Why I LOVE ?uestLove

he introduced me to THIS gem off his twitter page!!!

WUTANG VS THE BEATLES

favorite cut so far: ‘Mighty Healthy’

MY FIRST ONLINE STORE: The Write Choices

http://thewritechoices.bigcartel.com

All these products and more are now available here!!

I can’t wait to get my reverbnation game tight like Queen Sheba’s !!!

First A.M.E. Zion Church

1:27 pm Jan. 20, 2010, writing while listening to 144 beat-playlist of 9th Wonder’s work:

I’ve delayed writing about my experience at First A.M.E. Zion Church for reasons beyond my control.

I always believe that when something happens or when you learn something new that you should SIT on that information a while until you gain another level of understanding it, some call it, OVER standing.  However, with my last visit to First AME Zion, I was not a pracitioner of this doctrine, AT ALL, infact i was the polar opposite.

Before I tread further into what I mean, let me give you a brief history/background on me and First AME Zion.  When my family first moved to Knoxville, TN First AME Zion was our home church.  After a few years of gossip and internal fighting amongst the congregation my parents opted to stop going to that church.  well ..that meant a few sundays of visiting a few other churches, and ultimately just stop going altogether.   It would be almost 10 years  before I stepped foot into another church on my own volition.

The next time I’d step into a church would be exactly ONE WEEK before I was to go to Birmingham, AL and attend a college I’d only heard of…one I didn’t want to go to anyway cause I’d never heard it OR the city it was in: “fairfield” (so close to B’ham we just say it’s in B’ham).  So ..i guess i was on some kinda soul search thing, and decided I’d start walking.  It was half sunny, after rain — so wet, but sunny, and I was strolling my happy ass down woodbine heading toward  washington ave when I stumbled upon this Baptist Church that was open and I could hear the people inside  praising and all that good stuff, so I decided..”hey..why not!?”

Long story short, the pastor of that church pissed me off when he said that even other Christians were in the wrong and due to suffer in hell if they didn’t believe exactly in the ways of John the Baptist “fire and brimstone” gospel.  and maybe..just MAYBE I was pissed at the pastor and his 15 kids sitting behind me.  to me, i felt like he’d gotten his wife pregnant to a point of bondage..she seemed so aloof and out of it, sitting there with OK..more realistically…sitting there with 8 kids;  and his way of speech seemed so misguiding at that point and time, and Lord knows, they didn’t approve of my baggy jeans, jagged hair, and new river jacket!!! 

so..later on in the service, he had the ushers pass out an ”opinion ballot” of some kind, literally wanting what we thought in our words (i’ve never seen this practice before that day and never again since). SO…i did.  he read it, was moved, and asked me to speak.  I get up, and in my own way, spend the next 5 minutes rebuking the teachings of  all I’d just heard being spouted off for the last 20 minutes.  I felt a great relief but also an overwhelming need to leave and get some fresh air…so i did.  That was in 1998.

Fast foward to 2004, a Pastor Christopher comes to First AME Zion.

There’s coverage of his arrival in the News Sentinel. My family’s impressed and send me and brother to go investigate. We do and immediately fall-in-good favor with Christopher.  He was a Pastor and Proffessor of Cults and all religions.  He was able to answer our most skeptical questions with a peaceful calm and with answers that were sound and based in facts.  We appreciated this a great deal.  However, all of the congregation didn’t.  The church was suffering from the same issues a lot of churches go through.  Old blood. 

When I left AME Zion initially in the 80’s there was a youth group, sunday school was sizable.  When I returned in new millineum, there were hardly a handful of kids and a handful of young families.  The congregation was full of the same elders who were tied to the politics and gossip and unecessary practices of the tradition of that particular gathering of fellowship.  Christopher was an issue for them because he bucked that system.  He told them if The Bible was the only book we need and that if The Word of God was all we needed to follow then there was NO NEED for this second book of rituals and methods they were followed.  At the time, the congregation didn’t voice their disapproval, for no one wanted to be outted for disagreeing with such a sound doctorine; but the their disapproval eventually surfaced in a number of uproars, me and my bother witnessed as unecessary and childish — ultimately disappointing upon the firing of Pastor Christopher. 

In between that time, I’d drifted in and out of AME Zion, noting other pastors that came before Christopher, those whose names I didn’t catch and don’t remember cause their stay was SO short.  One pastor I remember literally went out in the street and would bring in the homeless for Sunday service.  I’ll never forget that site.  I’ll also never forget the elders who scolded him for doing so. 

OK..so moving forward to know.

AME Zion has grown.  There are children there and young families and a budding diverse congregation.  They have an exceptional pastor (Pastor Mays) and he’s truly annointed and  I’ll pray that he’ll forgive any of our misunderstandings in the future.

If you have been reading and paying attention up to this point…you can imaging what I did once the day came for me to go back to AME Zion to read to their youth.  What you can’t imagine is that NOTHING I SAID had ANYTHING TO DO with my past history with First AME Zion nor my history with churches period.

It has to do with being out of practice with my own beliefs.  For that day, God had dropped a message on me of dire importance; some NEW knowledge. and like a freakin’ rookie, I became overwhelmed with this knowledge, this new message of being aware, of being human, and having faith,hope,love (outside of knowledge) AND because I didn’t SIT ON that information and let it fester a while, I found myself trying to teach WHILE I was learning.  Found myself Spouting a Truth I hadn’t completely digested yet, so from the outside looking in, I basically repeated 1999.  This time, portions of the congregation felt like I was rebuking their practice, which was far from the case.  **

Luckily, there were members of my current church who are much stronger in the Spirit than I am, who recognized what was going on with me, and were able to help me reach some clarity with their words.  ALSO, the children reached out to me the next day to confirm that they understood and received the message (which was my WHOLE point of going there reguardless..i foolhardedly tried to reach the adults and elders also..but that wasn’t the day’s mission)

hmmm..indeed.

today i’m on the last stretch of concecration fast.

last night i performed at the pilot light via jack rentfro and his many talented friends.

the show as simple and quite eye opening.  i’m on my grind right now…stepping it up

on the music and merchandise tip. so yeah….moving forward, glad to have this post behind me now.

** for more details of what I spoke on that day, email me: blackatticus@gmail.com, a number i can reach you.

i’ve ALWAYS hated writing bios about myself.

– but yet another opportunity has arisen that requires that i do so (until one day i actually inspire a bio-writer to write about me!) so here goes my first crack at it…..

………………………………………………………………………………….

Black Atticus is the co-founder & administrative director of Black Sunshine Arts-N-Entertainment, co-slam master of Knoxville Poetry Slam, as well as a proud member of The Loose Leaf Collective. His work is based in a way of word and literature that people find educational and entertaining, for it tends to be rhythmic and centered on a timing made popular to Hip Hop Culture’s word play, but is heavily influenced by collegiate and spiritual knowledge bases. A nationally ranked and recognized slam poet, Black Atticus is known for his clever approach to story telling and conveyance of inspirational messages.  He’s honored to be allowed the opportunity to share with us, and hopes his work enhances the experience.

——————————————————————————————————-

THERE.   it took me 45 minutes to write….( TONS of adding and deleting and scrapping the whole thing and retyping…) but I do believe that I can live with that.

Organic Ninja & Sleep Worship

OK — I’m on my growth-boi (yes…BOI) I did something real simple last night. I rested.
I’m sure that’s something hardly to be felt by those who either don’t know me or dont’ know what it’s like to truly truly BE restless; insomniatically* so,  as if not sleeping holds some secret the day has been keeping from you til the 25th hour.

So I slept and naturally it felt great, and every time I do it i say to myself: “i should do that more often”, but of course i don’t….somewhere, I want to blame NAS cause he told me “I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death”, and no matter how much that may be true, LIFE and NATURE is our mother and without proper rest/ recharge, we drain ourselves further into ‘Cousin Death’s’ clutches.

I’ve spent the last few days thinking about HOW i REALLY FEEL about my life and my philosophies on life and blah blah blah, and it’s come to me in spurts, WAYS to convey my voice  and thoughts more honestly; and like most things about HUMANS, it’s damn near impossible to convey everything we’re feeling, thinking, thought, felt, experienced, and learned in ONE BLOG or ONE SONG or ONE JOURNAL ENTRY. It would take months, years, who knows…”a lil baby lifetime”.

so yeah..spurts.

the two that come to mind right now:

1) “Only the Good Die Young” is an evil ass statement.

It implies that those who don’t die young are of the bad, or not as good as those who died young, which is some bullshit. I know plenty of good people who’ve lived nice long lives and they’ve shown me that we should be on some Spock Jenkin’s “Live Long and Prosper” kick, for there is SO much you can’t gain when your young; such as wisdom and the power it brings, knowledge and the power it brings….options…lessons beyond academic schools…hell…you get closer to understanding things you’re young spirit and mind can’t fathom until u get 40-60 years under your belt. Besides…Life’s a Gift…..death is just a part of it. I doubt I’d appreciate those who show me love and let me know how they really feel if I knew we’d all be here forever in this form on this planet and it’s problems. I dont think we’d even have words like “TIMELESS” when we think of it in regards to songs or writings or movies or people we love if we knew we’d all be here forever in this form on this planet and it’s problems. There’s something sacred in the balance of night and day, in up and down, between push and pull, between love and hate, between your ex’s who left and those that stay, between real and fake, between true friends and fair-weathers; and SO is the balance between life and death. it’s necessary to keep the experience complete and worthy. So Live n’ Take Yo Ass to Sleep when you’re sleepy so you can enjoy the next day dammit!

which leads me to my next spurt:

2) Sleep/Rest can be a form of worship…a sign of appreciation for this experience we call life, because you are reserving the energy necessary to fully experience and engage your days with everything you’ve got.

Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. After God completed all his works he rested. Today we are promised a rest.

Benjamin Franklin
He that can take rest is greater than he that can take cities.

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

ZIMBO.COM QUOTE on ‘Entering Into Rest’

“Let’s define the word rest. To cease from action The word rest means to cease from labor or exertion. Applying that to God’s rest, it means no more self-effort–no more trying to please God by your fleshly works. Rest involves cessation from legalistic activity; we rest in free grace. We are now free to walk in the Spirit. To be free from worry Some people are never at peace because they’re always bothered about something. To rest means to be free from whatever disturbs you, or causes you to worry. It means in this sense to be quiet, still, peaceful, and free from guilt” –

Jean Paul
No rest is worth anything except the rest that is earned.

Ovid
What is without periods of rest will not endure.

Ernest Hemingway
I still need more healthy rest in order to work at my best. My health is the main capital I have and I want to administer it intelligently.

Ashleigh Brilliant
Sometimes the most urgent and vital thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest.

---

ok yeah..so …enough on that thought.  here’s a video i wanted share,

this brother’s hands LITERALLY make the ‘ninja wind sound’ when they’re moving all quick in the movies!!!  check it out he does it SOON as the video starts! amazing!

* love making up words!!!

decision.

I’ve decided today that i’m going to BE and aggressively so.
I’m releasing Home Studio Tour and organizing a ‘House Party Tour’ simultaneously.

As for my next album, I’m going to release Radio Active, while working on Medussa’s Braids.
Today Bush hit me up with another classic him and Miller Time composed. I wrote to it immediately.

best line i wrote last night:
“my opinion over drums…OVER drum,
it’s like i’m trynna squeeze the sun
through the barrell of a gun,
through the apparrell and the lungs
of the day we over come,”

i’m loving it.
also, i reconnected with the sound
of one of my favorite artist (..i’m well over
naming names at this point) and today i realized
they have a huge fixation with 90’s R&B drums.
the way the swell and ride is truly unique, and
they definitely take large advantage of the fact
hardly anyone today is even paying proper homage
to that cess pool of dopeness.

….hardly…..opperative word. >:-T

me time’s the shit.

vid session 1

i’m doing this more often these days.  the more i stop going out and blowing money in bars and wherever else i was spending loot, i’m finishing up a lot more work, especially song wise.  this is a lovely, lovely, lovely part of the growth process: sharing.

the mission.

first off

there has to be little to no personal life.

if the goal is greatness, if the goal is complete fulfillment of destiny

there can be no sought after personal interaction that combines with desires,

initially.  HOPEFULLY those things will fulfill themselves along the way,

but often get in the way if selfishly pursued. 

secondly

there has to be rigorous self sacrifice.  generally in the form of a routine

mainly within the confines of the mind.  you control your mind, place it over matters,

let it dominate personal conflicts long enough to make right decisions (funny…i was just thinking about a right decision doesn’t necessarily feel like a GOOD decision or coincide with GOOD feelings all the time), then you should be way more successful in completing what needs to done.

third

don’t forget love.  the best way i can describe that is to remember a quote:

“love is something you do without expectation” 

it’s harder to pull off then it seems.  you usually and always want something..no matter how selfless it seems.

EXAMPLE: if you’re sick and someone calls you talking about: “i was just seeing you wanted some company or need to run some errands for you”  — it’s a call of love possibly…but it’s loaded with wants.  they want to feel like they helped or their just nosey and want to know how bad you’re really doing, etc.

another person calls and simply says “i just called to let you know i’m thinking about you” and hangs up.  still a selfish act.  it’s truly hard to just commit an act of love.  it’s easier to pull off with yourself, especially when you’re just doing the right thing.  NOT smoking when you want to. NOT spending when you want to. NOT doing what you want all the time. it sucks, it hurts, it’s not fun or desired. you’re just doing the right thing cause you know it’s right.  it doesn’t feel romantic…it’s love.  start there then work on others.

fourth

write out the purpose. look at it, and stop trying to log it all in that brain of yours.

you’re reading a blog, i really shouldn’t have to go into great detail of the importance of writing stuff down.

my group today (loose leaf) comprised the first playlist for our first album.  this has been a huge debate that we’ve discussed for over a year, whether or not to do a mixtape or an original album of our work.  well..today after a three month sebatical, we looked a list.  a list of all the songs we’ve done and those we have in the works.  from looking at this list we were able to SEE that we’ve done quite a bit of work that can be pulled together to form our first body of tangible music.  we’re calling it a mixtape but it’s completely original material so i guess we’re actually doing a ‘mixtape album’ go figure: i suggested we do that in first place — should’ve broke out the list months ago.

fifthly ..yeah…fifthly

rest.  rest. rest. rest. rest. work. work.work.work.work.

a poem

i am a box,

withing my confines are the unknown

vast as imagination

so within me, could be what’s within you

and without you, if that makes sense

which it should…for imagination

is as real as touch, feel

taste, smell, and whatever it is

sound does to your ears

it is hear

in this box that i am.

but don’t feel like frustration

or fill with motivation

i am bound by imagination

thust limitation is just a gang

of 10 letters comprised by wise fools

the box rules it’s space, this space

and takes no planet from it’s orbit

simply cause it’s tired of looking at it

from a scope

it copes, it denies, it speaks

truths turned lies, and back again

and the only thing not within this box

is time.

and there’s no time to explain that last line

so just accept it like your every effort to be accepted.

or protected

or elected

 

for i am the moon light

blocked by the box i live in.

my words.

you live in.

as i grow

sleepy.

in passing.

words of an abandoned blog

floating in space like debris displaced from 

wrecked ship cased in

hyperdrive folded blind

folded, I’M

molded grime golden shine chosen I’M

frozen time open mind scared of rhyme,

her reason, my bleeding, their season,

the breeding of even thinking about leaving it all

is drawing away in stages

pass the margin’s call and the pages laws,

the gravity of certain reality’s

 impact and fall

can cause a fear of living life,

minimized and penalized for not being baptised

in Oscar’s eyes, not IMAX size,

sharing sound

connecting eyes and looking around,

i’m bound to forms of depression

they haven’t come up with a name for, yet

we still accept them like visa-master card-expressed

hard feelings undressed for this one night head stand

an inch from the edge of the cliff of a ledge at the tip of the said

sad song known as

‘they’re gone.’