Urban Prom Music

When you think about Urban American music and the impact it has on education, the parallels are extremely significant. Most of us learn vicariously and subconsciously through music. It is something that is installed and programmed in our brain as a form of learning, from early on in life. A universal example of this is our alphabet. Often we learn the alphabet song before we know the actual letters in the alphabet. (I can recall listening to my young family members singing their alphabet and when they got to "L, M, N, O, P", they often mumble the letters while still harmonizing the melody, instead of saying the actual letters.) Most American children grew up watching various children’s programs that teach us basic information through music. This creates a foundation at a young age, which in turn creates people and generations who consciously and subconsciously learns through music.

Artist use various strategies to get to our youth as they understand the power of music. Ad-lives and background sounds are consistent in the music so our youth can subconsciously begin to become familiar with the voice. Oj da Juice Man is a good example of an artists who is doing it as we speak (hey...ok). Young Jeezy did it in the past (Yeaaaah) as well as numerous other artists. My issues becomes once they have our youths' attention, the lack of balance that comes from the music and the messages that they pass along to them.

It is sad but youth really believe in the artist and their music. I had a child ready to fight me as he was trying to defend the reputation of T.I. as if he was his right hand man. And the artists and media today do not speak or play enough music our youth and our community need to hear. We need a balance in our music. We need music that will make us want to read as much as we club. We need things that will reinforce community and selflessness as much as we hear about individual accomplishments and economic status. " I have an I-Pod full of songs that get me ready for games (sports), sex and fighting," one of my youth told me. So I ask him (because students can carry electronics in schools for some strange reason) who or what do you listen to when it’s time to learn? Who can you throw on your I-Pod right before class to help you get ready to receive this information I have for you? Of course he had no reply.

I believe you are what you take in. If I eat junk food and snacks all day what will happen to me inside? Will I be healthy? Will it affect me? Music is the same way. Our youth and community believe that this music does not affect them and it does. I watch students walk through the halls with their swagger on 100, zoned out, listening to the music of their choice, floating through the halls with an “ora” like Rick James on the Chapelle Show. Then there are the relationships and the drama with that. You have the sexuality issues and the drama with that. Of course you have you traditional fights and groups against one another as well. At the end of the day, you begin to wonder who woke up this morning and came to school to learn. What or who keeps you coming here everyday and what do you do while you here? You come late, leave early and get mad when you're asked to do some work. Who came to school thinking "I can't wait to see my favorite teacher and learn something new?" It seems like everyday is Prom!

Zeke's Playoff Picks-- First Round

After watching the first few games I have made my picks for the first round of the playoffs:

East
Cavs over Detriot in 4
Celtics over Bulls in 6
Sixers over Magic in 6
Hawks over Heat in 5

West
Lakers over Jazz in 5
Nuggets over Hornets in 7
Spurs over Mavs in 7
Rockets over Portland in 6

Zeke's All NBA Awards

First Team All NBA
Kobe Bryant- Guard- Lakers
Dwayne Wade- Guard- Heat
Dwight Howard- Center- Magic
Lebron James- Forward- Cavs
Tim Duncan- Forward- Spurs

Second Team All NBA
Chauncey Billups- Guard- Nuggets
Chris Paul- Guard- Hornets
Yao Ming- Center- Rockets
Kevin Garnett- Forward- Celtics
Carmello Anthony- Forward- Nuggets

Third Team All NBA
Tony Parker- Guard- Spurs
Deron Wiliams- Guard- Jazz
Shaquille O'Neal-Center- Suns
Paul Pierce- Forward- Spurs
Joe Johnson- Forward/Guard-Hawks

My NBA Awards

Rookie of the Year- Derrick Rose, Chicago
Runner up- O.J. Mayo, Memphis

Sixth Man of the Year- Jason Terry, Dallas
Runner up- J.R. Smith, Denver

Defensive Player of the Year- Dwight Howard, Orlando
Runner up- Lebron James, Cleveland

Most Improved PLayer- Devin Harris, New Jersey
Runner up- Paul Millsap, Utah

Coach of the Year- Mike Brown, Cleveland
Runner up- Nate McMillan, Portland

Executive of the Year- Danny Ferry, Cleveland
Runner up- John Paxson, Chicago

Most Valuable Player- Lebron James, Cleveland
Runner up- Kobe Bryant, Lakers

Pay Homage... And ask the right questions. That will determine "The Answer"

This season, I have been hearing some things surrounding the game of basketball that have just been off. I know people have short memories when I hear things like comparing Dwight Howard to a young Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq was averaging 29pts. and 13rebs his second year in the NBA. Dwight Howard may never average over 25. But recently, one of my mentors forwarded me an article that was published a few days ago that took me over the top. The topic... Allen Iverson. As a resident of Philadelphia and a person that has watched Allen Iverson through various lenses his entire career, I feel like I can weigh in on the significance of his career as a player and the correlation it has to American Culture and the Urban Community.

No way does Iverson remind us of our short comings! You can mention such players as Tracy McGrady- the tools and physically ability of Kobe Bryant and Micheal Jordan but never making it out the first round, Samuel Dalembert- who is just a horrible basketball player that must be mentioned when thinking about short comings, or you usual duds: Kwame Brown, Eddie Curry, (had not been for Chris Paul Tyson Chandler might be here too), Darrius Miles, Jonathan Bender, Darko Milicic and more. Or in Philadelphia, we have Keith Van Horn, Larry Highues, Tim Thomas and more. So no way should anyone think of Allen Iverson when they think of short comings. When in the game, nobody can question the effort of Allen Iverson. We can discuss on the ball defense, shoot selection and a few other things. We can not question effort and will to win! He sacrificed his body over the past 13 years like no player I have seen. That is something that he will physically never get back, even when he does walk away from the game. He would not go through that physically beating to come in second or to been questioned in history the way it's being done now. He was just never put in a realistic situation where he could win the NBA championship.

Allen Iverson did come into the NBA at the end of the Jordan era. But immediately after the Jordan era ended started the era of the Spurs and the Lakers. Since Jordan retired the Bulls dynasty, the only teams to win outside of the Lakers and Spurs are Detroit, Miami and recently Boston. Which year in that time do you think Allen Iverson was on the "team to win?" Even the year he did take his team to the finals, the most die hard Sixers fan knew deep down inside that they did not have a chance. (Short comings is thinking about Dikembe Mutombo getting abuse by Shaq despite whatever he tried against him.)

No way is Allen responsible for the fall of the Pistons. They have been on top of the mediocre Eastern Conference because they have been the most consistent and experienced team amongst horrible teams. Trading Chauncey Billups is was turned the directions of the Pistons. He was the leader of this team in so many ways. When you loose a guy like that, it changes the face of the team. As for the play of the Nuggets, he is the type of player and leader they needed to take them to the next level. Credit Chauncey and what he brings to the table.

When comparing Allen Iverson to Isiah Thomas, the stats are similar. Thomas played in more playoff games and had a better team nearly his entire career. Allen has almost never played on a team that would allow him to sit out or have an off game, and still have a chance of winning. Thomas played with other All Stars and solid players at every position.

The most disrespectful part of the article is the sell-out and selfish talk about Allen, taking shots at his upbringing and who he is as a man. I do not know Allen Iverson personally, but that was some crazy stuff to say. I could write a book about why the citizens of this country have the mindset we do and the effect is has on our community, so I won't get too in depth. I will say that was an inaccurate representation of him and he does not symbolized that to a lot of people. He will return to the NBA next season and he will not grab on any coat tail. He will start somewhere and play the role he plays to try and help his team win. Remember, he was still putting up good numbers before he was sent to Detroit. I predict a re-birth for him next season similar to a healthy Shaquille O'Neal this season.

In response to the link below:
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9436532/No-question,-Iverson-was-never-the-Answer

Music as a Diet

Music and food have attention grabbing concepts and hooks that draw you in. But do we ask ourselves if our music and food have a well balanced diet. For every piece of junk food do we eat a piece of fruit? Same thing with music; for every song we hear about a nigga and hoes, do we hear a song about changing the community? We need to balance the good music with the bad music. We need to treat the music that we listen to like food. Would you eat all junk food and no healthy food? Certain music that we listen to isn’t really good for you because it influences you to do dumb things. Some say that 40 percent of the things that we do is influenced by the music that we listen to. Mostly because the music that we hear gives us this glamorous life style that everybody wants to live. But that lifestyle isn’t cool. It’s not well balanced. Everybody talks about “getting money” but they never talk about giving money to somebody else.

Imagine life without music, it would be more violence. Music is the soul of all races, meaning that it is our escape from reality. If our escape is negative what would our reality be? This is where a balance diet of music comes to play. You have to balance out the good with the bad. Music makes some people change their ways. Sometimes it’s the way music is made. Music could be made in negative ways and children want to act off what they hear on the radio. They want to hustle and kill people because that’s what they are use to hearing rappers say just think maybe they want to be just like them.

By: Teens Making a Change!

What would you do for IT?

“I’m out for presidents to represent me.” “Live my whole life for a green piece of paper.” “Cash rules everything around me.” “It’s all about the Benjamin’s.” “If I need it IT I'm a get it however God help me” Is it because you never had that we want IT so bad or is it because that’s all you see and know to aim for? And once you get IT will that be enough or will you want more? What if we get too much of IT … (some may say there is no such thing.) What will you then do? Or even more interesting, what if we don’t get IT … (wow!) And we continue to try and still don’t get IT. How far would we really go to get IT? Is it worth it?