction to it. So for now, Myspace, you are safe. There are several reasons I had to come to grips with the fact that this shit just isn't cool for me right now. For one, as an artist type I have felt the need, over the last few years, to have people know and understand my work and vision. These applications are useful and important when you have a product to sell or a show to promote, etc. This is when it made sense to me. Folks attend shows, buy cd's, and become fans. Often, this happens and it is a good thing. I have a clear understanding of the power of this platform and its use. For this, I am grateful. Currently, I am not doing shows or slanging product.

There is something extremely narcissistic about social networking tools that cause us to NEED to be heard, listened to, appreciated. We convince ourselves that "being out there" will make us more popular,loved, cared about. Dare I say, understood.... It's a farce. It isn't what's really going on. Instead we become these online personalities, bullhorns. I feel the less we make this shit about "me" and the more we begin to think about the collective "we", the better of we will be.
For Twitter, I feel like I was spending too much time "crafting" something intelligent or witty or tongue-in-cheek in order to get my point across. I see others doing it, too. Granted, some folks and organizations are using it to create a real dialogue to create social change and progress. But a GREAT many folks, self included, sometimes use the tool to have virtual conversations with each other about their day, who they hate, what they ate, and frankly, I/We don't give a flying fuck. I am more interested in what is in between the lines. There is a total disconnect with real life shit and with each other and we are left with a one-line manifesto for the day via the Matrix. It feels empty. There is no real conversation. I thought that alot of these folks I have continued conversation with on Twitter or Facebook were truly my friends and they are not(I began to realize this when I started reaching out to ask for things or to connect on projects via email or telephone and never got a response). Granted, some people are and will always be dear to me and I them. But our relationships stretch out further than a computer screen. Many of the people I communicate with via the Internet have not picked up the phone to hear my voice, in a long, long time.
And as far as Facebook goes... if I ain't talked to ya in 20 years, why the hell do I want to talk to you now? Because it is safe to do so online? Because other people you want to know or dialogue with are talking to me? It all strikes me as a who knows who form of wack ass high school popularity scheme. I'm sure that if I saw most of these people in person, they would get on my last nerve. Yes, there are a few I was thrilled to see. Will I exchange phone numbers with you and have a 3 hour conversation catching up? Probably not. Will we ever meet for lunch or meet each others husbands? Probably not. The organic relationship built by contact, voice, touching, love, and eye contact, is becoming more and more obsolete everyday. It saddens and scares me. I think an inner voice deep inside thought that if I stayed present in cyber space that I would be relevant in these people's lives and I know that I am not. I am no more relevant the other 200 million users out there.
We are all plugged in. This is some for real Matrix shit. I know, I know...Balance is key. I got that. But personally, I have been so plugged in lately I haven't created anything with my own two hands in a long time. My addiction has kept me from my most organic self. It is nearly impossible to commune with God on a daily basis when I am plugged in. The powers that be want us all to be plugged in. "They" want to be in on this conversation and control our every move. We can't even plot and plan on over throwing the system anymore because folks are too scared and uncomfortable to pick up the phone and make plans to meet and commune in person.
I used to spend a great deal of time alone. Even though I may be alone in my home, the computer is always there calling me like a fucking crack dealer and it is stifling my progress and creativity. Even something as simple as writing quality content for this blog has fallen short due to my lack of dedication to my own art and appreciation for my true self. We don't need to get kudos from muh fuckas on a daily basis to know our worth.
I think I'm going to Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace God for a minute and see what comes of that.

a random and lazy sunday = childhood and wedding thoughts.

N.A.S.A. feat. Kanye West, Santogold & Lykke Li - Gifted

This song and video are pretty fresh, indeed.

PAC DIV

The young homies are doing their thang! Cop the EP on Itunes noooowww!

PAC DIV- 247HH.COM Episode 43 from 247 Hiphop on Vimeo.

Just in case you forgot about this one...... :)

Please hold your applause.

Ayah - Believe

Ayah - BELIEVE (Official Video) from Ayah on Vimeo.

The Purple People Eaters Are Coming To Get You.

Just Crazy or Pure Genius?

SOKO.

uuuhhh....yeah, i love her.

The Good Life

I think I first heard about the Good Life in 1995-96. I was heavy in to underground hiphop in the Bay and started hearing a buzz around this spot when I first started meeting all the Freestyle Fellowship cats in San Jose. It wasnt until I moved to LA in 2000 that I caught the tail end of this amazing era. Being friends with the likes of Ab- Rude, Aceyalone, 2mex, Pigeon John, Medusa,Cut Chemist and most of those artists, I felt great pride when I watched this trailor. And check out Garth Trinidad and Mona Lisa droppin that game! Hip Hop will never be the way it was. I am humbled to have been a part of this era.

underground sound.

My blog needs love. I know. I have been sooooo busy lately. In the most amazing ways might I add. I am doing a lot a KPFA, Im a Director at one non-profit, on the board of directors on another, and Im in the process of creating a podcast. Please look out for that. Ill keep you posted. Meanwhile, I am doing my best to add a couple of new things weekly. I know all kinds of folks with a blog who never post and they are a huge bore. I'll be better. Promise.

KPFA 94.1 FULL CIRCLE Apprentice Intro Program

Full Circle - March 6, 2009 at 7:00pm

Click to listen (or download)

Mi Casa Es Su Casa

We wanted to create a collage of sounds from personal spaces around the world so we asked friends to send 30 second recordings of the most interesting sounds in their homes. We stitched them all together into an audio insight of intimate environments. The finished piece was presented at the Sound in Space field recording festival in Los Angeles on Saturday, February 14th 2009.

Contributors, in order of appearance:
map~map, ju suk reet meate / smegma, jimmy tamborello, scott colburn, edgar walthert, matthewdavid, matthew mcmurray, chris candelaria, grant leuchtner, akiko & hashim bharoocha, frosty, take, mike davis, braydon fuller, erick cifuentes, jonathan lee beck, matthew muller, emily cohen, lyndon roeller, michael richardson, esq., shea gauer, lucky dragons, cascadnac, katie byron, alejandro cohen, mitchell brown, the sound of lucrecia, juan gutierrez, ethnomite pux and albert ortega.

CURATED BY:
Mark “frosty” McNeill

Courtesy of Dublab

Suite For Ma Dukes Finally and Encore

Recently THE TIMELESS EVENT took place in Los Angeles — A TRIBUTE TO J DILLA IN LA THROUGH A 40 PIECE ORCHESTRA SET CONDUCTED BY MIGUEL ATWOOD-FERGUSON & CARLOS NIÑO. Tons of friends and loved ones put a lot of effort in to making this project and evening a success. I am so sad I missed it. Please cop the album "Suite For Ma Dukes" - it is phenomenal. Big shouts to Carlos for spearheading this project!

International Women's Day. March 8th.

I will be playing music on 94.1 KPFA on 3/8 from 1am-5am in honor of I.W.D. So please tune in or hit up KPFA.org if you are on your way home from the club, chillen at the house, or dealing with your insomnia.
Here's a little history on International Women's Day...
International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

1908
Great unrest and critical debate was occurring amongst women. Women's oppression and inequality was spurring women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.
1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day (NWD) was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of February until 1913.
1910
In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named a Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women's Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day - a Women's Day - to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women's Day was the result.
1911
Following the decision agreed at Copenhagen in 1911, International Women's Day (IWD) was honoured the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than one million women and men attended IWD rallies campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination. However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic 'Triangle Fire' in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant attention to working conditions and labour legislation in the United States that became a focus of subsequent International Women's Day events. 1911 also saw women's 'Bread and Roses' campaign.
1918 - 1999
Since its birth in the socialist movement, International Women's Day has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike. For decades, IWD has grown from strength to strength annually. For many years the United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to coordinate international efforts for women's rights and participation in social, political and economic processes. 1975 was designated as 'International Women's Year' by the United Nations. Women's organisations and governments around the world have also observed IWD annually on 8 March by holding large-scale events that honour women's advancement and while diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women's equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life.
2000 and beyond
IWD is now an official holiday in China, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.

The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that 'all the battles have been won for women' while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.
However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.

Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women's craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and more.

Many global corporations have also started to more actively support IWD by running their own internal events and through supporting external ones. For example, on 8 March search engine and media giant Google some years even changes its logo on its global search pages. Year on year IWD is certainly increasing in status. The United States even designates the whole month of March as 'Women's History Month'.

So make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.

Reporters stripped by S.Leone circumcision society

FREETOWN, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Four women journalists were abducted and stripped naked in Sierra Leone by members of a secret society that practices female genital cutting, one of the reporters and a press freedom watchdog said on Wednesday.
Female genital cutting is common across much of West Africa. In Sierra Leone, ranked bottom of the U.N. human development index, most women have undergone some form of cutting and are therefore regarded as members of the "Bondo" secret society.
The radio reporters were in the eastern city of Kenema reporting on the tradition, also known as circumcision or genital mutilation, when they were assaulted, one of the journalists said.
"The four of us were suddenly picked up at different areas in the town," Isha Jalloh, a reporter with Eastern Radio, told Reuters by phone.
"We were stripped naked in the bush for them to make sure that we have indeed undergone the various processes of the society, especially if we have gone through circumcision," Jalloh said. All four were members of the Bondo, she said.
Jalloh said she had been injured in her genital area during the examination and was on her way to the capital Freetown, 200 km (125 miles) west of Kenema, for a medical checkup.
Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders said another of the reporters, Manjama Balama-Samba of United Nations radio and the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service, had been forced to walk naked through the streets of Kenema.
"Such disgraceful behaviour worthy of a bygone age is very damaging to Sierra Leone's image," the organisation said in a statement.
It said the four reporters had conducted interviews in Kenema to mark International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) on Feb. 6.
Haja Massah Kaisamba, a senior Bondo member, said female genital cutting was a sensitive matter.
"It is their right as journalists to do their job, but at the same time they, as journalists and also members of the society, do know very well how talking publicly about the society is sensitive," Kaisambai told Reuters.
"Whoever may wish for our society, the Bondo, to desist from FGM should come to the bush and address senior members ... then we will all discuss it and come to a conclusion, rather than going to the radio and speaking," Kaisambai said. (Writing by Alistair Thomson; Editing by David Lewis)

the journey. not the destination.

I feel so at peace. I feel like I finally have a greater understanding of my struggles, trials, heartbreaks, headaches, AND my triumphs. So often we get caught up wondering why something isnt going as planned or why there are so many hurdles to jump. There was a time when I had the mindset that things were happening TO me as opposed to ME making these things happen. Over the last few years I have been focusing on the part I play in my life. I have been honing and crafting my "character", if you will, in this life and focusing on my true self and the contribution I will make. As a young woman I lived as though my work shaped me or my family or friends shaped me. These things mean nothing. The footprint you leave is what shapes you. Finding truth in your flaws and your attributes is what shapes you. They are perfect. WE are perfect. God knows. The blueprint has already been laid.

Focused,
-A