Interview: Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) "In Prison My Whole Life"

This is one of my favorite interviews as of now. The whole interview is about a hour long but here's a 10 minute clip from it. In the full interview Yasiin Bey formerly known as Mos Def covers topics from his thoughts on the US foreign relation policies to his acting career.

In this clip he talks about the corporate machine in music and how it operates and how he views the spread of truthful art. This interview is informative aesthetically, and from an artist who stays true to his craft. 

I hope y'all take time and watch this interview. You may learn something new.  Check it out after the jump

Poetry: Pack for Two Trips by Henry Ansah

What's the difference between me and you?

You raise the stakes and I raze them into a pit of normality

You lean on ethics and I justify my misjudgment with more of the same

You are content with meekness and I am fueled by ostentatiousness

What's the difference between me and you?

I am the paragon; you are the scapegoat

I am as open as a tourist; you are intrigued by maintaining the comfort of a parochial outlook

I am the golden child; you are last place

Read the rest after the jump

Health: Monsanto 71. The List of Senators Who Voted Down The GMO Labeling Bill

There has been much debate between health professionals and the infamous food corporation Monsanto. Last week  the "March Against Monsanto" took place in 52 countries and 436 cities worldwide.

Prostests in Kingston, Jamaica against Monsanto. May 25 2013

The reason behind all the controversy is Monsanto's refusal to inform consumers by labels stating if their using Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in the ingredients of their food.
The proposed amendment was introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders was intended, "...to permit States to require that any food, beverage, or other edible product offered for sale have a label on indicating that the food, beverage, or other edible product contains a genetically engineered ingredient."
In my opinion the passage of this amendment would've been a major victory in establishing integrity within our food industry, which is vital to the health and well-being of people. Fortunately, conscious grocery stores like Whole Foods will begin to label their foods starting in 2018, regardless of state law. As a Texan I am disappointed that both of my Senators are part of the Monsanto 71. (Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn) See Monsanto 71 after jump.

If you were lost reading this post do some research on GMOs and see where you stand.. This is the latest GMO documentary titled, " Seeds of Death". Also watch this Video from Monsanto representatives defending GMOs. See After Jump

Music: Joey Bada$$ - Word Is Bond

Joey dropped this song off his upcoming mixtape, "Summer Knights" which is set to drop June 12th.
Educate yourself on his music if you haven't done so by listening to his critically acclaimed mixtape 1999 (download). Also check out other music from the Pro Era camp.


I really wanted to post this song because I was taken away from the hidden artwork. If you look hard you will see a tribute to Joey's best friend/ rap partner Capitol Steez, who past unexpectedly, it was to said to be a self-inflected death. Another young talent who's career ended far too early . See the artwork after the jump.

I see nothing just but good things coming from this Pro Era camp. These young kids from New York will definitely be making noise in hip hop for years to come.

Poetry: Streets On Fire by Henry Ansah

20 kids shot and killed in a elementary school
More than a dozen dead after movie theatre massacre
Two kids shot dead on a Chicago street corner
Son murders and mutilates his mother's body
Drunk driver kills passengers and other motorists
Two commercial jets crash into the World Trade Center
Death is one thing. We are mortals; our internal clocks will stop eventually. But what I take in as horrifying and grotesque is the manner and the fashion in which people parish. No one deserves to die at the hands of another man. Let us live. It seems goons, psychos, and villains continue to expand and grow their demographic. I don't feel safe in my habitat; or your habitat; or his habitat. I imagine the life of a slave. Born into unremitting torture which was training and a way to prep death almost as a passage of liberation. Read the rest after the jump

Documentary: This Is What Winning Looks Like

Happy Memorial Day, I was put on to this Vice documentary along with a few others recently. In this Vice documentary they show you the "pulling out process" of the Afghanistan War. You see how difficult it really is to colonize a country. Sit back and learn something new. See, "This Is What Winning Looks Like" after the jump..

Spoken Word Sunday: Talib Kweli - Def Poetry Jam

I wish they still had the poetry jams series. Here's a clip the from episode 2 season 6. Talib's poem is called Hell. He shines light on the division between different religions by naming their common misunderstandings. Talib explains to you his journey in faith. Great poem all in all. Enjoy.

 Happy Sunday.

Music: Blu featuring Arima Ederra - Summertime

It's winding close to that time of the year again. Right after Christmas music has to be the Summer season music that artists from all genres put out. The melodies and sounds used in Summer songs innate nostalgia. Maybe its just me.

If your not hip to Blu your a good 7-8 years late but it's not uncommon because he's an artist that doesn't enjoy the spotlight. "I'm not a rapper, I'm an actor in a film called, Leave Me The Fuck Alone Until I Find A Real Job" - Blu - Amnesia .

Please do yourself a favor and listen to his debut album, "Below the Heavens". It's still in my Top 10 Albums. Listen to Summertime after the jump. It may sound familiar to another classic Summertime song. (the titles a hint)

Poetry: Picture Perfect by Stefan Patterson

I wrote a piece about the challenge of perfectly manifesting your thoughts into the physical world. I won't say too much people I'm intrested in what my readers will take from it. It's titled Picture Perfect. Read it after the jump. 

Foreign Film Friday: Chinese Filmmaker Jia Zhangke

In this interview independent filmmaker Jia Zhangke discusses aesthetics in his movies, his resilience to continue to create films  after they were being banned and, the difference between the American and Chinese independent film industry. He later gives details on his breakthrough in the major industry  which helped lower the level censorship on Chinese films. He now started a production company in order to help other independent filmmakers generate money for their films. This is inspiration to me because a person so passionate about their work revolutionized their own industry. We need to continue to push the status quo.

"If your art cannot even portray real emotions and real life, how can you possibly reach beauty?"- Jia Zhangke

Focus of the Day: Optimism

This is a interview from the self-entitled, "Industry Drop Out" Jay Electronica. I admire the entrepreneurial spirit and how he is asserting empowerment within people to change their situation. We have an abundant source of optimism no matter how many lows bring you down. Enjoy this interview of Jay Electronica.

The Bold Testament, "Issue #1" Released: Apr 2013

This is the First Official publication coming from The Bold Testament. The origin of thought for this newsletter came about in April 2012, when I was closing out my freshman year at the University of North Texas. The idea came about on an rather unusual day for me. In common college campus culture it is regular to listen to music on your transit to class, sporting anything from Beats by Dre to the classic white Apple earbuds. I fell somewhere in between, but all that was irrelevant the day my Bose headphones began reached its date of obsolescence. After shook off the initial disappointment, tested my optimism by deciding I would approached the few next days of classes aesthetically.

The first day without my headphones felt like a resurrection of my thoughts and ideas. When walking to class I taken way by the vastness this rat race of education I was currently involved in at my present stage in life. I sat in my entry level astronomy lecture hearing nothing but my own thoughts. The first idea I remembered was about creating a debating society organization at UNT to evoke power onto public opinion. It made perfect sense in my mind but, when I tried to convey my ideas to my friends, I would lose them and eventually lose myself in my attempts to explain my vision in its entirety. After going back and forth about the organization I realized it had to begin with a newsletter.

I came to Henry Ansah with the idea of the newsletter and he immediately begin to vibe with it. We began to meet at least once a month in the Willis Library at The University of North Texas throughout the Fall and Spring semester of our Sophomore year. We would converse over our pieces and share discoveries from books we've read.

Time was running out on our sophomore year and all of the action we've done was all talk. I had hundreds of notes in my notes app, filled with perspective rough drafts of poems, essays, and quotes from books that I wanted to use for the newsletter. One morning about two weeks before we handed out our first newsletter on campus, my phone simultaneously deleted a good portion of  my notes I had saved on my phone. I was devastated that something so personal and influential to my future could be so easily removed from my possession willy-nilly. For a fews days I stopped writing. I stopped using the notes app due to my inability to trust it to store my work.

Learning from uncontrollable mishap, I realized I didn't push to solidify my works enough.  Now I was going to attack my writing with execution. I wasn't going to keep leaving my writings as rough drafts or just leaving them as concepts. I needed to begin to produce products I was proud of.  I needed to move in a more declarative manner. Lucky for me, I write a good percentage of my writing on loose leaf, so I was able to recover some of my pieces. With a span of 10 days we came up with, "The Bold Testament" title for the newsletter, figured out the formatting, got a permit for free speech time on campus, and printed 140 copies of our first issue to distribute on campus.

 We've sat back and plotted this for too long, now we're only seeking progression within us, and within our generation. We hope we're able to connect with our peers as they help us fill in the shades of the bigger picture were all trying to paint. Let this be a way people can again unite once again. This is The Bold Testament.


That was a brief thesis of where BT came from.. on this blog we're going to have posts from the three writers from the first issue: Brad Elroy, Henry Ansah, and me Stefan Patterson. The posts are going to be dope, and thats all I'm going to say about it because I'm tried of writing on this one.


if you haven't yet, read the First Issue from The Bold Testament to see what were about.

PEACE