Tuesday, April 27, 2010

R.I.P Guru


Hotep,

As I write this, the soul-stirring sounds of Guru are ringing through my dome.

You do know Guru, right?

The legendary lyricist of the groundbreaking hip-hop group, GangStarr

Gifted Universal Rhymes Unlimited spit out classics such as:
• Mass Appeal,
• Code of the Streets,
• Manifest,
• Step in the Arena,
• The Voice,
• Much too Much,
• Fake MCs,
• Soliloquy of Chaos,
• You Know my Steez,
• Above the Clouds,
• Out to get a Rep,
• Who’s Gonna Take the Weight and
• Take it Personal

That’s just scratching the surface of his hip-hop longevity.

He shared tracks with musical heavy weights like Donald Byrd and Chaka Khan.

Some of his most classical work includes 92’s ‘Daily Operation’ and 94’s ‘Hard to Earn,’ without a doubt, two of the most defining moments in the GandStarr legacy.

As an MC, I say this without bias, 1994’s ‘Hard to Earn’ was one of the greatest hip-hop projects ever. Ya heard?

Guru’s style had ‘Mass Appeal. ‘

He was the opposite of the ‘Fake MC,’ ‘Out to get a Rep.’

He lived by the ‘Code of the Streets.’

And, if you chose to ‘Step in the Arena,’ he would prove to be ‘Much too Much’ for the lackadaisical MC, whose style might be founded on gimmicks.

When he asked the question ‘Who’s Gonna Take the Weight’, he wasn’t speaking of keys, birds, bricks or kilos. He was merely instructing us to ‘Manifest.’ Feel me?

Guru could spit a ‘Soliloquy of Chaos’ and by the time the sound reached your ears, you’d be reflecting on your shortcomings.

And, everything that you’ve ever done, that represented ignorance would have you vexed.

Yeah, ‘The Voice’ would definitely make you ‘Take it Personal.’ Na mean?

R.I.P. Guru. The hip-hop world just lost one of its greatest.

From one MC to another, my voice will now carry the torch, as you rise ‘Above the Clouds.’

I’ll never forget you Dunn.

‘You Know My Steez.’

Word is Bond!

One,
Mannofstat
Copyright © 2010

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

A Death Sentence is No Nap


Hotep,

This coming December will be my 15th year behind the wall, thirteen on death row

In that timeframe I’ve survived 35 executions, the most recent being Samuel Russell Flippen (8/18/06)

That’s right; it’s been nearly four years since North Carolina’s last ‘public’ execution

Now don’t think of it as the state trying to apply sutures to a slight laceration, concerning the death penalty.

It’s more like putting a Band-Aid on a system that is bleeding profusely. Feel me?

These last four years have been a mere timeout, a brief pause in executions so that the state lawmakers can get their game plan in order.

They’re in a quandary about how to come up with an appropriate poisonous cocktail, to kill death row prisoners in a humane manner. What?!!

Can anyone in the blogosphere see the irony in that?

That’s like a great wide receiver whose all thumbs, or, for all of you “Dancing with the Stars” fans, a great dancer with two left feet. It just doesn’t exist.

I mean, it’s only natural to think of death row as the worst of the worst, but attempting to con the public into believing that there’s actually a humane manner of executing prisoners makes the state lawmakers the worst of the worst. Word is bond!

The state lawmakers will allow you to believe that an execution is as simple as someone going to sleep.

Well, that didn’t hold true for Willie Ervin Fisher (DOE 3/9/2001), a man who had plenty of life left in him.

That became more than obvious when his veins were injected with the poisonous cocktail that puts you ‘to sleep.’ Na mean?

I know the death penalty is a sensitive issue across the board and any logic concerning the death penalty can easily be heard as subjective.

But, know this…

Tyra Banks made it easy for us to understand the art form of modeling, when she spoke through her reality series “Top Model.”

And, no one will question the legendary Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson when he explains the mindset of a NBA baller facing a game 7. Right?

When we listen to them, do we hear them as being subjective or do we recognize their words as the real?

I’ll be the first to admit, before Tyra Banks hit the reality tv circuit, I viewed fashion models as nothing more than pretty chicks in skimpy clothes.

True indeed, some of them are just that, but there are gems present nonetheless. Feel me?

The same stands true here, Death row is what it is, but everyone here isn’t the worst of the worst.

Ask Glenn Chapman or Jonathan Hoffman.

Both of these men were released from death row within the last two years and are now productive members of society.

I strive to be where they are, but until that day comes, let me be your “Magic” Johnson.

I’ll give it to you straight, no chaser.

Ya heard?

Holla if ya hear me,

MannofStat

Copyright © 2010

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

It Kills Me

Hotep,

"It kills me to know how much I really love you."

Melanie Fiona's soul-stirring vocals, about her man’s infidelity have a heart stopping affect on me.

She's expressing how it kills her to know that she's willing to do just about anything to make their relationship work. Understandable, right?

Love is beautiful, indeed, but infidelity is the ultimate betrayal.

It's a horrendous act that can sour love and unleash an ugliness that leaves a lifelong affect on some of us. Holla if ya hear me, Eldridge 'Tiger' Woods. Rest in peace Steve 'Air' McNair. Na mean?

Everyone makes mistakes. Whether it be Billy Packer referring to Allen Iverson, as a 'tough little monkey,"

Or Tim Hardaway unleashing a verbal assault on homosexuality at the All-Star weekend in Vegas. Bottom line?

We all fall short of the greatness of the Creator.

So, mistakes are going to be made. No doubt.

A mistake is similar to a turnover in basketball.

If you try to do too much, at the wrong time, turnovers are inevitable.

My biggest turnover in life was womanizing

When I lived in Cali, I met a wonderful woman.

She uprooted and left her home for me, only to be chased back out west by my womanizing ways.

But still I didn't learn. I was still committing crazy turnovers.

Vowing to be married, working for American Airlines and womanizing from state to state was a recipe for disaster. Na mean?

Eldridge 'Tiger' Woods almost became a statistic when his wife went 'Rambo' with his 9-iron.

I can strongly relate to Tiger's situation.

Both of us survived the ugliness that our own infidelities bred. Steve 'Sir' McNair wasn't as fortunate. Feel me?

I conclude that womanizing is my biggest turnover, not murder.

My codefendant has been on the street since 2003.

She is the beneficiary of the state’s rush to judgment.

I am the result of the state's turnover. Word is bond.

I'm gone,
Mannofstat

Copyright © 2010