11.28.2005


paz familia... Posted by Picasa

home is where the hatred is...

damn i can relate to that. the hood is a cold beast that lurks around every corner waiting for you to slip up and laugh at you. not my peoples our peoples but those peoples, that seek to push love truth and harmony out and knock it out for the scraps of leftover destinies. not me homie. not for a sec. the third finger waves eternally at the aos trying to wreck the probability of possibility promised.

so it beez that way sometimes bro and n*ggas just keeping it moving to the next episode gonna build with the sounds of the universe eternally elevating pushing us to perspire perfection. thats the vision that we need to keep tattoed in the inside of our eyelids along with every word we ever wrote healing our hearts from the miserable memories of yesterday and inspiring inhalation from the lyrics that will flow tomorrow.

swear so many doubt the unknown unseen. they don't understand the bittersweet crushed dreams or some energy that comes from spontaneity. off the head me myself i only think of consider and listen to some real shit that comes from the middle the essence the bottom that gut that vibe that lets me know theres universal wisdom and downright righteousness. anything else with those ulterior motives comes off funny style and we acknowledge that but come on now. we grown now.

so what it is yall just had to get those thoughts out there. hope love faith strength and peace to everyone on this crazy time of the year.

yall should check out
if i could post these up here i would:

juelz- this is me off his new album
ransom- 60 bars off clue ateam hardhood classics
Biggie Big Pun- get your grind on
jill scott -sweet justice
camron -it's nothing
ghostface trife -fire
krumbsnatcha - gettin closer to god
bullet- the spic
tragedy- lyrical calisthenstics
az- so sincere, the come up
hell rell- bottoms up
kool g rap- dead or alive mixtape
jim jones- what is this
donny- someday we'll all be free

get at me folks. gonna be doing the nuyorican open room every other friday night late night/saturday morning 1 am. come through spit a poem.

peace
ant

cpg props ya heard Posted by Picasa

what it is... Posted by Picasa

exclusive... Posted by Picasa

real sh*t from my hood.... Posted by Picasa

10.31.2005

nah mean

http://www.phillipian.net/article.php?ID=1594

check it out a performance at my old high school....kinda crazy...shout outs to everyone at Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. the kids were amazing even the faculty was supportive. crazy moment of the night: the dance off remake of you got served. these kids are on another level.


I heard that Bush doesn't even come through for his reunions at Andover and I've been back like every year almost twice. It's kinda like someone getting their hoodpass revoked. But I don't get it twisted. In one second with one check that's it. He might have some sorta code of silence agreement around his tricks while a student. It's all good though. Look at the wonderful president he has turned out to be, and how great our beloved country is now.

Mi gente sleep calls. I'm supposed to be at the Nuyorican late night for the open room.

Hasta you holla

descanse en paz en memoria de filiberto ojeda rios Posted by Picasa

me albizu and the spirits of my ancestors top of the world!!!! god bless sept 23rd 2005 Posted by Picasa

shoutout to mi familia de melba burgos en rio piedras  Posted by Picasa

the gods was happy  Posted by Picasa

the peak en yunque we exhausted bx 2 pr 2005 Posted by Picasa

the future Posted by Picasa

nick en parque de los palomas Posted by Picasa

i stayed here in 2004 Posted by Picasa

mujeres Posted by Picasa

10.24.2005

it's been a long time....

what it do mi gente-

my profuse apologies to anyone if they still check me out. i've been on the grind the past month, running around, teaching, rhyming, performing, inspiring, and being inspired. right now i'm in my school's computer lab, watching my freshmen do research on james baldwin and the civil right era. it is a beautiful thing indeed.

so what it been like? sheeet, i went to Puerto Rico, fams. That was amazing incredible fascinating beyond remarkable all wrapped up in one. flew into Aguadilla, drove to Mayaguez, did a roundtable with Mariposa, Sandra Garcia Rivera, Tony Medina, Maria Arroyo, and Flaco Navaja. What an all star lineup. That show in Mayaguez felt like the peak of the prime, got the chance to open up with Where are My Boricuas? The last time I read that in PR was for the tertulia reading with tears in my eyes. This was tear the house down and resurrect it on some habitat for humanity. Shoutouts to mi gente en Mayaguez, when yall in the NYC hood, holla.
Next proceeded through the mountains of la isla, seeing the lush landscape. It was beautiful, island green all around me. we ended up being late for another roundtable in Rio Piedras, but we ran right into Mayra Santos, who showed nothing but love. We stayed en Centro de Estudios Avanzados but it was like a museum with a capillo adentro. the spirits were with us because we were blessed for our performance. Shoutouts to Gallego, Alexadra Pagan, Angel Matos and every other Puerto Rican poet that showed us such love. The next night we hiked en El Yunque and reached the torre. Felt like we were on top of the world, then two seconds later, the skies poured like I've never seen. For a minute to all the city rats, we were scared but after about another hour, we started hiking down. Si quiere lluvia, te vas pa' el Yunque. Unfortunately, the same day was Sept 23rd, 2005, the day of the assasination of Filiberto Ojeda Rios (descanse en paz) The isla was tense, and it really showed and exposed how colonial we are. All in all an amazing trip i hope to post some pictures here soon. Gotta jet and monitor these kids.

i'll be back (trust me)

9.06.2005

cheers! the summer is gone...here comes 25. god bless me..... Posted by Picasa

the clock is ticking....24 is outta here! See Ya!!

What it is mi gente. Writing this with that last bit of 24 still left in me. This ride has been amazing. Who woulda thunk it? Your boy has been all over the place trying to learn what needs to be unlearned and recreated.

25 seems big. I cant even front. It’s like that time that I thought would never come but then sneaks up right behind you and smacks you in the face. Let’s see what I have done.

Been to like almost every spot in NYC. No lies. Well some hotter than others and times I shouldn’t have been there I was. Learned a lot from being around paranoid people. Makes me more focused on what I gotta do. This first statement is no way a priority. It just makes me bug when I think of some of the missions adventures cycles rituals that have happen and keep happening. Jah Bless Me everyday. Karma is wild out. Reflection and building sessions, lessons learnt, laughs, good things in the air, heart pacing fast moments, blackouts that never should happen again. Seen almost like every major event in my young adult growing mature life has coincided with the moments of temporary clarity that might cloud conviction but gives dimensions to your character.

Went to the motherland la tierra Puerto Rico twice and I’m going again in two weeks. I’m excited. I remember the first time I read Where are My Boricuas? There I teared up. Because I always wanted to go since that first time I read Down These Mean Streets and that Boricua Anthology. Remember the first time I touched the white sands of Ocean Park. Beautiful more banging than Orchard Beach Best. I was in heaven hearing the waves crash the shore bringing me back to where I need to return and recycle the spirits within. I need to learn Spanish. Need to get the colonizer off my tongue send him back to suburbia on the 5 train express at rush hour non stop for Andover. Shake that Colonialism out my bones and salsa to sundown and boogaloo to the breakadawn. I wish I could I wish I could.

Graduated from school. What the fuck. I went to school straight from 3 to 23 and learned a lot of useful knowledge and been miseducated on what it is I should become. What I lacked was the real world wisdom and vision to try to make something of all those lessons. Latino Studies and English. The legacy of Nuyorican literature from Piri to Mikey to Tato to Willie to Pun. The lyrical lineage of Slick Rick Rakim KRS One to Nas and Biggie. The short eyes paper. The hector lavoe paper. The Beloved Paper. Comparing Albizu to Munoz Marin. I’m sayin that shit ain’t even the half of where it’s at. Seeing how many of my own friends did not get that same shot opportunity of education and how it has affected their possibilities and it many ways limited them. It has never made them less of human beings. And that was the whole science at many of these places I’ve been lower miseducated at. The saltines wanted me to believe that I was a savage being saved from the wilderness on some Tarzan shit. But I can’t front. I got crazy chances to overachieve and succeed and I’m gracious and thankful for that. It wasn’t easy though. For real though.

Done my thing with the poetry. It has its ups downs highs lows and in betweens. I’ve rocked at the Nuyorican had people screaming for my words. Feels good going to many other places and representing Story Avenue always first. Def Poetry was flavor. Got the chance to meet people who inspired me in so many ways. Writing the book. Amazing process. Finished it this time last year. I remember I was feverishly trying to put the finishing touches on it bring it all together. A year later seems like its in the same place. I’m still grinding. Trying to do it. Balance life on one hand and dreams on the other.

Teaching is something I thought I’d be doing in the long term life sense like when I was a kid, but after 218, I thought it was a wrap. Thank God for the school that’s a church, El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice. I’ve found a sanctuary a quilombo where fellow revolutionaries are trying to change and help the world, one teenager at a time. It’s an amazing place and if I’ve been down on the poetry tip, everyday is a performance homey. To say your words is one thing, to get a child to understand be critical engage analyze and rethink is a powerful thing that no slam can ever ever capture. It’s taken me a while to negotiate that, but I’m comfortable with where I’m at. I’m trying to grow learn inspire love appreciate and be humble all at once.

It feels like just yesterday I was up in East Campus, crying my eyes out like holy shit, I;m about to turn 20. I went through like every single life moment in my mind, trying to just just on to them for a second more because I never thought I’d see that. So happy that the sun shined yet another on my face. Try to rub some sunshine your face everyday.

Ha! Here I am 5 years later and I have watched that young man, scared skinny simple yet trying to understand why he is who he is. His family. Knowing his parents as regular people, recognizing my ancestors sacrifice for me to be here, loving the life that has been given to be free with the chance to shape a new world better for our children and theirs them after and just keep it going. I need to remember everything that my family has forgotten because otherwise, What am I doing on this planet? What is the purpose of my existence? To be plugged into the matrix doing backflips for Satan hatin my complexion shape of my body and way of addressing humanity? I had to snap out back front jump climb crawl hustle jive flow freestyle fuck feel hope believe write reflect pray for each one of these precious few momentary breaths that the God blesses me with.

What is the meaning of this change this rebirth this renewal this opportunity? For me it is just that. I call em like I see it. I have to keep this thing moving and pass it on to other who can use it to make something else from this, because where we at right now is nowhere in comparison to where we need to be. Got to get up everyday. Each word has to have meaning. Each breath has a purpose kept inside. Real talk.

8.28.2005

august is done...darn

what it is mi gente mi pana mi familia...

been on the low lately/the feds hate me...word up. tryin to live life before the summer is gone. then dear summer will be out of style. the yanks are trying to win trying to get back to the playoffs. hoping that we can do it.

september 11th is right around the corner. seems like just yesterday i was asleep and jamar wakes me up screaming the world is over. we have come so far and it has been 4 years of wars, terrorists, no wmd, mad conspiracies, and no end in sight. ..what you think the government is telling you the truth? when the gasoline to the monkey machine is the blood of our youth? i saw that national geographic crazy long documentary on 9/11(http://www.nationalgeographic.com/channel/inside911/).
when you start to do the research, our government had something to do with the deaths of thousands of Americans. the illuminati is extra real deal. check out some of the names of this thugged out crew (http://www.newamericancentury.org/)

check out these righteous sites:
http://www.graffiti.org/911/
www.september11news.com
www.prisonplanet.com
www.buzzflash.com
www.commondreams.org
www.michaelmoore.com
www.counterpunch.org
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/
www.sohh.com
www.allhiphop.com
www.espn.com
www.insidehoops.com
www.undercoverent.com
www.zmag.org
www.nuyorico.com

holla at me folks...be coming at you soon with the puerto rico tour update...vaya en paz

8.13.2005

what up i can make titles? cool....

luther vandross rip
if this world were mine house is not a home are classics......

props to my mama just went food shopping with her. fruit is incredible. i'm hooked on pina, manzana, melon, and clementines. fruit, pan con mantequilla and cafe con leche para desayuno.

shoutout to the baker/john family, up here for the weekend. trini food is great. roti, stew chicken, pahloori, and mofongo. sounds delightful.

about to take a siesta. will try to get the links up soon.

peace in the middle east

8.10.2005

what it is my peoples-

took a little break from the cyberuniverse to reflect and enjoy the summer. been having a beautiful time during the vacation, just reading relaxing, resting, reflecting rhyming and writing. on the list:
Lost in The City, by Edward P. Jones
The Dew Breaker, by Edwidge Danticat
Where You At, by Patrick Neate
Soledad by Angie Cruz
Assata
Brutal Imagination by Cornelius Eady
The Ecstatic by Victor LaValle
This Bridge Called My Back, Cherrie Moraga y Gloria Anzaldua
among others.

been receiving some new heat from some producers. Shouts out to RonKain and Legitimate Productions, DJ Plainview, Chunky Rodriguez, and Marc Venom. Trying to get some stuff together for like soon.



And what is crazy is that I support underground hiphop. i respect the dudes in front of fatbeats who hustle that work.

Went to Black August this past Sunday. Immortal Technique tore it down as always. He is in full guerilla grind mode. I wish for an album with production by stoupe, primo, alchemist and cameos by dead prez and nas. Chuck D and M1 represented. Everything was crazy conscious.
Jaguar Wright is amazing!! run go cop that!! Boot Camp Clik was the throwback of century. Who got da props, bucktown, and soundbwoy burial was on fire!! I had to break before Kweli and MosDef. All and all a wonderful night.

Much better than Anger Management. We got in MSG just in time for 50 and GUNIT. If someone wanted to snipe 50, they would have had the chance because there was no security. smoke clouds billowed from the nosebleeds of the garden. I'm sure Patrick Ewing's jersey still is stinky. Gunit did their thing but i was screaming dblock the whole time. Really there could not be more of a stark difference in terms of where hip hop is at.

get at me

Holla folks I'll be around.

6.21.2005

what it is folks

just been trying to live life
it's crazy when just breathing a calm breath
is like mission impossible

last month of school is bugged out
thank god for regents week
things are quieting down
my grades are done
wtf? i'm teaching during the summer
gotta make that dough
when did defpoetry become american poetry idol? (for celebrities?)(with bad poetry?)
if i don't like it, i don't like it it don't mean that i'm hatin- com

summertime is an amazing thing. the heat can make people do strange things
for me i will be chilling relaxing trying to hit the booth like i'm trapped up in it


dear summer by jayz is fire!!!
another fire beat right now is side talk by 9th wonder and buckshot. (Chemistry french vanilla flavor)
the bootcamp clique got a page on soundclick under duckdown.
that whole common album is just next level zoning (ITS YOUR WORLD NON STOP ON REPEAT)
little brother chitlin circuit mixtape 1.5 is official pastellito sabor.
the motorcycle diaries book much better than the movie.
csi miami last night was the ish. bokeem woodbine gave a masterful performance cameo as a criminal playing his own lawyer.

i don't know folks but it's probably a wrap with the pistons. i din't even watch game 5 because the previous 4 put me to bed.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can;and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful worldas it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next.Amen.
--Reinhold Niebuhr

that is real homie. the god above will provide yall some time some how some way.

stay up familia

5.31.2005

what's good-

your boy morales been on the grind all over the place
-rocking at the nuyorican
-doing a fiction workshop at a public school in east harlem
-miccheck showcase at the cherry lounge
-building with peoples
-watching crazy movies, Star Wars is banging, Unleashed is just aight, Kicking and Screaming is hilarious, and that Freestyle Documentary is a little dated.
-Do people know about Knockouts DVD vol 1-4? see if you can find the bootlegs because these are amazing for all those boxing fans outthere check it out.
-I know I'm late but Diego Corrales v Jose Luis Castillo was easily the best fight of the year
-Trinidad v Winky i know please don't ask....
-COMMON!!!! BE IS A BANGER!!!! it's your world is the shiznit.....
-I'm finally in the ipod world. thing is amazing to have most of your music at your fingertips.
-Thanks yall for putting me on to the Mars Volta. track 6 off deloused is my jammy jam
-that def poetry season 2 DVD is out. your boy morales is on there reppin for the hood. cop it, whether at 125th or official, it makes no difference, none of the poets are seeing money off that anyway.
-shouts out to people making it here from www.migente.com. please check out www.undercoverent.com for more info on me.
-back on the subject of freestyle, that dvd let me know that there's a difference between underground freestyle and fight klub battle sh*T.
-if anyone wants my throwback CD with some new ish, holla it will be hot off the presses.

5.01.2005


puerto plata estatua de un hombre 2k5 Posted by Hello

en bonao los quemados rancho wendy 2k5 Posted by Hello
what it is famalams,

it's been a long time i should have left you...w/out a dope post to step to. i've been on the grind or like it says on the salida for the bruckner off of the whitestone ONTHERUN. march and april have been pleasantly busy with work, gigs, practice, promotions, recordings, trying to get life in order and other assorted madness. highlights

Temple 05 with machismo redefined wow fellas is all i can say. shouts to nathan p chance and the new cat ove killing it

BU 05 thank yall thank yall thank yall for a heart warming show. yall acted like familia and i was able to get all 10473 with yall

cherry lounge 05 brand new club up on 129th and amsterdam. not a poetry spot at all but i tried to do my ting ting and those who were listening enjoyed. shouts to startac and uptown saturday knights .

big ups to my man boogie and marlena for the show out at barnes and nobles in park slope. hope some of yall can stop by the site and you eventually find your voices. fate v circumstance destiny v self determination. damn. deep.

next up viaje a republica dominicana. i've been meaning to make this trip ever since teri went there a while ago and found love there. but it took on even more meaning when i started teaching and 90 percent of my kids are from there. the largest fastest growing latino population in nyc. ejima made the itinerary and off we go.

-stayed for a few nights in puerto plata. first spot was campo. seen little naked negritos wandering around with no shoes throwing rocks. goats cows chickens burros. all this is new for the city rat. didn't get the chance to go to the beach b/c the playa is overrun by tourists where for the natives they get the trash on the beach. walked along the malecon had some incredible sofy's desayuno polanco's and tamtam for dinner. went to the museo de ambar got some brugal and seen stars and moon like never before. todo por diez is an exotic 99 cent store.

-next off to bonao on caribe tours bus. by far supercedes greyhound by leaps and bounds. why can't the mta be this nice. bus driver was a little reckless though. dropped off on a corner with mad motorconchos and gustavo our cab driver had no idea where rancho wendy's in los quemados is at. it is CAM-PO. wow yall. everyone should thank god for what they got not like this is better than that, but i'm blessed with the hood. seen runaway burros, comedor luz banging pollos con spaghetti, super jumbo cheap presidentes, and mountains. i'm gonna post some pictures in a while, but once again the city rat was amazed and thoroughly inspired. no street lights at 8 is like midnite. finally met pun. in my dreams. passed it to him, he was like "that shit you spit up there was hot, keep doing it man". no lie yall, i felt the presence there. what up pun. then in the morning went across rio yuna en bonao where fierce waves almost washed me away. shout out to tingo por salvando mi vida. hiked up cordillera central in adidas and waded en una cascada and got pieces of the earth. essence yall, the kid who knows concrete was messing around in the mud walking with a cane through rivers. puerto rico here i come. god bless.

-finally after i hurt my foot (bruised at the ball of my foot) and a stop for some roadside lechon and presidente, we make our way to santiago, where they still have a huge monument to trujillo right in the middle of the city. it is the center of commerce and industry and for the first time i see mcdonalds and pizza hut there. i also see security guards with shottys and police officers with m16s. we just chilled out at hodelpa centro plaza watching cable and giggling at the bullsh*t bush was kicking in his press conference. also that woman who faked her kidnapping. if any of yall do that, i will not be f*cking with yall no more.

final report? relaxing challenging encouraging maturing inspiring breathtaking (literally walking up the mountain and across the rivers with these lungs? oh no...) thoughts changing. shapes rearranging.

understand that life is real all over. everyone trying to survive.
"life is vicious times is hard got people praying on they knees look to the sky seeking god..."

holla at me folks. i will be here.

punto y paz y cambio

3.17.2005


what's really good? getting up all over my hood trying to spread that truth...recognize that whatever comes from his mouth can't be true about this war....try to wake up.... Posted by Hello