—Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) -
Yasiin Bey’s (formerly known as MosDef) response to Jay-Z/Kanye West’s “Ni**as in Paris” with his own take on the reality of African American existence he calls “Ni**as in Poorest”. When I heard this it took me back to what made hip hop in the 80’s so attractive to me when I was growing up. Yasiin even brought in a Malcolm X quote just like Chuck D/Public Enemy used to do.
If it goes by too fast for you (it did for me), do what I did:
1. Watch the “Ni**as in Paris” version with lyrics
2. Watch the “Ni**as in Poorest” version with lyrics
Then the contrast will become clear.
We tell stories about the dead in order that they may live, if not in body then at least in mind - the minds of those left behind. Although the dead couldn’t care less about these stories—all available evidence suggests the dead don’t care about much—it seems that if we tell them often enough, and listen carefully to the stories of others, our knowledge of the dead can deepen and grow. If we persist in this process, digging and sifting, we had better be prepared for hard truths; like rocks beneath the surface of a plowed field, they show themselves eventually.
—
Philip Connors, Stories to Live With, Lapham’s Quarterly.
One of the most honest, piercing, poignant pieces I have read in a long time as the author takes us through his own experience with his brother.
I so wish I was in that room…
LIFE.com: Ali and X
Cassius Clay laughs with Malcolm X shortly after gaining the heavyweight boxing championship in 1964. He had recently announced his conversion to the Nation of Islam, and assumed the name Cassius X. “It’s a great look into the incredible charisma of both men, which just pops off the photo.” — Jason Fox
Photo: Mike Smith / Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images
Any opportunity to post these two giants I will jump on it.
(via bijan)
Another test you can use [for finding the work you love] is: always produce. For example, if you have a day job you don’t take seriously because you plan to be a novelist, are you producing? Are you writing pages of fiction, however bad? As long as you’re producing, you’ll know you’re not merely using the hazy vision of the grand novel you plan to write one day as an opiate. The view of it will be obstructed by the all too palpably flawed one you’re actually writing.
“Always produce” is also a heuristic for finding the work you love. If you subject yourself to that constraint, it will automatically push you away from things you think you’re supposed to work on, toward things you actually like. “Always produce” will discover your life’s work the way water, with the aid of gravity, finds the hole in your roof.
—
Wish I had seen this Paul Graham essay years ago: How to Do What You Love. A must read.
Here is to making “always produce” my resolution/motto for 2012.
