Category Archives: life

September 30, 2014 · 1:54 pm

Scared To Dance

Here’s another attempt at a Novelty Halloween Song, a dance track with a more upbeat tempo. It’s a weird one, about a ghost girl that wants to dance with a laid back fella, for some reason.

Lyrics

She said it’s not a costume
And grabbed my by the hands
She Asked if I was afraid of monsters
Or was I just Scared 2 Dance

She wanted me to dance on her grave
That’s why she came to this masquerade
It would put her spirit to rest
If I could stand up to the test
This ghostly girl who shot me a glance
Taught me not to be Scared 2 Dance

She said it’s not a costume
And grabbed my by the hands
She Asked if I was afraid of monsters
Or was I just Scared 2 Dance

She said it’s not a costume
And grabbed my by the hands
She Asked if I was afraid of monsters
Or was I just Scared 2 Dance

She visited from another plane
And didn’t want to tell me her name
She only wanted to dance with me
The only way she could be set free
So what’s a little dirt on my pants
Now that I’m not too Scared 2 Dance
She taught me not to be Scared 2 Dance
She taught me not to be Scared 2 Dance
And now I am not too Scared 2 Dance

She said it’s not a costume
And grabbed my by the hands
She Asked if I was afraid of monsters
Or was I just Scared 2 Dance

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July 21, 2014 · 12:23 pm

Ungowa Soul Power – Theme Song

Here’s a theme song for this blog and a podcast I’m determined to start.

I’ve been trying to get this nerd culture podcast popping with friends of mine, but their lives are pretty full right now. So, since I already have this domain and plenty of thoughts on plenty of things, against the advice of a Rodimus Prime of The Black Guy Who Tips Podcast, I think I’ll go it alone for a while even if I do sound like a crazy person shouting towards the heavens. I’ll try to make the podcast a little more focused than this blog, and have fun sharing music and musings. That’s all I can promise.

So with that I wish you love peace and U N G O W A – Soooooooul Power!

 

Lyrics-

These may be the ramblings of a mad man

But in my head (I’m a bad bad man)

Trying to make i in the world as a black man

And not be a grouch inside a trash can

I stay woke when I face the sandman

So shake a hand if you overstand man

This is Chuck Spears so you know the plan man

Reach for the stars and take everything I can Man

 

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May 12, 2014 · 8:30 am

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.star patrolman zone L7

 

And here’s a ,ore serious take.

star-patrol

 

 

Star Patrol-2

 

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.

 

 

 

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December 18, 2013 · 8:31 pm

Get Up Off This

So I recorded something for the first time in many years. My lady got me into listening to Podcasts, and in particular one called Get Up On This hosted by Jensen Karp (@GetUpOnJensen ), a former rapper that went by the name Hot Karl, and Matthew Robinson @MrMattRobinson  ) a screen-writer and all around reasonable fellow. Get Up On This is basically about Jensen and a guest  telling the audience three things that display the best taste in music, art , fashion and other aspects of culture; while Matthew is given one pick along the same lines.  They have a spin-off show called Get Up Off This, where Matt is the host and he tells the audience what to stop doing. They have a standing request for theme song submissions, so this is what I recorded.

What you getting mad at me for? (Get Up Off This!)
Nobody’s doing that anymore. (You suckers)
What you getting mad at me for? (Get Up Off This!)
Nobody’s doing that anymore.

Ladies and gentlemen (Hello) What up and hey Stupids
Here to Spread the Love For free like OK Cupid
Usually we introduce you to exclusives
But now we telling you it ain’t cool & don’t do it
You Rockin’ Ed Hardy and cuff your jeans
But wanna get props, homie fuck your dreams
You think the best movie is Shawshank Redemption
Matty says Try Harder, but it’s all right with Jensen
So before you go out and waste your pay-stubs
Let these two cats here update your taste-buds
Dudes got good advice, but take it with a grain of salt
And if you wanna be lame (fuckers) it ain’t they’re fault
Giving you a chance to cut your losses
The name of this podcast is Get Up Off This
Before we close we get jokes from their twitter folks
But for the love of God, please, no mo Brita jokes

This is a podcast, within a podcast
You can find it every Tuesday on Smodcast
We gonna outlast, this is a mash up
It’s going down son, so get your ass up (off this)
Get your ass up (off this)
Get your ass up (off this)
It’s going down, so get your ass up (off this)
Get your ass up, get your monkey ass up (off this)

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August 4, 2012 · 12:00 pm

Prayer

Another A.B. Do Well Gem, from the “album” A.B. Conversations,” now up on soundcloud.

Lyrics

Verse 1

In the name of the Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Make my voice an instrument to flow surgical,
Gotta make it personal – It’s just introspection,
God I’m asking you to give me some direction
Make the path I walk Straight, already mastered the crooked
Crooklyn Masters wrote the booklet on the hustle
Sons Know how to Push It
Church on every block ’cause we gotta praise here
Can’t have seeds in New York, Hell’s the only we raise here
BX to Bed-Stuy Counting down the final days here
So we can stay up to Speed, New Yorkers, Just a tougher breed
Airs polluted, gotta huff and wheeze just to breathe
Wonder why we spit the sickness, and dabble in illicit business
From bootlegs to blow to get the dough
Get my flicks from the corner box office, not HBO
Kids selling Buddha heads oregano
Take you off the scent throw in stems
Nothings ever gonna change, yo, here we go again….

Verse 2

Cold nights got me dressing in layers, stressing the prayer
‘Cause they cutting off the heat
Gotta pay the light bill earn just enough to eat
Trying to Stay thankful.
Keep my name on the tongues of Angels
Keep my Wax on the tables.
Ask the most high a favor
Keep me out that Fire, Like the Ohio Players
Need stay warm so I bundle up
Surface from the underground railroad tunnel up
Out to win not to be the runner up
– For honorable mention
And let these devils embezzle my 401 pension
And get off scott free, Mr. Miracle, Baqi.
Leave this Apokolypse, the Darkseid of Metropolis
Trying to move up to the East Side
They target apartments in the sky
Got folks afraid to cry while other people pray to die,
It don’t rain no more what we see is mother nature cry

Verse 3

I’m seeking richness and forgiveness
Pray for Paradise, while I live and in the after-life
Keep me out the hellfire’s Fahrenheit or Celsius
don’t need to be the wealthiest, but comfortable
when I’m old I need my brain to be functional
Gotta guide the youth
Too many manipulate and hide the truth
Like the Queen in Snow White with poison inside the fruit
and they provide the fruit
I’m out to grow mine organic
Know my relationship is give and take with the planet
When my people bury me I want to die because I’m elderly
or pass in glory holding weaponry, leave a legacy
I got a plan, but God knows what’s best for me
In the end, who else I really got to question me?
I’m saying, I’m getting on his good side now,
Because too many people in the hood die foul,
Said I’m getting on his good side now
Because too many people in the hood die foul.

Verse 4

To all the non-believers, seeking heat beyond a fever
There’s a place for you, it’s not safe, I’ll pray for you.
Gotta READ the Bible’s lengths
Not HEAR about it in revival tents
The true and authentic word, is bond
Wouldn’t keep my people in bondage
Won’t deny what my people accomplished
Look where civilization is cradled at
The essence of life who gave you that
Hold your breath he’ll take it back
I breathe, for now that’s the proof I need
If I’m looking for the truth I’ll read
The Qur’an in Arabic, ties in to the Celestine Manuscript
The Old Testaments words are therapists
Any faith can breed a terroist
If they don’t follow the text or form various sects, they go Dave Coresh
Take a leap of faith or Baby Steps
I’ll follow God’s words, you can take the rest

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July 31, 2012 · 3:27 pm

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

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July 17, 2012 · 2:43 pm

Union Label

After doing some spoken word for a Father’s Day event, after some prodding and audience questions, I decided to record some and I’m starting with a piece I wrote in my first year of college, when I was still working with my rap group Sight Beyond Light. The audio is above via soundcloud. 

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March 11, 2012 · 5:12 pm

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.

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March 8, 2012 · 6:23 pm

P & Q Video and Back Story

I made a bunch of iMovie videos for some of my old songs to put on Youtube a few months back. They’re on my video page here, if you haven’t seen ’em check ’em out, they’re fun low budget takes on the songs I barely had money to record.

But anyways, I fully intended to make one for P & Q back then too. The chorus talked about  the if P then Q theory of logic learned in basic algebra, or Sequential One,and I wanted to use the text book Sub-Conscious and I used when we were in high school. A book pretty much every high school student in New York City used since the late 80s. Integrated Mathematics, Course I. I couldn’t find an image for the book online for the life of me, but mysteriously I found it yesterday. I only looked for it because my friend Rah Unique (@rah_unique) tweeted that he was now playing the song using the hash tag #NP, and he shouted me out @countbaqula. So, I found it and it’s very low resolution, but it was enough to make a mock book cover for the song.

 I took this and made this:

I may have gone a little to crazy trying to distress and age the book, but I was a man possessed. I was so happy to finally get a basic image that I played around with it for hours. After making the cover it was time to go ahead and make the video. And there it is below, for you viewing pleasure.

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February 26, 2012 · 1:45 pm

Sight Beyond Light

Well a while ago my external hard drive said I over worked it and just straight up quit on me. No two weeks notice or anything, super inconsiderate. But when it left it took all the old files I had on it, including the vector file of the logo for my former rap group, Sight Beyond Light. I waited a long time to recreate the image, but I finally did. I also through in the way it was laid out for the first single on Low Tech Records, our super unofficial record label. I mean the music was official, we just never registered it as a business. But that was in 2000.

Anyway, here’s the sticker/artwork for the first single. DJ Eclipse from Fat Beats and NYU Radios Hip-Hop Show, Halftime Radio, was super impressed with the professional presentation. I can’t take all the credit though, my band mate Blu Jemz(formerly JMS Inja) offered his input about the color scheme. Man those were the good old days. The four man crew was A.B. Do Well, that’s what I used to go by , Blu Jemz, Soem(he now goes by sTERRYo), and Sub-Conscious. We would be in the lab constantly. Soem and Blu Jemz made the beats for the most part, but our boys Rio Murray, Omari Toomer and Jon Abrahams also through their sound into the mix. Omari would lend vocals from time to time as well. Enough reminiscing, here’s the logo in question.

The all seeing eye, again I can’t take full credit at all because my brother came up with the initial sketch. I just vectorized it in Adobe Illustrator. Anyway here’s a little video I made for it way after the fact.

 

Also, I always wanted to go all Dark Side of the Moon with the logo, but other members of the band thought it was corny to rip off the Pink FLoyd album cover. I thought it would be so fitting and cool and at the time I’d just seen the Wizard of Oz Set to that album. There were moments when the synch up worked to amazing effect, but those moments were few and far between. Anyways, here’s my homage.

See that, that’s effing brilliant right there.

Well that’s one design file down. I don’t even want to guess how many there are to go, but I suppose the logo for the label is a must. I loved that old Low Tech Logo. Maybe I’ll have it up soon.

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