My Summer Rewind: An Ode to Self-Care 2-“Keep it Real”

There is an almost 3,000-word essay, lodged in a folder on an external hard drive. Hell, the hard drive said essay resides is attached to this very computer. But this is an exercise, so it’s too early in the process to feel lazy and share from the archives to meet an intense quota I set […]

30 Something

30 is not the new 20: It’s 30…that in itself makes it the shit. I meant to write this eight or nine days ago; but I spent my thirtieth birthday mostly hungover from celebrating, brunching with my three favorite people on the planet (in which mimosas brought back the hangover), working, and Thanksgiving…. Nonetheless, I’m […]

Seen It All

I joked with a friend of mine saying that after returning from Virginia “I feel like the realest nigga on the planet.” While such a statement may be hyperbole, a part of me does feel as if I am cut from a very rare cloth. I may not have visited Timile’s actual grave like I […]

My Life in 100 Songs: Hard Knock Life by Jay Z

Cydney discovered Jay Z’s version of “Hard Knock Life” and her mind was blown. Whenever she hears a song that she likes she will ask “What’s the name of this?” Sometimes she’ll nod her head to the beatand others she’ll give the stank face like she knows the song is hot. She did both. It […]

My Life in 100 Songs: A Million and One Questions by Jay Z

Cydney can’t help herself… She’s no longer a baby nor a toddler. My four year old is becoming a little kid. It’s kind of bittersweet because I miss the infantile days; but I love the little person she’s becoming. While her hair is getting longer, her features more defined, and taller; it’s her personality that […]

My Life in 100 Songs: I Do by Jeezy f/ Jay Z and Andre 3000

I first heard Andre 3000’s verse a year and a half before the song’s official release. The sentiment generating a relationship out if thin air and actually wanting to spend the rest of one’s life with someone was a new concept for our peers and us. My friends and I were in our mid-twenties so […]

If I Could Compare My Life To An Album…

If there was an album that could describe my life, it would be Jay Z’s fourth album: The Dynasty Roc La Familia. Jay Z released this album at the tail end of 2000. He was about sex weeks away from turning thirty one and you could just feel that the rapper we had all known […]

I Don’t Think It’s Mean To Be: The Break [Up]

“I don’t think it’s meant to be, be/But she loves her work more than she does me/And honestly, at twenty-three/I would probably love my work more than I did she”-Sean Carter The second verse to Jay Z’s “Lost Ones” summed up a relationship I had perfectly. Technically it wasn’t really a relationship; but it was. I […]

So Amibtious

I’ve never believed in the mantra “Make your haters your motivators.” However, when one does find success it is only natural to think about all of those who may have made negative comments that could deter others from one’s vision. The second to last song on Jay Z’s mixed-reviewed Blueprint 3 is one of […]

Jay-Z and Kidz Bop

I’ve been a Jay-Z fan for quite some time now. I was ten or eleven when Reasonable Doubt was released but for a long time, I wasn’t quite sold on him. I thought he was dope, but he wasn’t anywhere near my favorite. I was into the Bad Boy thing hard and all I wanted […]