outside part six

Hello Outside People this is Ma'at tology here. Hope things have been well with you and you have been able to grind these days and get what you wanted. Me? Well, I'm still grindin. Here's some of things that Ive been up to (that I want to tell y'all anyways)
I went to the Celebrity Spoken Word Gala sponsored by 100.3 The Beat, Majic 104.9 and Chill (Da Playa) Enterprises. It was given by national love poet Mr Talley. The event took place last Thursday at Club Seven. Disppointingly, Y and R soap stud Kristoff St. John was suppose to co-host with my girl Queen Isis Jones, but he was a no show. I have yet to find out why he didnt show, but I'm sure it was bizness related (or maybe he caught a cold--COUGH COUGH). Another disppointing factor was the weather. It was the start of the many MONSOONS that hit the STL. and I think many people didnt show up becasue of that. Anyway, it was nice crowd (about 100 or so) who sat on sofas and the poets were OK. I dropped off the poetry scene about two years ago becasue I was tired of hearing the same ol poetry ish: love,sex and blakc kings and queensims. Well, this go round was about love--and all the hybrids in between from romance to "wait til you see my" (OH!. Young poets from across the Chocolate cities came thru the STL for this like Miami, Chi-town, Nawlins, and of course the STL. Some were good like MIAMI's Butterfly (I'm still blazin from that metaphor about wanting to slide down your mans throat like his coffee!). The very worst was Heaven and earth, Two brothers from Nawlins. I liked the concept with one guy raps and the other sings and play accoustic guitar, but their material was very FOUL (STINK STINK). One line that sticks out was when the guy from the group said to a young lady who was brought to the stage and told her he would smell her ARSE (what????????????????). That was half of it. Now I'm all about freedom of expression, but at least be creative with it! Anyway, some of the local poets who spat and represnted were Impakt (Congrats on the engagement), Fo Feet (going through the change?); and Starlite (lookin slim and trim). MK Stallings got a humanitarian award for his contribution to the STL community (brother on the grind, congrats). Then it was Mr Talley. I peeped his flier and he brings on poets from across the country and they are like his opening act for his love Jones poetry. If you dont know who Mr Talley is, well, he was voted one of Ebony Magazines hottest bachelors. Still dont know who he is? DOnt fret, you're not missing out on anything. The brother got up to spit on the mic and he was just OK. He has a deep voice and he did the romance thing with his words and groped CHill's lady Stephanie and one of the sistah's who was one of the award presenters. He had his DJ spin his backround music that was spacey and erotic, but the thing that got me, he was doing everything but looking at teh sistahs the whole time he was spitting his love and sex play. He was spending half of his time looking at ME! Huh? What was going on there? (A couple of other brothers I talked to after the show said the same thing about Mr Talley). Hmmm, I guess he is a variety of all flavors. LOL. Anyway, the show was hosted by Isis Jones who graced teh stage with one of her cuts , "That Hugh" (Keith Murray Remix) from her CD Woman Child. Food was catered by Richards. That had FILET MIGNON and shrimp that were good and they had comp mini champagne bottles to set the mood for the VIPS. In the house were Tia Hodges (rockin those mini dreads), Kevin Johnson, Brian, Queue *(Good seein ya), and Tiffany. Soon after the Club Seven crowd came through and I knew it was tiem to G-O. On Friday, I peeped out Guitars and Saxes featuring Wayman Tisdale at the Pageant. It was definitely a hot ticket with this jazz show. The former b-ball player was not selfish and he let his other friends perform including Mindi Abair, Jeff Golub and Warren Hill. They performed solo and togther and clowned on many cover songs including Cant Hide LOve by EWF to Birdland, to Play that Funky Music White Boy. The highlights were Tisdale playing his bass guitar like Jimi Hendryx. It was too much playing. The other highlight was when Rick Sanborn said he had a hard time promoting the show now that WSSM Smooth JAzz station was axed earlier thi syear then the crowd BOOED when Smooth Jazz station WSSM was let go. Hmmm, I guess that should be a wake up call to Clear Channel who gave them the boot. Overall, the concert was laid back and a great weekend teaser. I chilled with my buddies Robin Kason THE Bally Trainer and Pete Foggy.
On Saturday, I chilled out because the rain pretty much took over. It was mos defintely Wizard of Oz during the hurricane. I just watched TV like Harrah's Big Break (That show takes itself too seriouslY). On Sunday, I chilled and watched TV. I peepd out Six Feet Under. I love this show. I hate that its going off the air. For those who are SFU fans, Nate died from another brain malfunction (caused by him sleeping with his step-sister!)and the rest of the episodes deal with how the family copes with it. I also peeped out the premiere of the tv show Barbershop, based on the hit movies. Starring Omar Gooding in the Ice Cube role. This 30 minute revamp is not good. Its too choppy and the chic who plays Terri is too crude (Eve wasnt even that crude in the movies). I think they are trying too hard to prove a point and the guy who plays the Cedric role as Eddie is not good. Now he should be more irreverent, but the new Eddie is not even that funny. They even had Calvin's wife give him a b-job to convince Calvin to hire her ex-con cousin to work in the barbershop! Huh? Whats really going on? Are they trying to be extremely vulgar to get us to watch? Since Soul Food left Showtime, I guess the cable channel is trying to get the same audience with this show, but with SF, the characters were like the ones in the original movie, the charcters on Barbershop seem like ducks in a pond waiting to get shot by a duck hunter.Oh well, I see that Darius Bradford's comedy night at Plush has went from $3 before 9:15 p.m. to FREE. Hmm, whats up with taht? That doesnt look good. I know one person who wasnt there--ME! I had enough (check out my first posting on my experience there if you missed out)
FYI, I am working on a new talk show for Double Helix (Fingers crossed) called Talk it up. I will give you anupdate in the upcomign weeks. Okay. Until teh next time, see ya outside! Oh and I will give you my recap of this weekend's The Missouri Black Expo
THE SAY WHAT SECTION. My buddy Aron emailed me this:

A Hip Hop Clothing Store Called "Nigger"
<http://www.playahata.com/images/gallery/hiphopafricaninfluence.jpg>
My name is David Sylvester and I recently completed a charitable bicycle trip in Africa, riding over 7000 miles from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town,South Africa . The trip made me the first and only African American tocross two continents on a bicycle. I have plenty of great andfascinating stories. Many are funny, others bittersweet, some arepoignant, but all are entertaining. Surprisingly one story has stood out and if it was not for the fact that I have a picture of it, many wouldnever believe it. It is for that reason that I am sharing it withyou.
While in Lilongwe, Malawi, I came across a store by the name of"Niggers" ---that's right " Niggers"! The other riders, who were allwhite, could not wait to inform me of this to see my reaction.Initially, I thought that it was a very bad joke but when the otherriders were adamant about the existence of the store, I had to see itfor myself.
What I found was a store selling what the owner called 'hip hop' styleclothing . It was manned by two gentlemen --- one of them asleep (Talkabout living up to or in this case down to a stereotype)! I asked theguys what was up with the store name. After hearing my obvious non -Malawian accent and figuring out that I was from America, the manthumped his chest proudly and said, "P-Diddy New York City! we are theniggers!"
My first reaction was to laugh, because many things when isolated can be very funny, but it quickly dawned on me that this was so not funny atall. It was pathetic. I did these bicycle trips across the USA andthrough the 'Mother -Land' in honor of one of my good friends, mentorsand fellow African American, Kevin Bowser, who died on 9/11. Here I am,a black man riding across the world on his bicycle in honor of anotherblack man, riding 'home' and what do I see?? Some Africans callingthemselves niggers! They were even so proud of it they put it on theirstore front to sell stuff. When I relay the story to folks back home inPhiladelphia, most of them laugh too and rationalize it by saying "well, we can say it to each other" or "there is a difference" or even "theyjust spelled it wrong". It should have been "nigga's" or "niggah's". Gee,like that would make a difference.
The issue is not the spelling. I was wrong. We are wrong. There is nojustification for an infraction of this magnitude. The word and thesentiment behind it are Flat out wrong! We have denigrated and degradedourselves to the point that our backwards mindset has spread like acancer and infected our source, our brothers, our sisters, our MotherLand. I have traveled all over the world and have never seen a store bythe name of "Jew Devils", "spic bastards" , "muff divin' dykes" oranything like that- Only the store Niggers!
I am to blame for this. Every time I said the word I condoned it, by not correcting others or rationalizing it gave it respectability, by looking the other way when others said 'hey nigga what's up' allowed others tosee it and ultimately that when I purchase CDs, DVDs, T-shirts and other stuff, I enriched it. I now see the error in my ways and I am so sosorry black men and women. The flame that we called entertainment, thatwas only to warm and entertain us, now engulfs us and scorches our ownself esteem. If a child only knows to refer to men and women as niggers, bitches, pimps and hoes, then what is he/she to grow up thinking ofthemselves and others as he/she gets older?
The bottom line is this I rode over 12,000 miles on 2 continents through15 states and 13 countries and broke 2 bikes in the process to get to astore in AFRICA called niggers. I am willing to step and admit my partin the havoc that we have wrought on our mindset but I think that We all are to blame.
I finish with 4 things:
If you don't like being called a "nigger", "bitch", "faggot", "dyke", "spic", "Jewdog", "wop", "towel head" or anything of that ilk- then THINK. THINK beforeyou speak those words, write those lyrics, support that rhetoric andmost of all THINK before you purchase! Purchasing is akin to compliance- I may like the beats and rhythms of some songs, but I can not support itany more. You rappers are intelligent- find another word to describeyourselves.
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS!Read the quote below: "If they call you a nigger is one thing but if youanswer to it then there is really something wrong!" Please forward thisto the black folks that you know, and let us please, please stop themadness.