I treat my mom like shit. Now, I don't hit her. I don't yell at her. I don't curse at her. I just don't listen to her. I don't take her criticism well. I don't tell her I love her. I don't show her I love her. I love her.

Sometimes I treat my wife like shit. Nww, I don't hit her. Sometimes I yell at her. Sometimes I curse at her. I always listen to her. I take her criticism well, I tell her I love her. I try to show her I love her. I love her.

I treat women I don't know well. I never hit them. I never yell at them. I never curse at them. I listen carefully. I take criticsm well. I don't love these women.

Holy Kris Kross! I got my shit backwards, yo.

I have these women in my life that have given everything they have and I take them for granted. I have these other women who have given me nothing, but they get charming, kind, and classy Joe.

I'm trying. Trust me, I'm trying.

Believe it or not, I used to be a speech major in college. I took classes in debate, public speaking and interpersonal communication. Speaking was always something I've always felt confident doing ever since high school. I was the emcee of all our rallies during my senior year. My cousin asked me to fly out to Calgary to emcee a reception in her family. Hell, my high school job required me to speak in front of thousands of people a day. I've had people at job interviews compliment me on my confidence during the interview. My spoken words have a dexterity about them, as if they could

I speak well. I speak uniquely. I used to hear it all the time. I was once told that I was an instruemnt of God and that my ability to communicate would get the word of God to more people than I could ever imagine. Talk about fuckin' pressure. I even had a girl compliment me back in 11th grade, telling me that I had a "unique eloquence". The ironic thing was that I had no idea what "eloquent" meant at the time.

But I do like being articulate. Learning a new word to use to me is like a carpenter buying a new tool or an artist discovering a new stroke. I love talking. To anybody. I think speaking to people makes me feel comfortable, almost like a security blanket. I get a lot of affirmation from others through communicating orally. When people don't talk to me, it almost feels insulting, as if they are shuting me out by ignoring my words. But even deeper than that, they are ignoring my feelings and ideas.

My wife is a good listener. I think that's why we work. My feelings flow out of me constantly, and it takes a good ear to hear what I'm feeling. My son on the other had has corks in his ear. Okay, he's three. But damn, he doesn't listen to shit and I can't stand it.

I just typed those few paragraphs out and I realized that none of it makes sense , is not coherent, nor does it bear anything that may interest you or anybody for that matter. Forgive me readers-er "reader", for I don't know what I do, but I do know that my blog sucks. This writing shit sucks. I wish I could have a face to face chat with all of you to get a true taste of my personality. This Internet shit doesn't pick up voice inflections, tones or cadence. I have a lot of important shit to say and writing isn't exactly the best way to get it out me. Ahh fuck, go read Ryan. That mutherfucker said some crazy shit on Saturday.

I take detours in this muthafucka. I used to hate myself for straying from that path I set years ago. I look at my life, and although it may not fit some expectations like a glove, I'm like Coke Escovedo and "I Wouldn't Change A Thing". Life's a bitch, but I took that bitch, bent her over and fucked her. She can't be a backseat driver forever. Always telling me I'm driving too fast or that I'm going the wrong way and shit. I took the steering wheel and went off-roading. I'm blazing more trails than Rasheed, yo.

People look at my life and consider me a failure, as if I somehow fell short of something. Fuck failure. The only goals I feel like achieving are the ones that I set for myself. On a journey up some of these hills, I'd run into something new to shoot for. Serendipity is my friend and Lady Luck has me on her shit list. I spend too much time thinking about what could have been and not enough time cherishing what I have. These past months have been good. I look back on my shortcomings and I've learned from them. Remember when Iron Mike was poppin' off at the mouth talking about Lennox Lewis' kids and wanting to destroy him? Well, I'm that confident. You can call me The Grouch because success is destiny.

So what you can't write a book about my life? Who gives a fuck if this shit isn't movie worthy? Man, this shit isn't even blog worthy, ya know? But fuck what you heard, I'm happy man. Life is good and it can only get better.

Now get the fuck outta my Kool-Aid.

Staring at this made me realize that dumb people use the Internet far more than smart people.

Driving home at 5 in the morning everyday from work is somewhat interesting. While I'm driving home to get into bed, most people are either getting up or are already on the road to get to work. There are times like last night when I have to stop and get gas on my way home, and I see these people. Just a hint of oncoming dawn in the sky mixed with a few California clouds is what they wake up to. They get to the gas station, maybe get a coffee and some smokes. And a lot of them DO NOT look happy. I mean, it's fuckin' 5 in the morning. I pull into the gas station with my car stereo bumpin'. I don't have any subwoofers or anything in my car, but it's still pretty loud. You know, typical young asshole type shit. I mean, for me it's only about 8 or 9pm on my body clock, so i can tolerate it. I stand there leaning against my car as the gas pumps and nodding my head to the beat. Maybe it's to some James Brown or Talib Kweli. Either way it's loud, so the reluctant early birds scowl or just look at me confused as they walk by as if asking "How the fuck can you listen to his radio so loud this early in the morning?" with their eyebrows alone.

Ah well, that's what I do now. My days of living a normal life with a schedule that is in tune with most are pretty much over. It's part of the journey, yo. The sacrafices I make right now can shape the rest of my life. I wish somebody told me this 10 years ago.

Oh wait, my mom and dad told me that 10 years ago. I just chose not to listen. Fuck, chalk another one up for the parents.

Poor Rusty

INSANEEQUINE: let me get this straight
muscle6868: ?
INSANEEQUINE: am i the "rail thin Olive Oyl looking chick"?
muscle6868: umm
muscle6868: no
muscle6868: that would be winnie cooper
INSANEEQUINE: AHHH
muscle6868: form the wonder yeard
INSANEEQUINE: ok ok
INSANEEQUINE: ps we aren't a "less popular blog" <3
muscle6868: no?
INSANEEQUINE: nope
muscle6868: oh
muscle6868: you sure?
INSANEEQUINE: positive
muscle6868: hmm
INSANEEQUINE: less popular then say, moxie or instapundit
muscle6868: you dont post often
INSANEEQUINE: more popular than say, you and raymi
INSANEEQUINE: i don't have to!
muscle6868: oh
muscle6868: why wouldnt you
INSANEEQUINE: we get over 1500 visits a day usually
INSANEEQUINE: i'm a busy kid :\ i wish i could
muscle6868: i see
muscle6868: well, im not going for popularity
muscle6868: so thats not a big deal
muscle6868: raymi can be whatever
INSANEEQUINE: well you bought it up ;-) just wanted to let you know you
weren't doing me any favors.
muscle6868: im lost
muscle6868: doing you favors in what regard?
INSANEEQUINE: "It's what we do. We go to the less popular pages and make
them feel special."
muscle6868: you dont feel special?
muscle6868: feeling special is not from hits
INSANEEQUINE: but i'm not sure if you're talking to say anything or
talking
just to talk?
muscle6868: I commented on your blog
muscle6868: that doesn't make you feel special?
INSANEEQUINE: 26 times on the last post?
INSANEEQUINE: not really
muscle6868: why not?
INSANEEQUINE: picking on nate is not nice
muscle6868: Nate donated 100 dollars
INSANEEQUINE: he's a very rich real life friend with deep pockets
muscle6868: if he was that rich
muscle6868: he'd fund the whole thing
INSANEEQUINE: he will
INSANEEQUINE: i told him not to
muscle6868: well then
muscle6868: theres no reason to take anyone elses money
INSANEEQUINE: i'm not letting my friend pay for the whole thing. i'm not
even planning on letting you guys pay for the whole thing. we're just
taking what you feel like giving <3
muscle6868: hmm
muscle6868: but Nate feels like paying for the whole thing
INSANEEQUINE: and i didn't let him.
muscle6868: but he feels like it
muscle6868: and you said you'd take what we feel like giving
muscle6868: so why no?
INSANEEQUINE: i don't feel like letting him pay for the whole thing
INSANEEQUINE: i don't feel like letting anyone pay for the whole thing.
muscle6868: so is this virginia boy gonna get a kiss?
muscle6868: i mean, at least that
muscle6868: its prom
INSANEEQUINE: he has a girlfriend
INSANEEQUINE: who he is taking
muscle6868: wow
INSANEEQUINE: i don't even know who is taking me
muscle6868: poor guy
muscle6868: so Im still curious as to why I ont make you fel special
muscle6868: dont*
INSANEEQUINE: i think it's quality not quantity that makes a girl feel
special.
INSANEEQUINE: that and flowers.
muscle6868: theres quality comments on there?
INSANEEQUINE: are there?
muscle6868: im asking you
muscle6868: its your blog
INSANEEQUINE: i think some of them must be
muscle6868: so you decide what quality is
INSANEEQUINE: with 144 to choose from
muscle6868: but not mine
INSANEEQUINE: i'm just saying, whatever comment you have on the post can
be
said in less than 26 comments?
muscle6868: can it though?
muscle6868: it wont ahve the same feeling
INSANEEQUINE: i think it would have a better feeling :D
muscle6868: hmm
INSANEEQUINE: just a thought.
INSANEEQUINE: kickwhy.dem
INSANEEQUINE: oops
INSANEEQUINE: heeee
INSANEEQUINE: you said you like brutal honesty :D
muscle6868: i think they al have a little something to them
muscle6868: and by clumping them up
muscle6868: their integrity would be compromised
INSANEEQUINE: i will review them later and give you second opinion.
muscle6868: hey, no worries
muscle6868: i dont want you wasting any time on them
INSANEEQUINE: they're my comments, they're like children.
INSANEEQUINE: i am going to post tonight anyway.
muscle6868: you should ask all 1500 to comment
INSANEEQUINE: i know that would be super.
muscle6868: yes it would
muscle6868: so mine would just get lost in the shuffle
INSANEEQUINE: 1500 comments would be better than christmas.
muscle6868: it would?
INSANEEQUINE: well sort of.
muscle6868: i sure hope not
muscle6868: giving gifts and making people smile
muscle6868: or horny guys who love you saying how cute you are 1000 times
INSANEEQUINE: well you know
INSANEEQUINE: our readership is a little more diverse than that
muscle6868: 66%
INSANEEQUINE: probably someplace around there
muscle6868: so, thats 1000 out of 1500
muscle6868: like i said
INSANEEQUINE: actually, i'd say more like 55%
INSANEEQUINE: it could be up since all of the gorillamask plugs
muscle6868: it may
muscle6868: so what does hits get you?
muscle6868: im new to this whole blog thing
INSANEEQUINE: 1500 visits, not hits
muscle6868: whats the diff?
INSANEEQUINE: hits is every time someone visits some aspect of your page..
so someone visits the front page and it loads up 10 pictures and it
registers 11 hits.
INSANEEQUINE: visits is the number of people who came to the front page.
INSANEEQUINE: unique people
muscle6868: i see
muscle6868: gotcha
muscle6868: and what does that get
muscle6868: money?
INSANEEQUINE: it doesn't get me anything at all, since i wrote for half a
year with bascially no visits. wait, it's fun.
INSANEEQUINE: but i started it for me and lauren.
muscle6868: i see
muscle6868: better than christmas
INSANEEQUINE: maybe a really lame christmas.
muscle6868: hmm
muscle6868: if you say so
muscle6868: well, im sorry i upset your comments box
INSANEEQUINE: quite alright
INSANEEQUINE: you just loved them a little too much
INSANEEQUINE: ok, time for me to be productive <3 i don't mean to sound
like a major bitch, i am glad that you read and comment but don't pick on
my
little friend nate he's so very nice.
muscle6868: hes a nerd
muscle6868: but its ok

I ran into an old friend I used to be very close to at a club recently. We chit chatted above the loud music and exchanged frequent smiles. She was asking me about my life and how everything was going. I couldn't, though, help but feel as if it were a diplomatic action rather than actual interest. Her questions were valid, but the actual interest in her eyes wasn't there. She was fuckin' fakin' it like Meg Ryan. She didnt' give a fuck. She's had my number for years, and my email account has been the same for 5 years. But there was no effort there to check on me. I called her from time to time and she'd call me back just so she wasn't the asshole. But she and I both know that if she were ever really interested in my life, she could contact me.

But no. Nothing. She chose not to and now she felt compelled to seem interested and concerned, which was complete bullshit.

I'd rather had no smiles than fake smiles. People mistake fakeness for kindness. I'd rather have someone that dislikes me act like it instead of playing a role. Fuck being fake. I have old "friends" that come at me with that "so how are you doing?" line, when it's way too obvious that they really don't give a fuck. I typically say "Same ol' shit", put it in their pipe for them and let them smoke it. I don't play that shit. Never have, never will. I wanted to say "FUCK YOU" so bad, but I was drunk and I would rather have a cigarette then have people mad at me, the ultimate buzzkill.

I'm not perfect either. I have this habit of talking shit about everybody. Even my friends. And it's true. I talk shit all the time IF talking shit constitutes talking about a person in a critical manner behind their back. Theyr'e my friends, man. Regardless of how they act or what they say, they will always be my friends. I will stand by them in a time of war and I will comfort them in a time of sorrow. Sometimes it's easy talking about a person when they're not around and say nothing when they are there. But that's where I'm different. I'll tell you you did something fucked up behind your back AND to your face. I call a duck a duck. My closest friends are like my brothers. I hold them in such high reguard and I hold them to sometimes unreachable standards. Sometimes I have to call them on it,but I love them regardless. I wouldn't expect any less from them. I kind of wish they would make me more aware of my own faults. Call me on the fucked up shit I do, because I know there is plenty to point out.

My electric toothbrush fuckin' rules. I have no idea how I got away without it for so long. Every time I brush my teeth, I feel refreshed, similar to how you feel after a dentist cleaning. I normally don't shill for products, but this thing has changed the way I look at brushing my teeth. It's actually really fun. What's weird is that I find myself brushing my teeth longer than I did when I had a conventional toothbrush. I want to make sure that every milimeter of my tooth enamel is cleaned properly. I will admit that it's a bit of an adjustment to get used to that bitch. It's a little overwhelming, specially to your gums. It got to the point to where it would tickle. But now, it's all gravity. I love that thing.

"...This morning I woke up

Feelin brand new and I, I jumped up

Feelin my highs and my lows

In my soul, and my goals

Just to stop smoking and stop drinkin

But I been thinkin I got my reasons

Just to get by...

"Get By" - Talib Kweli

I sing this song every day I go to work. That shit is powerful. I don't think people understand the weight that that song carries. I've been meaning to blog about this for a while now. Hip Hop music in the main stream has been pretty negative. But looking back on what has passed in '03, you see songs like The Black Eyed Peas "Where Is The Love?" and Nas' "I Can" along with Talib's "Get By" on mainstream media such as radio and MTV/BET. That's a huge step towards the national and mainstream recognition of Hip Hop as a positive entity.

I was watching the MTV Music awards a few months ago, and I'm typically against watching that shit. I saw Black Eyed Peas perform during the "Pre Show". I was initially indifferent, but then I started to wonder how important this performance could be. The MTV Music awards are played in a ton of countries. Can you imagine how a song like "Where Is The Love" can change the perception of what Hip Hop music is like? Although it was a small performance that took place outside of the theatre, it was still somehow associated with the awards. That along with Nas' nomination for "I Can" were pretty interesting events that night.

It's still kind of weird associating myself with the false pretenses about Hip Hop and "Rap". My friends Group Therapy are a group of aspiring emcees who I am very proud of. When talk about them to people outside of the Hip Hop scene, I feel myself immediately describing them as being "positive" and very different than "what you see on TV". There is this stigma associated with the culture that I identify with and that I love: negativity, misogyny, violence, etc. I'm just glad there are people out there that are looking to change this misconception.

Me and You. Your mama and your cousin too....

I'm the kind of person that gets into the music. Whenever I'm driving somewhere, I play my cd's and I'm shoutin' the lyrics at the top of my lungs. I get down to it, yo. And sometimes I catch people taking a glance and giggling at me. I don't care. Fuck them. This is how I get down. Remember that guy at the club that knows the lyrics to every song and is mouthing them as he dances, making it less and less like he's actually dancing with a woman and more and more like he's performing a dance solo? That's me.

B-Boy Remind said in the latest installment of of the b-boy video magazine Breakvision Vol. 2, that he just wants to see everybody get "free". Get free to the music with no inhibitions and be the ultimate bodily manifistation of music. Can you imagine that? Everybody being able to just vibe to music and enjoy themselves. We're not talkin' about that booty-bling-bling shit. I'm talkin' about the shit that lifts your mind to another level. The music that is put on this earth to uplift and enlighten. We clown people who don't dance the way we think is cool or dress a certain way or talk a certain way. But fuck that. We have too much going on in our own lives to worry about the next man. Express yourself. Honestly and constantly. Don't hold back. Don't worry about what the next man says. Fuck them. Do it for YOU. It doesn't just pertain to the Hip Hop crowd. This is for everybody. I want to get the fuck down and get FREE!!! Like Andre3000 said in "Elevators":

"We live beat to beat like you live check to check.."

I can honestly say that music is the soundtrack of my life. I'll be 80 years old and when a beat comes on that I just feel I'll still be nodding my head. From James Brown to Sum41. From Snoop Dogg to Cibo Mato. If that shit is hot, I'm lovin' it.

I was thisclose to quitting school today. Well, not really today. I was thinking today about quitting school tomorrow. It's been bugging me that a lot of the people I work with don't even have their bachelor's degrees. They do, though, have certifications up their assholes. CCNA, CCDA, MCSE, Oracle, etc. All these acronyms equal a higher pay. What do I have? I have 4 MCP's, which is short for "Microsoft Certified Professional". What does that mean in normal english? That I don't get paid as much. Damn, this is bullshit.

"Kill Bill" Confessionals
Let's play "Which character are they talking about?" Winner gets kudos. Not a Kudos bar, but just kudos.

Ex.1

SPECIFIK: she's CRAZY
SPECIFIK: there's the danger element
SPECIFIK: she might bite my dick off but i'd risk it

Ex.2

D0NNIEVEGA: damn....i have visions of [someone] from Kill Bill in my head
D0NNIEVEGA it's perverted
D0NNIEVEGA: because last time i saw her, she was one armed and rolling down a hill of snow
KoolKeith: amputees need love too
KoolKeith: plus she's hot

Ex.3

SPECIFIC: even though i hate [someone]... her choppin off that dude's head was gangsta

Ex.4

SPECIFIK: [someone] is like the perfect tool of tarintino

Right now, the "Nick at Nite" programming list goes as follows: "The Cosby Show", "Cheers", "Three's Company", "Full House" and "Wings". WINGS!?! Well, 4 out of 5 ain't bad.

Since I work the graveyard shift I get the opportunity to see a lot of these shows, and dammit, TV used to be good. As I watch old episodes of Three's Company, I've realized 2 things: John Ritter was great and Precilla Barnes was HOT. As I watch old episodes of The Cosby Show, I've realized 2 things: Bill Cosby is genius and Lisa Bonet was HOT. As I watch Full House, I've realized 2 things: Dave Coulier was never funny and Lori Loughlin was HOT. As I watch Cheers I've realized 2 things: Cliff had a Bostonian accent that mysteriously disappeared and Kirsty Alley was not HOT.

So what have we learned today? Well, nothing. I just wanted an excuse to post a picture of the Olsen twins.

With the last ours of October winding down, I felt that maybe I should blog. It's been a pretty eventful month. It was my first month as a husband. I visited Las Vegas for the first time. I got my first "real" job. Life is pretty good right now. I'm not exactly rich. I don't have all the bells and whistles that a lot of people have. But I'm happy. I'm very happy and I have a lot to be thankful for. So that is why I felt I needed to blog.

Thanksgiving is in November and I will dedicate this month to being thankful for everything I am blessed with. I will kiss my son on the head and thank God for his health and his love. I will spoon my wife at night and thank her for loving me as much as she does. I will work in the yard with my father like we did when I was a little boy and be thankful for such a har- working, no-nonsense father that has taught me that everything good comes from hard work. I will look at my mother, not as the anti-thesis of everything I am about, but as the woman from whom I am a product and a person to whom I owe my life to.

It sucks that we only give thanks one day a year collectively as a country. I will admit that I do not thank the people I love enough. But I cannot change my ways overnight. I will start with this month. Then I will take the next step and go two months. I know it will be hard but this is something I want to put all my effort into. People have given and given and I've done nothing but take and take. It's time to give back and be thankful. Don't take anything for granted.

Name Dropping.

It has become apparent that my blog isn't worth reading to a lot of people. I know, and I understand. I don't have the beatifully descriptive eloquence of Sahalie. I don't have the great storytelling skills that (nor the eventful life of) Muscle68. I mean, who wants to read about a 24-year-old guy that's married with children? Miss Jennyeah had great stories that kept me coming back. She later developed into a mysterious and cryptic writer that kept me (and apparently others) coming back for more. I have none of these traits.

Basically, I'm just saying thank you to the people I know read this because it's really not much. Kool Keith and Leah were the first. Then jennyeah came around cursing me out. Sahalie popped up every now and then and Muscle68 was brought into this blog-world via my word of mouth. So he's REQUIRED to read. But in all seriousness, thank you.

"That's a huge bitch!!!"

I went to the local Enterprise with my son and my dad to rent a car while my car is in the shop today. The guy that helped us looked dead-on Dale Earnhardt Jr. He stood up and was a legitimate 7 footer. I have never stood next to a guy that large and compared to my dad, he would have been physically intimidating if it weren't for his softspoken-ness and the fact that he was probably 180 pounds soaking wet holding a brick.

P.S.

My wife reads my blog regularly. I love her.

$1100

That's what it comes out to. I spoke with the claims adjuster this morning to see what he thought about my car. First call, busy signal. 10 seconds later with the second call, voice mailbox. Dammit, I missed the alternate phone number. 3rd call, ring twice... "Hello? This is Norm..."

He went on to explain the situation. "Well, we can go about this two ways: You can blah blah blah blah, which will mean that blah blah depreciation blah blah...". I deferred to my dad, since he knows all that insurance jargon and I know, well, diddly squat. I sat there listening to the one-sided conversation. "25% something something. Uhuh. Uhuh. $500 deductible something something. Uhuh. So, $1100?"

Hangs up. "So Joseph, you have to pay $1100." That's cool. I have about half of that in the bank, plus I get my frist paycheck this Friday. That's fine.

15 minutes later, call from Toyota. It's Robert, the service guy. He sounds happy, and I know exactly why. He's getting paid. "Well, I know you heard from the claims adjuster. I just wanted to make sure what we were doing. Oh, and by the way, I wanted to mention some other things our service staff noticed about your car. " He goes on to mention that I need a new air filter and spark plugs and brakes and a v-belt and an idler. I don't know what half that shit is, but knowing how much I've neglected the maintainance of my car I give it the "okay".

$1700.

Oh shit. Now I'm not starving, nor do I have many bills to pay, but that pretty much kicks my entire first check in the ass. All because of that one careless right hand turn. With all this work I'm putting into this shit, I might as well have bought a new car. I mean, damn. Oh well. I need my car back. I can't wait to explain this shit to my wife.

We were driving to the mall yesterday and we saw about 3 fire engines driving in a line in Fairfield. First thing to pop in my head was that they were engines returning from Southern California after helping fighting those unfortunate blazes that have taken homes and more importantly, lives. In a weird "makeshift patriot" moment, I almost felt tempted to honk my horn and give a thumbs up in support of our men in uniform. I mean, damn. I'm not out there fighting. Not many other people would go and fight a fire, even in their own backyards. Right before I shifted my hand to honk the horn, a veil of Californian uncertainty and skepticalism fell over me. What if they aren't coming back from SoCal? Or even worse, what if they laugh at me or flip me off? So with that cloud of doubt hanging over my head, I decided to just keep driving and ignore the big red fire trucks.

Ah well, maybe next time.

One day, I'm going to have to learn how to delete a post so I can delete an unexplainable blank post.

"Kill Bill" is fuckin' sick.

Thanks to the great time change this morning where everybody and their mama got an extra hour to sleep, I was affected in a manner that not many people think about unless it happens to them: I was forced to work and extra hour in my 12 hour shift. Around 10pm last night, Daphne IM's me and asks me if the time would be changing back an hour later on that night. I dismiss it thinking that a)I haven't heard anybody talking about it, and b) doesn't that shit happen in November? After a few minutes of asking around on the 'Net it dawns on me that it was the night. I was unphased at first, but then it hit me. I'm gonna have to work an extra fuckin' hour.

It was the longest shift possible. To top it off, tons of our clients were having scheduled downtimes to take advantage of the extra overnight hour and our web monitors were going off like a fireworks show. What fucked me up the most was that as I was driving home from work at about 5:30, THE SUN WAS COMING UP. You ever see those commercials or movies where people go into a bar or a club when it is daylight, party all through the night and leave just as the sun was coming up? Well, it felt eerily like that except for the fact that I wasn't partying all night. So I guess that means that it wasn't like that at all. Uhh..yeah.

I'm paid salary, so my company pretty much has me by the balls when it comes to overtime. I started to thinking and realized that hey, I get to work an 11 hour shift in six months. MUHAHAHAHAHAH, I got them.

Kool Keith is going to love this. The following post is something I wrote in response to somebody saying that the Rap Artist E-40 wasn't "real" Hip Hop.

The West Coast Hip Hop has a different "foundation" as opposed to other parts of the country. What you percieve to be "true Hip Hop music" will obviously be different that what someone like myself would appeciate, so I respect and understand your opinion, Xcel. But let's be serious. Other than "Automatic", what other 40 joints do they play there in your neck of the woods? E-40, though he may not fit what most backpackers/Hip Hop purists believe as being "real", is a man has paid dues for years before blowing up on the level he has. Believe me, I was were in Vallejo when he was slangin' tapes out of his trunk at Babe Ruth baseball games at Wilson Park. And I'm talkin like '88, '89.

But even other than that, he is the consummate Hip Hop artist. He struggled to blow up doing what he wanted to do the way he wanted to do it. He didn't resort to selling out the West Coast style for one that is more popular at the time. He was ahead of his time with the slang, the word play, and most defnitely the cadence. On the way he's gradually added more conscious lyrics to his work making him a viable voice in Bay Area and West Coast Hip Hop.

And as an open-minded Hip Hop head, you can't go drawing lines around what is Hip Hop and what is not. Whether you want to believe it or not, Ice Cube is just as much Hip Hop as Aceyalone. You can't go excluding parts of Hip Hop when they are all the by-products of the same things.

Don't get this twisted. I'm not one of those "Yo, Tupac is the GOAT and Cash Money was the hardest label" fool. I've been in this Hip Hop shit for 10 years. I went from a commercial head, to lovin' the West Coast gangsta style, to getting on the East's nuts, to straight backpacker style. But now that I'm old, I like what I think is good music. Fuck labels. Fuck trying to create boundries within the music and within the culture. Just accept it as a whole and appreciate what YOU like. But I dont' think there are many people alive that can dictate what is and what is not "real" Hip Hop. This shit is only 30 years old. We start drawing lines now and we jeopardize the longevity of this culture that we love so much. I love this shit. I live this shit. When I can can't support physically, I support with my wallet and with my energy. So yo, there isn't time to knock people off a mountain we're all trying to get to the top of. Yo, this cat may not be Talib or Del, but there's no denying that E-40 is a Hip Hop artist.