- Dear late 80’s early 90’s r&b group, I cant really sing but if I can dress up like you, learn the choreography and just be the guy that says “whooooooo” at the end of the breakdown of a slow song ill be eternally grateful.
- Dear person who says “ValenTimes day” instead of ‘Valentines day’ you should officially receive nothing on this day as you are not pronouncing it correctly. Instead, you should have a holiday called “ValenTimes day”where you receive the empty wrappers of candy and presents from those who do pronounce it correctly.
- Dear fluffer, you are the unsung hero. I salute you from a distance with my clean hand LOL
- Note to self: its ok when asked about your weight to say your putting on pounds for a role in a film.
- Dear pseudo righteous poet type dude, I don’t think here in public is the best place for the ” do you know how good an enema is for you” conversation. PS please stop calling my son “my seed” its just feels weird.
- Dear rasta I’m curious. In my youth I probably devoured  enough chew sticks to decimate a rainforest and build low income log cabin housing for the inner city.  But I still don’t know where chewsticks are made and how they are flavored. Do you? [Read more]

Excuse the brevity and scattered nature of what you’re about to read. It’s late/early. The sun has not yet come up.  These are the moments I must salvage to be creative – I’m up editing a documentary and planning for the website and my plan was to also edit the three (count them: 3) new baby blogs that were all unfinished because the baby has been sick.

This being our first baby and our first sickness we work in our strengths. My wife does everything and l look worried and ask what can I do.

Since I don’t have the body full of milk and the hairier face I am the legs of the family. The “could you get me the…”  guy  I’m also the “oh and don’t forget the…” guy and more often the  “did you remember to…” dude.

[Read more]

Its late on a  Friday night at the Oyin warehouse, deep in the cut of east Baltimore. Our building sits at the crossroads of gentrification and the HOOD as popularized on tv and movies. We are literally on the other side of the tracks as a train runs directly behind our building.

I’ve been very conscious  of what music I get into my child’s rhythm and I recently realized I haven’t really listened to Gnarls Barkley’s new album. I mean I’ve played it but I really haven’t sat with it. So I make the decision that that’s the sound track to our ride home tonight. He’s up and in a particularly laughy  mood.

I put it on random. The first song was WOULD BE KILLER.

We lock the gate and drive off…  almost immediately I see the most brilliant sparkling lights in the rear view

They are coming from a very unassuming minivan

I drive on for like half a block before I realize it was me they wanted.

[Read more]

I am a DJ.
I know what music is and what music does to the soul of people. I’ve seen it. I’ve spun gigs where in the middle of a set I’ll play song from the eletric company or the WIZ or even in the middle of a dance set throw a slow jam on and watch the mood just transform into love and recognition. To see a room full of sweaty dancers pause and sing a slow song at the top of their lungs – gestures and all – is a wonderful feeling. I remember going to record stores and seeing SOUL  as a section and that where you found all the black folks. It was like the back of the bus at some record stores: everybody black was there regardless of actual genre, but in a strange way it felt good to me. SOUL was just such an amazing word to describe the music I grew up on.
I remember before hip hop. I remember how much it meant when it came out and gave voice to a voiceless minority. It was the last true alternative music movement, and sadly, as the music that helped propagate the culture grew into a corporate entity, i watched it slowly lose its soul. (Now for those purists out there I’m not saying you cant find good hip hop music but its still rare. And it’s not the point of this post.)
My issue in it becoming the mainstream and not the alternative  is my same issue with most things when they become corporate. It becomes more about the dollar than the product. Its the same for water, healthcare, clothing, fast food and yes music, all music.
As a new parent I am very conscious of what my child consumes so imagine my surprise when we went to  the library and found among the childrens CDs  a collection called baby love lullaby that featured lullaby versions of 50 CENT & Jay- Z  songs. And this is what I mean about corporate/money driven/soul-less – i am sure that those men didn’t have the toddler demographic in mind then they made songs like “PIMP” “in DA club” “big Pimpin” and of course “Jigga my Nigga” – but all these song titles were listed on the track listing of the CDs. After cleaning the dust off my tongue and picking my jaw up off the floor I tried with all my powers of reason to be objective. The argument was “hey maybe for people who like this music it’s something they could play for their children that they would like to”

My answer to that side of my self is the following:
1st of all, shut up
2nd of all I’m sure that there are porno’s out there that have great music I just wouldn’t try to make it palatable for babies.

The voice now you hating on Jigga and Fiddy?

Jigga and Fiddy didn’t make these collections.  If they did, it would probably be alot better produced. Babies like good music as well as grownups, and the music on these CDs – awful sounding, dischordant plinking reproductions of these instrumentals – is not good music. This offends the DJ and the hophop fan in me, as well as the parent.

The makers of these CDs have a right to do what they do and say what they say and so do I. Instead of complaining I will make alternatives for my children and theirs. All of those children books that I have half written and half illustrated I will finish. All those songs I have I will record even if it’s just for my child. Failure is the decision that you have no alternatives, that’s a lesson hip-hop taught me. Stay tuned.

And for those of you artists and part time revolutionaries out there who have alternatives in mind, please put it out there. If you need a spiritual kick in the butt/ fire lit underneath you pick up ‘bullshit or fertilizer’  trust me I still read it.

I apologize that this is a bit more serious than the usual tone of the blog  but there are serious things at stake. Namely the minds and imagination of the next generation.  I’ll be back next week with the usual doo doo jokes and other parental insights – until then make art.

link: notradio kids mix tap volume 1

link: ‘true’ animated video, music by kwame brandt-pierce

link: ‘larry’ animated video, music by bran nu classics

For a long time my baby was NOT cute. I actually applauded my wife for feeding him. Nature’s trick seems to be that as the responsibility and complexity of this parenting gig grows, the cuteness of the kid grows, too. I’m scared because he’s getting cuter by the day and if his newly flavored farts are any indication, this changing diapers thing alone is about to go to a whole new level.

My messy diapers system is well strategized: I classify them in order from easiest to hardest. For future reference, be sure to multiply each # by about 3 to know how many baby wipes to use. [Read more]

There are many things that they don’t tell you when you have a child.
Here is a short list

- they have hair on their back
- they are super ugly (more about that in another blog)
- that “baby smell” that everyone loves so much is made up of one part mothers milk 2 parts mother’s arm pit.
- they can’t read
- they never quite catch up to their color at the tips of their ears
- the first words you whisper into your child’s ear should not be “you owe me”
- a infant can squirt pee up to 40 feet in a straight line before it starts to arc
- when they start to laugh they will be your best audience because at the end of the day if you have nothing else you can just jingle your keys.

here is a stand up routine for babies that you can use.
[Read more]

“iPad” by pierre bennu
photo taken by my wife’s iPhone

(click ‘read more’ for bigger picture) [Read more]

I believe that embracing fear produces courage.

After my brother died in an accident, my mother was inconsolable. I was only 4 years old at the time, but I still understood the seismic shift in my mom’s attitude toward safety. Suddenly, everything around us was potentially dangerous. Overnight, the world had gone from a playground to a hazardous zone. [Read more]

They made me cut the cord. Let me be clear they didn’t “make me” but when a room full of women who are medical professionals hold surgical scissors in your direction and say “who wants to cut the cord” then they all look at you, you can’t NOT do that. I know its sounds weird to some people but I didn’t want to cut the chord. I’m glad I did but I really like to leave the professional work to the professionals, even the easy stuff.

If you go to a deli for a sandwich if they take the time to fry the meat up, put on the lettuce, tomatoes, onions, bread ketchup, and pickles, oils, pepper, salt and even wrap it in that deli paper and slice it for you I figure they can be the one who puts the toothpick in it.

I decided to write down my experiences really more as therapy though this transition. I know therapy and transition usually have negative connotations but I wanted to dedicate something to beauty. [Read more]

Dear folks at Guitar Hero,

First of all I want to say that me and my wife really dig your game. All the artistry, craft and fun that went into it shine through. I appreciated the behind the scenes extras… I really felt like I got a feel for the staff making it all happen. We actually bought a second controller which is a bit of a big deal for us as we are not “gamers” in the conventional sense.

As a generally happy customer I just wanted to inquire about what I felt was a lack of black characters and songs with black folks behind the strings. [Read more]