Nail In The Coffin

On Tuesday, Barack Obama did the impossible and won the Iowa caucus against the heir apparent to the democratic legacy. While that was an amazing accomplishment, what stands out to me more is the impact it had on the psyche of the black community. It was like witnessing a restoration of hope in the "American Dream" for a people.


Understandably, some members of the collective are having a hard time adjusting, myself included. Sometimes you get so used to being paranoid about some taking away your hard-earned gains, you fall into a "waiting for it to happen" mode but what good does this ever serve?


It's easier said than done to shrug this self-fulling prophecy off, but we owe it to ourselves as a people to attempt it in '08. To a people so used to disappointment, this is no small feat. Every setback becomes a reason to hold on to those doubts and concerns, but I implore you to let go of the pain in the New Year. It's easy to develop a victim's mentality and easier still to identify with people who have one, but it serves no one trying to actually make moves to fall into this way of thinking. Misery loves company, so pray to God to shake it off and eventually you will.


In the words of Dee Jay in Hustle and Flow, "everybody's got to have a dream". Rediscover the belief in yourself from your childhood, before life beat you down to the point where you've given up and become content to not have what you want. Never give up on yourself!


Whether he becomes president or not, the one thing I hope Obama has done is show people that if you continue to believe in yourself - that sometimes, even if only for one day, you can feel like king of the world. It's up to the individual, however, to determine whether that becomes an exception or a rule regarding their life and ambitions.


On a personal note, my two major initiatives in the New Year are trying to create a non-profit organization to honor the memory of my fallen comrade, Travis F. Cooper and work on launching a social networking site.


I know a lot of people don't think I'm worthy to carry the torch on such a thing. To be quite honest, sometimes I don't believe it myself, but I truly hope that people understand this isn't just me latching on to a tragedy to try to create a cult of personality. I sincerely want to make a difference on a higher level, but self-doubt combines with our crabs in a barrel culture is already proving to make it difficult if not impossile.


Please God give me the strength to persevere, because there is a definite need to restore hope to our people. Maybe one man can't make a difference, but no man ever trying is the definition of failure.


I love you all and hope to see everyone prosper from here on out.


The link to the social networking site is http://pigsinablanket.ning.com/


Stop by and see me sometime.


As always, let's get it...

--

AEB

Fade To Black

All good things must come to an end.

I know that I have been saying that I would last an entire year amongst the living (although I've always felt like I was living, even when it wasn’t on the public stage), but I've changed my mind and have come to the conclusion it is time for me to exit stage left...

When I first started this blog, the purpose was three-fold:

1. Catch up with a lot of people I had fallen out of contact with and let them know I still care about their lives
2. Use this blog as a peek behind the curtain into my life, to dispel any and all rumors about my proceedings
3. Successfully use a blog to make money while focusing primarily on delivering content about my likes and dislikes

As they say (Who are they, exactly? I wish I knew...), two out of three isn't bad.

Part of the problem with successes in life is that you often don't know or don't recognize when you have accomplished your goals and end up shooting well beyond your target(s). Fame and notoriety are seductive and it is extremely easy to get caught up in the feeling that you are somebody important while forgetting the most important thing…what it is exactly that you were trying to accomplish. In regards to my first two objectives, I have succeeded well beyond I ever could have imagined was possible. The third, I believe is not really possible given the content delivered. I mean, come on...who would pay to hear me talk about how I feel about anything when you can get it for free just by being around me

That being said, I'm out of here. This does not mean that the final CD in my project will not be completed. It just means you can look forward to no longer receiving emails from me touting my newest mix CD. I'll also send out the others ones promised last month, however, these will only go to the people who have received at least one CD in the collection. Sorry folks...there's no more room on the ark...

In order to concentrate on getting my business really cracking, it is going to take more effort than it did to even get to the starting blocks. I cannot possibly put the energy into that as well as having time for my familial obligations and volunteer work. Sacrifices must be made, so the first casualty is this site. I'll keep the domain registered, so if you ever want to peruse The Year of the Pig and see what I thought about something or another, feel free to come back and read it.

There is also one last thing I want to get off my chest, but I'll post about that later and without any fanfare.

Again, thanks to all who have listened as my tree fell in the woods. Most of you have my contact info, so feel free to holla at me if you need any help with anything or just want to catch up.

In closing, I leave you with a clip from one of my favorite movies and as always, stay blessed.

It has truly been my pleasure.

--
AEB
"Live Long and Prosper..."

A Glass Half Full

“The world is a beautiful book for those who read it…”
-My latest fortune cookie

I have some good news and some bad news.

First the bad news…

What goes up must come down and eventually falling off is inevitable.

Now that those astute, yet obvious observations are out of the way, what’s the good news?

If you fall off, then at some point and time you must have been up.

In life the constant cycle of ups and downs should be considered the cost of doing business. Typically, I’m a glass half-full type of cat so I don’t take the constant rise and fall of my fortunes personally. When viewed objectively, it adds perspective, humility, and drive to what would a pretty boring existence if everything went your way all the time.

From what I've seen, for men life tends to follow a typical pattern:

1. Define oneself
2. Act according to definition
3. Successfully defend new self
4. Start feeling oneself too much
5. Take unnecessary risk(s)
6. The fork in the road
7. Exposure, betrayal, or intervention
8. Fall from grace
9. Retreat to find oneself
10. Repeat steps 1-9

Why am I talking about this? The first and probably most important reason is to remind myself or anyone reading that whether the summer, winter, spring, or fall of your discontent to keep everything in perspective. Secondly, however, this is the structure of the new mix CD release “The Circle of Life”.

Now you glass half-empty cats will probably be like what about the four CDs you spoke on earlier? Well, as I went through the process of making this I pushed that idea back a bit. But fret not, faithful listeners…if you have a little patience, I’ll put those out as well during the last two months before I fade to black. That number does not include the final life listening project-related CD. At some point and time, I’ll collect them all and use them as some sort of incentive to heed my wishes (the next side project is percolating, don’t worry)…

Like always, hit me up with a request and I’ll get “The Circle of Life” to you (free of charge, of course) and as always stay positive.

In parting, I leave you with the most eloquent and ahead of its time lyrical summary of the thoughts presented above…

“Fat titties turn to teardrops as fat ass turns to flab
Sores that was open wounds eventually turn to scab
Trees bright and green turn yellow brown
Autumn called 'em, see all them leaves must fall down, growin' old”

-Andre 3000

I'm Focused, Man...

Ah yeah...it feels good to be back on that grind again! Being one of the few people who are of the opinion that vacations are for lames but realizing the necessity of the fam's desire to take a break from time to time, I took a short break...but now I'm back up in the b%$&h!


Since last we spoke I've gotten married, quit my job, and started my own company (knock it all out at once -- no need to prolong the anxiety). Now, I'm ready to do the damn thing and finish up a few outstanding items. First and foremost, I planned this project here to be comprised of a 10 CD set and damnit I'm sticking to that...so without further ado, I'm announcing the impending release of my next mix CD, Down By The Beach. A celebration of the laid back vibe of the Caribbean and the more relaxed moments in life, I'm ready to take pre-orders on it. For those first responders, I'm going to be throwing in a bonus CD, but this time it's listener's choice.

1. Jay-Z's Greatest Hits: also including some tracks from the upcoming American Gangster Soundtrack
2. The Golden Years: hits from what to me is the greatest hip-hop era of all time, '87-'97
3. Blaxploitation: songs from and inspired by that decade of my birth, the 70's
4. The Cornocopia: A hodge podge of new sh@t
   

Shipping in early November, make sure you get down early before I run out of the penultimate chapter in the musical composition of AEB the Great....be down, or bow down!

The Reason for the Season

I'll never forget September 11th, 2001. I was living in the Washington D.C. metro area at the time, so it was the beginning of a very emotionally turbulent period for me. It is almost impossible to this day to put into words the fear, anger, resentment, shock, horror, etc. that filled my apartment. Almost as if a cruel irony, my bed was underneath a picture of the twin towers while at the same time I watched them fall on my television. I kept glancing from the TV to the wall, hoping that this was some sick dream...then came the phone calls. From all over, people were ringing my place frantically with varying degrees of success, trying to make sure everyone was alive, while we were simultaneously making calls to our loved ones to determine their status. Even the memory is surreal six years after the fact...


I knew then that life would never be the same again. Just how much it would change, I had no clue. While I, nor anyone close to me, actually lost any family members, I found it impossible to shake the dread that enveloped my entire being. Survivor's guilt, they say...more like a global empathy that marinated the core of my soul in grief and loss. I was actually angry at people from home who were acting like something had actually happened where they were, possessive of the feelings caused by the tragedy. My constantly shifting mental state around this time had two profound effects:

1. I could not go to work without crying the entire ride. I would try to hide it, suppress it, but to no avail.
   
2. This feeling of depression and despair would ultimately be one of the two driving forces in my leaving the area (combined with the sense that I had unfinished business back home).

I no longer wanted to party. I no longer wanted to feel. I was depressed in the classical sense. All the feelings of loss that I had worked so hard to repress, specifically related to the untimely death of my best friend made me long to start over in life. I checked out of DC the moment the towers came down.


When I moved, I put up a mural on my wall of pictures I clipped from the various newspapers the next day. One picture in particular, the one of the man free falling to freedom from the suffocating air and flames, is still burned into my mind. How I longed to be free...


Since them I am doing much better, but every year I would be remiss if I did not give pause to remember the dead. A hearty thanks as well goes to those who made that worst of days bearable. I sincerely hope we never experience such a thing again.


Much love to the survivors...from The Year of the Pig.

Ho, ho, ho?

Just when I thought that I was out (for a few months at least) they pull me back in. ..


Of course I ended up with an advance copy of Kanye West's Graduation and will probably have 50 Cent's Curtis by this weekend and am in a quandary. Sticking to my vow of never passing on full albums out of respect for the artists and their ability to make bread, I'm considering putting together another compilation just to whet your appetite for the most anticipated September 11th since The Blueprint and the twin towers dropped. However, I find it hard to put the effort into it like I would a typical release due to this little thing I'm working on called getting married. However, if you want one, hit me up because I'm only making enough to satisfy personal requests.


As always, consider this a promotional teaser for both albums and a gift from The Year of the Pig, but get your ass to the store when the full lengths drop.


One last thing...


Team Kanye all the way baby!!!