Right hand on the Bible, left hand in the air
Before I spoke one word, made sure my throat was clear
A-hem, I’m a prisoner of circumstance
Frail nigga, I couldn’t much work with my hands
But my mind was strong, I grew where you hold your blacks up
Trap us, expect us not to pick gats up
Where you drop your cracks off by the Mack trucks
Destroy our dreams of lawyers and actors
Keep us spiralin’, goin’ backwards
At age nine, saw my first hate crime
Blindfolded, expected to walk a straight line
Mind molded, taught to love you and hate mine
Climbed over it, at a early age, Jay shined
Fuck the system at Lady Justice I blaze nine
Your Honor, I no longer kill my people, I raise mine
The soul of Mumia in this modern day time
“There’s nothing worse than a wolf befriending sheep . Avoid false friendship at all costs. If you are good, straightforward , and well meaning it should show in your eyes and not escape notice.”—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 11.15
A big reorg was just announced by my dept last week. Co-workers are panicking like it’s a surprise. For some reason, there hasn’t been an ounce of stress in my body around this. Reason being I felt I have taken advantage of the opportunities given to me by my employer: training, stretched myself thin with bigger projects, spoke up with my opinions, did things I never thought to do or would ever be decent at and personally grew. No regrets with my actions. All to get where I want to be in the near future. Trust me, I have my bruises, remember the anxiety and also remember the stares from those on the sidelines who were reluctant to join me because of whatever reason (I would later find out was all BS). I am a ‘glass half full’ guy that tries to influence the ‘glass half empty’ colleagues as best as I can daily therefore it hurts to see them let opportunities pass them by. Opportunities that could easily make a better future for you and your family. You can lead a horse to water… Sure, we may lose our job, get thrown in a position we don’t want to be in, but we can’t say we didn’t expect such for a big corporation, It’s all a gamble, life, career, parenting, etc. We have to try and increase our odds of winning each day. I wish I could play this Omillio Sparks hook for them over and over because these words cut deep for me and a big reason why I look at things the way I do. Whatever happens, I’ll be all right. Take the bitter with the sweet and maintain.
OC has become one of my favorite artist over the past year or so. I got into him after listening to Jeru heavy for a minute. His rhyme style is confident and mature vs young, ruthless and careless like many from his era. This is my favorite OC track to play in the morning to trigger thoughts. The calming jazz sample is perfect as a backdrop for the excellent verses.
Juelz Santana and Freeway were the hungriest young spitters out the Rocafella camp back in 02-03, both dropping their debut album in 2003 (both should be part of your collection, near classics). I remember hearing My Love on some mixtape and I immediately loved the chipmunk voices in the beat (I love all those beats) plus the bounce on that joint was major. A head nod is guaranteed within the first 15 secs.
At the point this track dropped Cam’ron and Beanie Sigel dropped two great albums (Come Home with Me and The Reason) and it was time for their proteges to shine. ‘My Love’ could have clearly been included on both of their albums which were already packed with dope tracks but both had a few songs I would have no problem of replacing with ‘My Love’ (see ‘On My Own’ and ‘Wherever I Go’). Juelz dropped in Aug 03, Free in Feb 03. Drop in the summer, 3rd single for free, first for Juelz pushing Santana’s Town to #2. Not saying My Love is better than Santana’s Town, it just would have worked in the ’03 hip hop climate.
‘My Love’ is another track where I don’t understand why the label didn’t push it for their young up and coming stars. This would have given them even better numbers in the stores in my humble opinion.
Just My Thoughts 