keep on shooting
so here i sit/stand in the living room, laptop on a tray table, espn on mute, trying to get through the last 4 bars of the second verse of another song for my album. i'm stuck.
it's times like these where i start wandering off into cyberspace, "stumbling" onto people's myspace/facebook profiles, seeing if anyone's on gchat, and posting unfinished entries onto livejournal.
i'm slowly moving forward with the album, while trying to still knock out countless collabo promises, doing political/organizing work, and surviving the drama of my day job. i'm actually pretty geeked about what we've got so far for the "third world duo" project i'm doing with deuce eclipse. the songs are, to my surprise quite honestly, BANGIN. next up is a song i'm doing (along with ise lyfe and rashaan ahmad of crown city) for rashaan's upcoming mixtape. i can't say i'm the best at juggling things but i'm managing my time as best as anyone could possibly manage it.
sometimes i feel like i just go through the motions of being a hustling artist, without reflecting on the gravity of all of this. 10 years ago, i never would have thought i'd be here. it's also about 10 years ago that i became politicized, went to the philippines, and the rest, as they say, is history. i really do believe that this is what gave my music (which back then was just some trying-to-be-conscious blah blah) some real direction and perspective. it's what added substance to style, purpose to poetry. for the first time in my life, i was driven by something way bigger than me. and it's kept me going to this day.
i heard the news of fidel resigning, and i think of something che said: "i don't care if i fall as long as someone else picks up my gun and keeps on shooting." the revolution doesn't begin or end with one person, or a few people for that matter. the practice of mass line means integration not isolation. fidel may have isolated himself with the imperialists, but not with the hearts and minds of the cuban people.
"hearts and minds" (coincidentally the title of nomi/power struggle's new CD) is something all of us artists and organizers must pay attention to. we must win the hearts and minds of the people. hearts and minds that have been tainted by media, politics, religion, and desperation. that being said, this victory won't come without a fight.