Chapter 1 of 'A Summer In Harlem' by Brendan Whitt

     “Thad, Thad, Thaddeus Leon Thomas! If I gotta call your name one more time to get up boy!” The loud and bellowing voice forced Thad to wake up. He pulled his blanket from over his head as the sun shined brightly through his bedroom window and into his face. He sat up for a moment and rubbed the sleep from his eyes before letting out a big yawn. Standing in the doorway staring at him was his grandmother. She was a large and portly black woman with a head full of grey hair. Standing right behind was her fat yellowish orange cat named Precious.
       “Glad to see you‘re finally up,” his grandmother said. “I’m headed out to run a few errands. Your breakfast is downstairs but you have to make your own eggs. You know how they get when their cold. When I get back we can head for the train station.” She took two steps out of Thad’s room before turning around, “Oh, and feed Precious” she added. Almost instinctively Precious turned around and followed Thad’s grandmother out of the room. When he could hear her footsteps heading down the stairs he pulled his covers completely off of his body and got out of bed. Thad was a relatively scrawny kid with dark skin and short black hair. He had just finished his first year of high school and had aspirations of becoming an engineer after college. He wanted to go to Tuskegee where one of his idols George Washington Carver had taught. Thad was a very intelligent kid who always garnered high praise from his teachers in regards to his academic accomplishments and behavior. He rarely got into any serious trouble or mischief. Outside of school Thad hung out with his same friends from when he was a child. He was just your run of the mill teenager from Beloit, Alabama in 1948.

'Tribe Lords Look to Plant Seeds for Cleveland Hip-Hop' by Brendan Whitt (Courtesy of Volume Magazine Cleveland)

When you think of Cleveland Hip-Hop who comes to mind? Bone Thugs and… Well that’s it. Cleveland, a Midwest city currently in an urban renewal and explosion of local arts still can’t seem to find a substantial place in the national Hip-Hop community. Kid Cudi, who is arguably the biggest name in the Cleveland music scene, falls more into the alternative genre although most of his influence comes from hip-hop.

Like all movements, whether it is arts based or political, this one has to start underground. Local artists Tony Blunt and Tilla, collectively known as Tribe Lords (stylized as Trib3 Lxrd$) are looking to make that kind of splash on the local Hip-Hop circuit. Both Cleveland natives, Tony and Tilla are looking to define Cleveland Hip-Hop. “Cleveland is still looking for a sound” says Tilla. “The east side is doing more but we need both sides of the city to come together to make this work” Tony added. “Right now its like crabs in a barrel.”...

https://volumemagcle.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/tribe-lords-look-to-plant-seeds-for-cleveland-hip-hop/

'Ingenuity Born out of Necessity: The Soul of Sole Snatchers' by Brendan Whitt (Courtesy of Volume Magazine Cleveland)

So you’re in your early twenties and the economy is not as generous as it was to your parents and grandparents. Union jobs aren’t booming like they once were and minimum wage is a joke. Now you have to dream. You want the house, car, money, vacations, all of it. Then you want more. You want something real. Something that can get you that dream. So you grind, a hustle that you will grow and cultivate until it bears you the fruit that you so badly wanted when it was just a dream. Now enter Daniel Butler, a young man with a dream and hustle to match. Daniel is the owner and creator of Sole Snatchers, a business that was born out of his love for sneakers and the culture that surrounds them. “My goal is to see as many people in the shirts as possible” he says. Daniel created his own line of t shirts based on his business that didn’t take off as planned. So he put it on hold and waited for the right moment. Sole snatchers was supposed to be a shoe consignment and trade marketplace for sneaker collectors, buyers and sellers.

Daniel had a plan and a product but not enough funds. He had a beta for the site but saw there was still a long road ahead of him. He soon did what all dreamers did, got his hustle together. “I had a logo someone designed for the site and thought ‘That’s a catchy design. I should put that on a shirt.’”...https://volumemagcle.wordpress.com/2014/05/24/ingenuity-born-out-of-necessity-the-soul-of-sole-snatchers/

Blought #8 'What is A Black Nerd?'

The definition of a Black Nerd isn't easy. There are so many types of Black Nerds, and seeing how this is a trail lest traveled, I will try my best to define what a Black Nerd is. A Black Nerd is the awkward Black kid who doesn't interact well with other kids in a multitude of environments. They tend to be drawn to things that many kids don't find themselves attracted to. Pretty much the typical nerd just with darker skin is what I'm trying to get at. That's where I come in. Society is a very complex machine. It tries to group us all into this huge vague category but then starts to break those down into sub categories. The tree continues to branch off until there are a million different groups. At the same time, the societal machine tries to tell us we are all the same and that we are all equal. Bullshit. If that was true I would have never gotten picked on in elementary school. In America there's this bullshit idea some old guy came up with called "equality". There a bunch of things that can be made equal. Math problems, money, measurements. Not people. Everyone has advantages and disadvantages. Being a black nerd is both.

'Afro That Holds My Pick' from 'If I Wrote a Hip-Hop Album'

The Afro that holds my pick is more than just hair.
It serves as a symbol of strength for a displaced now mixed race of oppressed people.
When no one would call out the world’s big brother for what they had done,
we grew out our native kinks, picked them out,
and put our ebony fist in the air.
The Afro that holds my pick was worn when Conductor Cornelius,
led the country on a magical journey upon his train of soul.
When the sweet tunes of The Spinners, Ohio Players,
and The Commodores graced the radios of Black America
My pops and his niggas all rocked the simply coined “Fro”
The Fro I rock has purpose.
I bear the pain from every pull of my pick.
I know it don’t equal lashes
but it’s the best way to represent.
Now from beatin’s to hangin’s, to revolutions, to groovin‘,
not only is my Afro a hairstyle,
it also serves as a symbolic
historical text book for my people.
Ima sag my pants with the pick in my back pocket
to show where I’m from,
And use my pick to show what I’m Is.

Blought #7 'Avant Garde Hip-Hop and Why it Needs to Die'

Hip-Hop has now been around for nearly 40 years. The impact it has left on the music world is hard to put into words. It has spanned over numerous eras and has spawned many of its own sub-genres. Hip-Hop has seen it's Golden Age, Conscious Age, Gangsta Age, and now a new age. The rebirth of Hip-Hop that has taken place over the past five or six years is breeding a sound and culture I really don't like. Before I get into that let me do a little background.

In the early 2000's my favorite artist of "All Time!" broke onto the scene. Yes, I'm talkin' about Mr. Kanye Omari West. He not only brought millions of records and countless Grammys, he also brought his own style. Kanye has remained relevant thanks to his phoenix like approah. After every album Kanye was able to reinvent himself and bring a new and different styled Kanye to the table. This las go around he brought something my genration just won't let go of. This new Avant Garde style Hip-Hop. When Ye first did it, I won't lie. It was kind of cool. Heavy bass lines, choral like arrangements in the back ground, and his weird $600 leather skirts was something we all expected from the musical genius.

Sadly many of my peers have taken it too far. Many artist have taken to the sound and they bring nothing new. Just a recycled Kanye type product. Its okay for an entertainer to wear a leather skirt, but the average joe wearing Pyrex. You  look stupid. When did it become cool to wear over-sized hockey jerseys  that replace capital A's with capital V's with trim along the bottom that looks like black and white 1960's floral wall paper? Remember people, he's an entertainer, you are not. Only thing worse than you are hipsters, and America hates hipsters! So lets stop thinking we all can make the next HAM instrumental and stop with the Pyrex purchases and let this fad die. Avant Garde means ahead of its time. You're just recycling it.

Blought #6 '#F*** Yo Followers'

Is it me or does it seem like my generation has become infatuated with a new addiction? My fellow millennials seem to be wrapped up in this thing called "followers". While I admit I am an avid instagrammer (@sneakersmcgee) I don't get wrapped up in my follower count. I follow a bunch of celebs and personalities with a few friends and family thrown in there. I started to notice this obsession with follower count back in the Myspace years. The more friends you had, the cooler you were, although you only knew like 25 of you 762 myspace friends. Facebook was a completely different beast. This was when I started to see followers hit the thousands. Why in the hell would anyone want 2000 people in their business? Not I.

The sad part about all of this is the vanity and the lack of human interaction this is causing. Most guys with a high number of followers is usually what I call an "internet playa". They bag girls with lame song lyrics or questionable selfies in an attempt to bag the ladies. The ladies they bag are usually the girls who post, well meaningless song lyrics and the not so occasional but rather too often self revealing and most of the time self depriving selfie. This usaully contains her exposing a little breasts while wearing some scantily clad outfit. Sure, I met my girfriend of three years on Facebook but at least our pages are something our parents won't be too ashamed of.

This a call to my generation. Don't use social media as your outlet for emotion or the pics you took of yourself half naked after a shower. Get up, get out, and do something. I'm not perfect but I surely practice what I preach. Use your Twitter, Instagram, FB, or whatever else is out there these days to showcase your passion, talent, or just a simple pic of a bluejay you saw or your favorite Starbucks drink. Don't think because you have 1500 followers and 850 "friends" that you've accomplished something, because you haven't. Fuck Yo Followers nigga!!!