Revised edit of Bottled Up, more up tempo.
Category Archives: history
MLK Birthday Turn Up
Sadly there are real events for Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday celebration. In my moment of weakness I made a flyer for one myself.
Star Patrol Zone L7
Some mornings silly ideas pop in my head. A few days ago, a short story I wrote at a writers workshop/meetup group popped into my head as my eyes opened. It was a basic pastiche of the Green Lantern or Nova Corps type organization of Space Cops. I can’t find the story anymore I just have the idea in my head from when I originally wrote it. He’s a cop, in space, around our solar system, where not too much actually happens. But when it does, this space cop is overwhelmed, because he’s just some dude that got this crazy obligation of monitoring this sector of space. The thing is, he’s basically me, as a space cop. His name is Sharif Baxter. In his thirties, drifting in life until this calling finds him and he comically has to adjust to new circumstances and situations.
Here he is, kind of in a more cartoony Bruce Timm style.
And here’s a ,ore serious take.
I don’t know what to do with him really. I’m thinking a simple web strip or simple animation series.
Other ideas popped up for side characters and expanding the corps. But for now, a lone space cop in crazy situations will likely be where I go with it.
Filed under Art, Cartoon, Comics, Entertainment, fiction, history, life, photoshop, story time
Weighs and Means
Weighs and Means
I call this Weighs and Means, because they mean to get away with it
And since they have the means that we’re supposed to be okay with it
The world has 6 billion people, China and India a third of it
But our government lies and we believe every word of it
Our debt to China is beyond astronomical
If it wasn’t so true it would almost be comical
See if you don’t laugh you gonna have to cry
Play station makes you let the whole world pass ya by
Anybody that tries to keep us down has to die
We went from producers to consumers never asked why
Look around – it’s a privilege to eat natural food
We eat genetically modified animal broods
Snack on Doritos and surf the Internet like it’s radical dude
Bush to Obama was really just a lateral move
Who pulls the strings on the dummies and marionettes?
While real freedom fighters get dragged and carried to death
Puppet masters set up Hussein, bin Laden and Ghadafi, huh
They strong-arm and extort more than the mafia
It’s the mysterious they, the man or big brother
Black caskets for the basilisks to dig a ditch under
Our original flag was a snake that hate to be tread on
Sic semper tyranus not a threat with its head gone
But we only see the tail and get to hear our death rattle
Not really citizens we the goyum – at best cattle
Gotta fight now before we get ground up for burgers
These bastards mastered genocide and try us for murder
Wonder why the masses ain’t bang on the capitol yet
Big banks call, send you letters and harass you to death
They get a bail out while we pay off the national debt
Me I’ll cash out my bank account for some traveler’s checks
About to unplug and start selling mangoes in Tahiti
Visions in the mind better off blind like Stevie
SpongeBob and Snookie don’t help, people turn off the TV
Read a frickin book about it you don’t gotta believe me
I call this Weighs and Means, because they mean to get away with it
And since they have the means that we’re supposed to be okay with it
Filed under Entertainment, history, life, Poetry, Spoken Word
Rebel Yell
Audio:
Lyrics:
‘Bout to do something bold and aggressive
Redirect my whole perspective
Rope the ‘Precious’ on a golden necklace
My spoken message knocks the wind out your solar-plexus
Kids about to enter hell when I’m running’ through your Splinter Cell
You’se a krill I’m a killer whale
Top of the food chain until my mood change
Big up Pen spit poison and produce flame
Introduce slang parallel to Wu-Tang – Only carry loose change
Don’t walk around with big bills to break
Gotta hustle up and look into real estate
Front me an advance, I’m buying property in France
I’m known in a couple camps as the trouble man
Wanna put a couple hundred grand in the mother land
You wanna pimp me out but I got other plans
I want to see you pump your hands if you understand
And you sick of seeing truth stretched like a rubberband
–Won’t Lie to y’all, I’ll put the fear of God inside of y’all
–Inspire y’all reveal facts they’ll never tell
–Holler if you hear me it’s the Rebel Yell
–You heard, if not I’ll say it louder, you heard if not then I’ll Holla
Blast a pistol just to start the race
Shooting blanks at the stars and space
Spit a dart just to scar your face
Drop the bass to bang dents in your armor plate
Kamikaze leaving no harbor safe
But it’s not absolute, I escape in a parachute
Got ginseng and ma-ca root, aphrodisiac
Born to lead the pack in a foreign legion hat
Sitting on a camel leaning back
We come in charging all my dog’s barking
Swords sharpened, carvin’ markings in your Spartans
My peeps run the streets your troops just patrolling ’em
North Korean explosion, split the atoms of plutonium
British Knights control the flow of opium
Collaborate with the triads, and supply labs with dime bags
Flood the streets let a little time pass
This is how the pacify the population, keep a hold on global domination
Watching me, I peeped your whole operation
Identified your plans for genocide
Birds of prey gonna bang on your enterprise
Want to see the truth, just look me in the eyes (uh) just look me in the eyes
–Won’t Lie to y’all, I’ll put the fear of God inside of y’all
–Inspire y’all reveal facts they’ll never tell
–Holler if you hear me it’s the Rebel Yell
–You heard, if not I’ll say it louder, you heard if not then I’ll Holla
In my youth I was uninhibited, high spirited
Broken down by images of lynches
Found out I was underprivileged,
Studied the builders of the pyramids
Figured I don’t gotta an invalid
Got plans to make the pilgrimage
Gotta get into it get involved get interested
In my own progression,
Learn the right way to hold a loaded weapon
Got a right to bear arms in defense of my rights
On anybody make a threat or attempts on my life
You got a badge, But I don’t bow to your flag
I’m playing by a different set of rules
Middle finger to the federals
White hoods, want us hanging by the testicles
FDA, American Medical, allows poison in our vegetables
Put cyanide and tar in cigarettes
Sign of the Times, like the Prince cassette
Barely making it in this Strange Relationship
Face it, I ain’t really made to be a patriot
to a land that holds nothing sacred
Laid it’s foundation in hatred
Built it’s economy trading my people
my people work the fields from see to can’t see you
Blinded by the root of all evil
–Won’t Lie to y’all, I’ll put the fear of God inside of y’all
–Inspire y’all reveal facts they’ll never tell
–Holler if you hear me it’s the Rebel Yell
–You heard, if not I’ll say it louder, you heard if not then I’ll Holla
Filed under Entertainment, history, music, Poetry, Spoken Word
Father Time
FATHER TIME
The time I allowed to share with my father was One year, Seven months and four days.
He got to hear my first words, see my first steps… and change my diapers.
He’d already seen these small miracles three times before me.
At the time of his passing, my mother was coming due with another bundle of joy and he was looking to see it all again a fifth time.
The laughter, the tears, feedings, which lead to vomit occasionally, and always more diapers.
My mother tells me they wanted TEN KIDS, I couldn’t imagine having nine siblings,
But I can only imagine a life where I would be allowed more father time.
Memories of my father aren’t really memories of my own-
But retellings of the things he did, the things he said and the things he allowed.
I was still an infant when I had to face life without him but I’m sure I smile his reflection
I’m sure I speak as he spoke, only with New York regional slang as opposed to a DC metro twang
My father’s passing made him loom larger than most fathers; my mother said he was a martyr
Said he was in paradise with Allah looking down on us
Said don’t do such and such, you wouldn’t want to disappoint your father
I don’t mean to blaspheme but in my mind, my father stood shoulder to shoulder with God
Watching my deeds on earth from a cloud high in the heavens
He and the Angels would casually chat up my playground antics.
He’d talk to the Prophets about how well I recited the fatiha, how straight I stood in prayer.
When he saw trouble coming my way he’d lend me strength
Or yell at the devil in the fire of hell to get him his ages of off my back,
But as I got closer to his age
When I went to prom, I compared myself to his photograph of him at his prom
Was I taller? Was I as strong? Did I have more style?
Was I as smart?
Do I measure up to a man I can’t remember?
Do I measure up to a Legend?
He was like Paul Bunyon, Jesus, Malcolm, Hercules, and Bruce Lee.
I never got to see his faults, I only knew him in his glory,
He was a Black Belt in Karate, He a soldier in the Army.
He was a father, He was a husband,
He was an Imam, leader of Muslim Community in the nation’s capital.
To All his siblings he was a favorite brother, always ready with a joke.
To my mother he was ideal man.
But when I visit his resting place, I can only find his grave because he’s two headstones down from my aunt.
This is the Father Time I’m allowed now.
The short time we shared was valuable; any time you have to share with your father is just as precious.
Let him know that it is.
Filed under Cultural Excurssions, history, Poetry
Project CBRunway 7: Round 1- The Purple Haze
I may have mentioned that I am a member of the forums on Comic Book Resources. There’s an annual Super Hero design/redesign competition on the Artist and Writer Showcase section of the forums called Project CBRunway and this is the 7th “season.” I’ve participated in the competition a few times and it’s something I look forward to every year. This year hopeful participants had to submit basic costume designs for a hero and villain based on ourselves using a basic template model sheet. I went with the basic themes of positivity and negativity because these are drives and attitudes we all share, but when the mood shifts too far in one direction, you aren’t behaving like your normal self. First I got to work on the positive aspects using the mathematical symbol for plus(+) as an insignia and using bright colors, baby blue, white and yellow to show a positive attitude. And I used the minus(-) sign for the villain and inverted the colors on the computer to come up with that color scheme. Anyway, here’s my submission.
Private Positive and Negatory. Great, right?
MattBib, the moderator of this section of the forums acts as Tim Gunn and gives us wild ideas for our weekly challenges. For the first challenge he came up with the name “Sounds of the Silver-Age” wherein the contestants had to pick an iconic Recording Artist from the 1960s and give that person a super hero costume from the silver-age era of comic books. Comic Book scholars and collectors understand the silver-age to be the period between the late 1950s to the early 1970s. In this period comic fans were introduced to the updated versions of the Flash and the Green Lantern over at DC Comics and Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four… well let’s say just about all the really popular characters over at Marvel Comics.
The Flash went from Jay Garrick to Barry Allen, Green Lantern from Alan Scott to Hal Jordan.
This Explosion of Characters came from what Stan Lee likes to call the Marvel Age of comics.
That’s what comics looked like in the Silver-Age, and as for the Music Icon from the 60s, I chose Jimi Hendrix. His look lends itself to the fantastic automatically. His dress was that of a gypsy pirate, with an attitude to match. Hopefully I don’t have to give him too much of an introduction, I’m guessing enough of you are experienced.
To distill Jimi to his most memorable visual components there were a few details I wanted to keep in mind, the Afro, The Bandana, The Goatee and the Vest. There are pictures out there where he doesn’t don the vest or bandana/headband, but in my head that’s what he always wore. A lot of fans say that he was known to keep a tab of LSD in his bandana for storage, but he would occasionally wind up tripping as his sweat dissolved the tab(s) leading the substance to seep into his system through his pores. As with many of the other contestants, I went to the his catalogue of songs for inspiration for his costumed identity. He’s got so many songs that would be great super hero names, Little Wing, Dolly Dagger, Stone Free, Night Bird Flying and Voodoo Child. For a while I was set on Voodoo Child. The lyrics to the first verse sound epic:
“…Well I’ll stand up next to a mountain, and I chop it down with the edge of my hand- Well I’ll pick up all the pieces and make an island, I might even raise a little sand- ‘Cause I’m a Voodoo Child, Lord knows I’m a Voodoo Child…”
With that bravado and cockiness as fuel I began sketching out his look. I tried bell bottom pants for him and frilly cuffs for his shirt sleeves but that was still saying Rock Star and not Super Hero. The one thing from his signature look that I could borrow from to make him a super hero was his bandana. I just rolled the headband down over his eyes and added some goggle lenses and boom, Super Hero. But nothing really came to me though that said Voodoo child and the Internet wasn’t working so well, so researching the symbolism of Voodoo wasn’t going to work out. Also I couldn’t get the Marvel character Brother Voodoo out of my head. Below are some rough ideas/sketches.
Hmmm, none of these really say "VOODOO CHILD."
Voodoo Child wasn’t working out for me as a character and I didn’t have much time to work because the deadline for this challenge was creeping up on me. For some reason I considered Purple Haze. Time was working against me, so I threw together a quick simple cartoony sketch on some Borden and Riley vellum paper without a solid character model and design to work from. As simple as it was I really liked it. I was watching Adventure Time so that world of mirth and excitement may have slipped in and made me feel good about everything. It’s kind of like what I’d imagine an LSD trip to feel like. So from the sketch it was scanning time, soon to be followed by some coloring in PhotoShop. Here are the results.
When working on a character with a purple color scheme, avoid using red.GARISH!!!
I could have gone down the coloring road all night, but it was late and I had to get this in on time for the voting thread to go up. To me A was too much like the Wonder Twins. B was a step in the right direction and C was a step in the wrong direction, ugh. D although it’s basically a simple color swap of A really made things pop for me. It’s what I went with for the challenge. Check out the Project CBRunway: Challenge 1 voting thread and check out the other entries as well. If you’re inclined to vote I won’t stop you. The voting poll allows you to vote for multiple designs so no pressure.
And just for my Ungowa Soul Power visitors here’s a slightly modified image of Jimi Hendrix, The Purple Haze.
Acting Funny, But I Don't Know Why?!? Excuse Me As I Kiss The Sky.
Filed under Art, Comics, Entertainment, graphics, history, music, pop culture
A.B. Do Well – Logo
I’m still going through the missing files I have to replace. The logo I’m posting today is the one I used as a solo rapper. A.B. Do Well was the name I went by, and occasionally still use when in the company of those that remember and respect the name. Not a huge group of people, but definitely a sincere group. The name A.B. Do Well was a combination of things, it was a play on my actual name and a mission statement. A.B. is Abdul-Baqi, the name my mother gave me. It’s Arabic and Islamic, Al-Baqi is one of the 99 attributes of Allah, it means The Eternal/Enduring. Abdul is a title in arabic meaning (devout) servant or slave of God. So my first name translates to The Servant of the Eternal (God). Do Well is my intention and/or practice of making sure I put my best into all of my endeavors. Whatever I do the goal is to do it well. A.B. Do Well when pronounced all together sounds an awful lot like Abdul. That was the thought process behind the stage name way back when I was 19 or 20.
As for the logo I was keeping with the esoteric/mystical theme from the group Sight Beyond Light. For that I took the initials from the group name, SBL, and fashioned them into the All Seeing Eye, which is usually associated with the Eye of Horus and typically is a symbol for the sun. It also alludes to the Third Eye, which is a symbol for higher understanding and enlightenment. For A.B. Do Well I borrowed the symbol of the Masons, a very widely known fraternal order that is for some reason considered a secret society. Their symbol is the compass and the square, tools for designing and architecture. The roots of the Masons is in building, generally with stones. But the compass and the square to me represent taking the long view and exercising proper and precise planning to achieve wondrous and dynamic goals that leave an indelible mark on society. That’s a great symbol and philosophy to adopt. A but lofty, but if you don’t dream big, you don’t achieve big. Anyway, here’s a pic of the recreated A.B. Do Well logo.
Nice and simple, but I didn’t use the square because I was saying I had a more rounded view. YOu know how it is, you think you know everything at 20. More than people that have been around long enough to know better. More than ancient orders that have had centuries to think and plan. But like I said, lofty.
I was thinking this is a little to basic and played around with a nice new image based on a more modern logo for the Masons.
I kind of wish I played around more with the logo when I first created it. I’m really liking the update. I guess I have an excuse to start rapping again. This logo shows some growth and refinement. Pretty slick.
Well I’m sure I’ll have another lost logo up soon. Until then, Peace, be well and Do Well.
Lupercalia
A while back, years ago even, I was in a comic book character design competition and one of the challenges was to design a character based on the month you were born. I did a good amount of research into my birth month, February and wanted to do something different than the typical Valentine’s Day, President’s Day and Black History month themes associated with the month. I’m pretty vain, like most humans especially those of us in the west, so I was looking into significant historic events that occurred on the day of my birth, February 15. I was not content to just share my birthday with Galileo, Chris Farley, Susan B. Anthony and Jane Seymour, or a bunch of people a few days apart from my birthday, like Abraham Lincoln(Feb. 12) and Michael Jordan(Feb. 17), I knew there had to be more.
For a long time I felt I ‘d gotten the short end of the stick having been born a day too late to be a Valentine’s day baby. But I hit the mother load when doing the research for the character I was designing. There was a fertility/mating festival held in Ancient Rome on February 15th, it was called Lupercalia and it was magnificent by all accounts. Prior to Caesar ‘s rule, February was the last month of the year. For a while it was just a nebulous span of time between December, the tenth month and March, the first month called Intercalaris. January and February were just a glob of time for a while, but January came to be named after the two-headed god Janus, and February, well February was named after a lamb skin whip used to select your mate for the spring season. This whip was called a Februa, and the ceremony of the Februa occurred on the 15th commemorating the She-Wolf, Lupa who nursed the twin fathers of Rome, Remus and Romulus when they were infants.
So for some reason and ancient celebration made me feel better about my day of birth, and although It’s not a day I celebrate, I figured I remind all of you, on my actual birthday all about it. You can use it as an excuse to buy valentines candy half off and say it’s in honor of Lupercalia, the original holiday that celebrated love.
As for my character design I did wind up using a lot of cliches, he’s black for Black History Month, and has a Napoleon Complex because it’s the shortest month of the year, and wears purple because it;s the color of amethyst, the birthstone for February. Well , it’s not the most original design, but I had fun coming up with him, I learned something and hopefully taught you something too.
Here’s the character below.
Ungowa Soul Power 