A Classic Hit Album: BlackStar

Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star is the only studio produced album by Black Star, the album was released in 1998 by the duo Talib Kweli and Mos Def. this album changed many people's view on what good rap music is, this album was not made so the two rappers get famous and earn money. the album discussed real life social issues in their home-town Brooklyn, they wanted to aim to one of the major socio-cultural issues in brooklyn which was discrimination and also mentioning and criticize the way that people think.



The intro: the intro of the album was a way to introduce not just an album, but a docmentary, a real life documentary about the life in Brooklyn. the first track of the album The real major hit of Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star is "Cosmology (eighth Light)"In the genuine introduction to the collection, Mos Def and Talib Kweli go into the clarification of what is Black Star, utilizing their confused expressive styling, they clarify their entry as illustrative as could be expected under the circumstances, by exchanging off verses rapidly. They depict the shading dark in such a large number of ways, it shows only GENIUS. The beat uses some sort of dark, some-what underground instrumental, strumming guitar, scratching, a fundamental drum circle, and a hard integrated baseline. Be that as it may, this is just a review of the stunning works of art that this album brings to the table.



                 “Definition” which is the second song and also the lead-single from Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star. which gnenerally talks about the huge amount of violence in Hip Hop, as the two MC's talked about their each other and the deaths of Biggie and 2pac. the third smash in the album is "Brown skin lady" and the song was mainly as you may notice from its name is about showing their love and appreciation for the brown skin ladies, and talking about the beauty of a brown woman.
"


Theives in the night" another classic song. the both rapper rap about the history of the african american and their current sitaution and that African Americans should be proud of their current postion and their history and not putting their heads to the ground.



and finally to finish off the album, the two rappers finish off with “Twice Inna Lifetime”  joined in the track Jane Doe, what's more, every emcee puts down to a great degree lucid, and a classic fight rhymes with astonishing vocabulary, representations, and a multi-syllable stream. Words and Punch, and they show it here in this song.


to conclude, Mos Def and Talib Kweli are original classics. they have shown every aspect of what an MC is all about and what Hip Hop is all about, they have touched every aspect in this almost perfect album, but their true fans wait for them to reunite again to give them another classic smash.

Malcolm X

Today's blog is about the Autobiography of Malcolm X, Published in 1965 and in this chapter Malcolm describes his journey  through the "Hajj". All through his profession as a minister for Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X regularly met Muslims from different nations who needed to open him to what they called "genuine Islam." He was outraged at the time, yet now he's reconsidering his Thoughts, Malcolm had been urged to make the journey to Mecca, called Hajj in Arabic, by universal Muslims he met on his speaking visits, and by different individuals from the Nation of Islam.

Lots of these same Muslims suggested to Malcolm that he should go and speak with Dr. Mahmoud Youssef Shawarbi and after their meeting Dr. youssef hands Malcolm his son's phone number just in case anything happened. so malcolm get on a plane to Frankfurt then all the way to Cairo, and the first thing that stroke Malcolm is how people with different colors and race are getting along together and no one is cursing the other. After that, malcolm get ready for the pilgrimage. he is nervous because he thought that he will not fit in with the other due to his lack of the Arabic language

 Presently, free of the conventions of Elijah Muhammad, he could seek after the genuine confidence of Islam all alone. The journey was financed by Ella, who had beforehand broken with the Nation of Islam and viewed herself as a genuine Muslim. She had been sparing to make the journey herself, however this cash was utilized to pay for Malcolm's journey

Malcolm X clarifies that every Muslim should make a pilgrimage to Mecca. When Malcolm X requests for a hajj visa, he understands that, a Muslim United Nations advisor must accept his standing as a Muslim. Malcolm X flies to Jeddah where officers seize his passport and inform him that a high court must determine whether or not he is a real Muslim. Officers send Malcolm to an airport, where he reflects on the various colours and languages. Malcolm called a friend of his who empties his father’s suite at the Jeddah Palace Hotel for Malcolm X. 

A car has been rent a car by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal himself for Malcolm X to make the hajj to Mecca. Malcolm X describes his sense of miracle at Mecca. He admired the Islamic world’s absence of racial divisions. After Hajj Malcolm X writes letters home that express his new point of view on racial problems in the United States. After he met white people who are unspoiled by racism. He sees Islam as the solution to America’s problem. Malcolm X studied how to determine himself and he changed. From learning Malcolm X journey and life I studied that there is no giving up and never let go. You can always stay positive and keep ascending up the hill. No matter how far life shoves you, you should never loose and keep fighting.

The Wall

Pink Floyd is a very popular rock band in London, England in 1965 composed mainly by: Syd Barrett, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright. Syd Barrett was the song writer of the band but a year after the launch of Pink Floyd, he left the band because of his mental health and the band stayed with only 4 members. After this tragic departure, Roger Waters became the main song writer of the band. In 1979, the album “The wall” got released containing 26 songs which most of them were written by Roger Waiters based on the tragic events of his life. According to the band, “the "wall" is the self-isolating barrier we build over the course of our lives, and the "bricks in the wall" are the people and events that turn us inward and away from others.”  A movie was made based on the story that the songs in the album are telling, and more specifically Roger Waiters Life with only one character named “Pink”. Instead of telling the story in a traditional format, the band used surreal images and the music in their album “The wall”. The movie is about isolation and alienation. Alienation is when you feel you have no connection with the people around you, and depressed people are usually the ones who feel this way.

To explain to you more the link between Pink and Roger Waters, here’s an example: In the movie, Pink is a boy who had lost his father during the war and at a very young age and kept searching for him through London which is very similar to Roger Waters story, who also at a very young age lost his father during the world war 2.

During the movie, we can witness how Pink builds an allegorical (and once in a while physical) wall to be shielded from the world and enthusiastic circumstances around him. This wall is made, as I said earlier, by all the people and events that happened during Pink’s life.  Each occurrence that causes Pink torment is yet another brick in his regularly developing wall: a fatherless childhood, an oppressive mother, a withdrawn instruction framework keen on creating agreeable pinions in the societal wheel, an administration that treats its residents like chess pieces, the triviality of fame, a repelled marriage, even the drugs he swings to in order to find relief. And these events are very similar to the ones in Roger’s life; he said it in multiple interviews like the one done by Tommy Vance, a radio one DJ. He admitted that he always felt lonely and isolated from the world. Now alienation and isolation are two very common feelings. Numerous sociologists have watched and remarked upon an expansion in this sentiment estrangement among youngsters since the 1960s. They credit this estrangement to an assortment of societal conditions: the fast changes in the public arena amid this period, the expansion in liquor and drug misuse, viciousness in the media, or the absence of collective qualities in the way of life on the loose. A few sociologists watch that people get to be distanced when they see government, business, or instructive foundations as cool and unoriginal, lethargic to the individuals who require their administrations.

We could really see the relationship between the explanation of the scientists about alienation and isolation, and the life of Pink in the movie “The wall” and also with the life that Roger Waters lived. 

The Guest

The guest is a story that describes the situation of a schoolmaster, called Daru, who has suddenly received an Arabic guest in his school. This school is the place where he lives. It is remote, empty, and situated in the desert What is special about this guest is that he didn’t come voluntarily. An old Corsican gendarme, who’s called Balducci, brought him. The gendarme asked Daru to take the Arab to the prison, which is some kilometres away from the school, and he told him that this Arab killed his cousin in a fight. That’s why he is expected at the police station. This what put the schoolmaster in a critical situation that needed a wisdom in order to take a critical decision. A sharp discussion took place between the gendarme and the schoolmaster that ended by the leaving the gendarme and the staying of the Arab.

The presence of the Arab in the school, made Drau feel uncomfortable. At the end the Arab was dropped in the middle of the route from where he could chose whether to go to jail or to the pasturelands and the nomads where he headed to the jail. As soon as Daru got back to his school, he found a sentence written on the board of his school, “you handed over our brother. You will pay for it”.

A lesson that we can learn from this text is, when reading and discovering how bad is the situation of the place, where the schoolmaster lives, and then, we find out that these conditions become a comfort zone for Daru.

What is surprising is that after having the idea and trying to imagine how rough it would be to live in such a cold, empty and remote place, we discovered that Daru transferred these conditions into advantages in his life and into conditions that he enjoyed them. For instance, he got used to loneliness, until the point that the presence of a guest made him feel unsafe and uncomfortable. He got used to silence until the point that the sound of the breathing of his guest was annoying. Daru was not an exceptional man who naturally loves to be alone in a remote places. It wasn’t either a psychological problem that makes him love to live in such situation. 

It is just because he was a wise and a brave man who resisted and accepted happily what live gives him. We can be sure by reading “It was the silence that had seemed painful to him during the first days here, after the war”. Which means that things didn’t look the same at the beginning, so there was an effort right there, and there was a good management of what life gave to him because based on the writer, the conditions were not preferable for him.

What we can learn from this is that, we can always generate happiness in our life, whatever the conditions are; we can always make out of our life a special one, even by the things that we think, at the beginning, are atrocious. We can always make our life looks beautiful., but most importantly, Nonot in the sight of the people around, but in our sights. It is just that we have to be convinced and satisfied with the inputs that life give us and think only about how to make out of them a good out puts instead of wondering why we don’t have enough inputs.

Decision-making, strong personality and convenience. These are the three points that the text touches, which are important in every human life because in each move we make we need to take a decision. In order to take a good decision we need a certain level of strength in our personality. When we don’t have the choice, or in other words, we can’t make the decision that we are comfortable with, we need to be convenience.

1984

1984 is a book written by George Owel describing the life of citizens in a country full of dictatorship, and also describing a world where everything is completed differently. It is a pretty depressing book in which we see a state controlling the language, controlling the thoughts, and even controlling the reality that we live in. The system of the country described is like a pyramid; at the top of the pyramid, there is BIG BROTHER the dictator, and after there is the inner party that represent 2% of the society, then we have the outer party where we find the ministry and where is Winston, the main character of the 6^th chapter of the book. In the bottom of the pyramid, we find the paroles and they are the poorest of the society. The most dangerous is the middle part.

Winston, the main character, is violating multiple rules like keeping a diary is considered as a thought crime, or when he fell in love and started an affair with a women named Julia, this was also a crime, because, in this system, all you love should go to BIG BROTHER, the dictator.

Now in this text, we could really notice how hard it is to live in a country ruled by a dictator. As Tunisian and Libyans students, we can really relate to this story given the fact that we lived in countries ruled by dictators controlling our thoughts, our expressions, our freedom, controlling what to say and what not to say. Before the revolution, we really felt controlled, not directly, but it was impossible to be against the system and have enough courage to speak about it loud and clear, because everyone that did got himself into trouble and was promoting himself to torture or even death.

With BIG BROTHER, it was different because they controlled your thoughts and your beliefs, and if they tell you that 2+2=5, you have to believe that even if it is not true. If you don’t believe that, you’ll be tortured until you do believe what they are telling you, and they push to the limit where you’ll betray the ones you love and the ones you cherish the most by knowing all your weaknesses and the things that will hurt you the most, making you feel like a robot and not having any reason to live for other than BIG BROTHER. Winston was a victim of that kind of torture and he betrayed Julia, his love, for this dictator.

We could never know what a person under torture would react or what he would do to protect himself, because we did not get ourselves in a situation where we had to be tortured. It is hard to feel what others felt in some situations because they are so intense. Some people would say that it was not good reason for Winston to betray his lover, because he loved her and when we love someone and when we believe in something, we should stick to it no matter what. But we could never know or feel what they felt in that situation.

Torture is not the solution, and dictatorship is done by people that are not confident about themselves, that are scared of being alone and judged that they will make you love them, respect them and change yourself for them so they can feel a little bit secure about themselves. It is not and it will never be a solution for a country, it is mostly thought of as the worst solution, because people eventually will turn on you, will realize that it was never what they wanted, and that is not best for them nor for the other generations coming.

Reality's Dimensions

     Alice is based on a real young girl who was a friend of Lewis Carroll. The chapter started with the caterpillar looks at Alice and poses, "Who are you?" to which Alice answers she no longer truly knows anymore, after all the new changes. She tells him how puzzling it can be to change size several occasions in one day, but the caterpillar basically disagrees, and argues that even transforming into a butterfly would feel in the least strange for him. Their discussion continues with complexity, since the Caterpillar speaks only in brief, rational sentences and is rather unkind. Alice argues that she is changing, and doesn't memorize things as she used to. To prove this, she tries reciting a poem, however, it comes out just as incorrectly as the verses in wonderland do, and is filled of mean and nasty comedy.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a simple story of little girl that has a little problem with her identity when read. However, after thinking about it deeply, and trying to imagine the form of these kinds of problems in the real world and among the societies in nowadays, too many critical issues that comes in mind.
For instance, the girl in the story, that called Alice, got confused each time because she is not sure who is her, what makes her confused about her identity. As well as in many societies, in the real world, too many people are confused about their identity because they are not sure about their origins and their ancestors’ identity, nationality, language, traditions, etc.
The big question on those peoples’ mind is “do I go with the flow, follow and change as the people around or I try to stuck with the things that are supposed to be a part of my origins?”

Now, for example, if those people keep thinking and worrying about what are their real language or their real traditions what could be the result?
The first possible scenario is that those people will waste a huge energy on finding out something that is never sure. The second one is that those people will just adapt to the environment that are born in, and try to improve it.
In this situation, which is very general and common, as well, the second scenario would be the best. First, because the amount of energy that those people would allocate to find out about their origin, traditions, and who are their ancestors and what were they doing could be allocated to other studies or researches that could help the world get better. Second, suppose if everyone find out about his origins, language and traditions. The result would be a greater discrimination among people, more difficulties to communicate and to understand each other, and it would be strongly probable that the rate of development and improvement of the societies would be smaller, since there would be fewer corporations because everyone would try to deal with his life with his own traditions.
Therefore, based on these logical examples that shows a tradeoff between some curiosity and a better, homogenous world, there is no real need to worry that much about how ones’ origins were. Even though people change, the world change and everything change. Everyone could identify him self by how well he adapted to his world and then how well he participated in making out of it a better place for the next generations to be adapted with. With this manner, people won’t need to know themselves and identify them by what or who were their ancestors. People will recognize each other and identify each other by the behavior, the achievements, and the added value that each one is giving to his society.

The soul Remedy

The Dewa Ruci, the excerpt studied this week is a book about mystical teaching. This text explains what and how to learn. in fact the student must be willing to learn before starting the process. being aware that we lack knowledge is essential. Trying to obtain it by force is a trap in fact : “ They are empty, making a sound like the wind. Only their will is strong. They do not receive teaching of the true law.They are full of pride, and fruitless.” On the other hand , a teacher should not be arrogant even though his statues allows him to be so.
The Dewa Ruci is more than a revelation. It is as a small magic box, once opened it offers spiritual gifts. As a guidance, it reflects both the importance of knowledge and the willingness to learn. Both must be present to fruitily: "Austere practices without knowledge come to nothing while knowledge without austere practices". This is maybe the most important lesson someone would learn. This is why the non ending journey of acquiring knowledge must be fueled with a strong desire to learn that should always be protected from all vices.
Another thing noticed is that the powers within us are not equally distributed. in a sense that it is easier to deviate from the right path than to stay straight. Human beings are described as vassals between the seen and unseen. " the red, yellow, and black [of the] destroyers of good actions, in waiting, [with] only the white as a barrier against the uprising of arrogance. The five symbolized that he had now conquered them in one moment, lest he forget that he [now] had the nature of a true vassal "
 When one is aware of the existence of this unseen power, and welcome it humbly then and only then may he embrace his true nature. "If once you achieve your goal, don’t be a chatterbox. Use common sense when speaking, for this is knowledge that must be protected.” The most interesting point, is that it is a secret knowledge that needs to be kept and protected. Though, everyone on earth may have heard about this knowledge at least once in their life regardless of their culture. It is here but not everyone can learn it, only the pure-hearted. The ones free from vices, from desires and arrogance. At that moment they can see what is unseen, hear what is unheard as if they traveled to another dimension, where language is different. If they use their tongue childishly they will be wrongly understood causing more harm than good.
The Dewa Ruci describes the human being as a puppet who would move and perform perfectly if he allows the Devine power to make one with his soul.At that moment, our inner self would reach its enlightenment. The perfect aim in life is described here as becoming "aware of the one high power penetrating the whole universe of creation”. It is a journey of seeking the truth behind existence . Through which one would be aware of the unseen. There would be codes behind real and fake, new senses would be awakened as if one changed dimensions without changing his place. A delightful freedom yet a different perspective; and being different is never easy.

Cesar

William Shakespear witnessed a chaotic situation in the England history where powerful people fought for the kingdom, and he was inspired by this situation. The same thing happened in Rome, after the death of Julius Ceasar. William Shakespear, in the 3^rd Act of Julius Ceasar, wanted to explain more what happened after the death of a powerful leader. In this act, we discover 2 speeches of Brutus and Mark Anthony, both of them trying to convince and persuade the citizens, after the killing of the leader who was also their friend.

The first speech we read is Brutus Speech. Brutus was a wise and honorable man and concerned by the common good. He was one of Ceasar’s friends. He was the one who killed his friend because he thought that Ceasar was about to become a tyrant, as he was a very ambitious leader. Being an ambitious leader is forbidden in this society. It was accepted to be in high esteem but never the greatest. A general, but never a king. As a good leader, Ceaser seemed ambitious more than he should have. It costed him his life. The assumption that he might be more powerful created enough fear in the senate pushing them to kill him. After explaining to the people the true reason why Brutus and the senate killed the leader of Rome, they convinced them that it was the best thing to do and that it was for the good of Rome and how Brutus “ Not that he loved Ceasar less, but that he loved Rome more.”

The 2^nd Speech was Mark Anthony’s. Now this speech is a lot different, and for me a lot more powerful. Mark Anthony persuaded the citizens by making them think, and playing more on the emotions. He skillfully calls attention to the paradoxes in Brutus' speech without specifically expressing them himself. He utilizes repetition and facetious inquiries to bring about his crowd to see the circumstance for what it is. At that point the speech closes with him turning out to be so sincerely mixed he can't proceed. Antony's speech contains the components of feeling and keenness making it a general all the more intense discourse. Antony as a real friend who loved the person of ceaser proves that the defunct was innocent of ambition so we can understand that what Brutus said confirming that they had to kill him in order to kill his ambition was wrong. So the cause of his death was only an assumption based on fear with no physical proof. For sure, Marc Antony's speech characterizes a defining moment in the play as he rouses the group to such a high emotional point.

Hrafnkel's Saga

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" said Þorkell in Hrafenkel’s Saga which means you can't expect to achieve anything if you never take any risks. Does this proverb sound undeniable to you? It does? But, only misery comes from the particular undertaking that starts with Þorkell saying this. Sagas are long stories of heroic achievement. They were written in the Old Norse language, mainly in Iceland. Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða is one of them, a saga of wealth, revenge and power. Hrafnkel is his name, godi means priest although it also came to mean chieftain, and Frey was the Norse god of fertility. The saga of Hrafnkel the priest of Frey, recites the struggles between chieftains and farmers in the east of Iceland in the 10^th century, it is characterized by its logical structure and plausible, vivid characters.

The story depicts and mainly focuses on how the eponymous hero Hrafenkel, who changes from a religious practitioner to a self-interested character, realizes that power doesn’t lie on the worship of Gods, but in the loyalty’s of one’s subordinates. Is he right? Morally, this seems to be incorrect, because we know that what is moral is determined by what God commands. What about pragmatically?

In this society you get reputation and high statues by strength. He is considered leader the one who is good to his people and bad to the others as it is stated: "he was a very unjust man, though able. He forced the men of Jökulsdalr to serve as his supporters at the Assembly, and was kind and reasonable with his own men, but harsh and inflexible with the men of Jökulsdalr, and they got no justice from him. “

This means that we are in a society where you need to be powerful to survive. Being humble, kind and forgiving brings you only bad outcomes.

             

Having a good understanding of the concept of leadership is fundamental to be a leader. Whatever ethical plane to hold to, when someone is responsible for people, its important for him to raise the bar even higher. The group is a reflection of the leader himself, and if he makes honest, courage, confidence and the ethical behaviors a key values, the team will follow and there will be the leadership. Having self-confidence helps a person set his goals and achieve them easily. As its explained by Dr. Branden (Psychologist) When self-confidence is little, negatives have much more additional power over us than positives. We are inspired further more by the wish to prevent discomfort than to feel pleasure. If we do not trust in ourselves and in our value or in our adorability and goodness then the universe will be a terrifying place. No matter how intense you try to overcome it, breakdowns will happen. Which is acceptable, you just need to know how to deal with them. Famous leaders take them in steps. They persist to be calm and rationally think through the situation. They use their resources. What they don’t do is descent apart and expose to their team how concerned they are. This leads to negative confidence and terror. Strong leaders do in fact guide, even when they’re confronted with obstacles. In order to insure everything will go in the right path no matter what gets in their way and the most important thing is not to show to their team that there is stress.

The War of the Righteous Way

A righteous conduct may not guarantee a successful life. Good and bad deeds may just be perspectives. In life, there is no absolute answer; everything is relative. Acquiring trust from people seems to be more powerful than acting right. Contentment may be the key to inner peace. 
The text is an extract from a daoism book composed by three different stories, each one ending on a lesson. It is a silent war between Confucianism and Daoism. The first party composed by Confucius, Tzu-Chang and Never-Enough; aimed to convince the second party composed by Robber Chih, Want-it-all and Sense-of-Harmony that the righteous way is the unique path towards a successful life. Each part of the Zhuangzi story teaches us a new and different lesson about righteous conduct in the eye of all the six main characters.

Confucius, a sage and humble man thinking that Robber Chih was a greedy rebellious who needed to be tamed, tried to convince him that he has the possibility to be the best person if he focuses on his qualities. Robber Chih affirmed that being good or bad will not change the fatality part. In order to succeed one needs to fight, and being good, will cause you even more trouble. He used Confucius’s examples while responding back and moreover, criticized his way of thinking by stating him as a hypocrite, profiteer and the real robber. In fact, Confucius from being an honored man, in a blink of an eye, became a person who survives dependent on powerful people. One should criticize himself before looking at others.

Tzu-Chang was trying to convince want it all that the righteous conduct is the best path toward success. He stated that in order to be honored one should have a good conduct, which was proven wrong by Want it All claiming that “The petty thief is imprisoned but the big thief becomes a feudal lord” enhancing the idea that being a powerful bad man is enough to gain success and reputation and evil conduct can offer you gain and reputation indeed. He adds that whether being a good or a bad man, in the end, you will lose your true self. And at that point, nothing is worth it. Even though the good man and the bad man differ in these aspects, they are equal in terms of the price they are willing to pay for their aiming which is their true self. Another interesting point shows that the righteous conduct can be someone’s fatality. One should be flexible and remember that all is a matter of perspective, indeed, a righteous conduct for someone can be interpreted as evil; for example: A good man saved his family by killing a murderer who happens to be his brother, can be interpreted as: An evil man killed his own brother.

Never Enough argues that one should always fuel more and more his ambitions. Satisfaction and contentment should never be present in someone’s mind. Being ambitious is good, but we should not allow it to become our way of thinking. In fact, Sense-of-Harmony responded that being always thankful for what we have is the inner success. Being satisfied by the heaven in you is what gives you power over what can destroy you. Surpassing a just measure will bring misfortune. Indeed, an extreme virtue becomes a vice; for instance: religion is considered as the right path. Though, while trying to embrace it to its fullest, one become extremist and known as extremist. And aiming to be a helping hand, he turns out to be a terror, a monster.

Leadership, power and reputation are valuable goals in one's life. Though, as for anything in this world, everything has a price. One should always look for the best trade off. Succeeding in life with a reasonable deal. One should remember his past, enjoy his present to the fullest and build a hope for the future. Living only for the future would lead to the greater loss, the present; which takes also the past in its drowning leaving the person with an illusion of his dreams, regretful and despaired.