@ Adriel’s blog

it looks like no one else but mase
or should i say pastor mase
or should i say m-a-$-e
or should i say something?
anything?
i mean, he’s standing right in front of me
waiting to get on the same shitty airline
i just stepped off of
and all i can think of is his verse from “mo’ money, mo’ problems”
and his gloss green windbreaker suit
and the baby blue cover of one of the first albums i bought
but none of that makes me wanna approach him more than my “buuuuuurning” questions
about the friendship status of him and diddy
and why he wasn’t on fifty’s last album
and if he knew that the G in G-Unit don’t stand for God
and - oh God…I’m staring at him like I know who he is
and he’s staring back like “do you know who i am???”
and i wanna say YES YES I DO AND THAT’S WHY THE FUCK I’M JUST STARING AT YOU
but i don’t
cuz that’s ruder than me just staring
so i stop
staring that is
and decide on a nod
as i walk on by
but by the time it comes out
its not even one of the “whattup black throw your head back” nods
its one of those “white man i’m better but i’ll acknowledge you” nods
the ones that let you know your not invincible
and i wanted to let him know that he’s not invincible
as he feels
that he’s real after the reels
and the realness he was suppose to keep
in the aftermath of a bad boy deal
and several bad moves later
a step towards God made the world step away
and a step back in the game
makes me wanna keep stepping
maybe i should have stepped to him
and said, “Thank you Mason Betha!
You made me realize I don’t ever wanna be you”
an overnight wonder who the world is over
a fading star on its 16th minute
minister mase
can recite 8 of your bars
but hardly look you in the face
don’t even wanna shake your hand
where are these loyal fans now.

he must feel my pity
waves back like “i know”
i put my head down.
smile.
adriel’s gonna love this shit.

“Bill O’Reilly inspires me to communicate something to white people who think he makes sense.”
-Dahlak

Read it here.

Our home skillet and Oakland native Chinaka Hodge just started her brand new blog, thickwitness! It’s going to feature a gangload of Chinaka’s own writing, as well as her folks. The first guest blogger? Adriel!

Get thickwiddit here

Sorry, this above photo might be confusing, as the one on the left is our compadre 5th Ave and the one on the right is not Random Abiladeze…but the picture’s hot, so the picture’s hot.

One thing is for sure though, and that’s that they’re both cats that have been part of the iLL-extended fam for some time now, and they’re both getting some shine on URB Magazine’s Next 1000 campaign!

Show our folks some love and shoot them a vote!

Click here to vote for 5th Ave
Click here to vote for Random Abiladeze

And just for fairness’ sake, here’s a kickass picture of Random:

You know the drill. Get down.

(by the girl who still throws up the diamond even tho her name is ruby)

Our arms are sore…’cause we had our diamonds up all night!!! My, oh my, what a homecoming we have had! While Dahlak touched down L.A. over the weekend to see Kanyeezie glow all over the place, the other 3/4 of iLL-Literacy crossed the footbridge on over from the BART station to the Oakland Coliseum to see our idol, HOVA, rip it for the Yay (the region, no the umm, other stuff hova is known for).

Oakland was LIVE last night, and the view was outstanding from the seats we broke hella bread for (it was worth it)- for the first time ever, I experienced a concert w/ floor seats, and my oh my I sure was floored! From what I heard, Dream’s opening was a little more like a nightmare (eeek), but when I got back to my seat in time to watch Jigga and Mary’s silhouette from the white curtain onstage, my heart was pumping with excitement it could barely contain. (No exaggeration.) Mary had our heart, and Jay had us almost losing our heads. I myself was definitely wayyyy pumped like a pair of reeboks in the 80’s. Oh dear.

Great. Now my “Fade to Black” syndrome* probably won’t fade away any time soon. That’s okay tho. YOUNGGGGG!!!

To top it all off, Obama’s picture lighted up the screen while Jigga summoned for change. Nico describes it SO much better on his 366 blog posting, but my goodness. It is so crazy to watch politic weave in with pop culture so closely. Chinaka even copped an Obama t-shirt on the way back over the footbridge from a dude who’s tagline was, “Leave them bootleg Mary J and Jay-Z shirts alone, get your Obamas, ten dollas!”I bet she’ll ROC that shirt pretty hard.

**fade to black syndrome: condition usually acquired after watching said movie, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe high-energy adrenaline rushes pertaining to a fixation with stadium status glory.

h to izzo, v to izzay! night now.

link.
On our Northwestern University show in Chicago.

Yikes, RealPlayer required for this one.

Or read the article here.

While in Chicago on Saturday our iLL-Homie Prometheus Brown b.k.a. Geologic of Blue Scholars hopped on through to chill in front of our hotel and block the doorway for everyone else. We were then introduced to the Barrel Man mascot, who shall make appearances throughout Geo and Kiwi People Power Tour.

My how we’ve missed Geo and Kiwi, and we look forward to seeing them and their woody friend (no pun intended) at one of the many Yay Area shows coming up in May!

And now, a photo of us all praising the Barrel Man (except Ruby, who is genetically predisposed to throwing up the “W” in all photos).

Kiwi & Geologic’s People Power Tour Cali dates:
5/2, 8p: Sacramento State University
5/3, 1p: Hip Hop in the Park @ People’s Park, Berkeley
5/5, 8p: Cafe du Nord, SF
5/7, 8p: La Pena Cultural Center, Berkeley

scholar back!

(above: Ruby’s Kanye impression::Millenium Park, Chicago)

After our month long tour, iLL-Literacy is home!! Flew in from Chi-City last night (our last stop), eagerly boarding our plane to finally see California again. Because we’re big Kanye fans, celebrating our homecoming from Chi-town was amazing, especially since this video right here just says it all…

we’re home again. nice to see you, Oakland!

but i bet “she never mess with entertainers cause they always leave…”

The shows are complete.
The merch is sold out.
The Northwestern University gig was hot.
Chicago’s weather is beautiful.

See you tomorrow, Cali.

Our interview this past Wednesday at WSUM, Madison WI. We’re on at around 11:30.

Source: WSUM.net

Yezzirrrr…we’re about to hop into the car for our LAST drive to our LAST show of the iLL-Literacy Spring Voyage, at Chicago’s Northwestern University!

To celebrate, here’s the OG version of that one Kanye song:

Okay, horrible pun for a SPECTACULAR show. The iLL-Homie Beau Sia ripped it up real nicely, and after the show we kicked it like some true cheeseheads by tossing back some brewskies and cheese curds.

Much love to the folks at UW for a lovely evening, and to the First Wave peoples for coming through with the hottttt energy.

And special shout out to the iLL-iLL-iLL-Homie Jamie for plain and simply being fresh to def.

Onward to the Chi.