Wow.

"My greatest competition is, well, me . . . I'm the Ali of today. I'm the Marvin Gaye of today. I'm the Bob Marley of today. I'm the Martin Luther King, or all the other greats that have come before us. And a lot of people are starting to realize that now."

- R. Kelly tells the new issue of Hip-Hop Soul magazine

Town Bound...?

You already know that my love for Oakland is ridiculous. Luckily Oakland is a female, otherwise i'd be hella gay. Anyway, over the years I've noticed a transition (for lack of a better word) in my responses to "where are you from?"

When i was younger, any chance i could tell people i was born in New York, i would. I mean, shit, it's so much cooler than California. Right? That evolved into me saying 'Oakland raised," as tends to be my answer nowadays. Or simply, 'the town,' 'city of dope man,' or just 'Oakland.' It all depends on who's asking and where they are asking. If i say 'the town' to someone in Kansas they won't know what the hell I'm talking about.

Well i was in Mexico last weekend and i noticed myself telling people i was from the bay, more specifically, the East Bay. The most bothersome part of that is that i HATE when other people do that. Normally i feel like if you say you're from 'the bay area' then you're from some shitty city like El Cerrito *;)* or Pittsburg and just want to feel like you're really from THE Big Bad BAY (which to me is the East Bay and Frisco. Fuck the restuhyall. It's like how half the kids who are 'hyphy' are from Walnut Creek or Pinole [another reason that shit won't go away]. Be proud of your square city, and let us have ours. When's the last time you heard some cat from East Oakland claim San Leandro? Now when's the last time you heard the opposite? Shit, until recently (from my experience) South Berkeley cats claimed North Oakland (God knows why)..

After years upon years of 'oakland is ghetto' maybe i just got tired of explaining that every major city in the world has bad neighborhoods, and the nice spots in Oakland trump most places you've ever been. So instead of saying im from oakland i tell people the bay, sometimes even the SF bay area (when far away from home). The shame and disgust associated with Oakland is appauling. While some of it is deserved (what happened to our originality Oakland? [read: all black, dreads, hyphy movement, ugh]) a lot of it is simply because the abundance of black folks. Yes, YOU are racist. Trust me, you are. Yeah, even you.

Well, anyway, I don't even know what i was talking about, you racist bastard. Oh, yeah, Oakland, what is it about this city that's so shameful.... ..that's unique to THIS city? When people say they're from New York or even D.C. you never hear 'oh, that's ghetto." "New York has 8 million people and 5 boroughs." Fair enough. "D.C. has the capitol and president." Also fair. "Oakland has 3 major sports teams, one of the wealthiest ports in the country (remember, california would be the 7th [is it?] richest country in the world, if it was a country), and a history with so many stories your grandfather would be amazed.

So, what is it? ...where was i going with this? fawks.

Blogs To Anticipate

-City of Shame

-Things to look for in a travel partner

-Born Shit Talker

-Words/Phrases from Mexico (this one will be an inside joke, sucks for you)

-My Mexican Adventure (this one should have some good reading in it)

-plus a grab bag of bloggies!