Scribbler's 3-for-1 After Tuesday Special: A Tribute to Phife Dawg

Now y'all know that something or someone has to be special for me to buck the trend and post on a Wednesday when this blog is New Problem Tuesdays.  However, if special exceptions are made when popes, kings, queens, princes, princesses, presidents and political leaders pass away, then the same must be done for hip-hop royalty.  When I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed last night before bed and saw a report that Malik Taylor aka Phife Dawg--one-fourth of one of my favorite hip-hop groups of all time, A Tribe Called Quest--had passed away at the age of 45, my heart immediately sunk and I knew that his storied bout with diabetes was the culprit--although the family hadn't confirmed it yet.  It made me feel two different things: 1) I felt like I lost one of my favorite uncles or older brothers and 2) I hate diabetes with a passion because of what it can do to people over time, especially if not properly handled.  I immediately resigned myself to listen to my two favorite albums of theirs, The Low End Theory (1991) and Midnight Marauders (1993)--the latter being the very first hip-hop album that I ever purchased.  Then I thought, "How can I honor Phife Dawg without unveiling my 'Rave & Favorite Five' hip-hop duos & groups too soon and going out of order again and waiting until next Tuesday to do it?"  The answer is threefold: 1) Tribe albums will be "In Heavy Rotation" for a while; 2) by the time this post hit the Innanets, it will be an "11th Hour Post of the Week"; and 3) I can share my "Rave & Favorite Five" Phife Dawg verses.  (You see what I did there...you're welcome.)  Hence, I bring you the first "3-for-1 After Tuesday Special" in NPT history.  Let's roll...

Scribbler's 2-for-1 Tuesday Special: Into the Spring of Things

Ah, the spring...my favorite season of all.  All that's missing is some Antonio Vivaldi.  However, what always trips me out about the Vernal Equinox aka "The First Day of Spring" is that it rarely feels like spring, and Sunday proved that as it was snowing in certain parts of the East Coast.  Nonetheless, I was ecstatic to know that winter--which oddly enough was my favorite season as a kid--was taking all of the hats, gloves and booties with it.  As was the case, I was on my way to work yesterday and realized that I still hadn't figured out my "Rave & Favorite Five" for today--despite having literally typed out a nine-pages-and-counting document of bullet-point ideas that should keep this series going for at least the next year and a half.  Suddenly, seeing the sun high in the sky and knowing that the weather was about to gradually get warmer, it's like God gave me an alley-oop for an off-script concept.  Hence, I present to you my five favorite things about spring.  So as some of you are dreading having to buy stock in Claritin and Allegra over the next month or two, allow me to share what makes spring so awesome in this "2-for-1 Tuesday Special" of my "Rave & Favorite Five" as well as the "11th Hour Post of the Week".  (I know that my continuous generosity is more than you can handle, but try to contain yourself there, buckaroo.)  Just try not to hock too loudly or sneeze too disgustingly on your smartphone, tablet or computer screen as your allergies flare up at the thought of this first thing...

The American President: Donald Trump & The Societal Exposé, Part 2

Whether we choose to admit it or not, America loves a trash talker--whether that love is actually loving the person's platform or loving to hate everything for which they represent.  When someone gets our blood boiling, it gives us a reason to get out of bed in the morning to stand against their flawed system of values with our best devised strategies or just to punch him or her in the mouth one good time.  Even if we aren't able to do that for lack of toughness, tangibility or bail money, the drama starter nevertheless makes for more of an intriguing piece of scuttlebutt than someone who avoids controversy like the plague.  In Part 1 of this four-part series, "America the Divided," I delved into America's historic separatism and how Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is merely a cog in the systematic machine of racial, religious, gender and other forms of cultural and political separation.  Serving as a perfect segue to this week's installment of "The American President: Donald Trump & The Societal Exposé", I continue in my assertions that while Trump's blustering rhetoric appears to be nothing more than disunifying rabble-rousing, his tactics are not germane to one particular group of people who superficially look, sound, act or think like him...

Scribbler's 2-for-1 Tuesday Special: Kendrick Lamar, "untitled unmastered."

If you don't know how big of a Kendrick Lamar fan I am by now, then you haven't been following this blog very long.  (Catch up here and here.  No excuses now.)  So when I get a TIDAL notification on March 4th at 1:24 a.m. saying, "New music from Kendrick Lamar. Listen now," my immediate reaction was, "Wait a minute...is this another instance where I'm the last to know about something?!?!  How come no one told me of this momentous occasion until this very moment?!?!"  Then I thought, "'Listen now'???  Uhhhh duhhhhh...of course I'm gonna listen now!  What else would I be doing at 1:24 in the morning except playing Madden, watching Knight Rider reruns or, I don't know, actually sleeping?!?!"  So after seeing a few Facebook posts from people who were baited into doing the same thing, I listened to what were clearly the songs that didn't make Lamar's critically-acclaimed, Grammy-award-winning album, To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) and guess what?  I didn't eeeeeem care.  This was still new music to me and, more important, new Kendrick Lamar music.  So it wouldn't be true to my integrity as an avid music lover if I let a week go by without sharing my two cents about untitled unmastered. in this "2-for-1 Tuesday Special"--giving you all an "In Heavy Rotation" special edition as well as my "Rave & Favorite Five" post for the week. (I know...I'm so generous...I shouldn't have.)  Let's get at it, kiddies...

The American President: Donald Trump & The Societal Exposé, Part 1

Observing the meteoric rise of businessman Donald Trump during his campaign for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, several pundits, political analysts and social media experts have run to the same defense: "There's no way that Trump can win the general election.  The American voter is much smarter than that and this would be an insult to their intelligence."  However, let's keep it 100: is the rise of Trump and the real possibility that he could be the 45th President an insult to the American voter and the democratic political process that we darn near deify, or is it an indictment of America?  At so many patriotic events, we are encouraged to sing Katharine Lee Bates and Samuel A. Ward's "America the Beautiful" as a sign of our solidarity with what is often billed as "the greatest" or "the most powerful" nation in the world.  Given the historically divisive social climate in our country, how "beautiful" is or has America ever been and to what "greatness" is Trump truly returning us?  He represents everything that many Americans--regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, generational gap, religion, etc.--believe and exhibit, whether they realize it or not.  In a four-part series over the next several weeks, I intend to highlight many of the harsh and sobering realities about America and manifest just how "American" Donald Trump is...