The Greatest To Ever Do It

Jay-Z is the greatest rapper ever, and this performance solidifies that...

After being blamed for slow ticket sales by Noel Gallagher, the frontman from the rock band Oasis, for headlining the Glastonbury Rock Festival in England, Jay-Z performed for a sold-out crowd of over 200,000 enthusiastic fans from all over the world. Noel predicted that the concert would be a disaster with Jay as the headliner because he didn't believe that rock fans would embrace hip-hop.

What makes this performance so gangsta is that Jay opened his set by coming out to Oasis' hit song, Wonderwall, which was a polite way of taking the high road while simultaneously saying "f*** you" to Gallagher. That hilarious intro was then followed by "99 Problems", thus making it the first rap song of his hour-long set to ever be played at the festival.

Call him what you want, but Jay is the greatest rapper to ever touch the mic. I'm sure a lot of people would debate that point, but what other rapper has accomplished what Jay has? What rapper has a catalogue and the clout to headline a rock concert of almost a quarter-million international fans?

He said he would not lose eight years ago, and he's still winning.

Water Is The New Oil?

If you've been paying attention to politics and the rising gas prices you have heard presidential candidates push their platforms of trying to find alternative energy sources to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Well the man in the above clip has created a technology that fuses hydrogen and water to create HHO, which is capable of running a car at least 100 miles off of 4oz of water. Sounds too good to be true, right?

Well it kinda is. It is no secret that alternative sources of energy have been around for decades. Countries like Brazil have been 100% oil independent for years and run their vehicles off of corn-based ethanol. We too could go that route, but our political, economic and practical circumstances and interests may prevent that from happening before consumer tensions force action.

It seems that our political and business relationships with the oil-producing nations of OPEC hinge on our dependence to their product. What would happen if we stopped doing business with nations such as Saudi Arabia because we no longer need oil? They would surely become our enemies as their petroleum supplies are largely our only reason for befriending them in the first place. Not to mention we'd destroy their economy. The region would destablize and we'd have a huge crisis in the Middle East which would ultimately threaten our security.

The other problem is that we'd have to convert the millions of cars that we currently use into HHO cars, which is very impractical.

...but with gas prices rising to ridiculous levels, we may have no other choice. Prices won't go down until we decrease demand and show that we are ready to move on.

Do You Get It?

Throwback: Fear of Progress

I wrote this blog back in January right after the Iowa Caucuses. It's good to see that Black people, and all people, rallied around Barack and helped him achieve his historic nomination. Thank You.

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"It ain't his time! Ain't no way White folk gonna vote for that boy! I'm goin' with Hillary."

Barbershops. Hair Salons. Dinner tables. This is what I have been hearing from Black folks over the past year.

"They settin' that boy up to fail!"

I have always maintained that if there were ever a serious, viable candidate other than the status quo (i.e. White male) running for President that I would vote for them regardless of party affiliation. Black male, Black female, White female, Asian candidate, gay candidate...whatever. It is my belief that if you can put someone in the highest office in the land with a non-conventional background that it would realistically open the doors for ANYBODY, including your children, to have a shot at becoming President.

Imagine my dismay when an overwhelming percentage of Black people decided that it was impossible for Barack Obama to take a serious shot at the presidency. As much as I supported his run, I was always countered with a negative spin on the situation...almost to the point where I began to doubt that it was possible. Besides, if your own don't support you, why would others?

Fast forward to Obama's win in Iowa. One of the Whitest states in America with a Black population of roughly 2%--a state that has never voted a Black person into any political office-- proved that Obama is a real contender and collectively tells Black people that it is OK to support your own.

But why would it take this co-sign from the majority for us to rally around him? Is he not striving for the same dream that we all as Black people wrote about in our kindergarten classes; or even the dream that King spoke about on the National Mall? Why is it not his time? Why is it not our time? Will it ever be?

Maybe Iowa was a fluke. Maybe I'm being naive. Maybe his historical win won't make much of a difference. Maybe Hillary will win the nomination convincingly down the stretch. But even if that is the reality that we live in, at least we got a chance to taste what it feels like to have hope, even if only for a moment.