Tribute to Gnarls Barkley

Sorry about the length of this post.   

 
Gnarls Doin’ Tha Damn!  

I have a deep appreciation for what Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse have created in Gnarls Barkley. In times where it feels like “doing you” is a combination of what you want out of yourself, what/who you imagine and know yourself to be, what/how you believe others see you, trying to be what you believe others want and desire, etc, they seem to be authentically doing what they truly want.

Even without drugs! That’s Craaaaaaaazaaaaaaaay.

I believe their song “Crazy” became such a huge international hit because Cee-Lo really struck a chord with his lyrics.

I thought this version was dope!

I don’t think it was just me, but when I was in college I definitely was in a struggle of feeling like I had literally lost my grip on what reality was and was not. And it wasn’t because I didn’t know enough, I just knew too much! The realizations that I was having about the world that I was living in were so different than what was/is expected of me/us and with what fits in as the ‘norm.’ It is even crazier when you are a person of color dealing with these issues. Our communities are so contained within racist oppressive institutions (i.e. prison, poverty, white supremacy, capitalism etc.) that expanding our collective vision and imagining new worlds where racism, sexism, and homophobia don’t exist is damn near taboo to even speak on.And you didn’t have to go to college to feel that way, that’s just how it happened for me.

Professor Rose draws parallels between capitalism, performing blackness, & sexism

Transformer, lightweight screwed up!

It’s hard to be a heterosexual black/multi-racial male especially in rap music and speak out against homophobia especially in communities where everything “wierd” and “different” or hard to understand is labeled ‘faggot’ and/or ‘gay.’ The same goes with issues of sexism and gender roles. Be a male and show weakness and vulnerability and risk being labeled a ‘bitch’ and/or a ‘pussy,’ which inherently belittles womyn. 

In that BET panel about hip-hop which had a live audience (which was a pretty bad format in which to have a real dialogue, and was actually pretty terrible and unproductive), after Michael Eric Dyson had tied Nelly’s infamous credit card swipe down a black woman’s ass to the history of sexual exploitation during slavery by slave-masters and their female slaves, T.I. responded, “It’s not that deep!” and the crowd erupted in laughter. It is that deep I just don’t think that anybody they let on these panels has addressed sexism and homophobia in Hip-Hop in a way that makes sense to people, and those who know how to express it and make it make sense are NEVER invited to speak on those panels, and I suspect that even if they are invited they know that these media outlets aren’t actually working to address the problems they are simply shooting for ratings. And I feel like the laughter comes from not knowing how to speak on these issues.

You tellin’ me if professor Trica Rose got on that panel and spoke on sexism and homophobia in Hip-Hop people wouldn’t understand?!? Hell yea people would understand, but it’s always the same people talking in the same unproductive conversations. And it’s poor and working class people of color who are being kept out of institutions of higher education and being left to try and make it through the economically and politically abandoned public school system.

This post really was never supposed to get that deep, but if you’re an early 80’s baby and you grew up listening to Hip-Hop then you probably grew up listening to the Dungeon Family. It seems like the progressions in my life have always lined up with the progressions that groups like Outkast and members like Cee-Lo have had in their music. I think that Cee-Lo had been trying to find the right way to go crazy since his solo career had begun and Organized Noize, Timbaland nor the Neptunes could come up with a way for him to do that. Danger Mouse provided him the perfect canvas that he needed to be unrestrained by the convention and the limiting world that Hip-Hop has become, (although I also believe that even this is changing). Cee-Lo is very introspective and so are all the great musicians that we love. They put their thoughts out their in cool ways and that’s why we love them.

And I could go on, and on, and on, but who cares?…   

The Story of Stuff and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

In this age of Global Warming or as the bush administration has come to refer to it as the more vaguely titled ‘climate change,’ I feel like anytime that I feel unusually cold or hot I attribute it to Global Warming and the planet going to shit. While many people still question how real Global Warming actually is (I really can’t understand why it’s so hard for people to believe. It reminds me of how white people deny that racism still exists because they individually are not racist and to remain in denial means to have a more firm grasp upon their existence and place in the world) I have spent the past half an hour thinking about the trash we accumulate.

All the plastics that are used once and never again just to be thrown away. Hopefully these plastics make it to the dump where they are eventually incinerated, which is hella toxic and pollutes the hell out of our breathing supply, otherwise it is likely to be swept into the ocean where it most likely will end up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

At an event put on by the Filipino/American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity (FACES) in December, I was not only able to eat some delicious Pinoy cuisine, but I was also able to attend a screening of this dope ass short documentary called “The Story of Stuff.” It’s a really cool film that explains in very plain terms (and the not so plain terms they do a very good job in explaining) the effects of a ‘materials economy,’ which is like ‘buy shit, throw it away, and do it again.’ Hella not sustainable!

Here goes a teaser clip but you can watch the film for free at storyofstuff.com, and they got clips on youtube. Peep it, it’s only 21 minutes long…Sweet. 

Let’s Get Green (and not simply in an elitist hippie ass yoga and yogurt type way),

G-Mitch

Holler!

It Really Makes Sense Though, For Real…

 

Tom Brady and the Patriots should collect another Super Bowl Championship 

I have to admit something off top…I, Gregory Mitchell, was cheering on the New England Patriots during their run towards a perfect regular season record, and I’m continuing to cheer them on as they go for a (not so) Super Bowl title vs. the (little) Giants. For years, I, like most other people have despised the got damn patriots (lower case emphasized). I remember watching that game vs. the Oakland Raiders and the fuckin’ imaginary ‘Tuck Rule’ that the referees and the nfl conjured up out of thin air to make it possible for the pats to pull out an AFC championship and go on to win the super bowl vs. the St. Louis Rams in honor of Amerika. Watching Adam Viniterri hit that game winning field goal hurt me soul. Oh, indeed (like Omar from The Wire), that shit was bunk (like from The Wire, if you don’t understand these references STEP YO WIRE GAME UP SON!). 

Following September 11, the word ‘patriot’, both by itself and along with the image of the amerikan flag, seemed to symbolize (even more than they already do) the violent imperialism that the U.S. military was already involved in overseas and simultaneously invoked the racism and messages of hate and violence mainstream americans and media outlets over here were spewing at people of color especially folks of Middle-Eastern decent and anyone with a “foreign” accent.This, of course, is some BULLassSHIT.

As one of Dave Chappelle’s skits said, “This racism is killing me inside.” This year (at least TO ME) seem to have taken on a different role in the NFL and public perception. They are no longer Amerikas sweetheart. Their golden boy Tom Brady (3 Super Bowls in 8 years in the league, and a starter only 7 of those) has spat in the medias face by staunchly defending his coach Bill Belichick (who the sports media hate) and star wide reciever Randy Moss (the man that sports media and now Raider fans love to hate). The reason that I’m feelin’ the New England muhfunkin’ Patriots this year is that they are saying “Fuck you too” right back to the fucked up ass sports media. A usual post-game interview with coach Belichick consists of reporters asking him bullshit questions like usual, and rather than to entertain the questions that often lead to the next weeks over-blown soap opera drama’s on sports channels like ESPN, he chooses to keep it real simple and just say, “We’re just taking it one game at a time” or some simple ass no frills response like that. He never gives the media what they want, which is, i imagine for him to guarantee that the Patriots go undefeated and win the (not so) Super Bowl.

 

Spiking the Chargers  

The media and the NFL and most fans tore apart the Patriots in what ESPN hella stupidly started calling ‘Spygate’ (hella stupid white men sitting around a table and deciding what to call that shit, you know that’s how they do it) where they were accused of illegally taping the New York Jets defensive play calls from an on-field location. The Patriots and Belichick were fined by the league and Commissioner Roger Goodell (who hasn’t been since he became the commissioner?), and were penalized by forcing them to give up their 1st round draft pick in 2008. With all this happening the Patriots were still able to go undefeated and have now made it all the way to the (not so) Super Bowl. 

I tend to root for whoever ESPN hates on the most because most of the time when they choose to assassinate the character of people and teams, it tends to be because the teams and players deviate from societal mainstream norms. They offer answers that don’t go along with the script that athletes and coaches are given upon entering their respective leagues. They get caught with THC in their system. They criminalize people and charge people who have been killed in their own homes, as Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was this past season, of maintaining ‘thug lives’ that of course led him down a fatal path. That’s some bullshit! 

People like to believe that there are no politics involved in sports, but shit ever since we were in middle school and someone got cut from the team, what was the first thing out of the person who got cut lips? “Politics man, politics.” Cuz a lot of the times it’s true. And especially with ESPN being turned into the more popular Court TV, it can never be authentically believed that politics and sports are not intertwined, and it’s not just my ass who can’t see anything in life without some kind of politics involved in it!

So GO PATRIOTS! I hope they win, and I hope they get hated on. The hate, while it always burns, tends to make people stronger.

I know this ain’t no Dave Zirin article and people may think I’m blowing things out of proportion, but this is what I think, and that’s good with me. 

Peace & Fuck the sports media even if I do watch them all the damn time,

G-Mitch 

ps- To C, I’m looking forward to collecting my $5. YEE.

pss- Don’t gamble kids, it’s bad. 

To Those Who Hate On Michael Vick

Calling for the removal of a black males genitallia certainly calls to mind images and a history of lynching, mutilation, and emasculation.  

Michael Vick is serving out a sentence of 23 months in federal prison right now. You know who isn’t serving prison time nor will ever serve prison time? Dan Adomitis. Who is that? Dan is the president of Firestone Natural Rubber Co. (No wonder we don’t know who he is, corporations hide behind brand names, the human resources complaints department, and hella high priced legal defense). The company has recently been named the “Official Tire Sponser” of the next 2 super bowls. The company is also currently involved in modern day slavery,

According to a 2005 lawsuit filed by the International Labor Rights Fund, a Washington-based advocacy organization, Bridgestone/Firestone allegedly overworks, underpays and exposes its 4,000 Liberian employees to hazardous chemicals and pesticides. Its subsidiary also oversees what has been called de facto slavery.

This quote comes from a recent article entitled, ‘Super Bowl Slavery (in the email he sent out or ‘Is the NFL on the right team?’ in the LA Times, haha, gotta make sure white folks read it and the LA Times publish it), by sports writer, Dave Zirin, who Kori Chen put me up on what feels like well over a year ago. You should definitely check it out, because he is always on point with his coverage and view on politics and sports and the politics of sports, which i am always talking and thinking about also. 

* 

This is the age we live in. An age where corporations earn the profits gained from plantations and slave labor and are simultaneously endorsed by one of the highest grossing events in sports. This can happen even after Michael Vick was put into a federal pen, for his involvement in dog fighting.

The NFL, ESPN, the feds, PETA and dog lovers were all enraged/upset/disgusted enough to launch an all out investigation/protests/and a defiling of his name when it was said that Vick was associated with dog fighting. All of this while the United States continues to send our own troops to die in troop surges in an illegal and murderous war in Iraq that the majority of Americans do not support, and I doubt the Iraqis care much for either. This shit really makes me sick. Michael Vick, one of the only reasons I continue to watch regular season football (which has most definitely lost a lot of it’s draw in the Bay Area where I live because of two currently shitty teams) gets hit with a fuckin’ prison stint (which at this point is damn near unavoidable for any young – relatively young black male), while on the corporate level a company oversees de facto SLAVERY is given prestige, honor, and major fuckin profits from an industry that is oh so hypocritical and racist.

And I bet (excuse the reference to gambling) that people have an excuse for why this shit is okay.

peace in struggling with bullshit,

G-Mitch aka Slavename 

Ron Dellums Setting the Record Straight!

 

The Mayor of Oakland put it Down. Tuesday night, January 14th 2008, around 9 or so p.m. i watched and listened to one of the most impassioned speeches by a mayor that i had ever seen in my own lifetime. Dellums addresses what he describes as ‘the elephant in the room,’ in public safety. It seems that the homicides that have stolen the lives of so many in Oakland this year are being blamed on the Mayor’s inefficiency. He clearly states what has been done in the past year and also what is still to come. He also addresses housing, economic development, health and education.

(Insert the anti-Dellums argument here):

I know that some people will inevitably say that, “Politicians are supposed to do that,” or maybe even, “That’s all he does, he gives inspirational speeches.” People also tend to say that he is out of touch due to his age. The brother is the ripe old age of 72. People like to say that he isn’t doing anything, and point to the lack of a sufficient number of police officers as proof of this. 

(Rebuttal):

Dellums, at 72 years young, has an incredibly deep understanding of what’s really goin’ in his city, state, and county. I haven’t seen that in a mayor of Oakland in like…EVER. I haven’t seen that in a politrickcian period, except for Barbara Lee, and brother Kucinich!

Question: Where is it that we develop, shape and create our interpretations of a politicians actions? If part of the answer to that question lies within the discourse of what corporate media tells us then sheeeeeit, let me just say that: I don’t place my trust in obtaining accurate accounts of the news in the Oakland Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury, KTVU, KRON, or any other local media outlets that are privately owned and controlled by huge companies that ain’t even located in the Yay (MediaNews Group, Cox Broadcasting).    

Many have commented on the fact that Ron Dellums has been a very ‘quiet’ mayor. He has seemingly played the background, and within the context of hyper-intensified media coverage he has. Dellums chooses to NOT use the media as a tool of community manipulation and image production, this can not be said about most politrickcians across this nation of ours. 

Some of the anti-Dellums hatin’ must be due to the fact that communication between governments and the communities in which they govern remains distant. The mainstream media outlets in the Bay Area (that ain’t even IN the Bay, did i already mention that?) remain the most popular form of manipulation today, and we cannot continue to look to them for honest coverage of what is important in our lives. This must be true of all cities. 

As we all should now by now, the problems that exist in Oakland did not come in one year and will not leave in one year. Shit, the problems of Oakland have been building ever since WWII and deindustrialization, but i guess i’ll save that for another post.

All that said, I respect Dellums and his work with people in the community as well as those who have supposedly been trained to govern a city, and i truly hope that they can turn Oakland into a model city in the Bay Area and in this country.  

Peace,

G-Mitch

Kenny George

I peeped this young man on yardbarker.com. They had a clip of Kenny George getting dunked on by Tyler Hansbrough, but i got issues with how sports media outlets cover basketball playing white boys at North Carolina and Duke.If they find a decent one on one of those major college hoops teams they hype him the fuck up, whether or not he has any NBA talent/potential i.e. J.J. Reddick, Bobby Hurley, Christian Laettner, and now young Hansbrough’s awsomely mediocre self. It’s Not that I don’t like these players, because i’ve enjoyed them all whether i was rooting for them (Reddick, Hurley) or against them (Laettner, Hansbrough i’m indifferent about). It is more these dame middle-age white people on Sportscenter and Fox Sports or whatever other station that either put ample energy into jocking the shit out of people or completely work to destroy others, usually depending upon race and assimilationist behavior.   All of that to say that…This clip didn’t have me thinking about all of that while i watched it. Hahaha! Here it goes.   

 

Too Good To Not Share

Steve Jack’s Tatts! They go! Stayin’ true to himself, fuck David Stern!

 

 

Snoop loves the kids, and the Warriors! (and then he made an appearance at the Nasir Jones show at the Mezzanine in Frisco that night that cracked off)!

 

 

 

Making myself feel better after a crappy loss to the Blazers, and crappy comcast service.

 

 

 

How’d I Get Here?

First off, credit where credit’s due! Shout outs to the Oakland raised Atlanta transplant K-Chedda Mo’ Betta for beginning the blog revolution and Mr. C+ Colin Ehara himself for creating another incredibly hard hittin’ upside your head blog that i indulge in constantly. Ya’ll inspired ya boy to do the damn thang myself. I love ya’ll.

Second, I’m slightly embarrassed, halfway excited, three-quarters nervous to have to deliver a quality enough blog that can qualify to hold the shoe strings of the already immaculate blogs TheCheddarBox (Kori Chen aka Korillation) and Colinresponse (Colin Ehara) respectively, and I’m wholly squared up for joining the web world which I have publicly shunned for years with my refusal to join myspace and facebook (even though i briefly dabbled in both). Nonetheless, here I am (like the song say, haha), still hypocritically defiant against many aspects of technology while readily partaking in almost all aspects of it. Bam, there it go. Still don’t know what a tag is but i guess i’ma figure it out.

Just to kick off the G-Mitch blog era i figured i’d just throw up one of my favorite video’s i’ve ever found on youtube…Go’On Sly!

All that in less than 4 & a 1/2 minutes, damn.

peace. bout time we got some eh?

G-Mitch

p.s. my usage of the pronoun “i” will sporadically change due to the fact that that’s how i be.

p.s.s or p.p.s (don’t know which one it is). it took me about an hour to figure out how to get the video up where i wanted it to go. holler. here’s to learning about how to use this gosh darn intranet thingy.

p.s.s.s or p.p.p.s feel free to tell me if my shit sucks and that i need to step my game up. till the next post.