Your Personal Portfolio

Like 99% of adults in the world I have a Facebook account. I use mine to post pictures occasionally, or witty status updates, and the rest is used for remembering birthdays. I log onto Facebook everyday and check the birthdays and if it's your birthday and I don’t want to wish you a happy birthday I unfriend you. I figure if I don't want to at least send you 2 words every 12 months we’re not really friends. I logged on one day to go through my daily purge attempt and I read a Facebook status from someone I had gone to school with that was basically a list of demands that this woman wanted out of any potential suitors. She had a laundry list of things that she wanted from her next boyfriend and I didn't even bother reading it. I just removed her from my friend list because I felt like she was going down the wrong path. Instead of having demands she should have been highlighting her characteristics that would make a man want to date her. And that is where I think a lot of the problem lies nowadays.

To me getting into a relationship is 50% dateable characteristics and 50% marketing. If you’re single you have to ask yourself "What are my dateable characteristics?" This means what do I have to offer to a potential mate that would entice this person to want to stay with me. This could include anything from being ambitious, good looks (albeit temporarily), wealth, fame, personality, sense of humor, etc. There are a ton of different characteristics which could be used to distinguish yourself from any number of other potential suitors, and that’s where marketing comes in. You have to be able to take all of your dateable characteristics and present them in an attractive package to let people of the opposite sex know that you’re available. No, this doesn't mean being revealing or overtly sexual. Sexuality shouldn't even be anywhere on the list of dateable characteristics, because you’re not a prostitute. You’re a complex human being who should have some other traits or skills or traits that would entice someone to be with you.

When I refer to marketing I’m talking about creating what they refer to as an elevator pitch. I was watching some cheesy TV show the other day that had 2 women basically speed dating 20-30 men and each man had 10 seconds to give a line or two about why they should advance to the next round. In essence, that’s what dating is. First impressions go a long way in life and dating is no different. You should be able to summarize the high points of your dateable characteristics in a form of elevator pitch, in order to get more time to win over the person that you’re communicating with. Time is the most precious resource on earth, and there’s nothing I hate more than feeling like my time has been wasted. The question is why do you deserve my time? And the answer to that lies in your dateable characteristics.

The part a lot of people neglect when creating their personal marketing is that the best marketing campaigns are rooted in truth. It’s great if you can create that attractive package that will have people interested in your product but is your package 100% truthful and honest and objective? If not, you will have a hard time keeping people interested in your product. In the business world this is referred to as a bait-and-switch, in which it leaves the customer feeling cheated. In this instance you would be cheating yourself, out of potentially finding that mate. There’s nothing wrong with being objective with yourself and pointing out your flaws only if you’re trying to improve them. Ask yourself "Am I where I want to be job wise? Income wise? Status wise?" Instead of feeling down on yourself identify some ways you can improve on yourself, and slowly but surely work to improve those dateable characteristics. This will help two-fold. It will take your mind off of being single and at the same time improve your marketing package for the next time you need to make that elevator pitch to someone.

Dating is just like every other transaction we know of today. It involves an exchange of resources by two parties. The dating transaction revolves around meeting someone and exchanging time with them, and if it goes well you two will at some point merge companies and share all of your time together. You have to present yourself as worthy of the merger, and that’s where marketing and dateable characteristics come into play.

Virtual Reality

At work we always have visitors that come in and out from various other organizations. While someone was getting a tour of our facility they crossed our call center and our Technical Support agents were assisting customers. We have a very warm, welcoming setup here, and our call center is no exception. The person getting the tour stated "This looks so nice and cozy. It's so much different than what I was expecting. I guess I was expecting one of those call centers in India like in the movies." We all looked at each other for a minute then continued the tour like nothing had happened.

There's been such an increase in virtual work places and outsourcing that often we forget what the people who do jobs that our integral to our businesses look like. There's a certain dehumanization at play when the only interaction you have with someone is via email. Even if you use conference call setups, there's no replacement for being in a room with someone and reading their body language and composure. This online, digital age we find ourselves in has seemingly replaced human beings with just avatars that respond to our email written requests with a certain SLA.

I know the thing that spawned this line of thought was the tour at work but I thought about how detached we as a society have become in our personal lives as well. It's almost like we're afraid of being alone and must always be connected to one another via social media. We text more than we talk on the phone, and I'm guilty of this. There was a critically acclaimed movie that hit theaters recently about a man being in a relationship with his computer, and smart phones are basically hand-held computers. All of the stigma has been removed, and we're now detached from other human interaction more than ever.

I received a message on LinkedIn by someone who has recently started up a company. The company, which I won't name, sells articifial intelligence software that basically is able to read and interpret text and spit back intelligent answers. Basically, this software is able to replace call center agents that are needed to deal with email, message boards, etc. and basically link queries directly to a directory of help documentation. Everything we have this day and age is getting smarter and smarter to remove human error, but isn't that what makes society so great? I know that human error can lead to huge mistakes, but it can also lead to flashes of brilliance as well. I love humans. Maybe I need to start displaying it more.

The Innovation of Loneliness from Shimi Cohen on Vimeo.

3 Sides To A Story

Yesterday was such an unexpected day. I had 100% of my meetings go well today, which never happens. I ordered something different for lunch for a change, and after work I met up with a friend to watch the Brazil/Germany World Cup game. I had a strong feeling that Brazil would lose, but I had no clue it would end in a 7-1 traveshamockery. The bar was full of people there to watch the game, all deciding whether they should leave or stay around and watch the gluttony, except for one couple. I guess that added to the unexpectedness of my day.

The couple in front of my friend and I were a man, probably in his late 40's/early 50's and a woman, probably in her late 20's/early 30's. The man was wearing a wedding band on his left ring finger and the woman wasn't. The game was from 4-6pm EST and they showed up separately halfway through the game and began ordering stiff liquor drinks. They both started out facing the TV, pretending to be interested in the game, but by the time my friend and I left shortly before the end of the game they were turned almost at a 45 degree angle facing each other, with her feet on his chair and her hand on his knee. Their body language made it seem like this was one of the first few times they had hung out like this, but you could obviously tell that there was something more than plain friendship occurring here. I turned to my friend to see if he was witnessing this as well or if I was just going crazy and he said he noticed. They were literally the only people in the entire bar drinking liquor drinks, and since I've been there before I know just how strong they can be. If they wanted to hang out and get drunk together, why not go to a Happy Hour? Or, wait until later in the evening like most normal people to get shit-housed. The only reason to get hammered at 5pm on a Tuesday is because you have someone else to go home to, and that just isn't cool with me.

I don't understand cheating at all. I've never messed around on someone I was in a committed monogamous relationship with. It infuriates me at times knowing all of the vagina I've turned down in order to remain faithful, because I know from firsthand experience how much women love a man in a committed monogamous relationship. There are 2 parts about cheating that I just don't understand at all. The first is why would a person remain in a relationship that he or she is obviously not happy in? Every relationship has ups and downs and people will have various ranges of happiness, but if you truly love that person you love everything about that person. Why would you violate that bond just for a few fleeting moments of pleasure? The second is why would someone knowingly have sex with someone they know is in a committed monogamous relationship? If you don't know or if the person misleads you that's understandable, but if you know the person is married or seeing someone why put yourself through that? Do you not value yourself more than that? Do you think they will leave the other person for you? Or is that the best you think you deserve?

I have a friend that met a coworker and they exchanged a few messages back and forth. She had hit him up with "Good morning" texts the past few days, and now she asked if he wanted to grab dinner sometime this week. She has a boyfriend and didn't hide the fact that she was with someone, yet she is still running what appears to be the dating version of the basketball full court press on my friend. He asked my opinions on the matter and I told him that ultimately he has to make that decision for himself, but I told him the karma might not be something he's ready for. I'm all about trying to put positive energy out into the universe in hopes that something positive will be returned to me. And quite frankly, there are too many single women out here to be wining and dining someone that already has a boyfriend. Everyone just wants to be loved and be with someone that makes them happy and I realize that everyone's situation is different. I guess sometimes you just have to get it how you live.

Money On My Mind

Who was it that said that money can't buy happiness? I hate that we have phrases like "Money can't buy happiness" that we all seem to abide by, when we have mounds of evidence that points to the contrary.

I have a friend that has been having car trouble recently. She's only going to be living in the state for another month or so but she still needs something to go to work and back. Metro Atlanta has a notoriously bad public transit system because people that lived in the northern suburbs of the city were mortified at the thought of "urban" people being able to traverse the city at will so they never expanded on the MARTA system. MARTA literally takes you to 15 places in a city as large as Atlanta. It doesn't even take you directly to Turner Field, which is one of the reasons why the Braves will be moving to Cobb County in a few years. But I have digressed.

Her car troubles were making it to the point where she was nervous her car would go caput at any moment, so she took her car in to be serviced. She was told that the repair fees would be more than the car itself, so this past Saturday she decided that she needed to seriously start looking at new cars. After some online research, a few phone calls and emails, and a visit to a dealership, she has a new car. It's a great deal, and a huge upgrade from a car that threatened to die on her everytime she got on 400, and boy is she happier than ever now. Money allowed her to have happiness and peace of mind. Isn't that all people should be striving for?

There are some life moments that are free and can only occur in certain situations whether you have monetary wealth or not. The other 90% of life depends on having money, free time, and the appropriate fun social network. I'm constantly reminded of this as July 4th weekend will be here in a few days, and I stopped to realize just how blessed I am that I'm able to plan a trip and spend the holidays in a different city than the ones I live and go to work in. I'm gainfully employed, even though I'm not saving as much money as I could or should be saving, but I have marginal free time around my 50-hour work week and I have friends that I can kick it with. There's not much more that I could ask for. Could I have fun without money? Yes I could, but the lack of money would be offset by my lack of free time, as I would have to make some lifestyle changes in order to survive and getting a second job would probably be near the top of that list. I also don't have any children (that I know about) so that helps to boost my free time ratio as well. Children are great, and I love kids, but having kids is truly a life changing event and the two things they affect the most are free time and money.

The other part of that triumvirate of happiness is having an appropriate social network. There's no magic number of friends that you should have, as I know tons of people who lead very fulfilling lives with only one friend. It's all about surrounding yourself with people you enjoy being around who push you to become a better person. Whether that's through perfecting your crafts and hobbies or learning how to get thicker skin or learning how to bounce back from relationship issues, a strong social support system is important. Even introverts need human interaction, so why not make those seconds count to your benefit?

I have a friend that's moving down to Atlanta in a few weeks and I'm one of the few people that she knows. I will try my best to make sure she has an enjoyable experience and makes a lot of great memories down here as I know what it's like to move to a new city not knowing anyone. I told her I was going to allow her to join my social network and I hope she's able to maximize the other 2 parts of the happiness trifecta in order to make the most out of this experience.

Fuck 12

I feel like everytime I turn on the news there's a new story about someone who's case was overturned via DNA evidence. This week, I found this case. To summarize what happened, a Florida woman was raped and murdered and there were 2 suspects in the case. One was her boyfriend and one was another man. They found semen and blood on the crime scene and used that to convict a man. 22 years later, DNA evidence was like "Oops, our bad, got the wrong guy" but the Florida supreme court still voted not to overturn his conviction. 6 years later, he was finally freed, after spending almost 30 years on Death Row. I repeat, 30 years on Death Row for a crime he didn't commit. Because evidence at the crime scene stated that he 99.9% had to be the killer. This is getting absolutely absurd.

There are two issues that aren't ever covered by journalists whenever a person that was wrongfully convicted gets freed by DNA evidence. The first and most obvious is that THESE PEOPLE LOSE YEARS OF THEIR LIVES FOR SOMETHING THEY DIDN'T DO. In most of these instances, they can't file civil suits to get compensated for these lost years of their lives because of red tape. And most importantly, they've lost the time they could have spent being productive members of society and will undoubtedly have huge mental and emotional burdens to carry for the rest of their lives. The second issue is the sheer number of people who are wrongfully convicted. I was taught growing up that our justice system was here to protect me and put bad people behind bars to keep our country a nice place, but the older I get the more I realize that when push comes to shove they just have to lock someone up to close a case and keep it moving. In the above mentioned case, there were 2 suspects and they supposedly found his blood and DNA, which DNA proved they didn't. Which means they basically just took a 50/50 gamble and got it wrong. And I feel like this happens quite often and no one ever mentions it, which is a traveshamockery. Yes, I made that word up, but I've digressed.

We need to do a very hard rethink and ask ourselves why we allow so many people to get thrown behind bars, for such long periods of time. The private prison industry is fast becoming a billion dollar industry, and now that millions of African Americans are behind bars it won't be long before marijuana is legalized across the country. Maybe we need to ask who is the real beneficiary from a justice system set up this way. It's mathematics.

Handicap Match

How do you tell a girl that her friends suck? You don't.

No seriously, there is no way that telling your girl that you don't approve of her friends will ever end well for you. It may sound like a good idea at the time to tell her that her friends suck, but you can't ever utter that phrase. You can't even utter anything remotely close to that phrase. And here's why:

I know it may be hard for some of you to realize this, but your significant other's friends have way more influence in your relationship than they should. I'd even go as far as to say that your girlfriend's/wife's friends matter more to your relationship than you do. What I mean by that is that you must keep your girlfriend's friends happy at all times, and they have to be happy that she is with you at all times, or all hell will break loose figuratively and literally. Her friends will go from supporting you to undercutting you at every possible opportunity, to the breaking point where she usually has to make a decision between you and her friends. You never want to end up in this scenario, so again you can't ever say that her friends suck.

The most common way that your significant other's friends will try to intervene in your relationship is that they try to apply things from their dating and personal life into the way that you interact with their friend. That failed dinner date that your girl's friend just had will somehow become a topic of your relationship, and you will have to address whether you would have acted the same way or a different way. Regardless of what your answer is, you will be judged ruthlessly. This scenario is exponentially increased if this discussion occurs in the presence of both your girl and her friend, as they will try to dispute any instances of logic you may use to rationalize your argument. Reacting logically to a situation with a woman is like voluntarily drinking Clorox bleach. It never ends well.

I had a situation in my previous relationship where while hanging out with my girlfriend and other friends, one of her friends interjected that I couldn't have any single female friends because it's impossible for men and women to be platonic friends. Her reasoning for this was that every man who's ever claimed to be her friend has wanted to sleep with her, so therefore I must behave like every man she's come in contact with. The problem wasn't the interjection, or my defense of the contrary that men and women can be friends on a platonic level. No, the bigger issue was that someone with this level of close-minded world views was someone that my ex-girlfriend trusted for advice, and that this was negatively affecting her ability to think for herself in muddied situations such as these. Men and women can be platonic friends. It's very naive to think anything other than that, just like it's possible to be amicable to coworkers without being friends with them or trying to sleep with them. I don't have to have ulterior motives just to be nice to someone.

I won't even get into the resolution of this situation because like I said previously it involves my ex-girlfriend. I just want to state that sometimes it's best to see these scenarios occurring like a quarterback reading a defense and react accordingly. And be on the lookout for your significant other's friends rushing you from the blindside while you focus on reading the secondary.

The Perfect Storm

In sports I'm starting to hate the word "potential" just because of how many times I've seen can't miss prospects squander it. People from Freddy Adu to Jamarcus Russell to Anthony Randolph, the list just goes on and on in terms of how many players never truly end up in a league of their own. A lot of times we focus on that player's lack of work ethic, but I think a very large factor that goes into it is stability and ending up in the right situation. In American sports especially, our draft system makes it almost impossible for a top prospect to land with an organization with a good front office and coaching staff. We reward poorly run organizations with top draft picks, who face the burden of high head coach turnover and joining a locker room that most likely has a losing mentality. There are exceptions however.

Kawhi Leonard went from being a lottery pick of the San Antonio Spurs 3 years ago to being NBA Finals MVP from this year's past NBA Finals. He effectively went toe to toe with LeBron James, who is easily the best basketball player I've ever witnessed with my own eyes (I don't like comparing athletes who played before I was able to see them play. Can't accurately compare them but that's for another article). A lot of Leonard's improvement comes down to the fact that he landed with the best organization in the NBA and was coached by the best head coach to have ever been in the league. He was able to combine that perfect fit with work ethic and will to improve, and the results have been amazing to witness. The video below nicely chronicles how he was able to drastically improve his basketball skills, and it's a lesson that not all prospects fizzle out. I hope he continues this improvement and is able to entertain us all for years to come.

Eye of the Beholder

The value of a naked woman diminishes everyday unless the woman monetizes it. Before you jump all down my throat let me explain myself. When I was a kid I remember having to put in legitimate effort to see a naked woman. I remember having to manipulate search engines to bypass restrictions and filters. I remember having to stay up late at night and watch scrambled softcore porn quietly so no one knew what I was doing. I remember when the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition was a big thing, because it didn’t carry the same stigma as Playboy or other magazines of that category. Nowadays the Swimsuit Edition comes and goes without as much as a peep, and that’s because the value of a naked woman has diminished so much.

I was listening to Raheem DeVaughn’s most recent album “A Place Called Love Land” and I was struggling trying to decide my thoughts on the album. It’s a pretty enjoyable album, but the music I was listening to felt so strange and I didn’t know why at first. Then I realized it: it was pure R&B music. There are no rap breakdowns. There are no songs about sipping lean with strippers. The only feature is legendary jazz musician Boney James. How did we get to the point where singing songs that didn’t degrade women became the exception and not the norm?

I’m sure all of you have heard of the social media platform Vine, but if not I’ll give a quick synopsis of it for you. Vine is basically a stop-motion camera app where users can upload videos that are 7 seconds or under. There are some pretty dumb vines, there are some ones that are absolutely hilarious, and now I’m realizing there are a lot of videos that feature a ton of nudity. I know that Instagram, YouTube and Facebook have rules in their terms and conditions that don’t allow anything graphic in nature, but apparently no such restriction exists for Vine. As a result in a matter of seconds you can find everything from young women (of possibly illegal ages) disrobing all the way to 7 second clips of people going to Pound Town. With so much nudity at your fingertips it loses the sacredness, the taboo nature, the redeeming factor of having to search for it.

I can’t help but wonder if somehow the decline of relationships is related to the diminishing value of a naked woman. This has nothing to do with strip clubs or prostitution either, as those two establishments have been in existence since the beginning of time. Even with those things at our disposal there wasn’t anywhere near the gender inequality that we have today, even with women being able to do more occupationally than ever before. I’m referring to the seemingly omnipresence of nudity everywhere I turn. It’s almost like with each celebrity sextape we’re less and less surprised. Miley Cyrus goes out of her way to be “ratchet” and it’s almost like we collectively yawn at her attempts to be risqué. Is the term risqué even viable anymore when shows like Teen Mom air on basic cable? How did it get this way? What happened in our society that led to this diminishing of value? How did it reach a point where sending SMS nude images became a requirement for all new relationships? How did it reach a point where it’s not enough to be intimate with someone? It’s almost a rite of passage to record the intimate encounter and share it with as many people as possible via the World Wide Web.

It seems that the diminishing value has coincided with a lack of privacy, decency and tact in regards to a number of topics. Is this from specific factors or just a byproduct of our society striving to become as open as possible? To be honest I don’t have an answer to any of the questions I posed in this article, and that’s the point. The answers can’t come from me and be passed down like the monarch of some kingdom. The answers must come from within our society. We have to take a reflective look at how we’ve allowed ourselves to reach this point of banality, and decide if we’re okay with the downward spiral that we’re currently on or whether we need to adjust course. That won’t happen in a day, in a week, in a month, in a year, but people will need to decide if it happens and then strive to restore the value of women in our society. That is of course unless you enjoy Basketball Wives of LA, then I apologize for wasting your time reading this.

Pastor Disaster

I went to Game 6 of the Hawks/Pacers first round playoff series at Phillips Arena. It was a heartbreaking loss for us Hawks fans, as we were so close to pulling off a monumental upset of the then-in-pure-freefall-mode #1 seeded Pacers. As my friend and I were walking dejectedly back to the CNN Center Marta station, we see someone on the side of the sidewalk handing out CD's. I get one without looking at guy handing it to me and I look at the name on it and it says it's made by none other than Atlanta rap legend Pastor Troy. I go back in shock, wondering why someone would be handing out Pastor Troy CD's in 2014 outside Phillips Arena and I was shocked to find none other than the Pastor himself, even wearing his championship belt in all of it's glory. Of course I immediately went into fan mode and got my picture taken. Sadly I did not get the belt in the picture, but it was the least I could do and it made me forget all about the Game 6 loss.

About a day or so ago I saw this picture pop up on my news feed. It was none other than Pastor Troy, showing up at the Atlanta Falcons mini-camp seemingly just to hang out. My friend sent me the picture and this conversation ensued over text message. It was too amazing, and I felt it needed to be captured somewhere for posterity purposes.

Tyler: Do you think Pastor Troy coordinated that visit or just showed up and said "I'm Pastor Troy, look at my belt?"
Me: Pastor Troy took the picture not with the coaches or the players but just in a random end zone. He probably just showed up and Instagrammed it and the Falcons used the picture. No one coordinates visits with Pastor Troy in 2014. He's famous enough to where we know who he is but unfamous enough to be on Judge Alex
Ahahahaha. He literally doesn't leave home without that belt. "Wallet? Check. Cell phone? Yep. Belt? Oh shit, let me get that."
Wonder if he's ever got drunk or high and left it somewhere. Can you imagine going to a bar the next day like "Hey I left my wrestling belt here last night"
Hahahaha. Or had a one night stand and forgot it and had to go back and the girl's on-again/off-again boyfriend was there and it was highly awkward for all of them. "Just getting my belt cuz, chill."
How many you think he owns? Think he has more than one and rotates them like work pants?
He's got a closet for just the belts. His house is a total shit hole but the belt room has fine Berber carpet and velvet-lined shelves and it's own security system.
He has a gun safe for his belts. He probably got Downs to do it
Hahaha. How many belts can this hold? No, not pants belts, like the one I'm wearing now. Does he have to check it with security at airports? This topic needs to be discussed at your next stand-up
I wonder how much he spends on Brasso every year. He definitely has to check it in his luggage. I'm glad he hasn't upgraded to the new WWE belt. He's sticking with the tried and true WCW Booker T Harlem Heat belt
"I'm sorry sir but the metal detectors picked up something." And he's all "Yeah it's my gold belt, solid gold" and the security guard goes "Sir our equipment only detects steel and brass, not finer metals"
Hahahah. Why has no one challenged him to a rap battle and winner gets the belt?
Hahaha. He's like Floyd Mayweather. He picks his opponents and the rules. "No using any words with vowels or you're disqualified"
What is he champion of? What federation recognizes him as it's champion?
Hahahaha. Is that a sanctioned belt, Pastor Troy?
I've never talked this much about a wrestling belt, ever

I still got love for you though Pastor Troy.

Terrible Rap Names: Yo Gotti Edition

One of my guilty pleasure songs out right now is Snootie Wild's "Stacking & Flipping It". My friend sent that to me, and I loved it instantly. I also couldn't help but wonder if the songs would be much much bigger if perhaps Future or Rich Homie Quan was singing it. Anyway, I looked up the song on Spotify and I was greeted by this album cover artwork.

Apparently Yo Gotti has made it a personal mission to sign 3 artists with some of the worst rap names I've ever seen. Snootie Wild, Zed Zilla and Wave Chappelle sound like characters from a Key & Peele skit. I would be embarassed to tell someone in public that I listened to a rapper named Zed Zilla. And I have to return to Wave Chappelle once again. This is what happens when people give themselves nickname. They all turn out shitty, just like Wave Chappelle. There's no way anyone told him "I think Wave Chappelle is a great rap name" and if they did then they are a part of the problem as well. Stop lying to your rapper friends.

I feel that this chronicling of terrible rapper names will be a recurring thing, as I feel this will happen until the end of time.

Non-Profit Billionaires

I haven't been so vehemently in agreement with a Youtube video in quite some time. This is my first time seeing a John Oliver video, but he seems like a British Jon Stewart. That's not a bad thing at all, because Stewart is hilarious. Oliver summarizes all the reasons why people should be up in arms about the FIFA organization, but instead we're all anticipating the first kick of the ball at this month's World Cup in Brazil. It mirrors a lot of my feelings held towards the NFL and NCAA athletics in this country, but I'll save those thoughts for another article.

My Free Will

I just discovered that I’ve been in love with Sam Smith songs for the past year, but I just didn’t know who Sam Smith was. Well, with the release of his debut album “In The Lonely Hour” I felt that I knew more about Smith, almost on a personal level as well. In this interview with Fader he spoke about the album coming from a very dark place where he was going through unrequited love with a man. Yes that’s correct: a man. Whereas Frank Ocean was very cryptic about maybe kinda sorta loving a man once during the buildup to the release of his “Channel Orange” album Smith almost takes pride in being open about his views on sexuality, and he’s correct in that this wouldn’t matter nearly as much if he was heterosexual.

Smith’s interviews and listening to the album, which I love by the way, made me come face to face with two things that I felt I needed to speak on. The first is that Smith’s album is the first time I’ve encountered an openly gay man struggling to find a partner. I have gay friends, and it seems they have a seemingly endless supply of new men whenever they want a relationship or just some physical sexual gratification. There are gay clubs, gay dating apps, gay associations, all seemingly with the purpose of pairing men looking for interactions with other men of a romantic nature. As a heterosexual male, the ease with which they are able to make these connections was always something I admired, and was envious of. If only going to a bar to find a woman was that simple for heterosexual men, I think the world would be an entirely different place. Smith seems to share what I’ve experienced personally, in terms of the dichotomy of having someone you want that you can’t have while having someone available that you don’t want, for various reasons.

Which brings me to the second item I needed to speak on: unrequited love fucking sucks. Point blank period. One of the lowest points in my life was when my ex-girlfriend told me “I will always love you but we’re too incompatible for us to continue in this relationship.” There’s a certain vulnerability that comes along with being in love, and opening yourself up to someone, and to have that be rejected by another human being is devastating. This has happened to me recently enough where I’m torn between missing my ex, missing human interaction, and simultaneously trying to recreate Ty$ songs. I feel as though my heart is in a pretzel with my mind in a sling. There are obvious voids in my life that will only fill with time and the appropriate changes in my routine. Whether these routine changes involve personal hobbies or meeting someone new, adaptation is a key part of any life and mine is no different. There’s no clear-cut solution to that feeling, and that’s what makes love so special. When you finally do meet that person that you want to spend the rest of forever with, you’ll know it.

And I’ve told you now.

Wait Until Tonite

Not every post needs a lengthy explanation. Sometimes I just like posting songs that I enjoy. This happens to be one of them. Enjoy.



Warning this will be the first Young Gully post of many, as dude is one of my favorite rappers out today

Super Bass

This video rubs me the wrong way and for some reason I can't put my finger on it.

If I was a father and I had a daughter and she was elementary school age I wouldn't let her listen to Nicki Minaj man. Why these girls even know that song well enough to put that routine together? It's not cute when your 7-year-old is singing Nicki Minaj songs. Just like its not cute when little kids use profanity. Kids are the future man. And it's not going to help the future if kids are aspiring to be Nicki Minaj.

Do kids know what Minaj in her name is referring to? They can't possibly. Or do they? Does that little girl singing on the Ellen show know that she wants to be Nicki Threesome when she grows up?

Sure, "Super Bass" is a radio friendly, poppy enough song. But Nicki Minaj got a catalog of shit kids shouldn't be listening to. I wonder if that girl's parents let her listen to the Nicki Minaj verse on Big Sean's "Ass" remix. I bet the parents were looking at their little girl singing a Nicki Minaj song like "She's so talented. She's gonna be famous one day." That's how kids get exploited. Parents having them doing shit they have no business doing because they look "cute".

Seriously, the kids these days are fucked. They don't stand a chance man.

Kids in elementary school having sex, singing explicit rap songs, creating Facebook accounts, having cell phones. Why can't kids just be kids? Innocent, naive, little kids. They shouldn't even be allowed to do those other things.

It might be the 21st century, but the qualities of a good parent haven't changed. People gotta start raising their kids right. I don't have any kids that I know about and I'm in no rush to have any kids. But I wanna make sure they get raised right man. My kids should be worried about playing around outside, getting dirty, and cooties. Not worrying about their Facebook profile picture. If you got a kid in the third grade taking bathroom mirror pictures to update their Facebook profile picture, you fail at being a parent. Facebook is a safe-haven for debauchery for adults. I couldn't even imagine being a child with that at my finger tips.

This whole thing got me feeling deterred man. Kids ain't kids no more. They just young lost souls with no guidance. Nobody guiding these kids. And if they are guiding the kids, they guiding them down the wrong paths.

When I was growing up, I had my dad and my older brother around to let me know if i was fucking up. They didn't try to be my best friend. They were my role models. There's a HUGE fucking difference. You don't gotta act like your child's best friend to teach them the difference between right and wrong. Matter fact, there should be some shit that you don't disclose with your parents. That's what makes the parental bond sacred. There's supposed to be some shit that I can't discuss with my parents until I hit a certain age, or if I do discuss it, its with kid gloves. You shouldn't be talking to your mom about this chick that sucked you off behind the bleachers, or the handjob you got. You shouldn't be talking to your dad about girls giving you hickeys & if you do, your dad should be like "Leave them fast ass girls alone".

I just realized there are no more "fast ass girls" anymore these days. All the kids are sex-deprived superfreaks with camera phones. Nowadays it's not "Do you like me? Yes or No". It's "What's your number? I'ma text you a nekked picture". Kids at 10-11 years old taking pictures in their underwear and sending them to their friends. Like I said man, no guidance.

Kids listening to Nicki Minaj on the radio, watch Basketball Wives on TV WHERE NONE OF THEM ARE EVEN MARRIED. Kids can Google sextapes, porn, play Mature video games. They have Twitter accounts. They can watch "16 & Pregnant" on TV. At some point yall gotta stop expecting school teachers and TV and your favorite rapper to be parenting these kids. It's not a school teachers job to parent a kid. Not everyone needs to be a parent either.

Nicki Minaj is a grown ass woman, with bills to pay, who does what she needs to do to provide for herself and her family. Not Nicki Minaj, or no other person in the entire music industry or sports world, has the responsibility of raising your kids. If your kid does something stupid, you can't blame Lil Wayne. You need to blame your dumbass self for being a poor parent.

Just because you're old enough to get an erection or old enough to have your period doesn't mean you should be a parent. I respect people that get abortions, or put kids up for adoption. If you ain't ready to be a parent, it's simple. DONT BE A PARENT. There are MILLIONS of people who wish they could have kids but can't. And if you can't raise them the right way, give them away.

Know how many gay and lesbian couples are living financially comfortable but physical can't have kids? Let them adopt from unfit parents. Who gives a shit if you have two moms or two dads. If you would have a better chance at being raised right, they need to go with that setup. I'm just fucking tired of seeing kids do dumb shit because parents aren't being parents. This ain't about your work schedule either. If you working 2-3 jobs you can still be a parent. Or foster some type of environment to where your children are being guided properly. Some kids can be raised properly with one parent. Some need more role models. Whatever you gotta do, do it man.

Shit like this just makes me realize that so much of what we entertain and put effort in is meaningless. If it ain't improving my life, or the life of the next generation, then why even do it?

No Regrets

Stefan sent me this video today and it was so moving that I immediately had to post it. Just watch this first.



It raises so many points that can be used in so many walks of life. Whether that's work, school, on even on a more personal level. Too often people settle for complacency. You need to drive for what you feel that you deserve, even if that comes with sacrifices. And if you aren't willing to make sacrifices, then you really don't want to achieve those goals.

Also, a bonus video:




“Wise woman told me that if you stay in a situation that you don’t like… you don’t dislike it as much as you think."

Handcuffs On Ya Mama

It's sad that someone would enter into a relationship with someone they don't see themselves having a future with just to pass the time. In that scenario, someone isn't being honest with the other and false expectations are presented. Which ain't cool. If you can't be honest with that person about what you mean to each other & where you see this whole thing playing out, what your life like?

I had a situation where I let her know from the jump that we were just friends. Nothing less, nothing more. She ended up catching feelings, which is understandable, but we're still cool to this day because we were both honest with each other I don't feel any sense of leading her on, just for sex. We both were upfront about our physical needs.

I don't know man. I just feel like I'm past the stages of lying just to get the pussy. What you won't do, another one will. Oh, I'll tell the small lie every now and then. Sometimes you gotta embellish with the best of them. But I'm too honest to run game. I like to look people in the eye and be 1000% honest with them. That way I don't feel bad about anything that I say.

I told a friend this past weekend that she's the manliest woman I've ever met in my entire life, and that it's really comforting. She took offense, of course, but when she figured out I wasn't joking and was being dead serious, we joked about it and moved forward.

I'm the person that if you need an honest opinion about a situation that you see unfolding in front of you, you can go to. I've hurt a lot of feelings with being honest but hurt feelings are temporary. Deception, & the feeling of being deceived, lasts a lifetime.

I remember I was talking to this one chick and she told me that we needed to fall back because she was "grieving after a loss". She told me she was grieving in May and hasn't hit me up since. That sure is a lot of grieving. Can't keep a real nigga like me down though. Better to get deceived now than down the road.

If I'm done with a person, I have to let them know. I thrive on getting closure. But that's just me. Not everyone takes the hard way out. Not everyone is mature enough to tell the other person "You could do so much better than me and we're just not ready for this right now".

Sometimes, that's just the way that the cookie crumbles. But that's why they sell cookies in packs. Some will always inevitably fuck up. If you bought one big ass cookie from like Subway and that shit fucked up, you'd probably demand a refund on the spot. Enough said.

I'm the oldest almost 24-year-old you will ever meet in your life.

Full House

This was my house in like 2003 I wanna say. This was after Hurricane Isabel came through. There were a lot of trees in our subdivision and every year we would just miss hurricane season. We got hurricanes and tropical storms but never anything this bad. This year was different though.

Me and my family evacuated from out of her house after neighbors came to our door telling us about all the swaying trees hovering over our house. We had intended to wait in our laundry room huddled up and weather the storm, like we always did. We rushed over to a neighbor’s house across the street and I stood under their front awning and watched every tree fall on my house. Every. Tree.

That’s my car there too. I had just turned 16 and I had like 2-3 more months before I got my driver’s license. I was so excited to drive and then this happened. My insurance company didn’t cover it either. They gave me some bullshit excuse saying that my parents didn’t have liability insurance or something. This is where my distrust of insurance companies began, but that’s neither here nor there.

The next day, picking up the pieces of our house was crazy. Everyone was walking past our house, taking pictures of the damage and stuff. This isn’t a news story, this was my home. For the next 2-3 weeks we weren’t allowed to stay there. Meaning we bounced from relatives house to house. Living out of our car. Taking showers and washups standing in front of bathroom sinks at rest stops and shit. I had a big life crisis you can say, where I even went as far as to question how God could allow this to happen to me. I was the good kid, the obedient kid, the studious kid. The studious kid who was now temporarily homeless. That was definitely the lowest point of my life, up until this point. I don’t know if there will ever be a point lower than that.

When I say I don’t regret anything that’s happened in my life I truly mean it. This is how I came up with my motto that it’s “Better to live with reject than live with regret”. During that 2 weeks where we bounced around looking for a temporary place to stay I thought about all the stuff I hadn’t done in life. All that I felt I was missing out on. How things could have turned out so differently. And I made a promise to myself that I would never be able to look back at my life and regret anything ever again. A promise that I will never allow myself to break to myself. Ever.

Some people get dealt shitty cards in life. And others just don’t know the rules of the game that they’re playing.

Total Request Live

Top 40 radio will never be what it used to be, and it has nothing to do with money. It’s all about selective conditioning.

Most artists out today on major labels don’t write their own songs. Most record labels employ teams of songwriters to write songs. The record label pays people to come together and write songs to beats they’ve selected, and they choose the one they want. After they’ve picked the one they want to hear created, it’s created. Now that it’s created, the record label decides which songs to place on the album, and which songs to release as singles. Then once they’ve picked singles, they decide how they want to wine and dine the radio station execs to get their songs played all day long



If you’re spending all of that money, why would you invest all of that money into creating something that will empower people? If you’re spending millions of dollars creating inspirational anthems, that could inspire millions of people to create change. This society is capitalistic at its source, so once you’ve gained financial freedom you don’t want to inspire people to be where you are. You want the class divide to remain because you benefit from that. Anything else is detrimental to you. It’s much better to use your millions to subliminally get in the minds of people all over the country to dissuade them from achieving change



If people heard 4 times an hour a song like Big KRIT’s “Hometown Hero” that could pose significant problems to the current class structure. It doesn’t benefit record label execs to have people singing that the rap game is high school and life’s a hallway.

If people realized just how insignificant the material things they cherish really are, that would change spending habits, voting habits, etc. Basically, music that contains messages are invaluable. Therefore, the music industry pays a premium to dissuade those messages getting out. It’s more valuable to major label execs and their other affluent friends to have people singing “Gucci Gucci Louie Louie Fendi Fendi Prada”. These songwriters try to keep jobs, so they keep providing these songs that are dumbing down others. They have families to feed. So, instead of actually putting real topics into their songs, they try to think of different ways to put Moscato in the song



Sure, a radio exec could really like a song, and it could be commercially fine, but will that song garner them the most payola money? It’s one huge cycle that’s put in place to economically benefit everyone who contributes to aspiring people to not aspire to be anything.

“Did you know that record execs have people rate every song on an album and will only play those rated in the middle?” - @MTrible

I want artists like J. Cole and Big KRIT and Kendrick Lamar to prosper but it’s deeper than rap. It’s about mental conditioning. There’s absolutely no way that Def Jam or Roc Nation will be able to justify putting huge advertising dollars behind a inspirational project. Saigon’s album was delayed over 3 years and after listening to it it’s obvious why it was delayed so long, if released at all.



Every song on Saigon’s album has a different inspirational message in it. To saving our kids, to crooked preachers, to believing in yourself. You know how dangerous it is to have people singing “I’m on my way up. I don’t think yall hear me”?

It’s all about playing the game. And I would rather artists not play the game if they have to sacrifice integrity. At the same time, I realize that integrity doesn’t pay the bills. And fans don’t reward integrity.

The average fan will pay money to buy the “Racks on racks on racks” ringtone off iTunes but will wait for a free download link for J. Cole. So what is J. Cole to do? The fans have placed a value on his work that he creates in the realm he’s in now. It has no value. It’s free. So, if he wants to begin to gain some type of economic gains from his music, he must change his music & enter a new realm. So that’s why you get J. Cole re-interpolating Paula Abdul songs. Integrity doesn’t pay bills and is not rewarded in the grand scheme of things. And as long as J. Cole is signed to a 360 major label deal, nothing will change.

In 2011 there’s really no way for an artist to win unless their musical strengths coincide with major label’s mission and vision. It coincides with a major label’s mission and vision for Drake to be singing “All I care about is money and the city that I’m from”.

And that conditioning goes past most people’s heads, daily. Subliminal messages.

It is what it is.

4.28.1967 Pt. 2

See they don’t wanna listen so loud what I gotta be
Cuz my people are proud of the poverty
That got their sons shooting guns over dollar bills
He getting money snow or sunny but his daughter still read at a first grade level
And she 11 years old with her nose held high to the sky cuz she got her first purse made
Yes
On her birthday, she was singing “Birthday Sex”
Let’s skim right over what’s showing in plain sight
Looking the other way but knowing it ain’t right
Like over 50 shots now Sean Bell gone
Or a flashbang thrown in a little girl’s home
Aiyana Jones
Who? Aiyana Jones
One shot to the dome, she was 7 year’s old
It’s a shame
Imagine being daddy one day to putting your baby girl in a grave
Some things need to change
This ain’t a game
If you play into the mayhem you’ll be slaving ‘til the day you’re laying face up in a casket
With credit card sharks still asking if they can put your name on some plastic
Man it’ s a war going on outside no one is safe from
Heavy is the dark, a spark I’ma create one
Cuz a little light might be enough to make some stray from the ways of the slave
The pain of the hunger is enough to make a sane man put it to your brain for some money and a chain
And I don’t really blame em cuz if you’re in the game screaming “Money ain’t a thing” you resemble a filet
A lot of people saying that I’m preaching to the deaf
Man give that shit a rest
I’m going til the breath won’t come out a nigga’s chest
They in it for the checks
I’m in it cuz I wanna be remembered as a vet

Getting To Know: Gleams

I was checking out Mostly Junkfood, one of my favorite music blogs as of late, and I stumbled across a new mixtape by a rapper named Gleams. I've heard dude's name before on Twitter but never really gave his music a listen. I read into the article and saw that he truly was a rapper that was leveraging Twitter for all of its potential. It's great to see social media work out in someone's favor. I was so intrigued by Gleams that I asked if he would do an interview for the site. Via email correspondence, I was able to ask Gleams some questions about his influences, Joe Budden in particular, and what we can expect from him in the future. Be sure to check out his latest offering "The Exception".


1. Why do you rap? Not trying to be funny, but what is the main thing you wish to accomplish using rap music?

I rap for listeners, blunt heads fly ladies and prisoners...lol naw lemme chill. I do this music to give the people something true to life and dope at the same time. Also because I'd rather make music instead of be out in these streets self destructing, plus it helps me vent/express my feelings best.

2. The reason you started rapping? What’s your motivation?

My motivation was seeing my favorite artists do what they love and get paid for it. And giving listeners another choice.

3. Your bio says that you’re from New York. How do you feel like that environment influenced your sound as an artist?

The majority of New Yorkers show me what I don't wanna be and how I don't wanna live my life. We're one of the best cities in the world but the people here just wanna do the same thing the next person is doing. I wanna detach myself from being labeled a NEW YORK artist, cuz I hate being put in a box. Still in all i love my city, i just don't like falling into a stereotype with the people who "RUN" it.

4. What are your influences, artists you look up to?

Obviously Joe Budden, John Lennon, Nas, Pac, Hov and Michael Jackson just to name a few.

5. Explain how the whole Joe Budden situation unfolded and how you two initially linked up? Do you guys still have a working relationship and can we expect any collaborations in the future?

Man I was just a fan that got to meet him at a bb kings show cuz of my homie Ice. Shortly after, I noticed Budden was following me. I been to his studio (as a fan) twice, and I never would have imagined what happened at Irving Plaza. We don't have a working relationship, we're just Twitter homies as of now. I'd love to collab with him in the future. We'll see what happens. Anything is possible.

6. What artists do you see as your main competition? Who else is in your lane or do you think you’re carving out your own niche in the rap game?

Only competition for me is the artists I look up to and myself. I don't view the local acts nor other rappers on twitter as comp. And I believe I have begun paving my own way musically, thank God lol.

7. Name one song that describes who you are as an artist. Something for people that have never heard your music.

A song off of “The Exception” called "FYI" will tell you a lot about who I am.

8. Explain your current label situation and when we can expect to hear another project.

I am unsigned, just building my brand and fanbase at the moment. And my next project should come out as soon as I drop the visuals for this project that’s out now.

9. I’ve drawn some parallels between your situation and another Twitter/Internet sensation Kreayshawn. Both of you have leverage what I would like to call “virtual fanbases” into creating a name for yourself, almost overnight. Would you agree with the idea of a virtual fanbase or do you see your fans as something else?

I mean I wouldn't call it a virtual fanbase, but I understand why you label them that. I don't mind what they are viewed as. As long as they support they can be anything but spam bots.

10. Wanted to leave room for you to give a shoutout to anyone in particular, or anyone not on our radars that we should be checking for.

Shouts to #TheCast, LNF and stay tuned to www.THEGLEAMSSHOW.com thanks for your support!

Thanks again to Gleams for doing this interview. He can be found at his Twitter account, which links to his other website.