Gangsta Leanin’

Whatever happened to the fine art of the ‘lean’? That gangsta lean that let mofo’s know that you are here; it also let them know that you are not to be messed with. It seems like in the 80’s and towards the 90’s, rappers probably used to practice leaning for music videos and general interviews. Nowadays, general swag has replaced the gangsta lean, but I don’t think these artists have what EPMD, Das EFX, and others had, I don’t know, you be the judge.

80’s Mean Mugging – Defining the Lean

Eric B & Rakim – Paid in Full

Leaders of the New School

90’s – Taking the Lean into different contexts

Das EFX – catching wiggidy wreck with the Jeep in the Streets

West Coast Low Riding Leaning with Snoop

2000’s Leaning ??? I can’t callin, nothing inventive

Slim Thug

Officer Rick Ross

Joell Ortiz

Lauren London

(yes, I know that one of these pictures is not like the other …. but you can’t hate!)

.:: LiBM ::.

Trust
Virtues: relationships, predictive actions, past knowledge

I‘ve always known wikipedia to be a good resource for historical facts and events, but it never really dawned on me that wikipedia can be used as a dictionary – to look up terms and definitions of everyday words. Well, apparently to my knowledge, wikipedia is also some sort of a dictionary, but where dictionary.com only gives you the definition of a word, wikipedia gives you the definition and concepts behind the word, and relational concepts.

For example, let’s look at the word ‘Trust‘:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_%28social_sciences%29

Trust is a relationship of reliance. A trusted party is presumed to seek to fulfill policies, ethical codes, law and their previous promises.

Trust does not need to involve belief in the good character, vices, or morals of the other party. Persons engaged in a criminal activity usually trust each other to some extent. Also trust does not need to include an action that you and the other party are mutually engaged in. Trust is a prediction of reliance on an action, based on what a party knows about the other party. Trust is a statement about what is otherwise unknown — for example, because it is far away, cannot be verified, or is in the future.

And it goes on, and on. Reading this, I particularly find the line ‘Trust is a prediction of reliance on an action, based on what a party knows about the other party.‘ to be very telling as it really does not matter how long you have known someone to ascertain if you trust them, what is important is how much knowledge and/or insight you have on an individual – one can get that intel in years or in a matter of minutes. Family, lifelong friends should be ‘trustworthy’, but we may only perceive them as such because of the notion that such people should be the ones that we ‘trust’. Well trust me, trust can be found in the oddest of places with even the oddest of people, as trust should really be based and predicted upon the reliance of an action – based on what you know about an individual.

I believe I always have had this notion for years, but have never been able to articulated quite like the wiki has (but, I never really had the desire to do so either). Its very hard to say that I can fully trust someone – because we base trust on how we would hope/anticipate people to act in certain situations. Its a cliche to say well, “I hope they will do the right thing”, but that ‘right thing’ varies from individual to individual. It would be best to base your trust based on the immediate action + what prior information you know about the individual.

For example:

You would not trust him with your kids:

Michael Jackson

You would not trust him with your 15 year old daughter:

R. Kelly

You would not trust her with keeping a secret:

Karrine Superhead Steffans

You would not trust him (Ike Turner) with your personal safety:

Ike Turner & Tina Turner

You would not trust his word:

O.J. Simpson

In all, you would not trust these people in the examples that I prescribed, but that does not directly correlate that you would not trust them in other scenarios: R. Kelly could be able to give you good advice & direction regarding the music industry, O.J. may be a trustful source of information for football skills & techniques, and Karrine ‘Superhead’ Steffans may be a good source of intel on how to keep a man … any guess on how she would do that? (LOL).

But, in all importance, we all need to put our trust in ourselves as we must be confident and, we must try to attain a sense of surety that the decisions we make will be the ‘right’ one.

.:: d.b ::.

3rd Person B
Living the narrative

The third person is commonly referred to as a narrative in which one is telling a story of themselves or of subjects. In novels the third person narrative is imperative as it reveals the thoughts of the protagonist and other characters of interest. Sometimes I think that my life is lived as a narrative, making myself the narrator; as I find myself accurately predicting and/or calling the thoughts and actions of others. Which has its positives & negative associations, but with this skill, it has made me very objective. You know, always trying to be impartial, be considerate of others, be politically correct; especially in the work environment, as you know we live in the age of pussification where one’s individual voice is muted at work as one dare not try to express any thought and/or emotion for fear of insulting anyone’s personal beliefs. However, subconsciously, I think that 3rd person aspect seeps its way into your personal life like ooze, and it has caused me to respond in my personal relationships as I did in my work relationships. A couple of years ago, I remember someone telling me of this behaviour, but I thought that they were way off, but now recollecting, it made sense.

Since then, I’ve worked on it, some have said that I worked on it too much (by being brutally honest), but I guess as the saying goes, ‘you cant please everyone’. And really and truly, being ‘liked by others’ is completely over-rated.

What do y’all think? Share your thoughts and comments, share the knowledge.

.:: d.b

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Breathtakers
Virtues: Cot damn, sexy, ravishing

They come when you least expect it;
Taking you back to a place in time where bliss stays rampant & inhibition is diluted;
Their mere presence alters your rhythm;
Thought is interrupted, Breath is suspended, Mobility is stalled;
Time slows to a snail’s pace, and vision acuity is crystallized
Focus, ready, shoot.
Snap!
The memory is sharper than any Digi SLR;
Filed & archived away as a moment in time that will last forever as I continue my walk down the city sidewalk.

Why they are the way they are
Virtues: Perseverance, Strength, Courage, Black Women

It has been said that black women have an attitude.

Not only do they have attitude, but they are opinionated, calculating, and have a low tolerance for … just about anything.

They move swiftly throughout; strong & defiant to get what they want.

You dare not argue with black women because you will lose; even if you are right, trust me, you will lose some other way.

We have classified black women as Bitches; because their opinions clash with our alpha-male persona.
We call them hood rats because their Fathers have abandoned them and have forced the single-mother to fend for themselves with a dependent(s) in a decaying environments.
We objectify them in pop culture as video vixens that are only as relevant as their ‘assets’ or their willingness to please others (RE: Karine ‘Superhead’ Steffans).
We call them hoes as a way to characterize their promiscuous lifestyle, but for men, that same promiscuity is revered & receives adoration.

So, I get it. Black women will drive you crazy; they will be pesky, vocal, and confrontational. Black women don’t put up with shit – they deserve better & will not settle for less.
So yeah, the attitude is there, but is a manifestation of how they have been treated over generations; they have been shitted on forever, but are now doing the dumping.

And that is why they ‘are’ the way they ‘are’.

.:: d.b