Over Analyzing

As an instructor I've realized a theory on overanalyzing things. When I was in 1st grade, a teacher told us, "there's no such thing as a stupid question" which I believed until I started leading daily workshop classes a couple years ago. Although I still believe no question is inherently stupid, the context CAN make it stupid in my opinion. So if I'm about to get hit by a car, but instead if jumpin the #^@! out the way, I start tryin to figure out the make & model of the car = STUPID! right? lol

But that doesn't mean it's inherently stupid to know the make & model of a car... especially if I'm a dealer or mechanic, for example. If you follow me, I look at "overanalysis" the same way. It only exists in CONTEXT. So if analyzing something is distracting you, risking your safety, or otherwise moving you AWAY from your next GOAL, it's OVERanalyzing (and stupid lol); but if it's clarifying your path, increasing your certainty, and otherwise moving you CLOSER to your next GOAL, analyzing is great.

real Cypher on BET - YES for Real - Shady 2.0

Eminem with Slauterhouse and Yelawolf on BET's 2011 Cypher

Just watch this - period

Troy Davis - So What Can I Do?

M-1 of Dead Prez at Rally for Troy Davis

I don't believe you can ever do "too much". That's one of the reasons life is worth living! There's always more to learn and do. BUT... I do believe you can "worry" too much. AND... I also believe you can overextend yourself too much.

My tag as an MC (Self Suffice) came from realizing:

1. The world would be a much better place if we spent less time criticizing other people, or going out of our way to do the work of others.

2. Everything we see in the world is a reflection of the way we see ourselves in our own minds. So... before you attempt to criticize the work of others, attempt to set a better example through your own work.

This is why when you come to one of my shows, you will hear the crowd calling out phrases like, "Love Your Self" and "Be Your Self".

Today, on September 21, 2011 - in the United States of America - I find myself wanting to CRITICIZE the Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles. Besides that, I feel the urge to be a judge, or attorney, or the president and simply DECIDE the life of TROY DAVIS will be spared. In this moment, I gain clarity in realizing that 1. CRITICIZING is pointless and 2. DECISIONS can only be carried out by those who've made a COMMITMENT to carry them out on a regular basis, and suffered through the challenges to establishing their credibility.

So out of love for my own sanity (LOL), and respect for the lawyers, judges, and presidents who've made the COMMITMENT to do their particular job on a regular basis, I'll avoid CRITICIZING or FORCING others to do their job differently. BUT... am I helpless? NO!

Though I've spoken about TROY DAVIS with friends and family more and more over the past week, tweeted, posted, shared, and led a RALLY for TROY DAVIS (marching through our city's downtown "Main St." area) with other concerned neighbors and activists (Shout to Chris Hutchinson and DJ Toka)... I don't feel like I've done "too much". I want to do more, but I know it's pointless to OVEREXTEND myself. So what can I do?

Rally for Troy Davis in Paris, France

The answer is Simple.

The answer to "What can you do" is "Do what you do". I'm a rapper/poet/MC! So I can make sure that my lyrics continue to spread the COMPASSION and RESPECT for LIFE that is missing in our country right now.

2. And I can start by posting just 1 or 2 bars on this blog right here. Scroll down to "Comments" to see what I write.

3. And I can ask any other lyricists (singers/rappers/poets) to add 1 or 2 bars and encourage others to direct some of our words towards a collaborative poetic-blog-post FOR HUMAN LIFE. Please scroll down to "Comments" and add 1 or 2 lines about saving a valuable HUMAN LIFE.

Justice John Paul Stevens

For those unaware of the controversy about the Execution of Troy Davis (scheduled for TODAY), here are some facts:

1. Career legislators and government officials agree that Troy Davis hasn't been proven guilty of a crime, much less a crime worthy of Capital Punishment

Former President (and Georgia Governor) Jimmy Carter released a public letter in which he stated "Executing Troy Davis without a real examination of potentially exonerating evidence risks taking the life of an innocent man and would be a grave miscarriage of justice."

2. Convicting an innocent man allows the actual killer to get away with killing Officer MacPhail

Martina Correia, an active campaigner for her brother stated "This is not family against family. We have no ill will against the MacPhail family. When justice is found for Troy, there will be justice for Officer MacPhail."

3. Officer MacPhail was trying to stop Sylvester Cole from beating up a homeless man when he was killed. The man who MacPhail was attempting to stop (Sylvester) is the same one who told police that Troy Davis did the crime. For some unknown reason, Sylvester Cole was never a suspect.

4. In 1976, just six months after he joined the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens voted to reinstate capital punishment after a four-year moratorium. He recently retired and made himself available to speak about his 3+ decades of work (during which some 1,100 executions took place). I heard him on WNPR discussing why his decision to reinstate capital punishment is the only one he regrets.

In a detailed, candid and critical essay published by The New York Review of Books, he wrote that personnel changes on the court, coupled with “regrettable judicial activism,” had created a system of capital punishment that is shot through with racism, skewed toward conviction, infected with politics and tinged with hysteria.

Here's an interview with retired Justice John Paul Stevens

If you're a lawyer or professor who can't do anything to determine the innocence - or save the life - of Troy Davis, maybe you can take a few minutes to discuss the case with your colleagues/students today. If you're a painter, maybe you can paint freedom and compassion. If you're a chef maybe you can spell HUMAN LIFE with string beans, or write JUSTICE with frosting on a cupcake. I'm an MC...

If you're a lyricist, feel free to scroll down to the comments and add 1 or 2 lines (or more) to this collaborative poetic-blog-post FOR HUMAN LIFE

So Close

My Dad passed away. A few years ago. Just when I was getting to know him.

It was a challenging time. Leaving my mom in the projects.

Accepting a scholarship to a top college. And turning down a major record deal.

Even though he wasn't there physically. He helped me through all of this. Somehow.


After College, whenever I performed, people would ask if I had an album they could buy, so one day I put together a CD with a song I did for my Dad, plus some radio appearances and unreleased cuts. There's more to it than that, but what's important? It was dedicated to my pops and I'm posting the title track, "So Close" (in 2 parts) online for anyone who wants to stream it during the next day or two. It will also be downloadable.

This track is personal and not for sale. I won't be leaving it online for more than a couple days, but this is for all those who are missing a Father today (Father's Day). Happy Father's Day Dad - You are so far, but Closer than Ever

To hear the track:
1. go to http://www.reverbnation.com/selfsuffice
2. scroll down to "So Close (1 of 2 parts)" and press "Play"
3. then find "So Close (Part 2 of 2)" underneath that and press "Play"

To download the track:
1. follow the same 3 steps above, BUT press "Download" instead of "Play"

Here are some quotes from the original limited Edition "So Close" CD dedicated to my pops:

Note from the Artist:
This collection chronicles my growth from fun loving baby poet to professional rap artist. These recordings highlight the experiences which I used to turn my passion into my responsibility. From rapping for fun to rapping to confront painful emotions instead of going crazy, from cyphers wit' my peers to mockery of my critics, freestyling to writing songs, from mixtapes to CDs to radio, from being without a father figure to becoming my own role model; this album represents my appreciation for the diversity of hiphop music, and the way I discovered my own special role in creating this culture.

Liner Note from Track 10. SO CLOSE (Title Track):
Another instant classic, this is the first autobiographical type track that Self Suffice ever recorded. He hasn't performed it much publicly, although he did perform it for Kweli after being invited to rock the mic at the Nkiru Center for Education and Culture. This is a powerful track and has evoked tears from both men and women who could identify with losing a father at a young age, and the difficult feelings that come with that loss. This song was a way for the RapOet to express and confront his thoughts on losing a father who seemed to have left before his time, but after friends heard it, they encouraged him to share it with others who were dealing with loss. One friend even joked sadly that this track makes you want to be the best parent possible, because one day your kid might write a song about you!

Originally, Self Suffice had intended to buy a copy of Astrud Gilberto's classic, "The Girl From Ipanema". To his surprise, when he got home and played the album, the classic Bossa Nova song had been remixed with a disco flavor, that didn't seem to do it justice. Still he looked through the record and found one track that inspired him to test out his new ability to loop beats. He brought it to his people, but it seemed too smooth to do anything with at the time. While listening to the track alone, he just started flowing about his relationship with his deceased father, wrote down the rhymes, and soon after recorded the track.

His dad's voice is taken from a tape that was exchanged between Self Suffice and his dad, while he was away at school, and his dad was locked up. Instead of writing to eachother, they recorded messages. Ironically, it was his dad's turn to send a message last, and the last message on the tape wasn't discovered until after he passed away. He says, "Don't take as long to get one back to me...I keep thinking of more things I want to say, but I'll save it for next time." This track was Self Suffice's way of sending a recorded message back to his father.

It's the title track of Self Suffice's first solo collection, not because it is his favorite, but because it is so moving. The more he recited and listened to his own words on this track, the more he came to grips with the reality, and understood the importance of his music, as well as his voice, in representing for the lives of countless misunderstood people. When his mother told him about a book store that one of his father's friends had founded, he was anxious to visit. When she told him there was a young brother working at the store who also rapped and was intelligent, he was interested in meeting with the brother, but wondered if he'd be a pretensious nerd, as many "intelligent" emcees seemed to be. The store turned out to be Leothy Miller's Nkiru Books, and the brother who worked there turned out to be Kweli , who would soon release the classic "Black Star" album on Rawkus. Kweli was surprisingly down to earth and cool, and of course is now one of the most popular (and skilled) emcees in the world.

Even back then, Self Suffice was honored to perform for Kweli at Nkiru Books, were he felt a connection to his deceased father. As the RapOet learned about some of his dad's struggles, of the fact that both his mother and father had been respected and published poets, and that his father had been friends with and published poetry with Mumia Abu Jamal, he realized more and more why he had to perform this song publicly, and continue to think, write, and recite. It was fitting that the first place he performed this song, then, was at Nkiru Books, which has since been purchased by Kweli and Mos Def. "As Long As I'm Alive, My Forefathers' Souls is Livin' Through Me!"