Monday, September 29, 2008

You've gotta be kidding me.

first of all no homo.

enjoy.





LMAO to how he said it fits the mouth perfect *demonstrates with his mouth*....LOL

Time is...

..........what i need.

It seems like life is just one huge puzzle and How one uses their time, whether it be years, months, days, hours, mins, etc., throughout their life determines the events that occur/the outcomes of their own decisions.

At times I'll sit and think about what I've done in my life (or should I say haven't done) and wonder if the time that I've had on this world (approx 10,540,800 mins when I typed that).

Am I going to fast, am I not going quick enough. It's almost like I'm afraid for opportunity to pass that I try and take everyone that comes my way. It's a good thing and a curse at the same time.

I guess I'm (we're) just gonna have to see things out and hope the best comes out of it. Sometimes though it would be nice to just freeze time and do what you gotta do. But unfortunately, the more stuff that piles on, the more time just keeps slippin slippin....into the futureeeee!



Goodnight.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Something I've Been Meaning To Say

Yesterday while taking a break from some rare studying i was rummaging through some old stuff piled up on shelf on my head board. Came to realize it was stuff from my High School senior prom, an issue of the newspaper where I was quoted (lol) and the program for my graduation. It was all cool and nostalgic till I found something else.

I found my best friend/cousin/(insert anything good)'s program for his graduation.

I didnt say it on here but Abdulrahman Abdulrahman passed away on the complete opposite coast than the one we represent. At that time, I couldnt get myself to write/talk/or anything about the situation. It was the greatest shock to me...and what made it equally hard was that it was the first person so close to me to pass away. You dont really know what people are talking about when they say "I've never felt like that before" until something happens in your life that brings those emotions out of the depths of your soul.

Now, even today I would like to think that I have come to grips to the events almost 2 months later but not a day goes by where I don't either get teary eyed or, on occasion, cry. It's crazy how much the littlest things can remind you of someone, you dont know what's there till it's gone. Ain't that the truth. For a while I had almost forgot that this was a huge loss for me and worried about how his family was doing. The fact that it also affected me was when someone came to me and told me that they were sorry that I had lost a friend. scratch that....i had lost a piece of me.

A couple good things did come out of this though, it brought my family closer than its been in a while seeing that Abdul was either a son/grandchild/brother/friend to each one of us. Another thing was that life all of a sudden became something to be cherished at a higher level. It's something I was aware of but the realness of it didn't hit me until that day in late July.

To this day a part of me doesn't want to believe that my boy's gone....but my mind knows better than that and suppresses any emotion that arises from me. And if anyone knows me, I dont really show my emotions too much and I think suppressing this has just made it worse. It's almost like I want to deal with this by myself....there's only one person that I've talked to that has helped. Everyone else has just given the cliche responses. which aren't bad but you can only get so many of those.

I dont know what to do anymore about it. I almost feel like I never completely let out my sadness on that day when I heard the news. I held back so much so as to be a role model for my little brothers and sisters. And now it slowly rears its head on an almost daily basis. The moments last for like a minute or 2, but then ruin the rest of the day to a certain extent.

I could write about this forever, but every word I type out and reread is like a little needle pricking a bag of tears that is just waiting to explode.

All this just from finding his Graduation day Program.

Since then, I've done a couple things that we had planned on doing in the future. Trip to San Diego...check. Go to a Common concert....check. deleting our myspaces.....check (lol).

God works in such mysterious ways sometimes, but in the end all of our times is coming up and that is what helps me from completely breaking down. Abdul's just came a little to early.....just a little to early.

I haven't written all my thoughts but this it's a start. It feels a little better knowing you wrote it down and someone out there could relate. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Unfortunately

R.I.P homie

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Gotta Love It



Day 21 of Ramadan is coming to close and another day closer to Eid al-Fitr. Its crazy to think that 2/3 of the month is already behind us.

Anyways, with 4 tests coming up over at the good old W.P. Carey School of business and the tiring effects of fasting finally catching up to me, this coming week is gonna be a tough one not to mention work, a career fiesta (hey, i live in AZ) and 2 group projects. *sigh* thus is the life of a college kid doin work...

Here's a new cut from BoyzIIMen called 100%....yep, They are BACK!

BoyzIIMen - 100%


and here's another track, this one from Joe called Heart Behind My Eyes. It's good to see Joe come with some new stuff, he was dope back in the day and now He is BACK! lol

Joe - Heart Behind My Eyes


and one more for all of you guys. This last one is a new one (and a real good one) from my man Musiq Soulchild ft. Mary J. Blige called If You Leave. Enjoyyyy!

Musiq Soulchild - If You Leave ft. Mary J. Blige


Download each song by clicking the song title as always! Thanks to the Dope Boyz for the songs.

Man, with how the "rap game" is going right now, no one can go wrong with some good old R&B. And if you dont have that new Ne-Yo cd......go do yourself a favor and invest in some good music. Please, for your ears own good.

One can only guess what mood I'm in with these songs up here. lol.

GONE!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Let's Have a Serious Conversation


An article was published on my birthday (aka the 14th of September) by anti-racism writer/speaker Tim Wise. The article is below in it's entirety for everyone to read. The subject of the piece is pretty obvious by reading the title of this post and of the article. I've gone ahead and put down my thoughts after the article.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

September 13, 2008, 2:01 pm

This is Your Nation on White Privilege

By Tim Wise

For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a “fuckin’ redneck,” like Bristol Palin’s boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll “kick their fuckin' ass,” and talk about how you like to “shoot shit” for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don’t all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you’re “untested.”


White privilege is being able to say that you support the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance because “if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it’s good enough for me,” and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the “under God” part wasn’t added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.


White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.


White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was “Alaska first,” and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she’s being disrespectful.


White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist.


White privilege is being able to convince white women who don’t even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a “second look.”


White privilege is being able to fire people who didn’t support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.


White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God’s punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you’re just a good church-going Christian, but if you’re black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you’re an extremist who probably hates America.


White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a “trick question,” while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O’Reilly means you’re dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.


White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a “light” burden.


And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren’t sure about that whole “change” thing. Ya know, it’s just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain…


White privilege is, in short, the problem.

The original article can be found here.

Now.....MY opinion.

Let's go from the top-down. This article is obviously about the media's presentation of different issues dealing with the (vice)presidential candidates of each party. More specifically Mr. Obama and Mrs. Palin. Now if your reading this, don't come to some dumb conclusion that I am assuming everyone of the Caucasian race is evil and all minorities are the greatest thing ever. Just hear me out. Let your mind wander a little.

Propaganda is handed to us on a silver plate on a daily (almost hourly) basis through the main news organizations no matter what side of the political spectrum you lean towards. The media has such a big influence on the people of this country its ridiculous. If you watched a report on the War in Iraq on any news station in the US....and compared it to a report on the Arab station Al-Jazeera, you would see two completely different views on the same topic. Now, with the censorship that is prevalent in this country's news media, one can see why the raw images of war weren't available to us. Simply, the fear that would ensue by witnessing the mess that was created over there would be too great for the government to control. Or take the coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the people of New Orleans struggling to survive. The "looting" problem was completely overblown. Because of the fact that it was "stealing" or because of their higher melanin count. Never mind the fact that the "help" that was supposed to come....didn't, and they needed some kind of sustenance to survive to see the next day. But I digress, the point I am making is that the media can portray things in such a way that you would not even notice it shaping your own opinion on that specific subject.

Take the teen pregnancy of Bristol Palin, Sarah Palin's daughter. Knowing the history of this country, as far as race and stereotypes go, Mr. Wise hit it right on the dot when he compared it to the "what if" situation - what if it was Obama's 17 year old daughter (i know he doesn't have one....). Would it still be an issue of Pro-life vs. Pro-Choice like it is now? Would it still be a simple family matter that shouldn't be talked about? Or would it conveniently become an issue of, as Wise said, minorities being "irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay." You make the call.

In the article above, Wise goes on to mention other instances (which I wont repeat since you already read them above) that make you think. Think something like "oh come on now, he's going to far" or "this guy reads too far into stuff" as I thought. But then I realized something that made me think about the whole idea of white privilege in a new light. I've grown up in a time where racism and issues dealing with race have slowly gone from being clearly overt to being institutionalized in everyday aspects of life. In spite of this, we (we being the country) have made giant strides in this area, but simultaneously, it has gotten harder to fix things deep rooted in our social mores. Taking the above article, you can ask yourself if it is striding the line of subtle racism or if it is simply on the side of white privilege. In either case there is still work too do in regards to equal playing fields for all.

This post has gotten to long and, frankly, I don't want to write anymore lol. I want anyone who reads this to take it academically and not emotionally. By doing that, it will stay an...enlightened...conversation if you will and not a argument that only god knows will end up.

Anyways, Thanks for reading, and leave your thoughts in the form of comments. now, lol.

Best of the Year?


Ok, so I've been waiting for this mixtape for a long time....a really long time. And now that it is finally here, It would be pretty selfish of me to not share this greatness with all of you.....You're lucky ima nice guy though, cus this shit is B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Oh...what mixtape you ask?

Simple....The Bar Exam 2 from Detroit's Own Royce Da 5'9....the picture said it all. Dummies.

Download it now and bask in its rawness/realness

Thanks to HipHopDX.com for the upload.

Enjoy it yall.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

It's My...

BIRTHDAY


Love me/hate me...want me/shun me

It's all good cus its My birthday!

2 decades down, 10 more to go....hopefully (insh'allah)

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

I wanna know How?

I have made it a daily routine for me to watch this video now for about a week now. And I will probably continue until I find out:

HOW CAN SHE SLAP???

check out the video to find out what I mean. You wont be disappointed haha.




Now if only I knew what they were saying when not speaking english. Oh well.


Sunday, September 7, 2008

2008 VMA's...?

My thoughts on this year's VMA's..as i think of them...just Sammy's Unadulterated Thoughts.

Russel Brand....go back to Britain....please. You killed the mood

Rhianna came out and did her thing with her somewhat ugly make up....but she's still beautiful

Let me say that again. Russel Brand is wack. It's the first time i've heard of his ass and his lil political speech is still bothering me

Lil Wayne (wearing what looked to be like pants a 12 yr. old girl would wear) came out and did "A Millie", that one song where he used that Nina Simone "Misunderstood" sample (P.S. Common's version was WAY better) and that T-Wayne joint. I'm gonna get my hater on and just say it was It was ok i guess. lol

Quick Thought - why does T-Payne wear those big ass hats?

Ciara was lookin really....um....not hot.....i was confused, didn't really know what was going on.

After a little wikipedia search...I found out who this Russel Brand guy is....heroin/sex addict and alcoholic...former heroin/sex addict and alcoholic I should say. Im reading this article too about how MTV brought him in to give the VMA's a edgy/more volatile M.C. WOWOWOW, nobody knows who this guy is and they are just gonna be real confused. Stupid decision on thier part, no one is gonna get why he is there.
Some rock stuff is coming on....and I listen cus the Colts/Bears game is at halftime haha.

Oh Em Ge. Pink?? Where's she been all these...years? Am I right or am I completely out of touch with Pop Culture?

haha...LOL to SlipKnot and Fogal from Super Bad introducing the best Hip Hop Video. What a weird combo....and Fogal just announced Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" won best video. Over Lupe. I dont know what to say. And why Teddy Pendergrass (T-Pain) walk up with Weezy? They are taking that T-Wayne thing a lil too far.

Isn't T.I. about to go to jail? And he's performing on National T.V. haha, you gotta love this country! His performance with Rhianna tho was on point. No lying there, It was dope, She was dope! haha.

Just saw a commercial for Sears. Starring LL Cool J. Promoting his clothing line there? Then again Sears was the place to go 30 years ago...you know...when LL was on top of his game. haha.

Vanessa Hudgens just walked out....I forgot what i was gonna say. Oh god.

Christina Aguilera doesn't even have to try anymore, she definitely won the Christina/Britney competition.....like 5 years ago. Her performance right now is just showing off. Come one C.A. go easy on Spears. We all know your the best! lol. **Note, why do girls continuously put on that dark eyeliner all thick. It looks soooo gross**

LOOOL, Brand just is making a fool of himself, wow, R.Kelly is gonna beat his ass soon, you heard it here first. I can just see it on thesuperfical.com

WHO THE F^*& IS TOKYO HOTEL???? Damn, that's like the 10th time I've heard their name in the past hour. And wtf? is the lead singer(?) a guy? It can't be. It is? oh man....he (it) looked like a Japanese geisha girl....

*is wondering how one gets his hands on an application to be Paris Hilton's BFF*

Oh, did I just think that out loud? Actually who cares...SIGN ME UP!!!!!

Thinks its hilarious that Britney is back. Did she not just shave her head and what not like 2 months ago? Its incredible what a top notch PR firm can do for you.

Ahh..there's my man Lupe. Rockin that Romanelli jacket that I could never afford and yet still want.....one day. Oh and tell my why these little side performances with Travis Barker on the drums and Kanye's DJ A-Track way better than the main ones? It really doesn't make sense.

What's this? Kid Rock performing with Lil Wayne?? and my ears aren't bleeding? haha, It's kinda tight actually. Mr. Carter should stick to this type of rock than do what he tried to do earlier in the year.

Toby...I mean Kobe...is presenting video of the year....all the nominees are people I dont care about.

and Britney wins....what a surprise? none at all. And its finally time for what I was waiting for.

Kanye West's new song from his supposed upcoming album. NEW SINGLE, G.O.O.D. Music is in the HOUSE. The song's called "Love Lockdown". Yea thats right, I knew that already. lol.

Analysis of this song = It was ok, lol. I just wanna hear the new record.

And I didn't mention it before but every single performance was described by Russell Brand as "magnificent".....and he seemed to have an affinity for Lil Wayne, which was kinda weird.

And he JUST called Britney Spears the "female Christ"......sure buddy.

Anyway the show was a complete waste of my time and has reaffirmed why I never watch award shows. My boy over at Just my Bookbag and Laptop just shot me a text that reads:

"...fuckin mainstream bourgeoisie culture I hate tat those folks make a lot of money to dick ride rich folks"
Took the words right out of my mouth my friend. And with that...Peace!!!

Friday, September 5, 2008

One Year Anniversary

Webster's Dictionary describes a trendsetter as simply:

one that sets a trend


And that, my friends, is exactly what I am. It feels pretty good knowing that others have followed your in your footsteps, chosen the trail you've blazed, drank from the same cup....anything else that is a metaphor for people following you.

Now, what is this thing that I've introduced into the world of "cool things" you ask?

Answer: Blogging!

Haha, One year ago today (well more like a couple days ago) I started this blog. I started "Thoughts of a Random African (American)" as an experiment. Just to see what it would be like to have your own blog. Your own piece of the Internet where people you know/random people could all come and read what you are thinking, laugh at funny things, listen to some dope music, or just simply to learn something they didn't know. Ever since I got one though, my closest friends have all started one.

All their links can be found on the right side of the screen.

But in all seriousness, I'm happy I started this. I didn't really expect it to be a huge hit because well, I don't really put ALL my time into this as do other more successful sites, as can be seen in my erratic posting practices. But for what I have accomplished, I am pretty proud lol. I would never have thought that I would still be (somewhat) maintaining this site 1 year later.

If it wasn't for the people that told me that what I was doing was good/funny/worth taking the time to read, I would have probably quit a LONG time ago. But for those people who have supported me I want to say one thing:

Thank You

And for those of you who followed my ways and started one. A big thanks to you too, because by influencing yall to make one, it kinda created a lil community of us.

Our Digital Neighborhood.


Whether you maintained it or not though is up to you but you simply making one is a compliment.






O.K. Now that all the thanks/big-headed-ness is out of the way. Back to the work!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

What's Up

I seriously think that this year Im gonna meet the most people I've ever met at ASU/Life. I dont know what it is, something about knowing you are about to graduate soon has this affect on me that's making me open up a lil more socially. If anyone knows me, I really have to be comfortable with you to act myself. For as long as I've tried to "open up" it always ends up like that. But this year is weird, in a good way though lol.

So anyways, if yall wanna be on that "people Sammy met this year" list....Let me break the ice.


Yo, the name's Sammy.

(what you say) "oh my name's _____"

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Sleep is the cousin of....Getting a F

AHHH, man I'm taking this Supply Chain Management class over here at ASU (SCM432 for those that rep the maroon and gold!) and so far it seems like it's gonna be a lot of work but cool at the same time. Wierd. I know.

Were doing this simulaion right now where my group (aptly named Sammy's Group lol) is supposed to run a factory online for about 138 days. *1 game day = 1 human hour* And this thing runs 24 hours a day (human time).....yea, its gonna suck.

So its been like 5 (game)days and what seemed like a wack ass game has slowly started to become an obsession. ESPECIALLY since you can see what other teams's Cash Balances are. Im trying to get that Numba 1 SPOT Son!!!!

anyways, I can feel it slowly taking control of me kinda like what myspace first did to me, than facebook. Complete Domination of all my attention! I keep finding myself going back to it and trying to find something I can tweak to put us ahead.loool, im such a nerd.

Damn you LittleField Technologies. Damn YOUUUUUUU!!!!!

But i guess i can get some good out of this, it shows me that I've found what I really want to do when I graduate. Supply Chain Management is the way to go everyone....just thank me later.

Now back to whether I should increase our order quanitity or whether I should sell a couple machines off....maybe buy? ahhhhh!

Monday, September 1, 2008

just another LOL moment

Juelz Santana and Lil Wayne put out a video a year or so ago for that Black Republicans song they did and I came across it again. I thought I'd remind those of yall who've seen it or educate those who havent seen it....


Ok so maybe its not really them, and so maybe its a spoof, just watch it. Trust me, its worth it! LOL!



LMAO to the line "Juelz" spits at about 1:34 about ZOOM hahahahhaa.....had me weeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaak!

aight thats enough for today kids.

GONE!

I'm

.....in a giving mood. So enjoy these treats. I did. And so should you. The mixtape messiah comes clean (and kinda funny) with his roll call. Then a brand new Might Mos cut from his new cd? I hope lol. Then I brought out a single from Dap-C coming hard with the guest appearences and a nice lil wayne sample. And lastly, Young buck goes OFF on the United SNAKES of America. WHOOOOOOOOOOO! of course all thanks goes to the NMC (New Music Cartel!). Now if only I can get in with them......like The Game would say - Big Dreams!

Chamillionaire - Roll Call f. EVERYONE


Mos Def - The Glow


Dap-C - Ma Money ft. Talib Kweli, Lil Wayne, Royce da 5'9


Young Buck - United Snakes of America ft. Larry Davis


All DL-able by clicking the name of the song.

Ramadan Kareem



I cant believe it's been a year already since last Ramadan, but alas, it has come. The Islamic Holy Month is where Muslims abstain (fast) from food and drink from sun-up to sun-down. Fasting is meant to teach the person patience and humility.

Ramadan is a time to fast for the sake of God, and to offer more prayer than usual. Asking forgiveness for the sins of the past, asking for guidance in the future, asking for help with refraining from every day evils, and trying to purify oneself through self-restraint and good deeds are other actions that are done more frequently.


That was the little summary from wikipedia (best site ever, besides mine)

Anyway, today is the first day and it went amazingly well. It was hecka hard to get up to eat for suhur (the time before sun-up when we can eat) this morning but the fact that I had no school or work...or anything for that matter made it real easy. It seemed as though god was really testing us at our house though cus our air condition wasn't working and thirst was a feeling that we all held at a more than normal level lol. But just gotta go through it.

Even if you aren't of the Islamic faith, I ask all of you to try it, becuase I know that you will gain a new respect for this month.

Ok...time to go pray, talk to you all later. Inshallah (God willing) this month bodes well for EVERYONE!