Random thoughts and ideas from a constantly working mind. I always have a lil devil's advocate in me, so I love a good debate. What you will find here is a lil humor, some seriousness and definitely something that will make you go hmmmm and think. Welcome to my world!
FOR THE HARDCORE HIP HOP FANS ONLY TONIGHT 10/06/10 @ 9PMET- 6PM PT JoinBKS1 RADIO The " LIVE IN THE CIPHER SHOW" On WWW.BKS1RADIO.COM HIP HOP WEDNESDAY'S AS WE RATE & REVIEW ON A SCALE FROM 1 to 5 ALONG WITH YOU THE LISTENER ICE CUBE'S NEW RELEASE "I AM THE WEST". CALL IN 646-929-1530 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 646-929-1530end_of_the_skype_highlighting OR CHAT LIVE & GET READY TO TAKETHE HIP HOP TRIVIA QUIZ WITH BKS.
GET READY FOR THE HARDCORE HIP HOP FANS ONLY TONIGHT 9/29/10 @ 9PMET- 6PM PT JOIN BKS1 RADIO The " LIVE IN THE CIPHER SHOW" On BKS1RADIO.COM OnHIP HOP WEDNESDAY'S AS WE RATE & REVIEW ON A SCALE FROM 1 to 5 ALONG WITH YOU THE LISTENER LIL WAYNE'S NEW RELEASE "I AM NOT A HUMAN BEING". CALL IN 646-929-1530 OR CHAT LIVE & GET READY TO TAKE. THE HIP HOP TRIVIA QUIZ WITH BKS.
FOR THE HARDCORE HIP HOP FANS ONLY TONIGHT 9/22/10 @ 9PMET- 6PM PT Join BKS1 RADIO The " LIVE IN THE CIPHER SHOW" On WWW.BKS1RADIO.COM LIVE On HIP HOP WEDNESDAY'S AS WE RATE & REVIEW ON A SCALE FROM 1 to 5 ALONG WITH YOU THE LISTENER DRES OF BLACK SHEEP'S NEW RELEASE "FROM THE BLACK POOL OF GENIUS". ALSO, SPECIAL IN HOUSE GUEST NEW JERSEY'S OWN LADY LUCK WILL GRACE THE MIC. CALL IN 646-929-1530 OR CHAT LIVE & GET READY TO TAKE. THE HIP HOP TRIVIA QUIZ WITH BKS.
For the hardcore hip hop heads tonight on the Live In The Cipher Show @ 9 pm est - 6 pm pst on www.bks1radio.com we will rate and review Tek from Smif-n-Wessun's solo release 24kt Smoke. Join us for our interactive rating and review process. Also, The QUIZMASTER has some hip hop trivia for you. Join us @ 9 pm est -6 pm pst www.bks1radio.com join the movement!
FOR THE HARDCORE HIP HOP FANS ONLY TONIGHT 9PMET- 6PM PT JOIN BKS1 RADIO The " LIVE IN THE CIPHER SHOW" On WWW.BKS1RADIO.COM LIVE On HIP HOP WEDNESDAY'S AS WE RATE & REVIEW ALONG WITH YOU THE LISTENER CURREN$Y NEW CD "PILOT TALK. CALL IN 646-929-1530 OR CHAT LIVE OUR SPECIAL LIVE IN STUDIO GUEST 22 MCGRAW GET READY TO TAKE THE HIP HOP TRIVIA QUIZ WITH BKS..HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HIP HOP IT'S 37 YEARS OLD TODAY.
Tonight on www.bks1radio.com the Live in the Cipher team will rate and review Capone n Noreaga's new release The War Report 2. Tune in at 9 pm est - 6 pm pst be a part of our interactive rating and review session. We are bringing you the old school gritty hip hop tonight. Also, The Real Rick Ross will be calling in to talk about his suit against Rick Ross and more. Join the movement ....www.bks1radio.com
Tonight @9 pm on WWW.BKS1RADIO.COM The Live in the Cipher Show we rate and review Drake's much anticipated Thank Me Later album. Take part in our live interactive review process. Also, BKS1 RADIO Remembers Tupac Shakur-On This Day June 16, 1971 The Legendary Rapper Tupac Shakur Was Born, People Have So Many Different Thoughts & Opinions About Tupac The Man, The Artist, What Comes To Mind When You Think About Tupac, What's Your Favorite Tupac Song. All Comments Will Be Read On "The Live In The Cipher Show" Tonight @ 9PM EST.Watch Live On WWW.BKS1RADIO.COM or Call In Or Chat With Your Thoughts 646-929-1530
Tonight on www.bks1radio.com on the Live in the Vocal Booth Show we have aspiring rapper Danyelle Brown aka C-Dove, Brandy and Ray J's half brother, @ 11 pm est. Tune in to find out what he has to say about being related to Brandy and Ray J , but not getting acknowledged by their father. Also, we will be featuring a song or two off his upcoming cd for your listening pleasure. Should fit in right along with our topic: Secrets Exposed: How well do you know your Family and Friends?
Tune in, Call in 646-929-1530 or chat in our shout box. Ask C-Dove the questions you want the answers to. Let us know your family or friendship secrets, Want to confess a secret you may be keeping or expose a secret that you found out. Now is the time and the forum for it. Don't be scared or shy, we don't have to know who you are and it will feel so much better for you to get the "monkey" off your back.
We also have musical group 120, featured on 106 and Park, as guests tonight as well. So tune in and hear the wonderful sounds of this amazing group and get the low down on their upcoming projects and work they currently have going on. Going to be a great show. Join the movement www.bksent.com
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
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
