Know Your (Music) History - Roc Boys

I'm not even gon' front. The Honest Man bought Jigga's "American Gangster" purely on the strength of Roc Boys. That beat was my music crack when I first heard it. Addictive. Had me having seizures like a fiend when it came on. So with every great song, I wondered where did they get that sample from. Wonder no more.....


Jay Z - Roc Boys (And the Winner is...)




Menahan Street Band - Make the Road by Walking

Know Your (Music) History - Maybach Music

Let me say this...I'm a closet fan of Rick Ross. Sans a few of his dumb moments (see the revealing of him being a former correctional officer, the beef with 50 cent), I've dug quite a few of his tracks. Maybach Music is probably my favorite track by him because of J.U.S.T.I.C.E League's production and Jigga's guest verse. I always wondered where JL sampled or created the track from scratch. Well the Honest Man wonders know more.....

Rick Ross F Jay Z - Maybach Music



The Friends of Distinction - And I Love Him

Exhibit F

"B Waters hit me up on IM, said "What you waitin on?"
HaaL hit me up with a twitt, said "What you waitin on?"
D-Lo send a text every hour on the dot sayin
"When you gon write that post negro you taking long" - Honest Electronica

Today's post is inspired by a combination of Jay Electronica and my man B Waters. The latter was asking me today when was the next time I was gonna go on somebody. And I was like damn you know I actually got inspired from a recent conversation with a co-worker. It was so like what the fuck are you talking about that I said I need to speak on it. Then I was listening to "Exhibit C" this morning, got inspired, and said you know what, "Let's talk about that dumb conversation." So thanks B Waters, it's talk shit time b/c as you said the people need something REALLA ;-)

This message is for folks who live in ignorance. Ignorance of talking about something you know nothing about. To be clear about what I am saying, it's talking about a subject matter that you have yet to experience. So how can you talk adequately about it if you never experienced it before? Or even often a comparison? Still confused by what I am saying? Wondering if there is a puzzle? Likely means I am talking about YOU stupid....

The conversation I am referring to revolved around the subject of weddings and babies. This person apparently is in a lot of weddings this year and was commenting on the costs (traveling, gifts, wedding attire) of being in a wedding. I simply mentioned that's how it goes with your friends. The weddings happen in droves, then a few years later, the babies start coming in droves. So the person comes back with that weddings though probably cost more than having a baby. How does this person know that? Because they are single, have no kids, and apparently study hospital costs for having babies in their spare time to compare against wedding costs. Jigga What? Jigga Who? This is one of those what the fuck are you talking pimp? How can you speak on a subject you know little to nothing about?

But this is what I mean. This is a recent conversation. I have been in other conversations where people have talked about various things they don't know shit about (being married, being poor, being discriminated, getting advanced degrees, doing dirt, etc). Shit, I've been that person myself and had to realize Honest Man, shut the fuck up, you outta your zone. At least I recognize it though and worked on it. Some of ya'll mofos are in need of a reality slap because you start drinkin' that Kool Aid and feelin' ya self too hard. And for the record, I've been in situations where I had to attend a lot of weddings in one year AND had a baby. The latter is more expensive...even with insurance.

If you don't know anything about a particular topic, it's okay. It's not okay if you start talking like you an expert on the topic and don't know anything. Case in point, I don't know anything deep about the drug game. I've had plenty of family members knee deep in it, I've seen a drug raid from my grandma's house, and I've seen my peoples holding large wads of cash from doing dirt. Does that make me an expert? Hell naw. I've never seen naked hoes in a house measuring grams. I've never seen a real life transaction go down. And I've never seen any of my family members getting high on their own supply. So know I can't relate nor talk intelligently on the subject. And no, watching "The Wire" doesn't make an expert.

You wanna know what I can talk about? I can talk about being raised in a one parent household. I can talk about working, getting a degree, AND getting married at the same time. I can talk about dating (fried chicken, curry chicken, el pollo loco, project chick, stewardess, all but snow bunnies). I can talk about legal hustling to make those ends meet. And most importantly I can talk about if you get the money, you get the honey :-). But again, I try to stay in my zone. Going outside it opens me up to being clowned.

Today's Lesson

For the sake of everything that's right with the world, don't try to be an expert on shit you don't know about. Because that makes me liable to call you out for reckless stupidity. Now let me get back to household business and pay this high ass hospital bill for having a baby.

Know Your (Music) History

Up next in the latest chapter of KYMH is a new track from the newly formed Wu trio of Chef, Meth, and Ghost. The first time I heard this, I'm like OH SHIT what Michael Jackson song did they sample. And then I found it. Good to hear someone now going for the obvious MJ sample and getting creative with it. Enjoy the dopeness!

Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, and Method Man - Our Dreams


Raekwon - Our Dreams
Uploaded by UniversalMusicGroup. - Explore more music videos.

Michael Jackson - We're Almost There

Allow me to reintroduce myself

Dear Eldrick,

You don't know me and I doubt we'll ever be in the same social circles. But I feel like I know you because we're the same age and I've been hearing about you since we were in high school. So why I am mailing you now? Because as a fellow member of the greatest high school class ever ('94 represent), I felt I should give you some pep talk for this weekend's Masters.

I'm not here to judge you for your recent indiscretions because I'm not in a position to do that. I'm simple and common, and I associate with a lot of simple and common people. And these same people are passing judgment on you about how could you do something like this? Or what were you thinking about? I know you can't say it but Imma say it for you...Fuck 'Em. They don't know shit or need to know shit about you. A wise friend of mine says "You're only as faithful as you're options." I agree 100%. It's not like I have corporate groupies beating down my door on a regular basis. Shit, I'm fortunate to get a wink or a smile on occasion.

And for your peers who are talking shit too, they are just jealous they are not in your profession. I mean look at you. Your face and body alone can pull some decent honies. Some of your peers, well, um, let's just say that they should be happy they can sink a putt better than the average man. I mean think about it. You already make the most money, you win all the big tournaments, and now you taking their woman too. If that ain't a recipe for a hate sandwich, I don't know what is.

So I say all this E. Go out this weekend, have some fun, and if you even sniff top 5, drop a middle fingers to all those mofos who don't know the deal. And when you finish, you can emerge saying "ALLOW ME TO REINTRODUCE MYSELF...."


Sincerely,

The Honest Man

PS I didn't call you by your nickname because like Cedric the Entertainer said, "I'm a GROWN ass man." Aint about to call another man "Tiger"

Funkay like a Monkay

" Thats where he had the word "Goodyear" dermabrased off." -- Jim Cornette on Dusty Rhode's birthmark


1985. Channel 19. WLTX. Local CBS station in Columbia, South Carolina. Saturday afternoon. The Honest Man is a Honest Tyke and just received my parents' old 20 inch early 1970s TV. You know the pre-digital revolution days when TVs had turnknobs on them :-). I'm in my room watching cartoons and around noon, a live "sports" show comes on.

I'm half paying attention and half playing with toys in my room when I look up and see heavy set blonde man with this big patch on stomach. He's wearing underwear (hey when you are that young, you see a man without a shirt on, you think he's wearing underwear) and doing some crazy strutting around the ring. Another man is in the ring, brown haired, medium build, and is going apeshit every time the other man does his strut. He's also wearing underwear. Next thing I know they are "fighting", just wailing on each other. The blonde man gains the advantage and starts doing all these "moves." Out of nowhere, the brown haired man gets something put in his hand from some chick outside the ring. He knocks the blonde man out, then pins, and a bell rings. That was my intro into wrestling. The blonde was Dusty Rhodes, the brown haired man was Tully Blanchard, and the chick was Baby Doll. And it was on that day, the Honest Tyke became a wrestling fan.

The Honest Man is a HUGE fan of wrestling. Well actually used to be a HUGE fan of wrestling. Because of events like the WWE buying out WCW and ECW, the same wrestlers 10 years ago still being in the same position as they were 10 years ago in today's wrestling, and the lack of promotion rivalry, I have become more a casual fan. But make no mistake, I still like wrestling. And for some reason, I have taken grief from non-wrestling fans about "watching grown men in underwear."

'The shit is fake.' 'I don't understand how any person can watch this crap.' 'You're too old to be watching this.' 'Why don't you watch (insert any non wrestling TV show.' Yep, the Honest Man has heard them all. And the ones saying these lines are folks that watch science fiction, soap operas, and reality TV. But only my 'shit' is fake....riiiiiight.

Let's address that. For my science fiction fans who don't care for wrestling because it's fake, let me ask you a question. Which of these people is figment of your imagination? Spock or Ric Flair. Yes both are characters. Yes both are part of entertainment for their respective audiences. But only one is a human. And that my friends is Ric Flair. For the nerd universe, you can clown wrestling all you want but at least Ric Flair and his wrestling buddies exist on THIS planet. Why don't you throw a Vulcan sign up at that tric!

How about those soap opera lovers. Yep, they got some nerve too. One soap opera loving girl told me wrestling is scripted ahead of time and that is what makes it fake. And what soap operas aren't scripted?? Who the fuck you kidding? They not only scripted, they scripted for the land of unfucking believable? Don't believe me. They resurrect characters like Jesus multiplied loaves of bread and fish. I mean how many times can a show's main character "die" and come back thanks to some crazy nonsense. Oh yea b/c it's scripted. Just like wrestling. For you I saw we are part of the same team. But even more again wrestling may have some far out ideas (the horrible Triple HHH-Kane angle in the mid 2000s when Triple HHH getting on top of Kane's "dead" mama) but compared to soaps, a friggin blip on the radar....

And last but not least, my favorite reality TV lovers. The last time a reality show was real was the original Real World on MTV. After that, a format developed for shows, obviously good vs bad elements were developed to generate ratings and just like wrestling, it felt...scripted. Go ahead and laugh at wrestling, reality TV watchers. But when you got shows where people eat dirt and bugs for a million dollars, a rapper needs 3 consecutive years to find love, fat folks don't mind being called loser, and bad chicks need to live together to see how bad they are, I mean you're so right, reality TV is so much better than wrestling. And giving Keisha Cole's mama and sister their own show wasn't a bad idea either :-).

This is my thing. We all like different things for different reasons. I don't mind that you don't care for wrestling. I just don't need the novel that spurts from your mouth about why I shouldn't like it either. How would you feel if I berated you over and over about something I don't like? You would be like I wish this asshole would shut the fuck up! See how it feels ;-)

Today's Lesson

Some people like All My Children. Some people like Star Trek. Some people like Survivor. I like wrestling. Stop hating on me because I like something you don't. I only made those comments above out of defense. Truth be told, I don't give a fuck what you like. You could like monkeys humping each other on National Geographic. That's not my thing but hey I'm not gonna give you a lecture on why I don't like it and why you shouldn't either. So like my man says, if you can't get with my steez, you just do you and Imma do me!

Know Your (Music) History - Cross My Heart

New month, new post, and the newest entry in the Know Your (Music) History files. Up next, one of the newer tracks that's blowing up the spots all over. The newest member to be entranced by Ms Erykah Badu, the one and only Jay Electronica. His song is sick and you start wondering, yo where did he get that sample Honest Man? Well I got it right here....Know your history...Billy Stewart..old OLD school. Have at it.........


Jay Electronica - Exhibit C



Billy Stewart - Cross My Heart