Maybe you want to know a little bit of my background before I proceed with this drop? I dropped out of architectural school in my first upperclassmen year. It wasn’t just the difficulty of the classwork in as much as it was about the prospects for enrichening employment after I had graduated in another several years of study. Plus, I didn’t like practicing architecture as much as I enjoyed writing about it (and other things). My parents were disappointed that I wasn’t going to finish my degree in an engineering field. They considered writers to be ‘dime-a-dozen’ and even more underpaid than Black architects.
My dad was right as usual and writers are a ‘dime-a-dozen’, but I haven’t left the architecture engineering trade altogether. I spend my days working with architects and construction managers as we construct buildings all around New York City. I have an old Jew to thank for my career that pays me, as well as the one that gives me my passion. The old Jew was a scholar and a humanitarian. He taught me how to create master plans and the process for reproducing them into blueprints.
You all understand that a blueprint is a copy right? The master plan is too valuable to be placed into the wrong hands that might not be able to protect it so instead a reproduction is made and the draftsman, be it the engineer or the architect presides over the blueprint to explain the information contained therein. There are details contained on the master plan that don’t necessarily always transfer to the blueprint so if the architect that drafted the plans isn’t available some of the crucial construction information will be lost.
So when I hear that your favorite rapper is working on his third blueprint I think to myself that maybe his master plan is what needs the retrofit. Jay-Z has been the most successful rapper of all time (even more than Eminem) just from the sheer volume of press that all his his non-rapping endeavors generate. Jay-Z spent more time on vacation since 9-11 than President Bush spent on that ranch in Texas. The master plan can’t be about not working though. This is another lesson from the old Jew who was a rabbi, a teacher. The old Jew was all about teaching people how to become fishermen as opposed to giving people free fish.
What have you learned from Jay-Z? What has Jay-Z rhymed about that has motivated you to investigate after the song was over? The master plan contains keys to sections, details and elevations. Without all of this comprehensive information how will you complete your construction? I’m not saying that Jay-Z can’t become a rabbi himself like the old Jew was to me but I don’t see it at this point. You see, when the old Jew was young he was still a rabbi. This is the type of man he was. You don’t become a leader and teacher of men overnight. Leaders and teachers wish for their followers and students to succeed them, not to be held back with jealousy and contempt.
This drop isn’t to disparage Jay-Z in as much as I would like for those that hold him above themselves to wonder why they too aren’t leading and teaching the youth that are coming up in the game? As opposed to holding people back from reaching their potential like their favorite rapper does.
he ain’t the be all and end all of knowledge, but fella is pretty dope and deserving of his accomplishments regardless, no?
For the children
BEST. POST. EVER.
ok maybe not ever… but this is a GREAT past, one of the best in a while here… this is what i come @ DP dot com for…. keep it up…
DP is 4 the children!!!
good photo to go along with the post. didn’t know you coached. You wear many hats….
“Leave it up to me while I be living proof
To kick the truth to the young black youth”
cot damn it DP you betta preach!
Good Stuff Dallas. Im goin back to the university in sept be4 I turn 30 just to teach the children that look like me that they come from those who created the worlds reality. Hey, even Architechture in fact. The symbol for pi is a doorway of any egyptian temple…..but somehow Africans didnt have the wheel(sarcasm). If one would take the measurements of the angles of the inside corners of a doorway and add them together one would get 360….I dont know….Im just saying that Since ive been black all my life and jesus has always been white I owe it to my young brothers and sisters to give them a since of purpose and knowledge that wasnt available to me when i was growin up in the eighties. Like i said Sorry for the rant. Great piece.
o my bad didnt write sorry for the rant 1st. peace
^ speak your mind as much as you want. This IS the place for rants
Dallas, your post made me look back on my own times. My career path was derailed, but it seems that I managed to come out okay if I judge myself by current accomplishments. Always a pleasure to read your blog: keep it going, man!
good post. i still eff’s w/ jiggaman though.
Sometimes I like Jay, sometimes I despise him, especially when all levels of media buy into the Jay = “greatest” hegemony– especially in a borough put forth Biggie and the Boot Camp Clik (the latter of whom get about 1/100th the love they deserve, even at home) first. The extreme wackness of “D.O.A.” (motherfuck the song and the video, as if we needed more proof Keitel is washed way the eff up) is only the latest example of the reality gap between Jay’s promotion and Jay’s artistic production. (“808s and Heartbreak” is great; whatever the potential of Yeezy’s beat, it’s wasted there.)
There are moments of emotional complexity in Jay’s catalog but they’re pretty tough to credit given the…
The “Brooklyn” Nets? How much does Jay “own” again? More than me, granted, but who the fuck wants a piece of those clowns in the first place?
Compare “American Gangster” to Mos Def “The Ecstatic” (or, I’ll now argue, the highly underrated “True Magic”) and admit the truth, Jay stans.
All that talent and money for… what?
Actually…. afeter first listeneneing to reasonable doubt I started to investigate the cost of bulk quainities of baking soda……
Always remember, not all prophets can teach us through words or actions that we understand, some will bring guidance just by being a prophet, it is the basis of real faith……
I will not stand for the disparaging of the Nets….at least until the Knicks get Stevie Nash.
That said, I understand the point being made here: Jay could be doing a lot more. But who amongst us couldn’t? I want to believe that he has at least shown by example to the global rugrat community, the value of getting your business acumen up. And we don’t hear about him every other week involved in nizzle nonsense, “keeping it real”. (There was that thing awhile back, but nothing wrong in teaching the Jrs that sometimes, somebody’s gotta get it). If it’s lyrically, he’s taken at least a cpl minutes to try to get deep. Maybe the lesson there is stay in your lane.
IMO, there are others that should be brought up on these charges well before Jay. Tiger immediately comes to mind…and MJ for that matter. And even as I say that, I really have no idea what they’re doing/have done. But surely it could be more.
But that’s all of us, no? (Dallas, I understand this to TRULY be your point) We start with family. And then the other likkles we come in contact with. And if we are able to affect beyond that, we’re blessed.
*If Jay went Talib tomorrow, we’d all be ?????????!! And some would call for the stoning of a hypocrite. Maybe it’s our job to make sure the youth get some range in what they hear*
your mugged out with them kidz
Dope post Dallas! As much as I don’t like the way the Chicago Urban League handles their biz with grown folk, I effs with them because of the kids look to them for leadership so volunteering time to them is a must.
Ha! damn Willis, tell us how you really feel. LOL Jay Z is one of the slickest of slicktalkers but besides Reasonable Doubt, I can’t get through an entire CD. 3 songs always bang out, after that, they all sound the same…uninspiring. This is all pre-Kingdom Come, of course. In order for him to grow, he should really fux with people who are better than him, like a Mos Def or Doom, be we know ego would deter that and he’ll more than likely opt for someone he knows he’s better than (Kid Cudi, 50¢). Jay’s in my top 5, but in real life this dude seems like the biggest of asshats, and doesn’t seem to have the wits to mentor anyone. If so, we prah’li woulda did it with Jaz-O, my number 1 of 5 losers in hip hop, Memph Bleek, and a host of others who stand in line for free fish.
LOL Polotron, Talib is #2 on my list of losers, so I wouldn’t encourage anyone to go Talib. and I too, will not stand for anymore Nets disparaging!
DirtyJerz…time out. I need you to define loser.
Talib is arguably better than Mos….described above as better than Jay (agreed)….and speaking of blueprints, he gave us the Manifesto.
Jaz (and Fresh Gordon) had a couple of the most coveted boom box offerings of their time (pre-Hawaiian Sophie).
Losers in hip hop??? ‘Splain…
Well written my man. This is some real good stuff. Lately I have minimal interest checking for Jay. Who knows, maybe he’ll treat Drake better than Bleek.
Jay-Z is a great business man and a good rapper… I think the first sometimes blinds people and that makes them think he’s a better rapper than he actually is
Dope Hip-Hop books –
Check The Technique http://www.waxfacts.com
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop http://www.cantstopwontstop.com
How To Rap http://www.howtorapbook.com
Classic Material http://www.o-dub.com/classic/classic.html
Children Of Sanchez,
There is NO smiling in little league basbeball.
Shorty on the end was mah dude. Son couldn’t stand still for his life. All these kids were good kids though.
LOL Polotron! I worded the comment wrong, yes, Jaz was that dude with Fresh Gordon. But damn if Talib aint my number 2 on my list of losers. Ha! This guy has one of the most annoying voices in hip hop and all his joints sound the same. That is why Black Star is dope. You get just enough bars to keep from being irritated by this dude, then Mos comes in and kills…everytime.
Talib>>>Mos? yeah I’ma have to argue that one, even though he’s sounding dangerously like Doom these days.
it is important that a grown man teaches the youth. some of the kids in youth sports, the coach is the only male influence in their lives. these kids are luck 2 have dallas as an influence on theirs.
Is that 114 Park Corona? The soul of my childhood still rests there…
Now that shit is turf soccer/baseball..
Oprime39,
You already know. PS143 Louis Armstrong school in the background. No matter where I go that park will always be my homefield advantage