The ALMIGHTY Cassette.

Remember these?  Realistically, it wasn't that long ago since we stop using them.  From a producer's standpoint, we played beats for people on these, and we mixed down songs to ultimately put them on tape.  It's funny to think now that whoever we played beats for had to have the patience to sit through us fast-forwarding to the next track, or rewinding to hear something again.  Sure, some had hi-tech players that would actually "skip" to the next song, but they weren't in abundance. 

Do we just THROW them away?  Will we EVER be able to convert all of these digitally as we planned?  There is such a strong, deep (pause- pun intended), sentimental connection that we have with our cassettes.  With each one, we remember: 1) who we dubbed it from; 2) sitting in front of the radio while we recorded, and the work it took to pause.....making sure we kept the commercials out (oddly enough, I wish I kept more commercials for the sake of nostalgia).

This is yet another issue that plagues us.  There are things on some of these cassettes that only WE have, and it desperately needs to be preserved.  I still have BOXES upon BOXES of tapes left.  And as long as they keep calling mixes on CDs "mixtapes", they still have a place in our lives, and the right to be preserved.

(E-) Record digging & (Hard Drive) Space

Many know what I speak of here. The days of looming excitement surrounding an upcoming trip to Goodwill, flea markets, and old mom & pop stores in search of old records have gone the way of the dinosaur. In turn, tons of hard drive space is being consumed by .rar files-turned-folders that possess either: 1) things we haven't heard, or 2) gems that we have on vinyl but require a digital conversion. Nothing in this world can take the place of vinyl, and I pray that God blesses me with the space and time to create a world for my collection. I would absolutely love to thank all of those who have taken the time to convert these pieces, personally.....even with the skips, crackles, and pops.  However, I am now beginning to catalog all of these digital files, and that is a task in itself. I can only hope that I will be allowed that same luxury when it comes to the vinyl collection. As true b-boys, we have established an attachment to tons of things that take up lots of physical space.....while attempting to stay relevant by having a matching digital copy. Only WE are challenged with that. Another unique characteristic about our generation.

B-Boy Connects.

Music (and specifically for us: hip-hop) is the universal language. I realize that I've met SO many individuals by having hip-hop as the common thread.....even to the point where there are tons of people that I only know by their hip-hop moniker, or association with a particular group. Just another random observation about our generation.

THE Book.

Won't say much about it. Only that it continues to be a labor of love, and that it is coming soon. God knows what HE is doing.

Post Won.

Greetings. This is the first of my attempt to create, and use this medium as a form of expression, and as a tool of connecting. Specifically, connecting with those like-minded individuals who share similar experiences as a gracefully "aging" b-boy. In all honesty, I considered calling this the "Intellectual B-Boy", but felt that that title is very exclusionary, and has slight hints of elitism. Therefore, anyone can be considered the CONSUMATE b-boy based on the meshing of their talents, experiences, ideas, etc. It has always been agreed upon that b-boying is a way of life, i.e. how you put your shoes on, how you carry yourself, etc.

This idea came about while traveling this weekend. I am moving to the west coast in less than a month, and decided to pay a visit to my homies on the east coast north of VA. These are the same cats who used to move as a unit, as we were the Da Dozenz (which was Dirty Dozenz, but did not want to conflict with Em's crew).....see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2EeCTGf-hQ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrmDiQvSSFM

While visiting, it occurred to me that our love and passion for hip-hop NEVER, EVER, dies. Naturally, a large portion of our convos are recalling events from the past, and reflecting on the lives of those who we lost along the way. However, we tend to still either: 1) listen and/or talk about the state of hip-hop, or in this day and age- 2) WATCH what hip-hop is doing visually. I chuckled internally because in the midst of it, I thought.....every time we get together like this, we do (pretty much) the same things, but the technology changes. AND, we've gotten a bit older.

Let's not take for granted that we are pioneers as we are the first of our kind to experience hip-hop and its evolution the way that we do. We are products of the golden era, and we all made our attempts at becoming a part of the industry. If you don't possess these characteristics, and you found your way to this blog, I encourage you to follow along if you consider yourselves as being students of the culture.