RIP, Eric B....You Will Be Missed

Man killed in barber shop shooting
28 August 2005

One man died and another was seriously injured during a shooting at a barber's shop, police said.

Two men, aged 24 and 39, were taken to hospital following the incident in Long Island on Saturday afternoon.

The 39-year-old, Eric Barrier also known as Eric B. who lived locally, died from his injuries. The 24-year-old, also from Long Island, is said to be in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

West Camden Police were called to reports of several shots being fired in and around the barber's shop at the junction of Lozells Road and Wheeler Street. A force spokeswoman said no arrests had been made and appealed to anyone who witnessed the incident or had any information about it to contact police.
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One of my friends just sent this article to me. I am, of course quite upset b/c Eric B. & Rakim is my #1, most-loved rap duo, and I am shocked and saddened by the tragic, senseless death of another rap/DJ icon...the same as when Jam Master Jay was killed. Then, she emails me that it was a fckng HOAX!! My girl, btw, is not the hoaxster, just so that's clear. (At least she'd better not be, lol!) Someone had sent it to her, and she had passed it along.

Now, while I was definitely relieved (I was feeling as though my heart was being crushed to pieces), I couldn't help but feel outraged and angry that someone would actually take time out of his/her life that cannot be recouped to do some horrible mess like this. It's sad, and it's sick. And though I'm pissed off that someone would do this, I'm hoping like hell that it's really not true! I wished they'd just get back together and call it day. Don't you just love this photo? :)

A quick exerpt from their bio:
Eric B. was born Eric Barrier in 1965 in Elmhurst, Queens; his future partner, William Griffin, Jr., was born in 1968 and also hailed from the suburbs of New York, specifically Wyandanch, Long Island. At age 16, Griffin converted to Islam and adopted the name Rakim Allah. Barrier played trumpet and guitar early on, but switched to the turntables in high school, and eventually landed a job as the mobile DJ for radio station WBLS. It was there that he met Rakim, and the two officially formed a partnership in 1985. Their first single -- "Eric B. Is President" (an ode to Barrier's DJ skills) b/w "My Melody" -- was released on the tiny Harlem-based indie label Zakia. It was a street-level sensation during the summer of 1986, and the duo was picked up by the larger 4th & Broadway imprint. The equally monumental singles "I Ain't No Joke" and "I Know You Got Soul" sampled James Brown and his cohort Bobby Byrd, respectively, and their utter funkiness began to revolutionize the sound of hip-hop. Moreover, Rakim's line "pump up the volume" on the latter track was in turn sampled itself, becoming the basis for M/A/R/R/S' hit of the same name.

No More Fallin' For The Okey-Doke

The only person's happiness I am responsible for is my own, just as you are responsible for yours. So, I don't appreciate it when others try to force their misguided, grossly overstated, skewed and unrealistic expectations on me. And then when I tell you what's really going on, you simply gloss right over my point of view only to reiterate your own...as if I'm some sort of iditot who cannot get what you are saying (or as if what you're saying is so much more important than what I've said)...even though most of what you're saying makes absolutely no sense, yet somewhere in the far-reaching recesses of your mind, it makes sense to you. Most of all, don't give me this politically-correct, democratic bull-tihs about wanting to talk about your feelings and listen to what I have to say so that there are no future misunderstandings. (Haven't we heard this before???) Well, guess what, sweetheart...

...as long as you continue to see yourself as a victim in every fckng situation, neglect to recognize and understand your actions, and constantly twist people's words around...I promise you that you will continue to experience plenty more misunderstandings (as you call them)...

To err is human; to see that shznit and acknowledge it, well now, that's DIVINE.

TAG...I'm It!

Got tagged by Alli, so let's just see how this goes, lol. I wouldn't call myself a music junkie, but there's still SO much to choose from! What can I say? I love what I love...so here's a sneak peek at what moves me...

To Mellow Back and Relax...
Sade
"Kiss of Life": Love Deluxe

Earth, Wind & Fire
"Can't Hide Love": The Eternal Dance

Maxwell
"Submerge: Til We Become The Sun": EMBRYA

Isley Brothers
"Voyage to Atlantis": The Essential Isley Brothers
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When I Need A Good Cry...
Sarah McLachlan
"Stupid": Afterglow (can't tell you how many times I've played this one! lol)

Dido
"My Lover's Gone": No Angel

Erykah Badu
"Ye Yo": [Erykah Badu] Live
++++++++++++++++++++++++
And Hypes Me Up, No Matter What...

Eric B. & Rakim
"Move the Crowd": Paid in Full and "I Ain't No Joke": Gold

Anthony Hamilton
"Mama Knew Love" and "Since I Seen't You": Comin' From Where I'm From

OutKast
"Ova da Wudz": ATLiens

Ludacris
"Southern Hospitality": Back For The First Time
======================
^^^^^^B_O_N_U_S

To Reveal My Seductive Side...
TLC - "Take Our Time": CraZySeXyCool
Xscape - "Softest Place on Earth": Traces of My Lipstick
Maxwell - "Sumthin' Sumthin' ": Love Jones soundtrack
Jodeci - "U & I": Forever My Lady

Any takers for me to tag?? Come on, it'll be fun...and you just might like it...lol

Harlem World

It's times like these when a sista needs a camera phone. Saw so many things (and people) that were funny, nasty or in some way outrageous, but images definitely meant to be captured. Even though I'm really not a fan of crowds, I did enjoy the energy I felt on 135th this weekend for the Harlem Week Festival.

Thirty-one years of the people in Harlem coming together to celebrate some of what makes Harlem what it is. Did not feel as connected or a part of the HW experience when I lived here the first time, but after these last couple of years, I'm a little more into the spirit of things. Now, I feel a little territorial and possessive of this place...certainly did not see THAT coming in like, a zillion years! lol So, it's clear to see how seeing people who I would say don't necessarily belong grates on my nerves. I'm not going to pretend that I'm not prejudice and extremely protective of my own. But, I'm going to spare everyone the soapbox on that one, b/c I could go on for days...

Instead, I will focus on how great it made me feel to be a part of this celebration. I enjoyed discovering the talented artists that are out there. I have a t-shirt that a sista painted for me, that is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I didn't get a change to dig into the food the way I really wanted to, but next time, that will be my mission---first and foremost. And the entertainment...what can I say? We have some characters here, fu sho. Can't even begin to tell you how many people me and my girl were cracking up at. Lots of ridiculousness running around, and I found it to be quite hilarious.

Also met a few cool people...definitely have to shout out the Rastas who were so cool, and the young brother, Fame and his crew, trying to make their music happen. Big ups to cutie-pie, Mr. FDNY...too bad we didn't get a chance to chat...maybe next year, lol. And to the dude stuttin' his stuff to the "Stayin' Alive" music that HAD to've been playing in his head...
playon, playa...

Getting Better With Time

AGING GRACEFULLY

The other day a young person asked me how I felt about being old. I was taken aback, for I do not think of myself as old. Upon seeing my reaction, he was immediately embarrassed, but I explained that it was an interesting question, and I would ponder it, and let him know.

Old Age, I decided, is a gift.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body: the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror, but I don't agonize over those things for long. I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly.

As I've aged, I've become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to overeat, to be messy, to be extravagant. I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 a.m, and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love...I will. I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things. Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when abeloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turn gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

I can say "no," and mean it; I can say "yes." and mean it.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong. So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day.

Today, I wish you a day of ordinary miracles.

And I am not looking back because I am not going in that direction!
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One of my close friends sent this to me, and I wanted to share it. Many fear getting old (including me), so I love the way this expresses the blessings, grace and beauty associated with "maturity". This piece encourages me to live each day as fully as possible, live it with love and it reminds me to simply, be...

Free Your Mind

I went to the Anthology Film Archives tonight for a screening of four documentaries, and my heart and mind are so full so please bear with me. There are so many things I'm thinking and feeling as a result of what I saw and the people I spoke to that it may not all come out the way I would like. The important thing is that I get this out.

Film #1: An Artists' Libido
This was about Anne Brown, a black soprano opera singer, who at age 23 sang as Bess in the musical Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin.

I've never seen Porgy and Bess, but they showed bits and pieces from the musical. At the time of the filming, Ms. Brown was 92 years old. Still sharp as a tack, and so on it. She talked about the flack she received from the other black performers who were more veteran than she for being the "doctor's daughter" and of the "bourgeois". I loved how she said it didn't bother her because besides not allowing their treatment of her to affect the performance, she held some contempt for them because they acted as though they were better than her. She was younger, yet equally talented, and didn't allow things they said to get her off her game. This is a film you'd have to see for yourself to fully appreciate it. One other part that stuck w/me most was how she refused to perform at a theater in Baltimore because it was segregated and no blacks were allowed to enter. The theater management told her that she was under contract and she was going to get out there and sing. But this amazing lady stuck to her guns and refused to sing. She felt it was ridiculous for a black cast to sing for a room full of white people when her own parents, siblings, and schoolmates weren't allowed to come. *If I could have an ounce of this lady's courage, there's no telling what I could accomplish.*

Film #2: Black Sharcropping Crops Blacks
This film was about the struggles of the black farmer, particularly the sharecropper in the south. It also touched on the suit that was filed by some of these tobacco farmers against the Department of Agriculture. Funny, how they won the suit to the tune of $2.3 billion for discrimination and racially unjust lending practices, yet 80,000 did not receive the compensation they are due and are still fighting for it.

This film was especially close to my heart because the farmers were in North Carolina, near where I'd been born and had lived for a time. I could definitely relate to that struggle in a way because my great-uncle was a farmer and essentially, we lived on a farm. My mom and her sisters and brothers know that struggle much more intimately because they lived it. Both my mom and dad dropped out of school in the 11th grade to help work on the farm. My uncles went into the military to escape this life, and three of my mom's sisters went to college and grad school. But my mom stayed. One of the farmers interviewed had also dropped out of school. Farm work was the number one priority, and it had to be done, regardless. Many kids didn't get to go to school when fall came because cotton had to be picked. Millery did a great job in capturing the soul and spirit of these family's struggles to make it and make a life for themselves and their children in spite of the numerous hardships and setbacks they faced. This resilience amazes me, and what's so great about it, is that we all have it; it's just not often called upon. Yet, it's there, and we need to dig deep and excavate that in ourselves.

Film #3: Africa Unite!
This filmmaker covered the Bob Marley 60th Birthday Celebration held in Ethiopia

UNICEF sponsored the 3-day symposium held as part of the celebration, and youth from other African countries to share their concerns, speak their minds about whatever social, political or economic issues plague their countries. (There was a lot of information given in this film, and I'm trying to keep it as accurate as possible. This is my best effort from memory....) Something that one of the African leaders said that was so on point was how when an African country does not want Pepsi to open a plant, at one time officials could be bribed in an effort to have this plant built, but when all the "white" countries ban together to form the World Trade Organization (WTO) and enforce economic sanctions and trade embargos on this country if it does not accept this Pepsi plant into it's country. How sick is that?? And I have to shout the youth in this documentary because they spoke their minds outright about things they saw as injustices and were there to find a way to make things better. Kids from countries all over Africa. It was such a beautiful sight. Would have been even more awesome to have been there!

Film #4: Exploring Relationships at 35 (not exact title)

Anjanette Levert's film was defnitely a bit of a hilarious spin on what she was experiencing on her 35th birthday and finding herself still single.

She narrated some parts w/her own funny commentary, other parts showed her with a group of her close female friends who were also 35, single, and without children. Anjanette also included clips of an interview she had with the gentleman who started that Harlem Men's Club (and I had the pleasure of having him sit one person over from me. Ugh! If only ya'll could have heard some of the chauvinistic comments homeboy made. Unbelievable.) And, the parts that included those clips were some of the funniest because when he said something crazy, you'd hear her say, "WHAT did he just say?!! Let's rewind that!" It was entertaining and so real. I wish I could remember some specific things this guy said in that interview, but if any of you have heard anything about him and his club, I'm sure you can fill in the blanks. I really liked how Anjanette's film touched on such sensitive issues that so many professional, successful, independent black women face. Oh, and one of the statistics this guy sited as the reason many black women will remain single is that 12% of blacks in this country are college-educated and 62% of those blacks are female. Sure, it sounds hella bleak for women in their 30s or approaching their 40s, but my friend, "Che" had a good point he didn't get a chance to raise that night. The meat of it (and I'm paraphrasing) is that we are getting smarter and eventually this trend is going to begin reversing itself. That made me feel pretty hopeful because I was beginning to wonder, wow, are things going to continue to deteriorate for black women.

I also want to shout out Che's pub for the Black August Film Fest. I always learn something at these kinds of events and walk away more enlightened and stretched intellectually than before I got there. Let's make a concerted effort to support these events, organizations and individuals.

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My celebrity sighting:
Peter Parros aka Dr. Benjamin Robert "Ben" Harris, As the World Turns

^I know I am such a loser for getting all excited about meeting this actor, but I don't care. I grew up watching this soap on CBS, so I politely expressed my appreciation. :P^

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

REVOLUTION
n 1: a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving

"... in order to be a true revolutionary, you must understand love.

Love, sacrifice, and death."
Sonia Sanchez (b. 1934), U.S. poet. Black Women Writers at Work, ch. 10, by Claudia Tate (1985).

Survey Says...

...85% of Black Women would choose a man in a suit and tie versus a man in work boots...


I'm sorry, but that just doesn't sound right to me. And of course, this is just one perspective on the matter. Maybe there are a lot of women who feel this way...or maybe I'm protective of the images and perceptions placed on black women by society overall. That "conclusion" seems to misrepresent what (I would hope) many of us are about, and give us a bad rep in general. We're not all golddiggers, superficial socialites or money-grubbing b****es.

This statement says to me that most of us only pay the most attention to how a man is dressed and what he looks like on the outside when determining who we'd rather be approached by. Now don't get me wrong...There is nothing like a fine brother in a nice suit. I'll give that much. He's nice to look at. But that doesn't mean that he's not a womanizing, lying, cheating, abusive a**hole. And frankly, I would check a man in work boots and no shirt while he's outside working hard making that framework into a beautiful building. Just because he's not "decked out" at the time does not mean that he doesn't have money---he possibly makes more and has more in the bank than Mr. S & T---have taste or class, doesn't know how to act or have a sensitive nature.

I could go on and on about my man in work boots, so I'll leave him be---for now. ;) But I will say that I would rather our brothas did not see us in such a negative light. Relationships are hard enough for us as it is without adding all this extra nonsense. I guess I'm so concerned about this because as a black woman I don't appreciate the misconceptions floating around about who we are and what we're about. And who in the hell did these people survey, anyway??? It is true that there are some women who would turn their noses up at a man who's a blue collar worker; I can't deny that. But I refuse to believe that most of us are like that.

Maybe I'm biased, a little naive or hopelessly optimistic and want to look at black women in the best possible light; probably because I don't see myself as being a part of that 85%. At least that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it! (jk) I'm part of the majority of women who love our men, believe in them, want to see them for who they are rather than what they have or wear, and want to care for them. That survey didn't discuss how we have to deal with a lot of crap of our own that other people don't have to deal with; we have to hold ours down because if we don't, no one else will. We've been forced to get to a point where we have to rely solely on ourselves because a lot of our brothas aren't in a position to take care of us so that we can in turn take care of them.

It really is quite a sad state of affairs...

^As a sidenote, I almost went to blows with this brotha after bringing this statistic to my attention. I was shocked that he was talking like he believed this.^

We Are A Power-FULL Creation

A friend of mine sent this to me, and I thought it was so appropriate.
Not only should we remind ourselves of our own awesomeness, but
should remind our sistas when we can---not everyone is at a place
where she is able to live it.


One Flaw In Women

By the time the Lord made woman, He was into his sixth
day of working overtime.

An angel appeared and said, "Why are you spending so
much time on this one?"

And the Lord answered, "Have you seen my spec sheet on
her? She has to be completely washable, but not
plastic, have over 200 movable parts, all replaceable
and able to run on diet coke and leftovers, have a lap
that can hold four children at one time, have a kiss
that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart-and she
will do everything with only two hands."

The angel was astounded at the requirements. "Only two hands!? No way!
And that's just on the standard model? That's too much work for one
day. Wait until tomorrow to finish."

But I won't," the Lord protested. "I am so close to
finishing this creation that is so close to my own
heart. She already heals herself when she is sick AND
can work 18 hour days."

The angel moved closer and touched the woman. "But you
have made her so soft, Lord."

"She is soft," the Lord agreed, "but I have also made
her tough. You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish."

"Will she be able to think?", asked the angel.

The Lord replied, "Not only will she be able to think,
she will be able to reason and negotiate."

The angel then noticed something, and reaching out,
touched the woman's cheek.

"Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this model.
I told you that you were trying to put too much into
this one."

"That's not a leak," the Lord corrected, "that's a
tear!"

"What's the tear for?" the angel asked.

The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her
joy, her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her
love, her loneliness, her grief and her pride."

The angel was impressed. "You are a genius, Lord.
You thought of everything! Woman is truly amazing."

And she is!

Women have strengths that amaze men.

They bear hardships and they carry burdens, but they
hold happiness, love and joy.

They smile when they want to scream.

They sing when they want to cry.

They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are
nervous.

They fight for what they believe in.

They stand up to injustice.
They don't take "no" for an answer when they believe
there is a better solution.

They go without so their family can have.

They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.

They love unconditionally.

They cry when their children excel and cheer when
their friends get awards.

They are happy when they hear about a birth or a
wedding.

Their hearts break when a friend dies.

They grieve at the loss of a family member, yet they
are strong when they think there is no strength left.

They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken
heart.

Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you to show
how much they care about you.

The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep
turning. They bring joy, hope and love. They have
compassion and ideals. They give moral support to
their family and friends. Women have vital things to
say and everything to give.

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN, IT IS THAT
THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.