Frank Ocean

Music is an umbrella of expression, this metaphorical umbrella has been used to harness an art form that has nurtured so many different schools of thought, while allowing different cultures to mesh and coexist through the relation of song.  With the multitude of genre's music presents, different ideas and forms of expression have been able to spread to the masses. These ideas and expressions have a lasting impact on society because in one way or another, no matter the differences we share everyone can relate through the expression of music.  I'm not an artist so in actuality I haven't been able to express myself through my own music, but I've been able to relate to how artist express themselves, while also being able to apply the wisdom used in many songs to my own views on life's situations.  In my opinion music is sanity, and without music the world would be a much crazier and more confused place than it already is, so in essence I view music as not only a healing of a nation but the healing of the world.  I may seem like I'm rambling so let me get to the point. One lesson music has taught me is to accept people's differences. I've learned not to judge people on their personal lifestyles but to accept an artist for whom they are and judge them by the body of work they put out. I find it important to understand that even though we may share some differences on the surface, through music we all can relate.  I'll use the recent coming out of R&B singer Frank Ocean, who a couple weeks ago announced his bisexuality through a post on his Tumblr page as an example.  When I was younger and immature I might have focused on his sexual orientation and used that as a base to write off his music, but as a 20 year old man I see things differently, the veil of ignorance that once clouded my judgment has been lifted.  As a musical artist he is not defined by his personal choices but by the quality of his music and the messages that his music displays. I may not agree with his lifestyle or practice a similar lifestyle but who am I to judge, I am not God and only God can judge us. With that being said personally I think Frank Ocean is a musical genius, a man who makes beautiful music and tells stories of love and life that can translate to anybody, it just so happens in his personal life he is bisexual. That hint of his personal life has no real connection or affect to the personal lives of anyone else but him, so why should it matter. Through music Frank Ocean spreads his soul, and his soulful sound and creative lyrics are in my opinion second to no one in  any category of music you may try to place him in during this musical time period.  Even though that's a rather broad, bold statement, his music does not fit into a category or genre so for me to even call him an R&B artist is a stretch because his style incorporates influences from several different genres of music. To simplify it, you just can't fit Frank's music in a box.  I've already ran this blog long so I'll finish by saying this, ignorance allows us to judge somebody off of things that make no difference in our personal lives.  Personally Frank Ocean's sexual orientation has no affect on me or how I live my life however, his music serves a purpose in something I believe in and I salute him for not being afraid to be himself.  


Currently Jamming:  Chief Keef ft. Fat Trel x Russian Roulette 


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Born to Win Built to Succeed

"No matter what, there is no excuse for letting your past dictate your future."  I honestly can't give one example of where this statement doesn't apply.  In life you make mistakes; that's all apart of the process of growing up, what happens in the past stays in the past, the goal is to learn from your mishaps and move on. My pops once told me, "The only thing you can't fix is death, everything else in life you can overcome and make positive."  Those words will forever stick with me, because that's what I believe life is all about:  being able to live, make mistakes, learn and then using adverse situations as added motivation to succeed.  Letting your past affect you  negatively is choosing to lose, and we were all born to win, so why inflict added injury on something you can't change.  Adversity is a part of life, bad decisions are a part of life, regret however is not, life is way too short for regret and everything you go through ultimately helps shape you into the person you become.  Even though this may be taken for granted, the ultimate gift is being able to see another day, another day of life is a clean slate, and an opportunity to be better.  The value of making every other day equally as good or better than your last has no price on it,  its a gift.  With that being said enjoy and love the life you live because at any moment it can be taken away from you, make mistakes don't let mistakes make you.

Currently Jamming:  Black Faces x Childish Gambino ft. Nipsey Hussle 

PS:  Shane you helped me see life differently, the world lost you before it was ready to but at the same time I know it was your time to join your mom up in the sky with the big guy.  I'll never forget all of the memories we made in such little time and I was listening to Kid Cudi Mr. Rager the other day and I swear on everything I love you were in the car telling the story of the song, that song was made to explain you.  Death isn't a fun thing but accepting that its apart of life allows all of us to grow.  Thank you for being a part of my family gone but never forgotten can't wait to see you in Heaven bro I love you.

Love,

Uncle Rob

The State of Hip Hop

Hip-Hop is love.  Today's generation has allowed many different influences and styles to infiltrate the sacred world of hip-hop.  Even though, people like to complain about how hip-hop isn't what it was in the 90's or whatever their case may be, I believe the music is flourishing. We have artist that range from Future to Mac Miller, Tyler the Creator to Chief Keef, Lil B to Kendrick Lamar, in what generation did we have that many abstract artist all flourishing under one genre? If you can't answer this question I understand why, because you can't think of one, and most of us reading this have only focused on two generations of music.  The versatility in the game right now is crazy, and its beautiful thing.  What really gets me though, is when people say if Big and Pac were alive they wouldn't let hip-hop be like this, I have three questions for that.  Did Big and Pac tell you that?  How do you know what they would co-sign? They wouldn't want hip-hop to reach a successful state?  Feel free to post your answer in the comment box, but let's really get real. The hip-hop today has produced Forbes list moguls like Diddy, Jay-Z, 50 cent and Birdman, these guys have set the bar high for young, black entrepreneurs, and have given hip-hop serious staying power.  Yes there's crap in hip-hop that even I don't agree with, especially the basic anthem of Snapbacks and Tattoos, and whatever new unmotivated garbage Wayne and the rest of YMCMB with the exclusion of Drake decides to drop each week, but damn we have so many artist to listen to that bring so many different things to the table, just sit back and salute the movement.  If you listen to hip-hop you can't honestly say the culture hasn't influenced you, the culture has been a part of every fans growth and the messages inside lyrics, the beats, the way artist dress, the whole persona of the music is influential in itself.  Other than the redundancy of the radio, and its refusal to play a multitude of different artist I honestly have no beef with hip-hop.  Of course there's artist in the game I could do without but, artist I may disagree with musically, you may love. At the end of the day embrace the movement and salute the cause because Hip-hop saves lives.  I have advice for the incoming crop of rappers, dare to be different and don't let the money influence your personal view of good music.

PS:  Shoutout my bros Rack$et, Brian Cade and his Love City movement, Cam Major, Cyro Haze and their Fast Life movement, Jay Keys and the Gin Boyz movement and all the rest of the young dudes who got next.  Check out these boys music because I promise you, you will know their name.

Currently Jamming:  Shoot em Down x Johnny May Cash

O ya and my top 15 artist right now in no particular order:  Drake, Boosie, Kendrick Lamar, Lil B, Future, Gucci Mane, A$ap Rocky, Meek Mill, Cheif Keef, J. Cole, Rick Ross, Nipsey Hussle, Dom Kennedy, Kanye West and Curren$y

Ready or Not

I had a talk with one of my bro's Bigtuck.com (yes I'm going to refer to him in this post the same way I do in real life) the other day about women and how we always end up liking girls that we know are bad for us.  He said one thing to me that I'll probably never forget.  "You can't help who you're attracted to, you can't help who you like, but when you truly mature you'll be able to sacrifice what you want for what you need."  The crazy thing about this statement is its 100% true.  Whether you're a male or a female, most of us can relate to the fact that we tend to show extra attention to those we really don't need in our lives. For some strange reason those we desire, tend to have less desirable traits that we don't take heed of until it's possibly too late. I can tell you straight up I give more attention to a girl I have no business giving a minute too, then a girl I need in my life and honestly I haven't matured to the point where I can make that switch for good yet. Since I'm speaking on the subject I might as well be honest, but let me get to the meat and potatoes.  A mature person looks out for what brings them the most happiness, they look for longevity in their relationships and in order to achieve total happiness and longevity with a person, they must have qualities that enhance your being.  Wanting someone only fulfills certain needs, they might seem good for the moment, but in the long run it could bring you more strain.  When you need someone, you're open to correct some of your flaws, while they take the time to embrace your flaws. That person ultimately makes you better.  Everyone has room to grow and become more complete, the real question is at what stage of your life are you ready to sacrifice?


Currently Jamming:  Turn it up x Rack$et

Stay Scheming?

I've learned that most everybody schemes.  Scheming is a pure defense mechanism, so let me break it down to you.  Scheming is the act of finding a way to get over on somebody without causing yourself any repercussions or emotional harm.  The act of scheming causes one to act without the regards of the other parties feelings.  Usually the act of scheming results in a slight gain for the schemer, followed by a visit from somebody, called Karma. We live in a society that's dog eat dog and rather cutthroat. There's just no way around it and honestly I really don't blame people for scheming; people must protect themselves right? I wrestle with this because in essence I wouldn't want my feelings to be played with, but to get what you want you may sometime have to play with somebody else's feelings, that's just real life.  Scheming isn't always negative though. You can scheme without hurting someone else, but those who use the mechanism for negative purposes on a consistent basis are those who have been hurt many times over.  This means that scheming really can be a counter act to deflect mental pain, hence the thoughts why hurt alone? Scheming allows one to think ahead and attack a person's mind without the other person seeing it coming, this is a mental game that plays on what every person has....Emotions.   Most people are afraid of their emotions and I don't blame them, emotions are a relatively scary thing, so we shield ourselves from allowing people to see we have them, and in turn some of us choose to take advantage of others emotions.  I can't give advice on this topic, and honestly I have no proper answer on how to avoid scheming because in essence there is no right answer.  However, I can leave you with this, feel out your situation and act as a good judge of character it may save you.

Currently Jamming:  Gucci Mane ft Jim Jones x Kansas

Crazy Women I choose them

All women are crazy.  I'm playing, but a lot of ya'll are forreal and I don't know what it is about the craziness in women that I love, but on everything I love, I got a thing for crazy women.  I mean I look at myself in the mirror everyday, and honestly I think I'm crazy: the things that go on in my mind, my thought process, my whole persona I wouldn't deem normal, and I can't help it I really love it.  But enough about me. Crazy women are interesting, their mind thinks on a different page, that page is beautiful.  You're craziness may be a result of damage caused by the dudes in the past, or circumstances you've been through, or you just may be crazy, but real talk, I'ma embrace it, and I wouldn't change you. Your craziness is sexy and the fact that you embrace it enough to let it out is intriguing.  I think a lot of women are crazy because they wanna know and be reminded that a dude cares, so they'll take you the extra mile just to find out how much you can endure. A lot of dudes say they don't like crazy women and it's because a crazy woman will keep you on your toes, a crazy woman will stimulate your mind because in order for a crazy woman to flourish, you must allow her to be herself and you must find a way to help her manage that crazy.  9 times out of 10, if I have the option of who I'm going to invest my time in, I'll invest my time in the crazy woman more so than the normal/simplistic woman. The reason why is simple, I don't really mess with that horoscope stuff to seriously but as an Aries I love challenges.   It may not be the healthiest decision, but lord knows you can't help what your attracted to, I get it from my father honestly.  All I gotta say to end this is be you mama, if it ain't killing anybody don't change for anybody, Be Crazy.

Vulnerability

I'm terrified of being vulnerable. Vulnerability is a key feeling, because in order for you to open up and start something new with somebody you must allow your guard to come down and sacrifice your vulnerability. I tend to bury things that bother me into a box that only few people have the key to.  Not even all of my closest friends have the key to it, and it may have an affect on certain relationships but its the way I'd rather keep things.  I hate being hurt and I'm sure everybody does but coming from a personal standpoint I'd rather bury the things that bother me and ignore them. Everybody has a past, and everybody has things in their past they may not be proud of but honestly instead of giving another person a key to reopen my box, I'd rather talk about the future. In Robby's mind today and tomorrow are the only things that matter. The past opens up issues that only I can correct, I can't look back and sit on them, because I feel to do so would be to regress.  In all honesty, I'm really unsure if this is the right way to think but it works for me, and even though this may seem unhealthy I prefer to keep it this way.  Maybe it's my pride factor. In essence I could care less what people really think about me but at the same time, I don't want a distorted image of myself that my past may project.  I'm happy with life and I've put myself in position to continue my personal happiness, there's just one thing missing......


Currently Jamming: Kendrick Lamar x Wanna be Heard