Real Talk

Archive for September, 2009

Don’t Worry, Be Happy- Thoughts & Randomness From An Insightful Chick

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

One of the most wonderful gifts of life is that you can always start over again. Each day brings something new, something hopeful. And when we feel like giving up, the renewal of time is a great tranquilizer to bring us back to reality so that we see for ourselves what life has in store for us.

(more…)

Posted in This Woman's Work! | No Comments »

LUDACRIS AND THE LUDACRIS FOUNDATION OFFER THEIR OWN METRO ATLANTA LUDACARES STIMULUS PACKAGE

Friday, September 4th, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	For More Information Contact:
Thursday, August 27, 2009	Barry Florence - 202-365-5401
	Publicist

“Ludacris, The Ludacris Foundation, and Nissan South will give away more than 20 used vehicles to qualifying Metro Atlanta residents during Ludacris’ annual LudaDay weekend festivities”

ATLANTA, GA – Ludacris, The Ludacris Foundation, and Nissan South are partnering to give away 20 used vehicles to several deserving Metro Atlanta area residents during his LudaDay weekend. Ludacris transformed this holiday weekend into LudaDay Weekend to celebrate with friends and ardent fans, as well as, an opportunity to give back to the community. “My foundation’s LudaCares Initiative is dedicated to supporting youth and families in need”, said Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges.

(more…)

Posted in Culture | No Comments »

Before Lil J, After Lil J

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Before Lil J & after Lil J. That’s how I categorize my life. Lil J is my son. I don’t know what I did with all those years I was childless. All the days I could come and go as I pleased. The solitary and, selfish days I squandered away. I really have no recollection of my state of consciousness during those times. I can remember my actions of sleeping more than I should, shopping, taking cake decorating classes, dancing, playing sports, and hanging out. But my mind was blurry. I don’t think I had an idea of the world outside of me. I had no clear outcome of life. I was living day to day. I was daddy’s little girl and didn’t want to be anything more.

(more…)

Posted in HHGB's Twitterer's With A Message! | No Comments »

Correcting the Mistakes of the Past-Thoughts & Randomness from an Insightful Chick

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Correcting the Mistakes of the Past

As I reflect on my life thus far and my almost thirty-four years on this earth, I feel blessed, encouraged, enlightened, enamored, focused, and resilient. September 3^rd, 2009 marks my official date of birth, the day that my mother and father brought me into this world; their one and only child and baby girl. I have a renewed sense of peace as I enter this new phase of my life and I have been through so many things and I know that this is only the beginning. The mistakes that I have made are life’s lessons that have been taught to me by the finest teacher one can have, but as a nation, a hip-hop community, we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again, which leads me to ask the question, how can we correct the mistakes of the past?

(more…)

Posted in This Woman's Work! | No Comments »

Jay-Z Answers The Call!

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Hip-Hop superstar Jay-Z is giving back to the community in a big way with the recent announcement that he will be performing a benefit concert entitled: “JAY-Z LIVE FROM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN: ANSWER THE CALL” in honor of the fallen heroes from the September 11th, 2001 tragedy. ALL PROCEEDS from the event will go directly to The New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children Fund, the organization that has been helping New York City families of fallen first responders for over 25 years. The event will be televised LIVE in HD and commercial-free Friday, September 11th on Fuse TV at 9pm/8c. Watch Jay-Z at his best in this very emotional, special tribute performance!

(more…)

Posted in Culture | No Comments »

Featured Contributor

Kevin Powell

"My life-calling is to be a servant for the people, period. Money, fame, status, personal achievements, and all that means very little to me when pain and suffering are still real on this planet. I am interested in the powerless becoming powerful." - Kevin Powell

Kevin Powell is widely considered one of America's most important voices in these early years of the 21st century. Legendary feminist Gloria Steinem asserts that "as a charismatic speaker, leader, and a very good writer, Kevin Powell has the courage...to be fully human, and this will bring the deepest revolution of all." Internationally acclaimed scholar and social critic Dr. Michael Eric Dyson has called Powell "a mighty wind of fresh air." And of Kevin Powell, the writer asha bandele says, "When you consider the intelligence and breadth of Kevin Powell's writing and activism, you come to the conclusion that there may be no better spokesperson and representative for a generation that has too long been counted out."

Kevin Powell is a political activist, poet, journalist, essayist, hiphop historian, public speaker, and entrepreneur. A product of extreme poverty, welfare, fatherlessness, and a single mother-led household, he is a native of Jersey City, New Jersey and was educated at New Jersey's Rutgers University. Kevin Powell is a longtime resident of Brooklyn, New York, and it is from his base in New York City that Powell has published seven books, including his current title, Someday We'll All Be Free (Soft Skull Press). This new book is a collection of provocative essays on freedom, democracy, justice, and race in America, as inspired by Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 presidential election, and September 11th. Powell is set to publish two books in 2008, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, his second volume of poetry; and The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life. Additionally, Powell is at work on his childhood memoir, homeboy alone, slated for 2010, and The Kevin Powell Anthology (2011), which will highlight the first twenty-five years of his literary career. Indeed, he has written numerous essays, articles, and reviews through the years for publications such as Esquire, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Essence, Rolling Stone, The Amsterdam News, and Vibe, where he was a founding staff member and served as a senior writer, interviewing and profiling, among many others, General Colin Powell and the late Tupac Shakur. Most recently Powell has been a Writing Fellow for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, as well as a Phelps Stokes Fund Senior Fellow. And Powell is currently a 2008 Democratic candidate for the United State Congress in Brooklyn, New York (http://www.kevinpowellforcongress.org).

A gifted and highly sought after public speaker, Powell has lectured on multiculturalism, building corporate responsibility, American and Black American history, the life of Dr. King, civil rights, American politics and civic engagement, sexism from a male perspective, leadership, social activism, the state of hiphop, redefining American manhood, and being Black and male in America, among other topics, at hundreds of colleges and universities, community centers, prisons, religious institutions, conferences, and festivals, as well as in corporate settings. Furthermore, Kevin Powell routinely offers his insights on a variety of matters, to TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, and internet outlets in America, and abroad.

A fixture on the pop culture landscape the past several years, Powell was a cast member on the first season of MTV's "The Real World"; hosted and produced programming for HBO and BET; written a screenplay; hosted and wrote an award-winning MTV documentary about post-riot Los Angeles; and was the Guest Curator of the Brooklyn Museum of Art's "Hip-Hop Nation: Roots, Rhymes, and Rage" which originated at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, and of which Powell was the exhibition consultant" the first major exhibit in America on the history of hiphop.

Of paramount importance to Kevin Powell, however, is his activism. He has been a leader in some form or fashion for over twenty years, dating back to his days as a teenager at Rutgers University. He was a participant in the student-led anti-apartheid movement, the drive to end racism in South Africa. He has been at the forefront of police brutality and racial bias cases. He has worked for years around voting rights. Powell is one of the most prominent voices in the hiphop generation, and he has organized a number of concerts, mc battles, rallies, and forums that stress the use of hiphop as a tool for social change. As a result of his own past personal struggles, contradictions, growth, and a commitment to therapy and healing, Kevin has become a very outspoken critic of violence against women and girls, of violence in general, and he has been at the forefront of the movement to redefine American manhood away from sexism and violence. Powell also plays a key role in the Black male development arena, having produced, the past few years, among other things, a 10-city State of Black Men Tour, numerous Black male think tank sessions, and Black and Male in America, a 3-Day national conference (http://www.blackandmaleinamerica.org). Powell has taught, mentored, and counseled in schools, camps, prisons, and on the streets of urban America. He produces an annual holiday party and clothing drive every December in New York City that benefits the needy. And Powell was a central figure in Gulf Coast disaster relief efforts, facilitating the delivery of goods and services to the affected regions, and being a cofounder of "Katrina on the Ground," an initiative that sent over 700 college students to work in the devastated region.

Home	About	Community	Blog	Media	Contact
Home

Archive for September, 2009

Don’t Worry, Be Happy- Thoughts & Randomness From An Insightful Chick

LUDACRIS AND THE LUDACRIS FOUNDATION OFFER THEIR OWN METRO ATLANTA LUDACARES STIMULUS PACKAGE

Before Lil J, After Lil J

Correcting the Mistakes of the Past-Thoughts & Randomness from an Insightful Chick

Jay-Z Answers The Call!

Featured Contributor

Kevin Powell

Categories

Recent Posts

History

Members