You Shall Not Pass

I was just told I have too many negative people in my space.

I was also told I focus too much on the haters around me.



I think what I have is too many people who don't get me in my space...or on the fringes of my space.



In some ways, they are almost as bad as the negative people (who are also on the fringes of my space).

If you don't know me or get me, please wait before you try to judge me. This applies to even those who think they know me best. Don't assume you understand my methods of coping or existing, and don't apply your template for thinking to any of it.

You really don't. (via GIPHY)

You see too much focus; I see me marking my fxcking perimeter and closing it off and putting up warning signs. I see barbed wire and a circle of salt, and a "YOU ARE SEEN. YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE IF YOU HAVE COME TO WREAK HAVOC."

Yeh... bai. (via GIPHY)

You see me "responding" to negativity; I see me declaring who I am to the world and the Universe, and not backing down from my statement.



Completely ignoring the presence of those who come for you--I mean, REALLY come for you-- is not positive. It is setting yourself up for a possible problem, and I will not abide.



Do you leave your home unlocked when you see the wrong people about? Do you ignore them and keep on as you were with the windows up exposing all your valuables? No, you put up security. You install an alarm or a deterrent. You let people know that you are at home.



That...is what I'm about. Letting that element know, if and when they try to come for me, that I am at home and that alarm is on and they will NOT pass...and they will regret if they try.

He was polite about it. (via GIPHY)

If I talk about it, it is to raise awareness of it being there. Not lamentation...and not acceptance.



Once you realise this--and the fact that everyone's experience is relative to them--we'll get on just fine. Invalidating by saying "If I did that..." or something similar is not going to help anything.



TLDR: Get off your assumptions about people and find out the truth instead. My experience and methods ain't yours.

...aaaaand I'm out. (via GIPHY)

Open Letter To My "Peers"

Dear Local Hip-Hop Artists and Purists And Those Who Had Big Chat On What I Do:

Pretty much.
(via Black World Films)

Yes, my paws are on a different path from yours.
That hardly makes me any less valid.
I'm of a different breed.

I come from a school half of you younger artists know nothing about. A different code that many of you spat upon because those before you who knew better spat upon it to stay relevant and not look "stupid" in front of their/yer boys.

And I was never understood so I don't expect you to get it now.

I knew what I was doing, I knew my mission, and if you think that what I did was worthless--think again.

I knew that I was on a hard mission to have folx remember what the purrpose of the MC was and still could be. I haven't forgotten. The *rest* of you have.

Oh, BTDubs:

Did *you* get scouted for a popular show?
Did they use *your* music in two seasons?
Did LA Mag's Blog include *you* in a list of artists you should hear?
Are *you* collecting royalties from it?

Lemme know, nuh...

via Giphy

Are you versatile and flexible? Prolly not. "Flexible" does not equal being able to rhyme about bxtches in one track, hoes in another, and weed in the next, and knowing whether to use the hard ER in that N-word yawl like to throw around so much. "Flexible" does not mean "do I wear the snapback to the front or back? Do I swagger or do I just stand there onstage and hold my balls?" "Do I come for all the competition with venom and diss trax because I need to prove I'm the baddest bxtch out there cuz there can only be one?"

Yup. That's that REAL hip-hop (sarcastic font *heavily* on).

Yeah-huh. Sure.
(via Giphy)

See, my flex is what you *haven't* seen. Yawl too fxcking judgmental. Yawl was so busy looking at the ears, the hair and the gear that you just dismissed my ability altogether.

(I'm not talking to yawl con folx and event planners...that's a whole other post. I might have words for yawl, too, so be patient.)

I may not have been worthy to be doing yawl's shows, interview segs, and whatever the fxck else yawl came up with to clique up strong, but I know who I am and what I bloody stand for.

👏🏾I. 👏🏾LIVE. 👏🏾 IN.👏🏾MY. 👏🏾TRUTH.

Can you really say the same?
The kawaii is real, not some shxt I made up to seem interesting.
The geekiness is real, not geek chic like some prominent female rappers I could name.

The ears are worn because channeling totems, not because they cute. If that were the case you'd only see me with them onstage and in pix (catch me at Shoprite and see if I'm fxcking kidding).

And what I write is real, not manufactured for the fxcking masses. I didn't visually or musically genre-jump to seem fresh and new. Influences abound because I actually listened to and liked that music/those clothes.

I didn't bite off another's whole lyrical style like some mainstream artists and then win awards for it, and get praise for being "real". I *stayed* real from the jump.

Nobody cosigned me.

I'd give you my kicks to walk in but they might fit funny and not be your style. They're custom...and floss free.

Living in your truth *IS* hip-hop.
And that's all I've ever done from the get-go.
Maybe you should re-evaluate yourselves and live in yours...not what you *think* is yours.