Joints for the Day After

It'll be a bit before this place will start to look like I own it, but I suppose an introduction is due. As DJ Regular I ran the Hip Hop format of SIUC's student-run radio station WIDB. Had a show on Friday evenings for about two years called What's Good (shouts out to my co-host Lil' Constant, wherever she might be) where I played dope Hip Hop from all over. A lot times the shows had a theme, or special guests would drop by, but mostly we just kept it funky and had fun on the air. This blog's going to attempt to capture the feel of the old show, but with a broader scope. I'll talk about everything I'm interested in: music, movies, politics, games, writing. The unifying element is that it'll all be from the viewpoint of a cat that fancied himself the Hip Hop Bob Costas...until he realized that Jay Smooth existed, and decided to settled for being a plain ol' Hip Hop head that likes talkin'.

Now that the intro's outta the way it's time to get to the real point of this drop, music. With a monumental election night behind us, most folks that weren't rendered comatose by the shock of America waking up after 8 eights years got up and seized the day. Safe to say we're all feeling a myriad of emotions today, and mine had a soundtrack.

Pride
Arguably the most obvious to spot, even you cats workin' the most straight-laced gig on the planet had a little bop in your step today if you were supporting change.


Brother Ali - Mr. President (You're the Man)


Statik Selektah feat. The Justus League - On the Marquee

Determination
What I'm worried some of you out there aren't feeling is something that's been in my heart pretty heavy. We definitely proved that we can promote a change...now we need to keep doing it. A lot of promise were made and we've got to make sure that the man we elected keeps his promises to us, and we need to live up to the feat we managed last night. We can't afford to pat ourselves on the back 'cause we're going to need those hands for the heavy lifting.


Invicible feat. Finale - Don't Sleep


Talib Kweli - This Means You feat. Mos Def

Vindication
As a young black man, I grew up indoctrinated with stories about friends and family that went through the Civil Rights movement first hand, grew up in the Jim Crow era South, and struggled for all of us. I won't lie, in recent years I've often wondered if my generation was worth the trouble. Just last week we had one of the most popular (among kids, which makes this even worse) rappers of the day give props to the slave masters that brought us here. And that's not even the worst of the coonery I've seen from my people as of late. I'd always been told we were a people full of promise and immense strength. Well racism's far from over, and we've still got a lot of work ahead of us within our own community, but last night was the culmination of work that began many years ago. Proof that we actually can live up to what the older generations did for us. My only regret is that some of them, like my Grandma Henrietta, couldn't be here to see it.


Sam Cooke - A Change Is Gonna Come