Here We Go, Shell.

J Dilla I didn’t know I knew J Dilla. Sunday, February 10, 2013 marked the 7 year anniversary of...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:58:00 -0500

J Dilla I didn’t know I knew J Dilla. Sunday, February 10, 2013 marked the 7 year anniversary of...

Willow Smith - Red Table Talks How many of you remember being...

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 01:15:00 -0400

How many of you remember being told, “You don’t know what you are talking about!” or “Stop being dramatic!” when you attempted to express yourself as a kid? Well, I do and certainly Will Smith understood when he penned the adolescent anthem “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” Now the multi-talented entertainer’s daughter, Willow Smith, is showing us just how her famous parents are breaking those parent-child communication barriers.

In this intimate conversation between Willow, her mother Jada Pinkett-Smith and her grandmother (Jada’s mother, Adrienne Banfield-Jones), we get to see three generations of women openly discuss their relationship with one another.

I found it extremely important that I share this video because I was truly touched and appreciative of the type of dialogue that was shown between Willow and her mother and grandmother. In this talk they allow Willow to freely express her perspective, her feelings, and her hopes. You see Jada and Adrienne taking in what Willow has to say, inquiring further, and giving her time to work through her emotions. For me it is a brilliant moment of parenting and love.

Conversations like this need to be happening in more homes between parents and children. I especially hope this video inspires African-American parents, who I personally find to get caught up in the habit of telling our children to “Shut-up!” Young African-American females are already often the last to be acknowledged and respected in American society overall, so beginning at home we should at least be shown that our feelings and perspectives matter. Teaching our children (all of them) that their thoughts are not silly, but instead come from their thinking, growing and observant individuality will impart on the world more confident, creative and free-thinking adults.

Hey, still whoop your kids, but at least let them express what they learned afterwards. I am simply speaking from my childhood perspective. Watch it and think about it.

If this video is only one of a series, I am looking forward to hearing what else these ladies lay out on the table.

-SHELL

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

LeBron Earns His Ring: End of Hater Fuel…For Now So, the Miami Heat just won the NBA...

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 02:10:00 -0400

LeBron Earns His Ring: End of Hater Fuel…For Now So, the Miami Heat just won the NBA...

Food Network Shows (FNS): Sweet Genius I recently got a T.V. Two words. Food. Network. I quickly...

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 03:02:00 -0400

Food Network Shows (FNS): Sweet Genius I recently got a T.V. Two words. Food. Network. I quickly...

June 9th, 2012 - The Most Epic Day Ever I don’t know if the government injected crack into the...

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 23:37:00 -0400

June 9th, 2012 - The Most Epic Day Ever I don’t know if the government injected crack into the...

A Long Day Under the Sun: The Roots Picnic 2012 Last weekend I...

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 05:18:00 -0400

Black Thought and The Roots performing.

@thebulBEY, @djphsh, @RoyalOhSIR

OCD set.

The Roots.

The Roots performing, June 2nd.

The Roots.

Black Thought focused.

Wale and The Roots.

Wale performing Pretty Girls w/ Weensey

De La Soul at The Roots Picnic.

A Long Day Under the Sun: The Roots Picnic 2012

Last weekend I got the opportunity to return to the city that conceived me, Philadelphia, PA. The perfect excuse to visit my Grandmom and cousins was The 5th Annual Roots Picnic. With Philly being an important city in my life, Black Thought being my favorite rapper, and The Roots being a daily inspiration, I had high expectations for this event. With a dent in my pocket from the $63 tickets, I needed this show to be like an outdoor couple’s massage on a Mexican resort at sunset. #satisfaction

Turns out I got exactly what I wanted long after getting exactly the opposite that Saturday:

Me: “Excuse me, how much is a water?”

Chick at Beverage Stand: “$4.50”

Me: **restrains from violence**

My cousin @thebulBEY and I arrived at The Roots Picnic mad early at noon. Neither of us had been to The Roots Picnic before and wanted to make sure nothing good got past us. Since, we arrived at the large Penn’s Landing Festival Pier before anyone had really arrived and before any performances started, we decided to focus on finding some food. Now forgive me for going to an event with “picnic” in the name expecting to have a variety of food readily available. Instead there were small selections of food, from the same vendor, and I recall each plate costing around $400… OK, obviously I am exaggerating but food wasn’t cheap. I was told by a clearly jaded ice cream vendor that the major live entertainment company Live Nation was to blame. I think that was just coming from his place of anger because of the 30% they take from the vendors’ profits. This was a just a learning experience because I found out soon after the show that there was more food backstage. A lesson for next year.

After accepting that I was going to leave this event broke and hungry, we peeped the opening performers. For the most part they left much to be desired, both on the main outdoor stage and the second stage enclosed in a tent. That was until Kids These Days performed. This energetic and extraordinarily talented young band had me cheering as if they had been around for years. With a drummer, rapper, singer/keyboard player, guitarist/singer, trumpet player, and trombone player, you would think these barely-legals would be a mess all over the stage. However, they seemed to know exactly what they were doing and were able to carry the crowd with them from beginning to their En Vogue tribute ending. I really became a fan when their female singer took center stage for her solo. She sang with a penetrating pure blues voice that made me forget she was a little white girl in 2012. Kids These Days is why we go to these shows to discover new music.

Sadly, Kids These Days just built me up only for the rest of the collection of performers to let me down. Hanging around all day waiting for the main performers would have been a lot more torturous on that hot day had it not been for the exceptions of Danny Brown, OCD and DJ SYLO, and a surprise performance from Tonya Morgan during one of the dj sets. Despite those pretty decent acts, I was cursing The Roots by 8pm.

When the Philly crew finally hit the stage, I was up front and ready to scream. Black Thought got it rocking quickly, spitting over go-go sounding music surely composed by the internationally known ?uestlove doing work on the drums. Following the long-awaited intro, Wale came out to perform. I was beyond hype to see the DMV artist I had been following since he was just a local emcee. Though D.C. isn’t close enough to my home town of Bowie (PG Country) to feel connected with it, I still felt like family was in the building during Wale’s set. He attempted to make the crowd a part of his performance by running off stage to spit nearly half of a track among those sitting on the back bleachers. That justly annoyed the majority of the crowd in the front of the stage who couldn’t see where he had run off to. Bad call, Wale.

The show proceeded to get even better as the legendary De La Soul trio performed with The Roots Crew. I had no idea these old guys could put on such a hype and creative show. Most of those in the crowd were in pre-school when De La came out, but that didn’t stop us from knowing all the words to songs like “The Magic Number,” “Me, Myself, and I” and “Baby Phat.”

Just when I was praying that they would perform “Buddy” with guest performers, my thought was intercepted as Mos Def came from the backstage into audience view. The crowd went nuts with screams. At first it seemed clear that Mos wouldn’t really be performing, but just occasionally acting as hype man for De La Soul.

“I am just a fan right now. The only difference between you and me is that I have a microphone,” Mos Def said to the audience. I didn’t matter if he performed or not, because I already felt I had got my money’s worth with De La and The Roots’ spectacular sets.

However, I forgot the fact that Jesus loves me. J So, I shouldn’t have been surprised when Mos Def came out to perform MY FAVORITE hip-hop song “Double Trouble” with Black Thought. All the pain in my feet from standing for 12 hours and the hunger pains in my tummy, completely disappeared as I screamed every word to that song, jumping up and down over my poor cousin and a stranger. That was it. The show was officially greatness.

It had been a long and hot day with a major slow start, but somehow it ended on a cosmic note. By the time @thebulBEY and I were heading home to our worried grandmom I felt inspired out the ears. Every one of the performers that night did a great job, and it was clearly because they were having just as much fun, if not more, as the audience. They were old hip-hop heads kicking it on a stage and I felt blessed to watch it.

Thanks, The Roots. Thanks, Live Nation. Thanks, cuz. Thanks, hip-hop. Thanks, Grandmom. Thanks, God. And thanks Philly. Peace.

-SHELL

I didn’t attend day two of The Roots Picnic, but I followed the social media buzz surrounding it. Check out what people had to say about Sunday’s shows HERE.

Peggy :) slaughterhouse90210: “When she packed up to leave, she...

Tue, 05 Jun 2012 20:33:00 -0400

Peggy

slaughterhouse90210:

“When she packed up to leave, she knew that she was saying goodbye to something important, which was not that bad, in a way, because it meant that at least you had said hello to it to begin with…”
— Lorrie Moore, Birds of America

Behind the Scenes Video of D’Angelo Singing...

Tue, 29 May 2012 00:46:00 -0400

Behind the Scenes Video of D’Angelo Singing Funkadelic’s “Soul Mate”

Music has been under water for a long time and here is some proof that it just might have a chance to breath again. I feel energized by it, just like the night I got to slow dance to D’Angelo’s “Lady” with someone other than my reflection. Even if his come back ends poorly (which I doubt), any good that comes from it will be worth it. Don’t you forget that people fail, falter, and fade away from our expectations… but not the impression of their music. Am I silly for simply being thankful for the music D’Angelo has already done and grateful for the possibility that there could be more to come? Once you feel it, how can anything else become a factor? It perfectly lingers on. God is good…and music is a joy. #feelinggood #criticsneednotapply

- SHELL

Based on the Funkadelic throwback D’Angelo chose for this video, I imagine he feels the same way I do about the music he loves. Who knows. #DoesntMatter

Daylight/Nightlight EPs from IMAKEMADBEATS ft. Butta Verses and...

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:32:00 -0400

Daylight/Nightlight EPs from IMAKEMADBEATS ft. Butta Verses and MidaZ the BEAST

The best of both worlds is a phrase I have indulged in all my life and the music I listen to is no exception. IMAKEMADBEATS’ Daylight/Nightlight speaks to the soul searchers, the villains, the lost, the determined, the angry and the jaded. We are all one of those at least once daily, and Lord knows we need something to keep us from running up on people “with machetes, faster than Andretti or cheetahs upon the Serengeti.” Thankfully, we can leave such things to MidaZ’s mauling verses over IMMB’s hard hitting tracks on “Nightlight.”

While chanting in the mirror, ‘I am not crazy. I am not alone,’ may be your routine, it will certainly be more fun and do you more good to listen to Butta Verses light-hearted words touch on heavy-hearted subject matter on “Daylight.” We are all working on ourselves while dodging the insecure judgments of our peers, and Butta enjoys his time on the mic telling us just how much all that doesn’t really matter. “All you gotta do is acknowledge that greatness inside yourself, man.” Well said.

So don’t decide whether you are hopeful, healing or hype and violent. Just sit your behind down somewhere and LISTEN .

- SHELL

Daylight/Nightlight is now available unedited on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, and physical copies are sold at DoxsideShop.com.

Slow Jam the News with the President This is AWESOME. I know...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:40:00 -0400

Slow Jam the News with the President

This is AWESOME. I know folks are enjoying this because it’s funny, makes Obama seem cool, or because you want attention brought to that particular education loan interest issue. BUT ME? I’m excited because The Roots Crew is on a top Late Night show performing with the host and the President of the United States. I feel proud of my Philly brothers for finding a way to bring a truly talented hip-hop band into the homes of mainstream America. This is probably how Louisiana, Brooklyn and jazz kats felt when Branford Marsalis joined The Tonight Show. Every time Black Thought opens his mouth on that show, it is like man taking steps on the moon for me. Granted, I still don’t think they are a household name yet like P. Diddy and Snoop and Thought doesn’t seem to rap that often on the show, but I’m looking at the silver lining, people. Maybe they need to take it back to underground promo and start wearing t-shirts on the show that say “The Roots” #justsayin

Well, what do you think? Are The Roots a household name yet, or does that even matter?

- SHELL

Baby Kanye THIS. IS. CUTE. Though while watching this, I prayed...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:24:00 -0400

Baby Kanye

THIS. IS. CUTE. Though while watching this, I prayed the little kid didn’t know all the words he was saying (or that he wasn’t saying them at all). It’s not every day that you get a kid that looks just like Kanye West together on camera with an actress (@JasminMarilena) desperate enough to jiggle beside him. It’s funny and made my mind jump back to B.I.G.’s “Sky is the Limit” video. This is one piece of viral goofiness I enjoyed. S/O to Ashley Smith (@Ash_Innovator), the director, for this. See more here: http://vimeo.com/ashleysmithfilms/videos

- SHELL

The New Kid: Pinterest.com There is a new kid on the block and...

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 17:43:00 -0500

The New Kid: Pinterest.com

There is a new kid on the block and his name is Pinterest. This is a fairly new social networking site that allows users to post (aka pin) images of items of interest, hence the name. Pinning images is a way for users to share with the world (and their followers) what items, products, and images they find inspiring and would like to recommend. These pins are organized into groups known as boards. As you can see above, I just started my own Pinterest a couple weeks ago. I have a lot of pinning to go, but I am projecting that this is going to be an interesting social experience that will really teach us a lot about our friends and loved ones in a way that the over-crowded Facebook hasn’t allowed. And, as I plan to explain to you in a future post, I feel that a social tool such as Pinterest will be another great way for small businesses to get their products out to the masses. Just when I think social networking can’t get anymore interesting, they pin this one on me! (Sorry, the pun was calling me :))

-SHELL

—Feel free to photo reply with a screen shot and link of your Pinterest so we can connect!

The Sugarcane Story Right before this past Christmas I had...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:09:00 -0500

The Sugarcane Story

Right before this past Christmas I had sugarcane for the first time. I grew up hearing stories about how my grandfather would give it to my mom and her siblings. I even saw it in a couple movies, and I was dieing to try it. On top of that, a couple weeks before this photo I Tweeted that I would die an old woman eating sugarcane in an electric rocking chair, listening to rap music. And soon after, my fate began its unravel.

One day my parents, my grandmom and I were riding in the car headed to the mall. While riding I pointed out to my mom that the man in the car beside us was eating sugarcane with his window down. My mom and I pondered where he got the sugarcane from. Then what happened next reminded me where I got my “Why not?” sense of thinking from. Just as I was thinking about what I would do if my parents were not there, my dad rolled down the passenger-side window and yelled pass my mom and out to the driver beside her.

“Where did you get the sugarcane from,” Dad yelled a couple times before being understood.

After sharing a location inaudible to us in the next car, the man said he had a load of sugarcane in the back of his car and asked if we wanted some. My dad said yes, and the seemingly generous stranger directed us to an upcoming parking lot.

Now imagine two men driving and yelling across cars about sugarcane…It was pretty darn funny and awesome at the same time. Then to add to the hilarity my grandmom was in the back seat saying how the man was going to rob us and pull an axe out of the back of his car. Ah man, I was cracking up inside, but also found myself returning to an anxious, childlike cocoon of excitement. I was amazed to see how events were leading to alas being able to try something I imagined I would only find at some sort of food market in Chelsea after one day settling in NYC. Always wondered what the sugarcane story would be like and this was it.

Now, when I was a kid I would have leaped from the car with my dad once we were in the parking lot to see the amount of sugarcane in the man’s trunk. However, the caution that comes with adulthood coupled with my grandmom’s somewhat scary comments, I decided to let dad go for this one on his own. (“Sad child.” would be my dad’s response to that. lol)

Watching safely through my rolled up passenger window, I saw the man climb out of his black SUV, brushing sugarcane pieces off the belly area of his black shirt.

He went around the back of his car and opened the trunk as my dad was already standing there. I felt like the kid of a drug dealer who quietly watched as their dad makes an exchange. I was longing for a mobster moment and blamed it on my Italian genes.

But, nothing went down except the man handed my dad four, greenish yellow, 3ft long sugarcanes. The minute the first cane passed into my dad’s hand the mobster imagination passed away and I heard a crowd cheer in my head. This was pure holiday spirit happening and I was proud to be a part of it.

Dad and the Sugarcane Santa shook hands and parted to their cars. I didn’t even see the man pull off as I turned to the back of the car to see the canes that were just placed in. Though this was pretty much my dad’s doing, all I was thinking was, “Yes, we did it!” I wanted sugarcane and I spoke it into existence. Thanks, God! I may be giving myself unearned credit, but noone sane would disagree that God is good. I was broke and jobless that day, but I was finally going to try my beloved sugarcane. Couldn’t get any sweeter than that. :)

-SHELL

P.S.- The sugarcane tasted great! It’s like chewing on a juicy stick full of sugar water. It also tastes very much like coconut, which I love! My nieces did not dig the whole chewing on a stick deal, to my dismay. But, I was the happiest 23-year-old kid ever.

Mad.Sq.Eats. “Get in My Belly!” Part 2 Hi Folks!...

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:32:00 -0500

MAD. SQ. EATS!

Waffles and Dinges!

The waffle dingers...I think.

Waffles, berries, special spread...mmm

Dumplings and....??? **shrugg**

Pizza dude squeezing honey on my pie

Huge variety of spices were for sale

Mad.Sq.Eats. “Get in My Belly!” Part 2

Hi Folks!

This is my continuation of sharing with you what I enjoyed at the Madison Square Park Eats event (Mad. Sq. Eats).

As society has taught us, you must start with dessert, and that is why I began with the Cuzin’s Duzin donuts post, which were finger-lickin’ gooooood. Now we will continue with waffles that made me feel so warm and tingly inside…..WAFFLES AND DINGES.

Despite the funny name… wait let me try that again… Because of the awesome name I had to try these Belgian waffles, which are actually Liege waffles. I was served my waffle with diced strawberries, powdered sugar on top, and WnD’s star of the show topping…. Spekuloos spread! Just like the Cuzin donuts, the sweetness of this dessert was through the roof. The Spekuloos spread, which I had never tasted before made the waffle impossible to stop eating no matter how overdosed on sugar I was getting. Spekuloos tastes like graham crackers with a smooth texture like Nutella or creamy peanut butter. A SPREAD THAT TASTE LIKE GRAHM CRACKERS! This is how you know God loves us. It made the whole waffle melt in my mouth. However, I wish the waffle itself had been a little less tough because I wasn’t able to cut it easily with my fork. It was definitely something you eat like a pizza. I am proud to no longer be a Spekuloos virgin.

BUY Spekuloos spread and other dinges HERE (Gotta support what you like otherwise it will disappear. #justsayin)

Now that we have covered the dessert I am here to inform you that we covered the best parts already. I honestly enjoyed the desserts way better than the entrees. But, if you must know the first entree I ate were vegetable dumplings from the Mehtaphor (See the photo above of the unidentified stuff in the oyster pail…yeah). The dumplings tasted great; however, the problem was I ordered dumplings…not all that crunchy topping stuff you see in the photo. They could have warned me about that. The sauce on the dumpling was not great either. It tasted like cheap teriyaki sauce.

Does this mean I learned my lesson and didn’t come back the next day? No. No, it doesn’t. I went back for more at the Mehtaphor vendor and got a burger and garlic fries. If you are not aware, Mehtaphor is a restaurant that is know for an urban twist on Asian foods. So, my burger was seasoned with strong Indian spices that I just didn’t expect. It was good, but I am not used to a burger having such bold flavors. That was one I will have to eat again for the education of it. My American palate wasn’t ready. The garlic fries were greasy and had more garlic than fries. I didn’t take a photo because I was too busy staring at the food confused.

Of the many things I ate during the three week Mad. Sq. Eats, those were the most memorable. This event was my first of its kind, but it definitely won’t be the last. Note to self: Re-name blog ‘Getting Fat in NYC.’ Yup.

-SHELL

Visit to Hill Country So Hill Country Chicken tenders were very...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:47:00 -0500

Visit to Hill Country

So Hill Country Chicken tenders were very dissappiointing. I am pretty sure I ate them the last time I got food from a gas station. Gross!

The fries got cold fast and lack flavor, so they were completely undesirable after getting cold. The buscuit had a nice buttery flavor but the honey to dip it in wasn’t sweet enough! Didn’t know that was even possible. Smh.

The best parts of the meal were the very sweet honey mustard dipping sauce and the house root beer that hit the spot after forcing down the fries. I paid about $8. On a scale of 1 to 10 this place was a 2. Won’t be returning. :(…..Sad part is that I’m full off of this food I didn’t like. Ugh!

Welcome to Harlem ING Marathon runners!

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 14:07:00 -0500

Welcome to Harlem ING Marathon runners!

Mad. Sq. Eats. … “Get in My Belly! Uh…hmph…uh…mmm…wooooo…...

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:04:00 -0400

Mad. Sq. Eats. … “Get in My Belly! Uh…hmph…uh…mmm…wooooo…...

Plan Nothing, Then Never Fail I need money….yeeeeerp. I never wanted that to motivate me to do...

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:11:00 -0400

Plan Nothing, Then Never Fail I need money….yeeeeerp. I never wanted that to motivate me to do...

HERE WE GO. Hi! My name is Shahdai, but my ma calls me Shell. Above is a cool photo of my feet....

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:17:00 -0400

HERE WE GO. Hi! My name is Shahdai, but my ma calls me Shell. Above is a cool photo of my feet....