Mix Tapes = Copyright Infringement????

In the world of hip-hop or rap, or whatever you want to call the genre that appeals to lots of the urban community these days, there is a thing called, 'The Mix Tape'.
Lots of rappers get introduced to the public via these releases and they often feature well know acts with lesser knowns.
The thing that has always troubled me about, the 'Mix Tape' is that the music can be that of an established artist and there is no clearance secured for this blatant copyright violation.
Some people tell me it is a great vehicle for promoting rap or hip-hop. Well explain to me the money division portion?
Would Lays make money if they gave away their potato chips? Would Ford make money if they gave away their automobiles?
So how the hell is it beneficial to the writers/publishers/copyright owners of the various tunes that are either sampled, looped or used a backdrop for the 'Mix Tape' raps?
Read the following in regards to DJ Drama's arrest and prosecution over copyright infringement in regards to MIxtape:

http://jip.kentlaw.edu/art/volume%208/8%20Chi-Kent%20J%20Intell%20Prop%201.pdf

Just asking? If someone samples one of my songs be it a Mixtap or a regular release, I wish to be paid, and that would be period.

The so-called religious people and their cherry picking

I find it amazing at how many people that I know, whether they be family, friends or musical associates that sometimes use their religious faith as a crutch when they need it, but in the rest of their day to day existence they fornicate, smoke weed, drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, lie, deceive, steal, sell drugs, cheat on their wives, make bastard* kids out in the streets, and various other things that would be transgressions against their belief system.
(note: Bastard = a child created out of wedlock, meaning the parents were pleasuring and not married, i.e. sinful behaviour according to The Bible)
In debates with me over religion and faith, they tell me, 'We all fall short of the glory'. I say what a crock of cow crap. If you know the things you are doing are not right in the edicts of your religious faith, then why the hell keep doing them? What are you praying for? Apparently it is not working or helping, take your pick.
Sunday the churches are full, and soon as the people get out, they go back to doing what they did before they went to church.
Today for example, they are racing out to to see NFL playoff games. Some will have even given up monies that they do not have to spare in hopes that they will give a some sort of triple financial blessing from a deity. The minister drives the Mercedes or fancy Cadillac and some of the parishioners come in a hooptie that barely made it to the church parking lot.
In many Black churches as offering time comes they say, "Would a man rob God?".
Why not? Man (and woman) lie and deceive their faith (their God) on everything else.
They get tattoos and piercings (that is called defiling the temple God gave you); they practice acts of idolatry (joining fraternities sororities, lodges and other organizations that salute and uphold symbols, emblems and signs). They have sex, including sodomy (oral sex, anal sex, positions other than the missionary one) when they are not married or commit adultery when they are.
The zealots can't even get the calendar correct. The Sabbath Day is the seventh day of the week - hmmm isn't that Saturday? Just asking... LOL
Step up your game religious folks if you want others to be impressed that you are living the life you so prophecize to others about. If you don't show me that you are living what you are calling other folks out about - I am gonna let you have it, cherry picking folks.
You use the parts of your faith that are comfortable to you, but wanna jump on other folks for doing things you think are un-holy or un-Christian -like. Hmmpgh, the mirror is calling you.
Perhaps that person you are trying to preach to is not on your page or of your faith belief. After all in America we have a separation of church and state. This is a to each his (or her) own society.
I have often wondered when people are having an illness or going through something that seems very serious and the outcome may result in loss of life or very adverse consequences, why people say pray for me? Is God not already aware and in control of these things? Are the petitioners questioning the wisdom of the Most High?
I believe it is what it is and the way of the world/universe shall be unaltered by anything man does or says.
Karma is a b**** isn't it? I like the late Barry White's song, "Practice What You Preach".
Re-Mix, if not, 'Then Shut The Eff Up'.  LOL
Just saying...

The N-word

When Blacks were first brought to America by the slave traders, many came from areas near the River Niger. The slave owners then started calling us 'Niggers' amongst other names.
Now hundreds of years later, a word that was used to castrate, lynch and oppress an entire race of people is now being used as a term of endearment.
I don't get it. We think by pronouncing it slightly different or by spelling it in various ways, it makes it all good, Wrong.
Comedian/Activist Dick Gregory says it best, criticize the euphemisms and their usage as intellectually dishonest, because using the euphemism “the N-word” instead of nigger robs younger generations of Americans of the full history of Black people in America.
I do not think my comments will deter the use of it by Blacks, but I do hope people will at least think about it and what it says about our self-hate.

She must have whip appeal like no other or the lady is a tramp

Alejandra Oaziaza , the ex-wife of Jermaine Jackson is currently embroiled in a bitter squatter's right battle with Jackson family matriarch Katherine. Seems Alejandra is writing a tell-all book about the Jackson family, and Katherine wants her to abort the project.
Add more weirdness to this story: Alejandra was Randy Jackson's common-law wife for several years and in their union they had 3 kids.
Exit Randy and enter Jermaine - that's right, big brother with the greasy hair and face look followed Randy and married her in 1995  fathered 2 kids by his brother's ex.
They were divorced in 2004 due to anullment because she was still married to her first husband prior to Randy.
One of Jermaine's kids by her - Jermajesty pointed a stun gun at one of the kids that Michael called his,
This really agitated Katherine. Now she is legally trying to evict her ex-daughter-in-law and her kids (whom are double related, sibling and cousin to one another.
Can anyone say mess with a capital M?

LOVE LETTERS - R.Kelly, r&b music's crowning moment

I had sworn off Robert Kelly, the singer/songwriter/producer from Chicago quite awhile ago.
I was not impressed with his recent output until now. LOVE LETTERS, from a purely musical aspect is the "it" of r&b albums.
I gave all of my Kelly albums away recently because of my disdain for his personal desires for young girls, but after having my arm twisted by a few of my musical co-horts and my niece, I decided to give this project a try.
I am so glad I did.
This album is like a walk through soulville - with Kelly channeling Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, Michael Jackson and Babyface all in his vocal skills. He even visits the stylings of early Motown with a duet song with a female singer that recalls the days of Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
This is by far the best r&b album I have heard in the last 5 or so years.
I strongly recommend it for all r&b music lovers. It was great road backdrop for me and Zay on our recent trip.

Honorable mention to the new Tank album NOW OR NEVER.
R&B music is making a comeback - yeah!!!

Just saying - Riding Dirty, smh

There has been an increase of celebrity tour buses pulled over by local law enforcement over the past few years. With the more stringent security checks at airports, many weed smoking/gun toting stars opt to take to the highways of America. Guess what, the po-po is not as dumb as you think. They know why you are doing it - so they set roadblocks for you and do those things called stops and search. If you don't give them permission, they will just get a judge to sign off on a search warrant and bingo, here come the dogs and the DEA folks.
Now you little people that can't afford the tour bus yet - you speed, you drive in caravans of vehicles, and you have folks that are on probation that aren't supposed to travel across state line without permission form the P.O. (Probation Officer) - all n all, a recipe for disaster.
When they pull you over they are gonna ask for ID, proof of vehicle registration, proof of auto insurance and run your name on the SKIPS system. If they smell marijuana, they are gonna ask if they can search the vehicle, and if you don't consent, you will be detained and a search warrant will be gotten.
So my question is why travel across state lines if you are on probation? Why ride dirty (which means with drugs and weapons)? Why not have ID on you, when everyone with an ounce of goose sense knows people 16 years of age and above by law are supposed to always have ID on them)? Why drive at rates of speed that are not only illegal, but so excessive that they can cause you to be not only ticketed, but arrested?
There is a denigration in the mindset of certain elements in the Black community, and it is scary. It is almost like they take the "I don't give a F***" thing to the highest extreme.
Many of these folks are husbands, fathers and bread winners for their families. What happens to the ones that depend on you when you go down?
It is totally mind boggling.

Sagging needs to be a crime all over the USA - Why the hell would someone wanna show their ass publically?

It originated in prison or jails, where inmates for the most part are not allowed to hav belts for fear of suicide. It further was used as a statement in the penal institutions that a male was available to be penerated if his pants were so low as to show the shape of his buttocks.
So why would today's African-American males (since the late 90s) want to wear their trousers in a manner that emulates jail/prison life; or suggest they want to be the receiver of anal sex?
It is probably tied to some misconception that being a thug or homothug is cool, in the same warped rationale that calling members of your own race a 'Nigger' (many times spelled 'Nigga', 'Nuggah' or 'Nikka') is a term of endearment.
Sagging pants has been outlawed in several US cities - citing public indecency or lwed behaviour. Opa-Locka, Florida, a city in the city of Miami, forces the offenders to do community service. Some cities issue fines of $500.00 and up to six months in prison.
Some of the cities that have the laws on the books are: Missouri City, Texas (near Houston); Selma, Alabama; Delcambre, Louisiana (near Baton Rouge); Mansfield, Louisiana (near Shreveport); Flint, Michigan; Albany, Georgia; Hahira, Georgia; Dublin, Georgia; Warner - Robbins, Georgia; Hawkinsville, Georgia; Shreveport, Louisiana; and
Alexandria, Louisiana.
Proposed bans are under consideration in Trenton and Pleasantville, N.J.; Charlotte; Dallas; Baltimore; Atlanta and three other Georgia towns including Rome, Brunswick and Plains; Duncan, Okla.; and Yonkers, N.Y.
Several cities have started public service announcements or Billboards condemning the sagging pants, i.e. Brooklyn, New York; Dallas, Texas; and Richmond, Virginia.
Some state legislators are debating statewide bans on the misguided fashion trend this year.
Many places of business i.e. shopping malls, bowling alleys and restaurants have outlawed sagging.
For youngher children, what kind of example does it set for them to see their older uncles, brothers or cousins with their ass all hanging out?
Not to mention the walking like a penguin because your pants are so low. Some saggers in summer months even have the audacity to sag with no underwear on exposing naked buttocks and full frontal pubic hair.
Even the President of the United States has weighed in on it, "... brothers should pull up their pants. You are walking by your mother, your grandmother, your underwear is showing. What's wrong with that? Come on. Some people might not want to see your underwear. I’m one of them."
This is one of the things I agree with Barrack Obama on.
Brothers pull 'em up and tighten your belts. I suggest public cannings in the undies if they wanna sag - shame the fools, if they have any in them - but then again like always -
water seeks its own level.

Gunfire in the air on New Year's, why?

What goes up, must come down. Why do ignorant fools fire guns into the air on New Year's night? There have been many cases where people have been killed or seriously injured by revelers bringing in the New Year with guns aimed straight to the skies and firing the lethal projectiles.
Yet fools still keep doing it.
Some traditions need to be halted, if for no reason other than after careful evaluation, it doesn't make sense - but then again, water seeks its own level.