Sports Show on BKS1 Radio

Sports has always been a way to bring people together to have healthy debates about who’s the best team/player/era. So many different angles and opinions that we decided to start a sports show on BKS1 Radio. Tonight’s the night on BKS1 Radio (www.bks1radio.com) we kick off our sports show In The Game with BKS1 @ 9 pm est. Are you a sports fanatic, love sports and talking about it, or are you a casual fan who wants to get the latest info and be entertained? We are going to cater to all levels of the sports fan. Call in (646-929-1530) let us know your favorite teams and why or chat in our shout box. Let your opinion be heard.

You be You and let Me be Me

It seems as though we as a people are always worried about what the next man or woman is doing with their lives. All this does is breed jealousy, envy and hatred. If you have seen the move Seven then you know where those emotions can lead. Take a long look at yourself and where you are in respect to where you want to be. May be the one thing holding you back the most from attaining whatever you desire is looking right back at you in the mirror every morning. This may be a harsh reality for some, but if your honest with yourself and don’t want to lead yourself astray then you will give yourself a brutal self evaluation. I look in the mirror and what I see is a man trying to do the best he can, but has faults that need to be addressed. I am going to open up and let you know what I think I need to work on to be a better man/person/contributor to society.

One of my major faults is I am very quick to judge someone and get my mind set in a way that it’s hard to change my opinions. This has lead to plenty of hard feelings between me and other people for no valid reasoning beyond my own rushed assessment of them. This may be the hardest of them all for me to correct, because I have to learn that we are not all the same and not all on the same mental/emotional/spiritual level. I have to realize that just because I see things one way and portray someone’s actions as wrong, they in turn may not consider what they are doing as wrong or bothering me. I think this stems from my belief that everyone has common sense and should know how to do the simplest tasks. But in reality what may be simple to me may be extremely difficult to another. This works the other way too, what I may see as extremely difficult may be an easy task to someone else. I have to learn to accept that I have limitations as well as every other person walking this earth. Not judge a person by his/her limitations, but help them work through them to make them a better person. In return I would hope they would return the same actions towards me. If I can do that I think it will make me a better man and person.

Now I have stepped out on the limb to reveal one of my major faults. Can you do the same? It really helps to see who you really are when you put things down in writing and have them staring back at you. This process works in setting personal goals, they say write them down and put them were you can see. This will help the dream become reality. So write down your faults and what you think you need to work on and work towards crossing them off the list one by one. This may be a lifelong process and you may never completely whip your list clean but with each deletion you will be one step towards being the man or woman that you want to be in life.

Do this open and freely and don’t worry about what other people have to say about you. You be you and let them be them, hence the variation from my title. There are times when we have to be concerned with each other and there are times when we need to focus on ourselves. For this to work you have to really and truly be brutally honest with yourself and not lie to yourself. After this initial self evaluation its ok to get someone else’s take on your conclusions. Run the list by someone close to you and get their views on it. Tweak it if needed and then you are on your way to becoming a better person, to yourself and the people around you…..The_Ghost_BKS1

People influence Society as Society influences People

I am just a normal everyday working man who has something to say. I went back and forth with myself about blogging for a while now. Based on recent events I decided it was a good way to get things off my chest and hopefully start a healthy debate. Possibly the outcomes from the healthy discussion will be the change of a life or lives. So this is my go at blogging and I want this to be an interactive board and your opinions are welcome and will get a personal response from me. I don’t believe in censorship so say what’s on your mind and how you feel honestly. We are all entitled to our opinions and they will not always agree. Productive banter will lead to a better understanding of each other and to a better society in general. That being said lets get onto my first post…….

Some time ago on our radio show Live in the Vocal Booth with BKS1 radio we discussed gun control or lack of gun control. Due to the tragic circumstances that surrounded the loss of a friend to the show, we felt it necessary to bring this issue to light. During the discussion it seemed as though rap music was brought up by a few different participants. Here is my take on that.

I wouldn’t necessarily blame it on rap music on a whole. I would say it has more to do with the lack of variety in hip hop. Be more creative in your song writing and story telling. Back in the day there was a large variety of rap going on from Public Enemy to Kwame. Now a days everyone just wants to be harder than the next and thinks it’s cool to be the thug/gangster who doesn’t care about the next man. That in their eyes makes them the “man”. What the youth who look up to these artists see is a person who has all they want to have, i.e. cars, house, women. So to them they think this is what they need to do to get to that position. You can try to use the old saying “don’t do as I do, do as I say” but that doesn’t hold water to a young person. To them you did it and you made it so they have no reason to think that they can’t do the same thing. Artists and entertainers really need to take into account that it’s not always what you say but what you portray that is the most influential. They cannot keep running around here and glamorizing the gang life and drug game, when they are multi millionaires and do not live in the same environments that these issues are prevalent anymore. It’s easy to shout and start an uproar and then go “up in the hills” away from the problem.

Now I understand that the point will be brought up that this is what the rappers know from their experience. So this is what they talk about. Yada, Yada, Yada…I am fine with that and believe a person has the right to tell a story based on their personal experiences either from what they have done or seen. My only issue is that both sides of the coin are not being shown. Show the down side and the pitfalls of that life. Let them know and visually show then that if you choose to go this route and be that dude you are more than likely not going to make it out of the life a free man or even alive. Tell them the truth every rapper wasn’t the man on his block and he wasn’t the kingpin. To people that really know the game they know that it doesn’t add up. But to an influential mind they grab a hold and believe every word that comes out of these artists mouth.


I think it’s a reflection on society on a whole, the rise in gun violence. If you look at the movies, music and video games they are all trending towards more blood and gore. Taking all these things into account, I believe it leads to a very indifferent feeling among people and the lack of caring for one another.

The ways to counteract these forces is to have a stronger family core at home. I don’t want to hear that there are single parent households. That should not effect how the parent that’s in the house raising the child. They should still want to raise them with a strong set of moral, family values and respect. The problem comes in when the parent who is raising the children on their own, feels abandoned and neglected to the point of self pity. They have this woe is me attitude and fail to properly raise and supervise their kids. Always feeling like they have that crutch of oh I’m a single parent and it’s hard for me. You may need to just work a little harder, but when it comes to the development of a child is there any other option?, but to work harder. Parents need to grow up and accept the responsibility of being a parent and mentor. Too many want to be kids themselves and do what they want to do. Some parents are way to selfish and that leads to the music, movies, video games and outside influences controlling their kids actions. Now I am not going to say my assessment is 100% accurate in all cases, but I would bet that in a majority of them it’s true. There will be instances where my theory will be completely wrong. But I do believe when children go astray it’s because of lack of attention, love and guidance at home first and foremost.

This leads me to my title for this piece: People influence Society as Society influences People. Before we quickly blame society for the actions of the youth, let us look in the mirror and assess how our actions influence society. Go back to the saying “Each one teach one” and our influences on society will be great and in turn societies influence on the people would be even better. Just some words to ponder…..The_Ghost_BKS1

Hip Hop - A place where separation may be better than integration

The current state of hip hop, Is it dead? Morphed into a new version, or Is it alive and kicking?. Many say its dead, as well as a well noted Hip Hop Artist, and there are the masses that say it’s not dead but it evolved with the times and it’s catering to what the kids of today want.

A hamburger and meatball are made from the same meat, Beef. Do you say I am having spaghetti and hamburger or spaghetti n meatballs? Or do you got say I want a meatball with cheese on a bun or I want a hamburger with cheese on a bun. My point being, just because it’s made from the same thing and has the some of the same qualities don’t make it the same all the way thru.

I say what we have today is a multitude of many different forms of hip hop. Hip hop is so massive that there can be many forms under one roof. R&B is R&B no matter how you look at it. The tempo of R&B is basically the same. You don’t have fast beat R&B music or the lyrics can’t be song fast or slow. In hip hop, you can have beats of different tempo and speeds. Lyrics can be rapped fast or slow or in-between.  In many other genre’s if you change up the speed of the track and how its sung then you will actually change the song to a different genre all together.  Not so in hip hop can change it dramatically and it still can be considered hip hop.  As much as it’s a sound hip hop is a feel and a vibe as well.

In my opinion it’s time to make subcategories, under the hip hop umbrella.  Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with hip pop or any other category that I am going to layout in upcoming paragraphs, if that’s the kind of music that you want to make and its feeding you and your family. It has changed your life for the positive then I am all for it, to each his own. Everybody can’t be lyrical masterminds aka true Mc’s. The hip hop community is so hard on each other and so quick to stereotype and use them to assassinate each other’s character instead of embracing the difference. It’s these differences that make the culture beautiful to me. Just because I don’t like a majority of the new stuff out now a days doesn’t mean I don’t respect the talent it took for it to be made. For everyone that is dissing these young cats saying they are garbage or trash and don’t deserve a deal. Let’s see what you can do and if you can do it well enough to make the money they make. Instead of hating and bringing people down, why not respect their hustle and business acumen for taking what they have and maximizing it to their fullest potential. What would you rather them do? Make an honest living and possibly influence someone to make a change in their life and maximize their potential positively or have them be on the corner and influence a kid to maximize his or her potential in a negative way? Think about it and if you honest with yourself and let go of the hate and negativity I am sure you will see it as I do.

That’s why I say we should have subcategories under the Hip Hop umbrella. For instance:

• Hip Pop- for the dance songs that have a hip hop feel
• Alternative Hip Hop – for the hip hop abstract artists
• Hip hop – for true Mc’s, the artists that are holdovers from the original era
• Rap – whatever cannot be placed into the other categories. Anybody can be a rapper but very few are true mc’s

There would be nothing wrong with being placed into any of those categories at all. I think a lot of the issues come up when we try to lump everyone into the same box. Really how many now a days can be placed into the same box as a Rakim, a KRS, Chuck D and the like? When we try and do that then the hip hop traditionalists have an issue with it as may interpret it as being disrespectful to the Legends of the game. Also the new jacks who are being compared and placed into the same categories as the legends won’t feel the constant need to prove themselves worthy of such comparisons. They will have their own lane and won’t have the animosity towards the “old heads”.

They already do this sort of thing in rock music. You have rock, classic rock, alternative rock, heavy metal rock and so on. How much animosity do you hear coming from them? Everyone knows their lane and you won’t have them all competing for the one “big piece of chicken”. 

Separating hip hop to different subcategories will also allow more artists/groups to shine and get the recognition that they deserve. This will strengthen the state of hip hop and its reach to the youth who may not see themselves as being able to make it in the game because they are different and have a unique style. It may promote creativity and not have every rapper wanting to be like the hot thing out now, since they feel that may be the only way to win. It will basically be saying “you don’t have to be like Jay Z, 50 cent, Jadakiss, Lil Wayne to win in this game. You can be you and still make it.” What are you thoughts? Let me know either comment below or email me: theghostbks1@live.com