1.25.2011

Salsa En Ingles

Reminds me of the fuzzy tape
My moms used to bump
On Saturday mornings

I’ll always love you by Tito Nieves
Los Beatles turning quick cucarachas

Misplaced montuno mistaken mambo
Timbales off time sidestepping off rhythm

Repertoire been expanded
To regular crossover pop
To be accepted for radio consumption

Conjunction with salsoul y bugalu
But much more sanitized

Revision by hipster critics reviews
To certify the new sensation
Worthy of a watusi to make its way
Out the hood colonial imperialists
Consuming culture quickly disposable

Never recycled through the mic
Heard many tragedies
Like the apathy over
Irresponsible ownership left
The boogie down machine in a vacant lot

Challenge to balance
Hunts Point Palace Latin Quarters Sidestreet
Competing with Wild Palm and Havana Central

Fundamental failure to appreciate Fania
When stations tuned to reggaeton

Darselo en una manera
That never makes you te ta quieta

Only scream wepa asi

This smooth jazz won’t be sponsored
By Don Q and Bacardi

Different poisons brings same death
Those same breaths make you choke on spit
Because the riff comes with short solos

Couldn’t dare witness destruction dolo
Share the agonizing marketing vision
To distance us from ourselves

More confined to the system
Sticks tapping terrorizing timbales

Few decades passed without
Superstars gigging through sazon circuit

About to scream Capicu on the way
To court balancing paz y justicia
On uneven scales peeking through blindfold
To see freedom in funky smoky room

Make sure you bump
Official Africa groove trikita trikitu
2nd Sunday in June

Ghost Dog Exodus

Funny how far
The bx 5 bus can take you

Reminiscing old flavors
To savor fresh taste of death

To former versions that never got
Edited credited to never pick up

Lift up the healing that can be
Found in quiet moments when
Volume turned down

Focus on the picture getting fuzzy

Would you love me
If you knew everything

Want to keep the pain for myself

Not pass on this spoiled milk

Far away from fly on wall
Holding up the ceiling

To catch feelings on the low
Not to annoy neighbors

Let this monotony end
With our dusty generation

Centuries unseen we making
Sunset seem sinister
Once was sweet before
Stopping for motivation

Catch the headline without
Seeing the circulation

Let the ink flow freely
Without being trapped

React to weight heavy
On shoulders as we getting older
Should be some elevation

Plateaud on platform
Searching for next level

Several to couple back to few

Let you see only you in the mirror
With set of droopy eyes

Skies been calling you
Message wasn’t sufficient to reply

For some reason
The surface wouldn’t crack
Lack of substance abuse algorithm

Apologies probably
For polygamous prophets
Kick knowledge not profit

Soul continued to lose
Regained the physical
Temple in tune with spiritual

Breeze slapping chest
Begging new epiphany

Typically tainted with ancient
Options to open actualizing

Hearing angels over demons chorus

To calculate the chaos
With leftovers to heat up

So many voices
Couldn’t hear yourself think

Paying attention
Left a down payment on deficit

Waves crash smoothly
Against all thickness

Struggle will bubble
But when will
You turn down the flame

Boogie Wonderlandia

The down feels tougher than the ups

So many trips I would need
To renew my interborough passport

Make sure you have the dictionary
Ready for slang translation
What’s cracking might get you cracked
What’s popping might have you deflated

The most impoverished district in the nation
You could sell 25 cent bags at the cornerstore
Of bbq frustration
And sour power sucka shit
Deuce deuce of death carbonated cutthroat
All designed to boost your pride
To biblical hellish proportions

Caution signs along with no to every action
Fashion is impeccable the runway is the lobby

Rewrite the rainbows find the chain of gold
Underneath the bench brown paper bag
Full of work quick to get doubled

Salt in a struggle wound quick to bubble

Blood could change color of the Bronx River
Jose the Beaver eager to put condos
Close to the kingdom so
He could bring dames to his dams

From birth want you in one of those programs
With acronyms initials official systems
Of dependency chemical bureaucracy
Twice a month check has you connected to the democracy

How to slap back segregation
Is overcoming discrimination
Impatiently craving freedom without actualizing

More centralizing the glossy glare
Of eyes glazed to escape the maze
With early entrances often exiting
Without noticing promoting a headline act
But the stage show ain’t worked out
Just a bunch of hypeman screaming
Get your hands up at the crowd

All those bootlegs lost and found trying to recover
What was left behind in due time
This might become a destination vacation
Thankful the shade grows in daylight

The Bronx is yearning for its history to be told
Each corner can have its only chapter
The barrios fill in the betweens

Those covers pulled tight to chins protect that chill
One of the places in the universe understand how I feel

Sincere Ignorance

Take I don’t know
Plus I don’t give a fuck
Add anxiety
Amplify attitude
Divide doubt
Multiply the mind by zero
Zone out to fantasies future
Inhale to push reality faraway
Embrace the inevitable
And forget about faith
Play hangman with hope
Ambition dipped down the fire escape
Leaving better memories behind to burn
Resume should read real shit
Experience surviving the street sucka
Education from school of hard blocks of Barrio
Culo caga’o copywritten on your fitted cap
Pledge allegiance to porqueria
Married to mierda on the mente
Much rather drink than vote for a Presidente
You feel euphoria when they mistake you for a genius
Don’t know shit and really mean this
Lack of knowledge but high IQ of nonsense
Nonchalant about chivalry
Gentlemen trembling proven uncouth ruffian
Moving distant from truth’s discussion
More interested in the fake niggas fronting
Who face you in the mirror
Even when crystal clear vision stay foggy
No being on point or alert just fuzzy and groggy
A blink renews the perspective
Gathered a collective company who loves misery
First season of episodes was bad enough
Licensing deals to sequels and trilogies
The violence could fill volumes
The DVD will have in depth interviews
Detailing the degrees of how dumbed down
The daily drama has become
We have only just begun
The record barely got spun before
Funk Flex dropped a bomb
Bottles got cracked instead of popped
Everybody saw the body drop
The crowd got quieter than feathers freefalling
The wind freestyled whatever
You went with the breeze bouncing
Like basketballs in dark courts
With streetlights illuminating the setting
For absolutely not regretting recognizing
The rhythm hidden within your veins
Develops the blood pumping in your brain
To trigger a synapse causing the collapse
Of what’s left in your physical empire
You call this artificial life
All the force has run out
And you are still trying
To get extra games with cheat codes
That have not been proven to work
Bunch of empty living
Like dying right after birth

elevation in eleven

Run as fast as you plan

Been running that marathon
Bright sights bigger frights
In the gritty grabbing hold
Of BEAUTY NOT FEAR

Searching for the strength
To squeeze tears at full speed

Pace yourself
Get in rhythm with your breath
Endurance to have
Something in the tank
So you could start to cook with gas

So much stamina to stay steady
The gospel asked are you ready

You sat stunned
But you got to be quick on those feet

Seen chapters of your life
Scattered like when your bookbag was stolen
Schoolyard full of random rexographs
Where you filled in the blanks
Enough to get extra credit

Now a daily debit on your debt to society
Lack of sobriety cause your parents
Shoulders burdened carrying ancestors stones
Push those rocks up the mountain
So your spot in the sun
Would never be shady

So many other choices by other people
Lets your voice choke on every coulda
But your perspective in the Petri dish
Got you picking boogers

Because there’s nobody to play with
Except yourself but those rules
Have changed and you forgot all the games
It’s a manhunt to steal the bacon
Thundercat in hot lava can’t you see you it?

Tagging existence to proclaim
Your right to recognition
But who gives a fuck if no one is listening?

Introducing yo fux that nuh name
I don’t give a pluck who you are
So luck who you are

At the bar pulling or chugging
Can’t g the city you bugging

Will get reminders
From absent minded tour guides
Leading down a one way dead end
Without letting you know
The city is on fire

Enough breeze to leave you shaking
Mistakes around stain
In concrete where the acid got down
To ground up all night
To see destiny sold without making
The highest bid to acquire
Enough possessions that your purpose
Is unquestioned

The decade’s material
Provides enough nutritious minerals
That your typical could never fathom
Physical with atomics phantom
Spiritual a spanglish ebonics anthem
To lift cada voz
And think
Make earth and heaven
Sing I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW

To perpetually grow
Towards reflection and action
One big cipher
Where perfection is passed

So that the family
Can celebrate
Infinite bendiciones

Brindis to the block
Toast to taking it back
Salud for everything we see
Can I get a vaya for victory
Right on for revolution
An ashe for living free