Mike Krzyzewski - "The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions."

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Mark McKay, my homie! His second MTV spot. Not as good as his first one, but it's still informative, and I don't care at all really... I just want this guy in the main host Darren's seat on MTV:




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I will know peace..when I learn to let go!!!

When a thing has served its purpose, it will go away.
SOmtimes it will break.
At other times, it will simply die off.
Then there are those times when for no reason, it will simply fall apart.
There will be tiny pieces that are missing, making it impossible to put the things back together.
When a thing no longer has any purpose in your life, it will go sour.
Or it may run away.
Or it may pack and leave very abruptly.
When a thing has served its divine purpose in your life, there is no explanation.
There is no excuse. It can not, will not, must not stay in your presence.
If you try to hold on to something that has already fulfilled its purpose in your life, you are going to hurt yourself.
If holding on is disturbing your peace of mind, it makes sense to let go.

Until today, you may have been holding on to something or someone, not realizing that its purpose in your life has been served. Just for today, surrender all attachments to people and things that you have been struggling to hold on to.

Today I am devoted to releasing everyone and everything that does not serve a divine purpose in my life!!!!

from the findings of Rachael-Lea Rickards

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READ THIS, IT'S SO HIP HOP:

Prosecutors will use a straight-to-DVD movie as evidence in the trial of Take Down Records’ CEO Alton "Ace Capone," who is accused of using his record label as a front to run a $25 million dollar drug operation out of Philadelphia.

Coles headed up Take Down Records, a well known local Philadelphia-based Hip-Hop label.

In 2003, the label released a high-quality, straight to DVD film titled New Jack City: The Next Generation.

The "fictional" movie tells the story of a drug dealing crew that rises to the top of the Hip-Hop industry.

Most of the acts featured in the movie were artists on Take Down Records, including rappers Bugsy & Snake, who dropped the popular single "Scratching and Surviving," which featured Freeway.

The single was produced by Coles and partner Tim "Gotti" Baukman, who also faces drug distribution charges.

In a recent interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Coles denied heading up the $25 million dollar drug ring, which police claim was responsible for 21 shootings and seven homicides.

"I’m not the guy that they allege me to be," Coles to The Inquirer. "I’m not no boss of a street organization running a big, giant drug conspiracy."

Five other defendants face trial with Coles, who is facing a life sentence for allegedly selling a ton of cocaine and a half-ton of crack throughout the region of Philadelphia, Chester and West Chester, Pennsylvania.

"He was already living that life when he made that movie," said John Hageman, spokesman for the Philadelphia office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Coles and several associates have been jailed since August 2005, when police conducted a series of raids throughout Philadelphia that turned up $800,000 in cash, over two dozen weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Police tapped Coles’ cellphone and in the first 15 days, recorded over 4,800 calls as he moved around Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

According to investigators, Coles made over 280 phone calls a day.

Jurors will be anonymous due to the alleged threat Coles’ gang presents to possible witnesses and jury members.

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HILARIOUS!!!



BOW WOW DOING HIS BEST T.I. IMPRESSION... CORNY AS FUUUUUUCK! LMAO!

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We gotta wait until MARCH for the new Crooked I CD?! Fuck :(

I went to a youth center in Hollywood earlier today to watch Thoryn Stephens of Syncopate teach some of the digital music basics to some at-risk teens and young adults. Also on the event's bill was a rapper from Long Beach who goes by the stage name Crooked-I, who shared a bit of his life story in the hope it would encourage the aspiring musicians, actors and artists in the audience to persevere. It's a great story -- after a childhood pock-marked by poverty and homelessness, he built a career in the music business by tirelessly promoting his work and by networking adroitly.

He's now an executive as well as a rapper, leading his own label (Dynasty Entertainment) and carrying the title of senior vice president at another (Treacherous Records in Glendale). One of the organizers of the program asked him whether he felt threatened by the Web, noting that some of his fellow artists and execs were trying to distance themselves from it. No, the rapper said, "I'm running toward the Internet."

He then outlined one of the things he's doing online: posting a new, free song each week on sites such as hiphopdx.com. He's put out a little more than three dozen tracks so far in the "Hip-Hop Weekly" series, aiming for a total of 52. (The effort recalls The Wedding Present's Hit Parade of 12 singles -- one per month -- but his pace makes those guys look like slackers.)

Crooked-I may be more prolific than most artists, but his online strategy is pretty typical. Unlike Universal Music Group, which is busy truncating the songs its artists put on their MySpace pages, Crooked-I lauds MySpace (and YouTube) and is doing everything he can to get heard online. Not much of a computer user, he needed help setting up his MySpace page. Yet he had no trouble discerning what the Net could do for his career. "I saw, this is where it's going. This is the future.... You can't run from it, because pretty soon you're going to be watching everyone's music videos on your cellphone." He also recognized that people don't like having to pay for music online. Hence the stream of giveaways, which have reaped attention in lieu of royalties. As Crooked-I put it, "It's almost impossible to log onto a hip hop website and not see me."

While he has a variety of ways to cash in on the popularity he's building online, the most conventional route would be to release a CD. Unfortunately, CDs have been anything but a routine business proposition for Crooked-I. He's recorded at least two CDs in past years that were never released. In fact, troubles at his previous labels, Virgin and Death Row, have kept him from releasing any full-length recordings. Instead, he's done mixtapes, made guest appearances on other artists' CDs and contributed tracks to compilations. Perhaps the next time will be charmed for Crooked-I: Treacherous Records plans to release his long-delayed debut disc in March.

http://opinion.latimes.com/bitplayer/

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last night, I watched the episode of 'Scrubs' where Laverne dies. It was awesome, great television dramedy brought to life. I've known about it for MONTHS and never told Diane, LOL. Thanks for the heads-up, Dale, ha ha! Now I can finish watching the show in peace of mind...

and do some christmas shopping today. I also need a digi-cam and some other stuff...

'tis the season, as they say.

love, Mindbender