Archive for the ‘Ninjas’ Category

Sean Price Is Right…

Sunday, November 22nd, 2015

price is right

props to ncberko for the photochop

I met up with Sean Price a few weeks ago to do a little grocery shopping. I thought that a play on the ‘Price Is Right’ theme would be funny. I didn’t think to myself as to whether this was some shit that Ruck had to hear from kids all of his life. Even though I have known this dude for over twenty years I realize now how little I know about him.

Sean Price is definitely a smart dude, but also a sensitive and considerate man [ll]. You don’t expect to connect those ideas with a hardcore rapper. I should be smarter than that. My father was one of the baddest motherfuckers I ever knew and he was also the most considerate and caring dudes I will ever meet. Sean Price is cut from a similar cloth.

I wanted to do a series of videos with Ruck (Sean P) to allow him to speak his mind. His recollections of growing up in the projects with a dysfunctional family are priceless. With all the things that would make any of us assume he was disadvantaged are where he lets us in and shows us how took that strife and made it work out for his gain.

The biggest credit that I have to give Sean Price is not about how well he rhymes, but about how hard he works. God gave him his mind. Sean P returns the blessing by putting in the constant work to get better as an emcee and as a man. His latest mixtape, Kimbo Price, was released today. I’m sure its available somewhere that you can help support his efforts.

Do that much for him. I’m sure he would do it for you.

Sean Price Is Right… from dallas penn on Vimeo.

A Soldier’s Story…

Wednesday, November 11th, 2015

dad

I just came home from Cypress Hill Cemetary where my dad is finally resting from his long journey.

Even though he was only on the planet for three score rotations around the sun, he had traveled to the ends of the planet and back again. He was hardbody and he had logged in a lot of mileage. I can remember him telling me how tired he was one evening as we sat on the deck in the back of his house. He was tired of the heavy lifting and the emotional baggage was dragging him down. In all of my life I had never heard my father sound so vulnerable. He was clairvoyant also because the following morning his heart failed him as he was leaving for work.

dad

If there are any U.S. servicemen overseas that can read my blog in their downtime I salute you men and women for your sacrifices. The ideal of America that you put your lives down for should represent you better than it has. Part of the problem is that we citizens don’t demand courage or compassion from our elected leaders. Instead we have rewarded complicit duplicitous cowardice. We are to blame for the senseless deaths of U.S. lives abroad as much as the greedy war mongering power brokers. As long as our lives are relatively easy and filled with leisure we will never demand justice for all of the people of this planet..

dad

After my father’s passing I discovered some of his old paperwork and keepsakes from his time in the U.S. Marines Corps. One of the most startling items was my dad’s draft induction letter. There was an NYC subway token taped to the top of the letter. The scotch tape was that industrial type from the 1960’s that could rip the hair off your arm. The imprint of the token was embedded in the tape’s glue, which was long dried solid.

It startled me that the Armed Forces was so dead serious about draftees making this induction physical so much so that they were mailing you the carfare if you didn’t have the means. My dad was always bitter about being drafted since he was in college at the time and there were plenty of people standing on the street corners or hiding behind their parents’ wealth that could have used the discipline that the Army provided.

dad

My dad actually did two tours of duty in Vietnam. When he returned home after his first tour in 1968 he found out that America was deadlier on a Black man than Vietnam was. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr. had been assassinated earlier that year and the subsequent civil unrest that followed removed much of the opportunity that he had seen as being progressive for Blacks in America. He returned to Vietnam where the color of your skin meant little or nothing to all of the grunts that were over there just trying to survive another day.

dad

An interesting sidenote is that one of the men in these pics with my dad would be one of our neighbors in Queens where I was raised. He and my dad never shared more than a word with one another. I have no idea what those two men experienced and my father never volunteered any stories to me about his time spent in the Marines. My dad did take me to see ‘Apocalypse Now’ during the opening weekend in 1979 and he told me that it was an actual account of what Vietnam was like.

Suffice to say, I never completed my Selective Service registration. I sit here relieved of my duty because so many brave men and women have volunteered their freedom. Veterans and active servicemen deserve our unfailing support even if their captains and commanders are men with only the conviction for money and ill gained trappings. Without their sacrifice this blog would never have been possible.

Thanks dad.

dad

And We’re Back!!!

Thursday, August 14th, 2014

IF

My poor lil’ weblog is in dire need of an upgrade which I’ll have to administer in the immediate present, but the NFL Pick ‘Em Pool is back again for the true believers.

Leave your e-mail address in the comments section so I can send you an invite.

CHEA!

Champagne Aspirations, Malt Liquor Reality…

Thursday, June 12th, 2014

champ1

I’m secretly dying a million deaths inside my mind right now. I desperately wanted the Air Jordan retro Championship pack and the release date is this weekend but all my BRed (you see it) is tied up in my wedding planning. Boo hoo. I can’t get down with the hype.

The Champagne and Cigar 6s looks to be one of the most legendary releases for the Jordan Brand in quite some time. Both pairs are premium leather with all kinds of details throughout the shoes. I’m most hyped for the gold aglets (lace tips) and the championship ring as a lacelock.

champ2

champ3

champ4

If there is a sneaker god up in the sky I hope he watches my YouTubes and fux with the kid hardbody

KEVIN DURANT IS THE NEW KING…

Wednesday, May 21st, 2014

I stayed up ’til 5am watching the encore presentation of the Oklahoma City Thunder visiting the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The atmosphere in the Garden was electric. Tracy McGrady was making his Garden debut along with Eddie House. Kevin Durant was in town with the Thunder. I should have gone to the Garden and scalped a ticket for this tilt. It ended up being one of this season’s classic contests.

The Knicks battled well with the Thunder all game long. They even had a lead at several points throughout the game including the final seconds of regulation play. That is when Kevin Durant sent the Garden faithful back into their seats for an overtime period. The Thunder needed a three point play to tie the game and put an overtime period into the books. Durant hit the contested shot straight and true. When I tell you he is the best player in the league right now I am not bullshitting you. Kevin Durant is the new King. BERNARD KING.

Bernard King is my favorite Knick of all time alongside Patrick Ewing. There was not a shot in the Garden that Bernard wouldn’t take, AND make. He was a forward with quickness and body control and a killer instinct. Bernard King used to wear Larry Bird’s ass out [ll] on the regular. Bernard used to wear everyone in the league’s ass out [ll] for that matter. Standing at 6-9 you could not guard him with a taller player. I remember watching Ralph Sampson attempt to guard Bernard and dude was looking like a mannequin as ‘Nard moved around him like a slalom gate. If you were shorter than Bernard he would just shoot over the top of your head like it wasn’t no thing.

the king

The only thing that did stop Bernard was his body. He tore his ACL and missed playing with Ewing during his rookie campaign. If Bernard had been healthy the Knicks with him and Ewing would have made New York jump like Rod Strickland. When I watched Kevin Durant play last night it was like watching the second coming of Bernard King. Durant can get his shot off anywhere on the floor. He can put the ball down on the floor and penetrate to the rim[ll]. Mainly, he can finish plays with a score. I’m calling him the MVP this season. Fux a LeBron.

The advantage that Durant has over my Brooklyn hero King is that Durant plays better defense on the ball. Last night Durant was matched up at times against Tracy McGrady (who found the bottom of the net quite often as well), but mostly against Wilson Chandler who was terribly overmatched by the league’s most dynamic player. Just wait until Durant starts going on those 40point streaks. Bernard would have a week or two of those. Just torching whichever teams came to MSG. I’m rooting for Kevin Durant to have as much success and more for his career. Word to Walt Whitman Houses and the King brothers from Fort Greene.

the king