You Either Build Or Your Destroy...

Are you building or destroying the past and the future???

Young African Leaders Chat With Obama

This is a recap of a recent meeting where President Barack Obama met with 115 young African leaders from 46 countries for a question and answer session at the White House. There were a wide range of topics discussed including how to best shape African systems, governments and institutions for the next generation as well as the continued spread of AIDS over the continent.

Now if only the CIA can keep its hands out of the politics of Africa, then we would really be able to see if change can come from within the continent instead of from outside sources.

Here's the full Q&A session:

She Called Me Fela Because She Loved This Afro's Beat...

This month's Lunchbox Theory Afrobeat event will be at Bossa (Adams Morgan) on the 26th with the incredible DJ Underdog spinning vinyl upstairs and the Funk Ark Band downstairs for the live music. Like always this will be a great inexpensive way to party and dance your night away with a diverse and eclectic crowd. Make sure you bring your dancing shoes because there's no holding the walls up at these AFROBEAT events. Word on the streets is that there may also be some body painting going on during the night.


If you have never heard DJ Underdog spin before please go download his lastest mix which is also brought to you by the good ladies over at Lunchbox. 

Download: DJ Underdog: Africa Africa Africa pt. 2

DJ Underdog

Life on "Lenox Avenue"

Black television these days is certainly not what it used to be. Today it is all marketed by white people for white people. You have people creating concepts and shows without much of our input of how we should be portrayed. Reality TV has made even harder to break new black shows unless it's “For the love of [insert rapper/athlete name here]”. Jaleel White aka Urkle and Al Thompson have by passed the Viacom conglomerate machine and taken their original black series to the internet and google’s ad dollars. Black television will never be "A Different World" or “Martin” ever again but maybe black web series can be with we have been waiting for because of the freedom the web allows compared to these minority-less corporations. This new series takes a look at life on Harlem's famous Lenox Avenue.

Official Site: Lenox Ave

The Movie Character In Me...

Every now and then there are characters in movies that you can really relate to. Sometimes its because you know someone who's just like that character and other times its because that character is you. In high school I was a mixture of "Big Mike", Jamal Wallace, and Quincy McCall or at least in my mind.  These days its more like Micheal Corleone or Huey Freeman mixed with weeks of feeling like (and even sounding like) Dap (get your black movie game up asap if you don't know who that is). However a lot of my recent moments before getting my shepherd on and counting sheep have been spent writing some pretty crazy and thought provoking stuff, even for me. For the longest I was the "poet"(and I use that term loosely) who couldn't write. It was such a task for me to physically write so I just kept bits and pieces of poems I would create in my head. It always felt like my hands could never keep up with how fast my mind would be working at those rare moments I would try to scribble down words. It got to the point where I had maybe 80% of all my poetry in my head. Last night while up late writing I popped in Love Jones and there I was, Darius Lovehall but without that whole Blues for Nina thing. I have always loved the movie but as I was writing I felt a new connection to the movie and Lovehall.  If you have been on here before or have looked around this blogspot, then I'm sure you have seen me post a piece or two of work I have done. Unless like most artists, I am not sensitive about my work. To me its just a way to get out ideas and thoughts to make room for new ones to be created. So here is a little piece of something new I have started but have yet to be complete.

Like wet ink from a signature, that's how new this
And what this is, is just the beginning of a journey
A journey were no one are drivers nor passengers
But with this passage, I hope u can understand what is coming with this package
See this package is a lil damaged, its been tossed around and even torn open on the edges
Opened but still very much closed to the outside world
A outside world full of beast that are just waiting for your guard to go down
And once its down, its down for the count like Foreman against Ali
But we all need to feel that to understand what it means to be free
Because freedom does come with a cost and many become lost with this discovery

To Be Continued...

Another Fly Thing I Went To This Summer...

Shout out to the homie and HU grad Jabari for following his dreams and putting together a great event for the premiere of his new video series and site. There was a very nice turn out to see this first episode and guest performance from my dude Phil Ade. If you have happened to be under a rock this past month and didn't get a chance to see Episode #1 with skateboard phenom Nigel Sylvester, you can check it out at the bottom. Overall there were a lot of #YEBies in the building and it was great to see and be a part of. From one Y.E.B. to another Y.E.B., I got to say I see you Jabari. Keep doing your thing homie.

Episode 1 with Nigel Sylvester:

Theo Martins – Power [Video]

The homie Theo Martins just dropped his stop-motion video for his dance remake of Kanye's power. Pretty dope video for a very creative rendition of the song. Mr. Martins has been putting out fresh music and concepts all year.

Listen/Download: Theo Martins - Power (Dance Remix) Prod. Party Supplies

Bonus: Theo Martins: 20 Thousand Leagues (The Feather)