Getting High and Watching Yo Gabba Gabba!

For almost three years, I have had a standing date night with my daughter, “Pit Stop Fridays.” We kick our weekends off at a nearby eatery in Merrick called The Pit Stop, order the same food, go home, and watch Netflix until we pass out. It is a rare occasion for one of us to […]

My Ode to Self-Care 46: “Perfect Timing”

This is another one of these where I am simply writing whatever comes to mind, how it comes to me… One of the idiosyncrasies I have picked up from my experiences is hyperawareness of time. I view almost everything through a lens of everything is finite. I could be having the greatest experience in the […]

My Ode to Self-Care 44: “Hold Tight”

I hit a wall today. If I were to include this essay, I have eight more prompts and an epilogue before this four-month excursion is completed. Towards the end of all projects, the creative mind feels depleted; the easy solution is to stop and begin the next one because it is already on your mind. […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 38-“The Feel”

Solo with the braids used to get busy…with all the humility in the world, I can assure those who knew Chad Milner throughout the first decade of the aughts would tell you the previous statement is a fact. This is the name I am referred to with affection by those who were well acquainted with […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 37-“Kush:

It’s been long-forgotten and oft-considered forgettable; but I love the first single from the oft-rumored, oft-delayed, and never to see the light of day, Detox. “Kush” came and went because it was formulaic: Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg tag team for another big record, with piano keys on fortissimo; but the 2010 version, so we’re […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 36-“If You’re a Player”

In the fall of 1998, I sat in my grandmother’s basement and watched Rap City on BET. On this particular episode, on the campus of Howard University, Joe “Cleezy” Clair interviewed a young Terius Gray alongside his cohorts. He wore a backwards baseball cap, with his rap name, Juvenile, inscribed on the part which faced […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 35-“Yours”

One of hip hop’s greatest assets and cultural contributions to society is its roots in exploration. Since the days of the park jams, DJ’s raided record collections and stores for rare breakdown sections to garner a reaction from their audience. The first response is “What is this?!” then one must find it. As the music […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 34-“Focus”

When Fabolous Sport blew up, those in tune with New York’s mixtape circuit knew Joe Budden was on deck. As one third of the Triangle Offense, he was a fixture and favorite on DJ Clue tapes. One could argue Clue had the greatest incubator and farm system in hip hop history. If Nas, JAY-Z, B.I.G., […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 34-“Nina”

“Daddy, did you ever notice all of the Disney Princesses’ moms died?” Cydney said in a matter-of-fact tone. As she rattled several of them off, I asked her “You watched this on YouTube?” This was my dad-tactic to distract my daughter from a wormhole in which she would connect, identify, and feel sadness because this […]

My Fall Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 31-“Bring Dem Things”

“F**k with me this summer” I shot as a response to her text message on a late-June morning. After four years of ups, downs, false-starts, double-backs, fights, sentimental moments, and a shit ton of drama, enough was enough. In this time, there were many others-for both of us-there was no better time to give us […]