Vile, wretched swine.
Acclaimed and respected Philly rapper Ar-Ab uses this, one of his last interviews before heading to prison for three to six years on drug charges, to talk about a range of topics. Listen and learn as he covers:
* the drug raid that got him incarcerated
* police corruption in Philadelphia
* his surprising conviction
* speaking to middle school youth in Philadelphia
* not self-identifying as a “savage”
* helping feed younger inmates incarcerated for murder who didn’t have support from outside of prison
* using drugs to numb thinking about his current reality
:)
Favorite quote: “I got young boys ready to serve him.”
The NBA playoffs start in half an hour. Before that, take a look at the Top 10 dunks of the season. Number 1 should be obvious. DeAndre Jordan got straight disrespectful with Brandon Knight’s entire existence. CP3’s reaction is the best.
Sugata Mitra is a professor whose research and teaching deals with education and cognitive science. He started a pretty intriguing experiment known as the “Hole in the Wall” where he essentially just placed a computer in various high-poverty communities in India and allowed kids to use it to see if they could teach themselves computer literacy without guidance or even knowledge of English. What he found time and time again was that not only were they able to do so but they were able to work their way up all the way up to the computer literacy of the average secretary in the West in about six months.
His research won him the TED 2013 Prize—$1 million to continue his work and bring his vision of self-organized learning environments (S.O.L.E.) to fruition. Check out his lecture.
I hesitate to use the word hate but this is why many people in high-poverty communities “of color” have a strong aversion to the police and other law enforcement personnel. A few police officer quotes from the video:
“We’re gonna go out there and we’re gonna violate some rights.”
“You look very suspicious.”
“…you keep looking back at us man. Don’t do that shit.”
“Why do you have a fucking empty bookbag?
“Why you a fucking wise ass?”
“You want me to smack you?”
“You a wise ass?”
“Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”
“You wanna go to jail?”
“Shut your fucking mouth, kid.”
(In response to the teen asking what he’s being arrested for) “For being a fucking mutt.”
“I will break your fucking arm off right now.”
“Dude, I am gonna fucking break your arm then I’m gonna punch you in the fucking face.”
Watch the video and then read Johnnie Cochran’s autobiography that highlights the pervasiveness of police corruption and their murder of Black residents of Los Angeles…and don’t ask me why I don’t rock with police.
Three things:
1) This is very true
2) This can be applied to a range of other industries (airlines and higher education come to mind)
3) Break the cycle by getting an AppleTV, Roku, Netgear, etc. and paying for a streaming service like Hulu or Netflix (or both!) for a small fraction of the cost of Comcast, DirecTV, Verizon Fios, etc.
That + NBA League Pass and I’m gucci.
R.I.P.
Killer Mike’s highly acclaimed most recent album is going in my car asap. It was named the 20th best album (note: not 20th best rap album…20th best PERIOD) of 2012 by Rolling Stone. It was 10th best according to TIME Magazine. It was 8th best according to Spin. As is the case with most rap that implores listeners to think for themselves and engages overtly in extended sociopolitical dialogue, it was largely ignored by “urban” publications such as The Source and XXL and mostly consumed by White people. Of course.
I’ve always had a distant admiration for Mike’s consistent lyrical ability, hefty political commentary, and seemingly affable personality. Now I’m gonna give his music a solid listen. You should too. Right after watching this great interview he recently did on Power 105.1’s Breakfast Club morning show.
