Friday, November 11, 2016

MUSIC PERFORMANCE - Singing, Vocal Training & Prescence

Curated by M Jvlian Simmons


Alas, we have indeed heard your pleas about needing access to vocal lessons and techniques, and have put together this video playlist featuring some of the most accomplished recording artists and vocal coaches from all over the world (including Fel[icia] Ricci, Paul McKay, Ken Tamplin, Mark Baxter, Ian Castle, Ken Taylor, Madeleine Harvey, Eric Arceneaux, and Nicola Milan), reinforcing each others' teachings, and giving you a solid foundation to train by.

Press play, below, and follow along!









SINGING AND VOCAL TRAINING




PERFORMING

Saturday, June 18, 2016

MJ Darl!ng (Bio)


MJ Darl!ng, STARSH!P Captain, 2016


MJ w/ parents, Veverly and Ralph
MJ Darl!ng was born in Birmingham, AL, and is from a long line of creative, and military archetypes.

His mother's line is musical, and thrived in the realm of education, the military, the Southeastern church circuit (his grandmother, Dorothy Jackson workshopped and performed with Gospel acts like David Peaceton, The Winans, and Kirk Franklin), and mainstream music success in the 1970-1980s (via Deniece Williams). His father's bloodline is mainky artistic and military, with a number of musical vocalists, and songwriters to their credit as well.



THE EARLY YEARS
MJ (bottom left), among cousins
As a young urban child in the early 1980s, with a boombox and lots of creative cousins, MJ would often make tapes of their sonic antics, to replay for family during get-togethers. It was then that MJ's interest in music became obvious to family elders, and they were helpful in actively guiding both, his creative discipline and tastes in any way they could, fostering his involvement in piano, and alto saxophone for symphonic band during Grammar and middle school.







singing in church


MJ participated as a young vocalist in his family's Christian singing group during the mid-1980s, along with his mother, grandmother and grandfather, great aunt, and cousin.

He performed in harmony with them for Christian conventions, and revivals all over the Southeastern America until the early 1990s, when MJ graduated to high school, and discovered that high school girls absolutely loved guys that can sing.




MJ at 9yrs old.


He had also by this time discovered Rock, Punk, New Wave, and Pop, listening to the latest from Def Leppard, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, David Bowie, Prince, and Michael Jackson, etc. through the influence of his baby-sitting aunt, and MTV, plus the cinematic soundtrackers of the times, Jan Hammer, Vince DiCola, Bill Conti, Henry Mancini, Lalo Schifirin, and Giorgio Moroder. And via a mixtape from his art-schooled cousin from Atlanta, Electronica, in the form of Chicago Acid House, namely, DJ Pierre's "Rock To The Beat".






MJ at 15 yrs old; c1991.
 THE TEEN YEARS
In high school, MJ and four other of his classmates were busted in class, for singing the harmonies of Al B. Sure!, Guy ft. Teddy Riley, Babyface, Jodeci, New Edition and Boyz II Men to the young ladies during classtime.

Their teacher then made them perform impromptu before the entire class, and upon hearing their albeit raw talents, urged them to perform officially for an upcoming class function.

They met her challenge a few weeks and faculty favors later, which went over so well, it inspired them to form an R&B/Hip-Hop boy band called "The Image", to which, MJ cut their first demos by splice-editing his tracks with a razor blade and scotch tape, and "pause-mixing" or creating manually looped tracks with a dual cassette recorder.




These first (but admittedly terrible) "demos" he made throughout the years were, indeed, the meager beginning of MJ's career as a one-in-a-million music producer, and recording artist/engineer.

MJ leads the high school class song, at 17 yrs old, 1993.
During high school, MJ also took part in theater, by one year, performing in their MLK play, and the next, playing Malcolm X, where he had to die for the audience in a particularly dramatic assassination scene involving funeral limousines, and a grand procession.

Their group lasted until MJ's graduation to college, and had, by then, a sister-group counterpart, called "Class A".



They both experienced some successes opening for groups, 2 Live Crew ft. Luke Skywalker, H-Town, on the Southern leg of their "I Got S*** On My Mind" tour, becoming lifelong friends with many of his group-mates, some of which followed him to college, and throughout his life, as extended/honorary family.



!ndi Cru (24 Elderz, Jack!e Bubbles, D@/Se7en)
THE COLLEGE YEARS
In college, MJ studied Journalism and writing, but waxed in rudimentary electronic music production, performing in college talent shows with his fellow collegiate high school alums and group-mates. He also made money making romantic mixtapes for his college mates, to play when their girlfriends came over to their dormrooms for visitation.

During his Summer breaks, he, as "Perfect Timing/P.T./Perfect" met and was soon adopted by a creative Hip-Hop family called the "!ndividuals Cru" or "!ndi/NDC", where he learned how to scratch, and to program keyboards and drum machines, and are where his resulting exclamation marks in everything concerning his brand originated from.



Their tight-knit family was rocked less than two years later, when their big brother-member, Nathan "Prov(erb)" Wallace was tragically murdered, devastating, and removing the glue from their once-thriving crew.

It would be a few years more before they would reform as MJ's "ANOM!LE All-Stars" in 1998, to record digitally for the first time, thanks to MJ's computer-whiz/then-fiancee, who built MJ's first studio computer. It was on this computer that MJ would flourish officially as a formidable producer and engineer.


MJ ADOPTED
MJ, Supreme, and crew, 1999
During his estrangement from NDC, MJ got involved in a local organization chapter that helped AIDS patients, and would escort them to get groceries, meds, shopping, but mostly to raves, where he was re-introduced to the multi-faceted focus of fascination, that is Electronica.

MJ soon befriended other ravers,  and trained as a Jungle/Drum N' Bass DJ with several rave DJ hopefuls, some of which went on to be later known as, "The Majik City Junglists", "The Enemy", and LA's "Evol Intent".




MJ in sessions with Supreme and D@/Se7en, 1999
As the ANOM!LE All-Stars, MJ's new digital setup, co-creators, and skillsets allowed him to fully express his creativity, giving winks to his past influences, and grounds to bid his listeners to join him in exploring this new sound, his fusion of Hip-Hop and R&B with Electronica, Trip-Hop, House, and Drum N' Bass, influenced by the likes of Goldie, Roni Size, Bjork, Stereolab, Portishead, and Tricky/Massive Attack.

The crew was soon discovered by John "DJ Supreme" Malone, who met, and would workshop with MJ in Soul Child Music studio some years earlier, and was developing a Hip-Hop revue called "The Eargasm", to which MJ's crew would come to perform as regulars during its tenure of over a decade, and even later developed a rave-esque dance afterparty, performing with local favorites, Abstract Chemestry (now known as Nerves Baddington), Red Light District, R-Tist and COMPLET, (of The Green Seed), and a host of other local and regional talent.


At this time, MJ's influences included A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One & BDP (Boogie Down Productions), NWA, Bell Biv Devoe (BBD), Organized Confusion, Wu-Tang, and DITC (Digging In The Crates) crew.



 
ANOM!LE All-Stars with Supreme, at Eargasm's premier, 1999
In 2000, MJ took a side-job with Osborne Entertainment to be a "song & dance" guy at Visionland (now called Alabama Adventures), playing dancing versions of Beetlejuice, The Crypt Keeper, and a pompodor-coiffed, leather jacket-wearing biker in "Leader Of The Pack", where MJ once again has to dramatically play dead for the crowd.




Darl!ng, then called, "Or!on Pax/Opax/OPX", after one of his favorite heroes' incarnations,  recorded over two years, a collection of unreleased material called "Yestereon", featuring MJ as Or!on Pax, Supreme, several members of the "!ndi" crew (then-named "24 Elderz), and introducing his first protege, Denise "D@" Tatum (R.I.P. 2012).


MJ ADOPTS
Ever since then, MJ would always keep an ear out for the next artist with raw talent, worthy of turning his setup on for, or an opportunity to work with new co-creators, and build from the ground up. In 2000, he met best friend, co-creator, and his next lyrical protege Chris "Art!ficial" Strickland (aka "Dub Hel!x", R.I.P. 2009), and a rag-tag class of rave DJ hopefuls who would be the next generation of his creative family.





MJ, with his DJ crew, 2001
At the time, MJ worked as a DJ equipment salesman at a local music store, and after selling many young towns'kids their first rigs, and tutoring them at the store, it wasn't long before they were all meeting in private, conducting sessions in their homes, collaborating in the studio, making Electronic music of all styles, and throwing parties and raves to audition/premier them.


Bassfam, DJ Lee Jeffrey and David Jean, 2001
for the next three years, MJ and his new collaborators would throw, participate in city raves with industry colleagues including Danny The Wild Child, 12" Gangsta, Jordana "DJ 187" LaSesne, and MC Word, eventually came to battle its creative "twin" rave DJ crew, Majik City Junglists (MCJ) in a friendly but furious exhibition match, in 2002.

Being known as tenacious underdogs of the scene, they, incarnate as ANOM!LE/Rocksol!d would cement themselves among their circle as grass-root bad boys with a touch of jazzy panache.




MJ and his DJ crew, 2002
MJ and Ralph Lindstrom of Harmony Productions, 2002



MJ joins forces w/ Magick City Sirens, 2008
In 2006, MJ's attention turned to the fairer sex, beginning a search for more local female acts to counter a deluge of male performance acts. He soon discovered the efforts of burlesque performer, Jezabelle Von Jane, and helped her develop the Magic City Sirens, participating as a co-producer, photographer, and guest performer, for the "Sleep When You're Dead" burlesque series, where he would continue on until 2011.
MJ operating the "spot" at a Magick City Sirens SWYD show, 2011
MJ Dances for Magick City Sirens SWYD Show, 2009
MJ, Magick City Siren founder Jezabelle Von Jane and DJ David Jean, post-performance at Imagicon II, 2011.




MJ rides his motorcycle, "Valor!", 2009.


MJ and best friend, Chr!s Art!ficial/Dub Hel!x (R.I.P. 2009), 2009
About six months before Chris Art!ficial's demise in a motorcycle accident, he and bestie, MJ,  recorded Chris' debut album, "The Morning Would", and MJ's "OPX & The Tales Of The Southern Cross", a Hip-Hop tall tell-all about the mythical history of Southside Birmingham, Alabama's creative runaway, communal, and flophouse culture, patroned by their local champion of destitution, Brother Bryan. Thier "TOSC" album was a poetic expose into the sordid history of the formerly creative sprawling zone-turned-corporate wasteland.






MJ in the studio, 2011
STARSH!P
In 2009, regardless of regional success, things began to decline for the "SWYD" series with a long string of tragic deaths, including the boyfriend of one of its producers, guitarist, Ted Ledbetter of "Red Harp", and colleague DJ Paul "Gadget" Keith of Majik Ciy Junglists (MCJ), plus the incarceration of long-time friend and colleague, emcee, Harold J "KNCKTRNL" Williams of Majik Ciy Junglists (MCJ), and the passing of Chris Art!ficial (Dub Hel!x), and roller derby girl, and breakdancing galpal, Sarah "Sally Slaughter" Stanfield, all beloved, and in 2009.



MJ emcees at Heartbreaker VII, 2007
This high frequency of calamity deflated their will to continue.

A new show was needed to turn their energy from a sullen negative to a regenerative positive, which soon after spawned a showcase that would become its own brand. MJ began to slowly build what would in 2010 become STARSH!P, a Sci-Fi music fantasy with its own DJs, acts, and an online creative research journal, to reveal how everything they did was done.





MJ generates a star tetrahedron hologram in his sudiolab, 2011
A grand and noble idea, but a massive developmental endeavor that took longer than his relationship with Magic City Sirens to manifest.






This incarnation involved teamwork from other formerly unsung talent, and crews, but MJs concept was so abstract in its genesis, that not many understood his vision of STARSH!P; not even he truly understood, for it was, as he put it, "precipitating from the heavens like rain, to be assembled as it occured to him".


 With help from several "Old headz" who trusted his vision, they formed a small alliance, premiering themed STARSH!P events, some with laser cannons, togas, visual projections, neon LED hoola-hoopers, and regional DJs/performers of all genres, which ran until 2013.

MJ at the helm of the STARSH!P DJ decks at Cosmos, 2014
Even during this time, MJ never stopped making music. During which time, he released his "STARSH!P: Excursions Beyond" LP in 2011 under the codename "Omn!pax", which delved into the cold but intense science of Electronica, particularly Drum N' Bass.

This album was followed with STARSH!P: Master Class" LP in 2013, adding Dubstep to the spacy sonic saga's list of genres worthy to explore. He dabbled rather unsuccessfully mobile wedding DJing, but soon had developed into quite a formidable composer.



MJ photobombs his friends.

In 2015, MJ began to write again, after almost a decade since he'd written his last lyrical song that wasn't a rap. Until then, he had been building STARSH!P online, aired a DJ live stream/podcast, and was readying a recording label, for himself, and his next crew's incarnation.

2016 marks MJ's 10th, volume of music, from his humble start, splicing mixes, to his psychonautic explorations of style as "Omn!pax", unto now, where he takes us on a journey into "The Love Dimension". Whereas before, as "Omn!pax", MJ rarely spoke nor sang, his reassertion of himself as MJ Darl!ng is liberated and honest, giving his all in every facet of his production (ie., songwriting, composing, vocalism, rapping, mix decisions, etc.) creating every song on the album in either a different formerly underground genre, or style, past or future.



ANOM!LE/STARSH!P has since grown into a creative brand with music, clothing design, a strong online presence, and a media-rich creative research journal, to show you how to do it all for yourself. If you let MJ tell it, he'll also be releasing a STARSH!P coloring book, novel, and screenplay, toon, and maybe movie franchise complete with figurines soon, but until then, we'll just have to watch that rain "percipitate" whenever it does.



"My quest throughout life is (and has always been) to integrate the analytical, the creative, the mundane, and the superlative together, unified where one may de-compartmentalize, and live as a whole, yet extremely dynamic individual-to-culture.

Really, I don't know if I'll ever tour the globe as a world-class singer, be a million seller, or if I'll ever grace the Hollywood red carpet next to the celebs of the day; however, I do know that I'll always be in control of what and how I create, and that whatever I create will amaze those who witness it.

That, and whatever you're doing creatively being an affair of the heart, a labour of love, and a driving force to your momentum in that field, is the real meaning of STARSH!P." 


It was never a 'spaceship' of any sort; it rather was, is, and will always represent the infinite thrust of the impassioned Heart."
-MJ Darl!ng

MJ and STARSH!P follower Bryan Gant, 2012

MJ hugs his close friends, Jackie and Erin, leaving for Los Angeles, 2011
MJ hugs his close friends, Jackie and Erin, leaving for Los Angeles, 2011

MJ flies with close friends/crewmates, incl. pilot pal, Steven Smith & godson, Kiran, 2011
MJ flies with close friends/crewmates, incl. pilot pal, Steven Smith & godson, Kiran, 2011
MJ and close friends/crewmates, and children, 2011

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

MUSIC PRODUCTION 101 - Setup, Workflow, and Composition

by M Jvlian Simmons

If you want to get into producing your own or maybe even your friends' music, you'll need to take certain steps to insure that you have everything you'll need, that you're learning what you really need to know for your own particular type/genre of music you want to produce, and that you'll be spending money only on what will truly help you at this or any particular stage in your artistic production.

This, an awesome video playlist full of insights, tips and techniques from some of the most renown music engineers in the industry (ie., Bob Power at Red Bull Studios, Tannoy Studios, Full Sail University, Recording Revolution, Chris Lord-AlgeBob Katz, Eric Broyhill, Phil Demetro, Doug Jenkins, and many more) to bring you up to speed on what's expected in each phase of your studio's development. 


Pull up a chair, and watch it like TV (hit 'full-screen', and even skip around if you like); when you're done, you'll know all you need to know to get started! 
 



Please comment, like, +1, share, and/or subscribe if you felt this article was a help to you!

Monday, May 4, 2015

MUSIC PRODUCTION 201 - Compositing, Mixing, and Mastering

by M Jvlian Simmons

Mastering is a separate skillset from mixing.
Now that you're into composing your music just the way you like it, and the recording has been done, what should be happening next?

How should it (the waveform) be sounding or looking? Is it ready to release/sell yet, and how will I know when it is?

Who should we hand it off to next? What do/should THEY do to it?

Is this "mastering" something I can do on my own? What the heck is "mastering" anyway?!




These questions and more are answered inside this awesome video playlist full of tips and techniques from some of the most renown music engineers in the industry (ie., Bob Power at Red Bull Studios, Tannoy Studios, Full Sail University, Recording Revolution, Chris Lord-Alge, Bob Katz, Eric Broyhill, Phil Demetro, Doug Jenkins, and many more).

Pull up a chair, and watch it like TV (hit 'full-screen', and even skip around if you like); when you're done, you'll know all you need to know to finish off with a dynamic product!


Please comment, like, +1, share, and/or subscribe if you felt this article was a help to you!

Saturday, May 2, 2015

SOCIAL COMMENTARY - "Pro-Black"; What It Is To Me

by M Jvlian Simmons 

"Shit, grit, and mother-wit." -Ralph Ellison "Invisible Man"
WHAT IT IS?! - There's always a disconnect of union whenever someone uses the term "Pro-Black, Black Pride", or even most recently, "Black Lives Matter" with non-people of color.

To many of them, it infers anti-ism, and is often met with counters like "well, if we started a "pro-White, White Pride, or White Lives Matter" campaigns; that would be taken as racist!"

And while there's a part of me that agrees, there's another part of me that knows exactly why we have become a people having (at least for now) "special needs".

Much in the way that "a mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child", such is the way 'MammAmerica' should feel toward the American Black diaspora during the iffy development of our own ultimate identity away from Africa. 



We BEEN sayin' tho.






















Mama knows.
 If you can imagine adopting an abused/neglected (via slavery, butchery of a people, and sub-par education/withheld opportunities) child in the midst of your other natural children who have no similar issues, you would also remember that this child will need a slightly different curve, or 'mode of care' to get back to square one, and develop properly like the rest of the children. 

And to think that one can press on as a connected family without considering nor allowing some concession for the recurring issues of its adopted and formerly abused members is simply cruel, like when some parents expect their toddler to be able to just walk as fast/long as an adult can.
 


So by the same "mother-wit", how happy should 'MammAmerica' be, when her Black child has come to meltdown? If she's any kind of good mom, she wouldn't be very happy at all just now.

"PRIVILEGE" is thinking something isn't a problem, just because its not a problem FOR YOU.

As a former LD (Learning Disorder) teacher, and an elder sibling to adopted Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) kids of a Federal foster care system who, by the way, are Caucasian, my parents and I have had to deal with this dynamic almost daily, only in a more obvious scenario, as they're no less intelligent than "regular" students, yet is the depth of their teaching curriculum, and accessibility to proper and extensive resource that would make the difference for them proving themselves either a functional-to-brilliant addition to, or an invalid to society.

Not only did they have to take special classes, but so did we. We had to understand that abuse takes years, and even decades-to-generations to work through, that there are certain symptoms that manifest into
PTSD-like traits, and that you can't even address certain issues as you would an unaffected person, lest you risk triggering an episode.

These were children whose prior sexual, and physical abuse yielded to, by then, their daily drawing of each other's blood since they were as young as two years old through violent fighting, biting, pulling out one's own hair and bones from out of their sockets, and even putting their own head through walls, and eventually burning down our home over even the mildest of scoldings.


They've had the police come to remand them, take them into custody until they can get to the hospital for proper medical/psychological treatment.

We've gone through "necessary takedown" procedures where they've actually had to be tackled, because in some instances, they both have, and will just run out in the street into traffic if they feel threatened, or made too anxious by or about any person or situation.

Our training clued us in on the type of trauma that they go through is a "survival mode" mindstate where they'd quite literally would rather DIE than to come under anyone's authority, so one must remember what kind of authority they were under before being in your current care. 



My sister, Erica, (on Right) among other family, c2000.
















We saw it for the first time, as a very real thing.

This meant concessions had to be made, relationships with law enforcement had to be fostered so they knew our situation at the local precinct(s), school(s), and hospital ward(s), what to do when one of the kids eventually had an 'episode'.

These are truly sweet and loveable children, tween-aged mind you, having the mentality of a 7-9 yr old, but hardwired to "fight or flee" furiously when challenged to keep pace with the usual unaffected world, at least until most recently, whereas being allowed to flourish in a loving home, with a strong spiritual Foundation, well-rounded
active life, and having several additional teams/resources in place has made all the difference in their world since for them (to which I commend my parents for their undying commitment to them).

Which is another thing, that we are a Black family raising two white children, which is almost a mythological phenomenon in itself, whereas white families get patted on the back quite regularly in this society for adopting Black and other races of children, yet I've yet to see a single newscast, clip, nor a sliver of available assistance in our case.

Matter of fact, my stepfather was nearly arrested when he, a gentleman of his early 60s, went shopping with the children, then in their tweens, and put my sister's 'looks-so-real' baby doll in the trunk of the car, as not to lose, nor have it be mistaken for merchandise.

The police promptly met them a few minutes later inside the store to escort him out, and to their car to investigate, to which, embarrassingly enough was 'nothing'; and no apology they even gave.

And we're not the only ones, by a long shot, still raising the more obvious 'kids of America' under pain of racial profiling/persecution.

Nonetheless, it isn't about 'us/our needs', but rather about those children's unique needs, and how we deal with having to supply those needs, so that they can stand a chance at functioning better, more like myself (who never went through any 'prolonged' abuse), and most every one else in society does/can.


IS IT "ME"?! ..'cos it sure doesn't LOOK like me; Ijs.














In this dynamic, one must also remember that most other races/nationalities here in America have a pretty decent-to-good 'situation', as they can get a well-paying job, have opportunities readily available to them, gov't incentives for starting businesses, can go visit homeland/travel the world, visually invisible to police, etc., while we mostly (plus a few others like the Croatian for example, and other foreign refugees) simply do/can not.

There's hardly any world travel, nor "friends with a lakehouse" somewhere you can retreat to on a sweltering Summer day; there's only your low-paying hourly job, the block, and whatever knowledge can be gleaned from media/resources we all use, or may have access to (if you can afford it, that is). 



It must be nice.
Why do you think it a stereotype that "black people can't swim"? 

Its because of a lack of accessible resource, not some genetic disposition.

If we COULD get to a lakehouse or a community swimming pool every now and again (or weren't violently shooed away from them, when we DID show up), then more of us WOULD know how to swim.
Such as is with other seemingly race-specific shortcomings (ie., Blacks only labor, never manage/own, materialistic, over-sexed, lazy, etc.).

And for the record, I CAN swim, thank you.


Now, this "Pro-Black-ism" we keep referring to isn't about squashing the rights and accomplishments of other peoples (being 'anti-'), but rather a personal "rooting for oneself" to be on par with all others that surrounds us, who might I add, have been doing the same, likewise, for themselves.




Hasidic Pride
No one condemns the Jew for taking pride in their heritage, and focusing their interests on edifying their community/nation, lest we forget about Hitler's atrocities against them, being forced out of their own homelands against the pain of death by extermination, and their Promised Land having been commandeered for so long.

 Shall we"never forget".




Looks like Korean Pride to me!
When the South Koreans banded together over here to make a life for themselves in America from Communist North Korea, nobody complained when all these new salons, and restaurants popped up in the 1970s-80s, and now (tho most won't want to admit it) they are a business force to be reckoned with over here.


 
We're no different by way of having to escape oppression's grip, but unlike others, we must shake multiple generations-worth of abusive crap out of our own mentalities, and from others concerning what we are (or are not) capable of.

 

Here are some examples of the cross-generational physical and mental abuse of The Black American dispora. Consider its effects still in-play on the modern Black psyche (and I'm being VERY modest here):


Inhumane treatment of Black humans as "product/livestock"
We had no say in our identity.


Perpetuating "product/livestock" treatment.   Modern perpetuation of satirical identity.

Just to name a few.

 











So, when you hear someone saying something like "pro-Black" or using slogans like "Black Lives Matter", its usually to call attention to our own lack of situation, and implying a focus on what needs to happen so that we, just like the rest of our Europeans, Asian, Jewish, East Indian 'sibling' here, can perhaps develop as they do/have done for more than a few generations now.


There's still so much to do, as we take steps every generation to rejoin our families, finish our educations, discover new ways to explore entrepreneurship, and take more of a personal stake in the development of our own statehood, and in other areas where we can restore our dignity as a growing people.

RUSTLING YOUR JIMMIES - Sorry if you don't like the sound/idea of it (the term), but until we're outta the woods (namely, by way of better and more accurate education, reintroduction of the Black man in history books as rightfully one of the chief architects of this world alongside other races, the reunion of the Black "nuclear" family, restoration of our mental, physical, fiscal/economic, and even legal states in greater society, enjoy the same privileged as all others in America, eliminate the negative stigma associated with the colors black and brown, etc.) we'll continue our focus there, amongst our issues at hand, and we'll do so on our own terms. 

But that's just one Black man's opinion.

There's plenty of White people with Black Soul.
 

Black American family proudly celebrates heritage in ceremony.

Mama Obama

Black Pride Millennial youth
Even some white college professors deny Blacks in Egypt. smh


Black Pride class in the 1970s.
Black activism: Getting OURSELVES straight.
Black 1970s' pre-Millennial youth
Let's get it together, people!
I would if I could, but I ain't 'cos I can't.
WHITE PEOPLE, its not about YOU, its about curing our OWN self-loathing.
Please feel free to comment; tell us how you feel about such issues, like and share!


Ferguson, Baltimore, Trayvonne Martin, Freddie Gray, riots, looting, justice, police, racism, class, class wars, injustice, tolerance, awareness, education,Yusef Hawkins, Bed-Stuy, Bedford-Stuyvenson, shootings,