So You Want To Be Rap Star?

I know I had no business picking up a mic, but I lost a bet.

As if the rap game isn’t already over populated, you can now add a recent Division I Football de-committee. That’s right, Jay Harris (whose rap name is Jay DatBull) had a scholarship with a full ride to play football for Michigan State, until he decided football wasn’t in his heart anymore and to pursue his true love, rap. Oh and he’s released a video.

Obviously it’s too early to say whether Harris has made a good or a bad decision, but I can honestly tell you, the fact that he turned down a full ride with a possibility (no matter how small or how great) to play professional football someday, to make a song sounding like an educated Chief Keef (Which is kind of like being the smart Kardishian) makes as much sense as Usher not marrying Chili but marrying Tom, I mean Tameka (you know she has man-like features).

Harris isn’t the first rapper to choose rap over a college education. Will Smith, whose SAT scores were good enough for MIT, even though he had no intention of going to college, also did it, so it can be done. But to say that Harris is the next Fresh Prince, is like saying Nene has talent; while it may be true, it has yet to be seen.

Now I’m all for believing in and being true to yourself while not being discouraged by the naysayers. But having said that, there is such a thing as suffering from high-self esteem, like Kanye West wearing one of Envogue’s old leather skirts and thinking that shit is cool, you start believing the voices in your own head.

I’m not judging the homie. It’s his life and he doesn’t have to live for me, but the decision to forego an easier path for one that’s as treacherous as R. Kelly chaperoning a Girl Scout outing (I’d advise against it), has me wondering whether he ate paint chips or was dropped on his head as a child.

I do wish him luck in his chosen profession and I hope he has a long career. I also hope that he has sense enough to have something to fall back on “just in case.” If not, I’m sure Yung Jeezy is always hiring a weed carrier.

What do you think? Did he make a good decision? Do you think he’ll be a success?

Talk to me, I’ll talk back.

Breazy The Narrator.

Don’t Judge Me.

You know, you want to look at that all gold everything.

We all have those things that we like, that we hope no one finds out about. Those things that might make others cringe if they knew we liked. For example for all you natural sistahs busting it wide open to Bands A make her dance, looking like pro-black strippers, we won’t judge you. Or all you so called “real” hip hop fans bobbing your heads to all gold everything while cursing the ghost of Gucci Mane’s midwife (you know Gucci looking like he’s 6 months pregnant), get a pass too.

So after much consideration I started thinking about some things that I liked even if being met with the side eye. I present to you some of Breazy’s guilty pleasures that I have no problem admitting – not that there’s anything wrong with them – and since you all know that I can make lists and count to 10, I decided to guess what? Make a list. Like to hear it? Hear it goes.

Potpourri

I know I mentioned my fondness for potpourri in another post, but I don’t think that you all are peeping game. My mother has always had bags and bowls of potpourri around our houses, whether we lived in Denver, Europe, Hawaii or the ATL, and I always liked the way it smelled. Up until my 23rd birthday, I thought all houses smelled liked potpourri.

Ratchet rap.

I have a hard time calling what’s being played on the radio these days hip hop, but being an avid fan of West Coast hip hop fan I am just happy that the Left Coast is getting any attention. What is Ratchet music you ask? It’s the newest party music coming from the West Coast and comes equiped with it’s own slang. Words like “turn up” or function can usually be heard in ratchet songs. Thanks to artists like Tyga, Problem and even established artists such as E-40 have all adapted the sound of ratchetness. That’s right, all the hoodrats with 3 different textured weaves in their hair have their own soundtrack.

Hole in the walls.

Everybody knows that the best places to get the strongest drinks for the cheapest prices are neighborhood bars that turn into clubs after 9:00. places where the dress code consists of gold teeth, air force ones, coogi sweaters and white tees ( for my southern folks).

Tyga

I’m sorry this dude has reinvented himself into a genius. While he isn’t known for his lyricism, his videos should win awards for the visuals, not to mention his videos sound better with the sound off.

Master P

That’s right you read correctly, Master P. You can say what you want, and a lot of my born and bred East Coast homies have all blamed the decline of hip hop on Master P, and all but called him the devil, but give me another person who had a better run from 96-99 in hip hop.

Trinidad James’s All Gold Everything song and video

Let me start by saying this I hate this song and everything Trinidad James stands for, but let me tell you because of people like him, I am glad that I went to college. Am I judging? HELL YES! I may have a year and a half left, but I’m glad that I can put together complete sentences without sweating from popping’ a molly.

Los Angeles Lakers

Yes I know I am behind enemy lines living on the East Coast with all these East Coast biased snobs, but I will rep for my team until the cows come home, or at least until we raise the next championship banner.

Well that’s all the guilty pleasures that I can think of right now, what are some of yours?

Talk to me, I’ll talk back.

Breazy.

Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe.

I’m pretty sure you know, work with or maybe even dated someone that is a killjoy. A person that no matter what always seems to find the negative in everything and never has anything positive to say. The person that you try to avoid at all costs because you know that if they get a whiff of your happiness or enjoyment they will try to find a way to sabotage it so that you can be unhappy like them.

Single girlfriends that you don’t want to share details of your relationships with because you know they are only going to point out of your s/o flaws with the hopes that your relationship will end so that the both of you can be miserable and man less together.

Or friends that whenever something good is happening in your life you make it a point to not tell them because instead of giving encouragement they will only let you know why you aren’t deserving of it.

I like to refer to these types of people as Eeyore, as in Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh. Eeeyore just like some people that we know was the most depressive, energy sapping and negative one of the crew, who never had anything to good say about other people.

It’s a shame because most of them didn’t start out this way, maybe something happened along the way that changed their outlook on life. Maybe they suffered a major disappointment, was hurt by a friend or the felt they were passed over for something they felt they deserved. Whatever the case maybe they cannot or refuse to have a positive outlook.

So why do we still call these people friends? Well for a couple of reasons, maybe we grew up together, their family members, they weren’t always like that, or out of pity. The last example is probably the worst and most selfish reason why we still consider them a friend. Pitying someone who you cannot confide in, share happiness with or give you a word of encouragement when needed is doing you and that person a great disservice. Not only are you not being a real friend to them you are enabling their behavior. Besides who wants to be pitied anyway? You wouldn’t want someone who only keeps you around because it makes them feel better about themselves for befriending a social reject.

There are two options to take when dealing with a killjoy. The first one being avoidance, which is almost impossible since they are in our everyday lives making avoiding them difficult. And the second one being “hurting them a little now, so that they won’t hurt a lot later” and this can be done by being upfront and honest with them about their attitude. If they are a true friend they may get upset when you point out their negativity but will accept that you are just trying to help them because you care.

While neither option is fool proof it is better to take a proactive approach when dealing with people like this rather than to let negativity build up to the point that you wish they would go play on the freeway with oncoming cars.

What do you think, do you know anybody like this? If so how do you deal with them? Do you try to nip it in the bud in the beginning? Or do you just cut them off and wash your hands of them?

Talk to me, I’ll back.

Breazy The Narrator.

Freak Me!.

Freak Me!..

Freak Me!.

Play this while wearing a condom.

Happy Friday good people, I hope that you all had a good week. Mine was slower than Mase’s vocal coach. By the way, who do you thinks talks slower? Mase, Fabolous or Loon? Between the three of them, I’m pretty sure they have used up a lot of people’s pre-paid minutes plans.

Anyways, after much consideration and a recent bout of writers block, I thought I would share with you something that’s near and dear to my heart: songs from Breazy’s “Something For The Ass Mixtape Vol.1″. These songs, along with my unlimited sexiness Breazyness, have helped me to lay more black women on their backs and in between my sheets than big six and Essence magazine, when I was a bachelor. So I present to you a couple of songs from “Something For The Ass Mix tape Vol.1″. Please proceed with caution, please use responsibly and enjoy. **admin note** I will not be held responsible for un-expected births.

**click the link to hear the songs**

I Gotta Be – Jagged Edge

Now That We Are Done – 112

Uhh Ahh – Boyz II Men

The Way – Jill Scott

Next Lifetime – Erykah Badu

Shhh – Tevin Campbell

Ribbon In The Sky – Stevie Wonder

Freaks Of The Industry – Digital Underground

Flex – Flex

Beauty – Dru Hill

Say Yes – Floetry

Get It Wet – Twista

So, there you have it, these are just a couple of songs that helped sealed the deal when it was time to get some cheeks on cheeks on cheeks. What songs would make the cut for your adult time mixtape?

Talk to me, I’ll talk back.

Breazy The Narrator.

Who Are We To Judge?

You know being from Denver (where we are 9.9 percent of the population), living in Germany and having a name that if you saw written down you would swear I was white. I’ve had my blackness questioned 60-11 times by other blacks. Assumptions ranging from only liking white women to you “oh think you better than us because to your daddy lives with you”. As stupid as the assumptions are they are usually voiced when someone meets me for the first time, meaning their opinion of me was based upon how I look.

Being that we are all visual people and our site is usually our first line of defense, we fairly or unfairly judge each other (whether we want to admit or not) based on their looks. Tattoos, facial piercings and a facebook screen name like LaKeisha Stuntinonthesehoes Mays, may cause some to think that she is a member of the twerk team. While a business suit, attaché case and luxury car may cause us to assume the person is a business (wo)man.

It’s these kind of assumptions that can either save us from getting involved with the wrong person or end being one of 12 men being blood tested on Maury. So to demonstrate just a shallow we are I present to you Breazy’s visual association which is similar to word association but with pictures because you know the best way to hide something from ninjas is put it in a book.

Assumption: Gay beautician from Atlanta or Detroit name Toine who is a big Will and Grace fan and shops at H&M. Or could be a reformed L.A. gang member.

Assumption: Name Keisha from the Eastside of insert city, loves busting it wide open while stunting on you hoes.

Assumption: Business woman or owns her own business. Makes more than 85% of her male counterparts, drives a 750 series BMW. Pledged AKA and enjoys brunch with bottomless mimosas. Oh as quiet as kept loves tea bagging

Assumption: Token black guy, who doesn’t listen to hip hop except for post 2008 Jay-Z and Kanye West. Drives a hybrid and drinks Heineken light was probably voted most likely to die a virgin.

Assumption: A vegan who burns incense and wears body oils. Smokes weed “you know to free her mind”, shops at farmers markets, reads books by James Baldwin, name is Isis (birth name Lisa, but don’t tell anyone) and is a poet.

Assumption: Drives an Audio, wears sunglasses at night and a bowtie to a lounge. Always networking, gets a mani and a pedicure. Doesn’t actually goes on dates, just “hangs out” with women. Drinks Nuvo and gets upset if he misses the free before 10:30 drinks special

Well there you have it, as much as we like to think we aren’t superficial or judgmental we can’t but help let what we see dictate how we feel about people.

Are there any “types” that causes you to judge people?

Talk to me, I’ll talk back.

Breazy the great.

Question Of The Day.

Do Black men that prefer light skinned women to brown/dark skinned women do so because they generally like light-skinned women or because they are conditioned to?

Talk to me, I’ll talk back.

Breazy the Narrator.

I Wish You Wouldn’t Trust Me So Much.

Baby, I swear we were just praying.

I recently listened to Maxwell’s great song Bad Habits, which is no great revelation. To tell you the truth, I don’t know why I searched my iTunes for that particular song, but after listening to it for the first time in a long time I was able to come up with today’s post. You see, I was stumped and coming up blank on what to write, and no matter what I watched, listened to or thought about helped. But for some reason, Bad Habits parted the heavens, and a ray of light in the form of inspiration descended upon me.

Now for those that aren’t familiar with the song Bad Habits, it’s a tale of two people – a man and a woman – you have to specify the sex these days, who are addicted to each other while both are in relationships with other people. But for some reason; whether it’s because they don’t want to, refuse to, or just can’t, shake the monkey that is on their backs. The video stars a delictable Kerry Washington aka Lady Heroin as the other woman and Maxwell as the conflicted yet very taken husband who engages in erotic sex, ducking in and out of hotel rooms so as not to be found out by both of their significant others.

This song resonates with me in ways most songs don’t (if you don’t mind me keeping it 100) in that it eerily reminds me of myself and a situation I know all too well. How well? Well, let’s just say my wandering eye, with aid of another, was the last nail in the coffin of a past yet dying relationship.

You see, I knew what I was doing and I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t care. While the situation was totally unexpected and caught me by surprise, I tried lying to myself by denying what I was feeling and reminding myself I was already with someone, but the damage was already done. I was jonesing for my new habit.

So, that’s enough of my Taxi Cab confessions; What say ye have you ever been so enraptured by someone or something that you had to have it at all costs without regard for how it would affect others?

Talk to me, I’ll talk back.

Breazy The Narrator.

You Know What Grinds My Gears?

Shout out to my homie Leon Scott over at http://www.ListenToLeon.net who also hosts “You Know What Grinds My Gears?”, a public forum that allows people to vent and get shit off of their chests every month.

So sticking with that theme I decided to share with you a list of things that Grinds Breazy’s Gears.

1. Ghetto Ass Facebook Names.

Now I’m not talking about real names or even nick names, I mean people’s names with the made up middle name that makes you assume they either have a WIC card or they can’t possibly have a job. For example Daniel Ibegettingmoney Smith.

2. (Facebook profiles) Women

Profile picture looking like she’s a Frederick of Hollywood model, name – Keisha baddestbossbitch Brown, 100 profile pictures of her busting it wide open”, two pictures of her baby, and profile status Stay Blessed.

Men

profile picture shirtless, holding a handful of cash (probably monopoly), name Rico realestn*ggacashinchecks Jones, 100 pictures of him and his homies one if any of his child, and profile status Get Like Me.

3. People that leave a message on your voicemail asking are you there. Whether or not the person is actually there, you asking if there is not going to make them answer the phone.

4. People that ask you what you are doing or about to do, after you just told them. For example me: I’m going to the store
other person: You about to go to the store?

5. Haters

How is it everybody has haters? Even Wal-Mart Cashiers have haters these days. I’m tired of seeing Target cashiers with mix matching weaves in their head talking about they “stuntin on these hating ass hoes”.

6. Stevie J’s facial expressions.

Do I really need to say more?

7. Russell Westbrook’s wardrobe

I swear every time I see this dude do an after game press conference it looks like he fought Steve Urkel and an old retired Jewish man that moved to Boca Raton FL.

8. Couples that Blast their relationship problems all over social media.

I could never understand why two adults would talk about their s/o cheating or not being supportive on FB, twitter, Myspace, etc.. But then get mad and say you are in their business if you ask them about it.

9. Trinidad James being named one of XXL’s “Freshmen Class for 2013“

Not only does he look like the love child of Jerome from Martin and Big Gipp from Goodie MOB, but even compared to today’s rap IMO he’s garbage and that’s saying a lot.

10. Dwight Howard.

This dude is softer than clothes washed with bounty. He’s also more non-committal than Puffy. Between him holding the Orland Magic hostage for three season by not saying whether or not he would sign with them long term, he’s now doing the same thing to the L.A. Lakers. You know it’s bad when Magic Johnson calls you out, Magic likes everybody.

So these are just a few things that grind my gears. Are there any that you have, that you would like to share?

Talk to me, I’ll talk back.

Breazy

Manifest Destination

Trail blazer!

Manifest Destiny
noun
the belief or doctrine, held chiefly in the middle and latter part of the 19th century, that it was the destiny of the U.S. to expand its territory over the whole of North America and to extend and enhance its political, social, and economic influences. Origin: 1835–45.

Assuming you’ve been living inside of Trinidad James’s afro, I am sure you heard about the first active professional athlete Jason Collins to come out the closet and let the world know that he is gay. And while Collins is no Lewis or Clark, he along with Brittany Griner* are the first current/active players (*Brittany Griner was recently drafted as the number one overall pick in the 2013 WNBA draft by the Phoenix Mercury has yet to play professional basketball) are blazing a path across uncharted territory and land in being the first active playing athletes to come out.

There have been other athletes to come out before Collins and Griner, but they waited till there playing days were over, leaving both Collins and Griner to be the first two athletes to do it while still playing. While Griner coming out wasn’t as big of a shock as Collins nor a surprise due to the facts that everybody that has either seen Griner or seen her play basketball in college assumed she was gay or unfairly that she was a man. Besides the most people just assume most WNBA players are lesbian anyways.

Since we now live in a post-racial and a more tolerant society this is not as big of a deal as it would have happen say 20 years ago. With 50% percent of the population ok with same sex marriage, 8 states that allow gay marriage along with the District of Columbia, and gays being portrayed on TV shows (during primetime) you would think that an active gay player coming out would be expected.

The problem is this, it is a big story and while change is inevitable it can still be feared. Collins coming out may have gotten less traction than Tim Tebow being cut by the New York Jets by sports outlets yesterday but believe me by this weekend every media outlet will run the story into the ground.

One reason why it’s not as big as it could be now is because, and I’m keeping it real as far a professional athletes are concerned, Collins is a nobody. He isn’t a player whose name is recognizable or put up big stats when playing. Another reason is this is the off season for a lot of NBA teams and Collins is a free agent, currently not on any teams roster. Basically unless you are playing in the playoffs right now, the news surrounding your team will receive minimal coverage at best.

And here is where things get tricky, because sports news is quiet for a lot of NBA teams and like I mentioned Collins not being on a current roster, it’s easy for this story to be a non issue. Yes he’s receiving a lot of praise and support from players from all sports.

But once the season starts back will future teammates and team ownership be as supportive or even want Collins on their team? We all know how homophobic and testorone filled male locker rooms can be, you have players that are afraid to shower with or in front of other players just because “they don’t if the other person is gay and they don’t want them looking at them”. It’s easy to support somebody you don’t have to deal with on a daily basis, or from a distance.

Unfortunately something like this could potentially determine whether or not he is signed by another team, I hope I’m wrong though. Sports is a business and most owners are more concerned with filling seats than the a players level of comfort.

But I’m sure Jason Collins has thought all of this through and is willing to accept any backlash (if any) or apprehension that he may receive. Though it must be said he should be applauded for his courage and willingness to not only come out but to come out confidently, letting the world know this is who I am, I could give a damn what you think, take it or leave it.

What do you think about Jason Collins coming out? Do you think that it will give other athletes the courage to do the same? Do you even care?

Talk to me, I’ll talk back.

Breazy.