stuff that moves me. pictures that say more than words could ever try. movies that are fly. awareness and support. and everything else. you know the deal. word.

these albums right here ... wow. i must have listened to these all through high school and college. these are rare cds where i can chuck them into the radio and listen to them straight through ... i can pop them into the cd player in the car ... and just drive forever. it's funny ... because each of the songs takes me back to a different moment. and it's always good to reminisce. i make it sound like i'm a million years old or something ... but if you listen to hip hop ... and you're feelin' these albums like how i do ... then you know what i'm sayin'. word.

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
by Artist: Wu-Tang Clan
Manufacturer: Rca
Released: 09 November, 1993

i listened to this album to get pumped for high school basketball games ... or when i was trying to chill overall. i listened to this album with my roommate in college. freshman year at FAR 723 trelease ... WASSUP WINA! hell yeah. i think that might have been her official intro to the Wu. it was all good. "chop his head off kid." did that guy just say that? good stuff i tell you. good times, too. sweet :) .

Beats Rhymes and Life
by Artist: Tribe Called Quest
Manufacturer: Jive
Released: 30 July, 1996

this album reminds me of senior year at lane. again, associated with basketball - lane and pba. it reminds me of graduation ... it reminds me of how i bought this cd with the special edition warped cover ... and how sheryl tried to tape it back together when she broke it on the end so that the cd cover can't hold it's own. ha x 2! hilarious. i discovered it when i was packing for school. it's all good sher. i got nothin' but love for ya. this album reminds me of when my friend genave daniel left for cali (for real, after graduation). this reminds me of how much i love hip hop.

Resurrection
by Artist: Common
Manufacturer: Relativity
Released: 25 October, 1994

so here is a poem i read a little under a year ago. i started crying like a baby after i read it ... it straight up took my breath away. here it is:

After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul. And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning and company, and it doesn't mean security. And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises, And you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes open, With the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child. And you learn to build all your roads on today Because you never know what will happen tomorrow. After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much. And you learn to plant you own garden and decorate your own soul, Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure, That you really are strong, And you really do have worth.

and here are two more that are worth mentioning:

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream---and not make dreams your master; If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same:. If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings, And never breathe a word about your loss: If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!' If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much: If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.