"Clearing Out My Mind"

Okay, so, allow me to set the scene… It’s a warm day, the suns shining I just got out of class, so it’s around 2:30. I’m in the library, about 17 pages deep into a 90 page case. Listening to “The Score” by The Fugees and I’m just bobbing my head along, chilling, vibing enjoying life. And all of a sudden, I hear the voice of the incomparable Ms. Lauryn Hill utter these words on the song ‘ Zealots’ “And even after all my logic and my theory I add a "Motherfucker" so you ignant niggas hear me” Literally everything stopped. I stopped reading. I paused my music. I had to go straight to genius to make sure I heard what I thought I did. I was literally blown aback by how poignant Lauryn’s words were. Bear in mind, I’ve listened to this song, this album, this verse, this line too many times for me to count. Like, I utter these words along with Lauryn’s verse all the time. But on this day, these lines stood out more than ever. https://blavity.com/why-lauryn-hills...

Its been a solid year for hip-hop music. Not as good as 2018. But an extremely solid year. We’ve seen a number of new artists emerge as stars. And we’ve seen some stars solidify their positions and enhance their resume. As I said its been a solid year.  However, with all that's gone on in the world and in hip-hop specifically, to me, there's been a void over the past two years. For my ear, something, or rather someone, has been missing.  Enter Big Sean. https://weheartit.com/entry/302417198 Prior to the releases of the songs “Single Again” and “Overtime” at the end of July of this year,  Sean had been extremely quiet throughout the whole of 2018 and into the first half of 2019. Although, we did, almost like clockwork, receive our customary song on DJ Khaled’s “Father of Asahd” album, there has been a firm disconnect between Sean and the game over the past 18 months or so. However, with almost all the signs pointing towards a release coming before the year...

Tom Brady, Lionel Messi, Lebron James, Alex Morgan. Some of the greatest of all time at what they do. But aside from their individual talents, exploits and greatness, what truly sets these athletes apart is how they inspire greatness out of those around them. Steve Kerr will tell you, it was the faith Michael Jordan instilled in him during a timeout which allowed him to hit the finals winning shot in 1997. What I'm saying here is, when you’re good at what you do, we only judge you. But when you’re great at what you do, we judge how great you make those around you. So you may be wondering how this relates to music. Hip-hop is one of those competitive sports where we always seek to pit artists against each other. We’re always questioning who got the better of who and who ranks higher than the others. But every so often, along comes an artist who cares less about being better than everyone, but rather takes pride in making every (and I mean EVERY) single person around them bet...