Its been a long time since hip-hop has seen a female lyricist with raw talent and a true love for the game. Face it, femcees such as MC Lyte and Queen Latifa, who helped give life to hip-hop through revolutionary lyrics, don't exist anymore. Instead we're forced to listen to artists like Nicki Minaj, who are slowly stealing the life out of the art with elementary lyrics and sexploitation. However, just when I started to lose faith in any female artist taking over the game, this young female emcee came out from the shadows and it couldn't have come at a better time. She was born Kelli Mallory to Kenneth and Cassandra Mallory, on December 4, 1983. Majority of her childhood was spent in Washington, D.C. and her teenage years, up until now, have been spent in Prince George's County Maryland. She is currently a student at the Art Institute of Washington, working on her Bachelor of Science degree in Audio Engineering.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Jai Blazin....
Her name is street given; Jai, pronounced "jy," is a slang term known in the DMV (DC, MD, and VA) to mean "kind of," and Blazin, meaning hot. "My fellow artists and peers would compliment my music or presence on stage stating that I was 'jy blazing'." She felt that it sounded much better than Young Trice, a name that she was previously using, so she altered the spelling of it and made moves to turn it into a household name. She first learned that she had a way with words at the age of 13. "I was always a writer, from poems to high school English papers. Vocabulary can show growth and to me, it was profound, and through it I believed in making music fortifying," she said. In high school, she realized she could flow off the top of her head, when her teammates would make beats on the bleachers and freestyle to them before basketball games. By the age of 15, she was writing songs for personal pleasure. She performed in front of a crowd for the first time at the School Without Walls SHS in Washington, D.C. When asked what it felt like to be performing for the first time she replied, "it felt like being kissed for the first time by someone you REALLY like! It almost felt like I was high without the substance to do so with!" Since then, she has performed at a list of events, but says that Bowie State University Homecoming Yardfest has been her favorite place thus far; this year made it her 2nd appearance for that event. THE MIXTAPE Today, October 31, 2010, Jai Blazin is releasing her much anticipated mixtape, "The Best To Never Do It." She chose to release her mixtape on Halloween because she says she's "a monster when it comes to this music thing," and this project is so powerful that its scary. She says that she got the inspiration for the title from a couple of things; birth being one and because if she were to stop making music right now, she would be the best to never do it; meaning the best to never sign with a record label, the best to never become internationally known and still be the best despite never being able to make a difference in the world. "At birth, you haven't done anything yet to set a historical mark or anything important for that matter besides entering the world. When I was born, I was at my best already without ever doing anything." The mixtape consists of 19 tracks and while majority of the instrumentals are industry, she does have some original and distinct sounds that come from a couple of producers; Bravo-Danga, who is featured on 2 of the tracks, and Kayo The God, a rap extraordinaire from D.C. who has a project of his own entitled "And It Begins," coming out on 12/15/10. "I didn't work with many people on this particular project because by being my first compilation, I wanted the listeners to get to know me without it being drowned in features." Some of the other artists that she did have the pleasure of working with besides Bravo-Danga and Kayo The God were Dagga, B-Ez and McGhee. According to Jai Blazin, the mixtape has a 90's twist with a lot of lyrical content. "I wanted it to have a REAL hip hop feel, something that'll take years to comprehend but you love it right away." She says that she was able to let her personality shine; she is the same person on the mixtape as she is off of it. "I had NO dictators. My team & others who participated in the project were very supportive and were just playing as the audience." Networking and promoting helped her gain new friends and fans. The question remains, is Jai Blazin what hip hop has been missing? "I do feel as though I am the missing piece to the music industry. I have self respect, a genuine love for music and I have an attitude of someone who wants to change the world." She feels like hip hop is missing balance due to the lack of females in the industry, past and present, and it's missing substance. "Artists don't even make albums anymore. All you need is a hot single to make a few bucks and you're good. They talk about anything now, they've lost originality." There are several things that she hopes her audience will take away from this project. "I'm hoping that the audience gets life from it. Whether you're down on your luck or everything is perfect, I pray that this compilation of music sends you higher than that." More importantly, she wants the youth to understand that if they have a dream, don't be afraid to live it. "Never let anyone tell you that your dreams are beyond your imagination or too far to be reached. Don't be afraid to be yourself." You can request a hard copy of the mixtape through email or login to Facebook, Twitter, datpiff.com, livemixtapes.com, and reverbnation.com for the link. The download link will support all PC's, laptops, ipods, and cell phones. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD "THE BEST TO NEVER DO IT" Contact Info for Jai Blazin Email: jaiblazin143@yahoo.com Facebook: facebook.com/jaiblazin Twitter: twitter.com/jaiblazin Youtube: youtube.com/jaiblazin Datpiff: datpiff.com/jaiblazin Want to view the whole interview? Check writersinkorporated.tumblr.com for the entire Q & A session.
Hunter Scott has been fighting brain cancer for 3 years. He will be turning 7 on Oct. 23rd, according to his doctors, this may be his last. When asked what he wanted for his birthday, he replied LOTS OF BDAY CARDS. Please help by sending your birthday cards
Hunter Scott c/o Jessica Koehn P.O. Box 278 St. Leonard, MD 20685.
Please repost and pass on the message to all your friends. Let's help bring a big smile to Hunter!
...Columbus Day? So we're still celebrating frauds, thieves, oppressors, & murders I see. In honor of Columbus Day I am going to go next door, tell my neighbors I found their house first, enslave them, give them small pox, no wait a modern day disease....AIDS! Yea! And then I'm going to keep the house as my own. Sounds like a master plan to get a holiday in my honor! Most people have no clue as to the foundations that this country was built upon. The lies and deceit that educators have passed on as our history only fertilize seeds of false identities. The only way to know where we are headed is to know where we came from.
THE TRUTH: 1. You can't discover a place if people already live there. Columbus landed on America and encountered Native Americans. Hence, he did not discover America.
2. According to an excerpt from Indians are Us (Common Courage Press, 1994), after arriving in the Americas "he promptly instituted policies of slavery (encomiendo) and systematic extermination against the native Taino population."
3. Columbus and his forces participated in what we know as genocide. Another excerpt of the book shows written proof from one of the commanders admits to giving the natives blankets and handkerchiefs that were infected with small pox.
Thats not even half of the story....
Celebrating Columbus Day is like embracing Slavery or the Holocaust and it welcomes the idea that we as a nation will tolerate such acts in the future. If we continue to celebrate this "holiday," we might as well give Adolf Hitler and Willie Lynch a day of their own. What do you think?
I remember when bullying consisted of one person known by the whole school and it usually meant that if you weren't the bully, you got the crap kicked out of you on the playground, after school, or in the locker room. It resulted in a few black eyes, your lunch money getting stolen, or you ended up being stuffed inside of a locker. That was before computers and cellphones ruled the world and bullies weren't worried about anonymity. But just as technology has changed, so has the act of bullying and the effects it has on its victims. Cyber bullying; the new trend in terror amongst children, teens, and even college students. It can be defined as one person targeting another person by using the internet, cell phones, interactive and digital technologies to threaten, harass, torment, humiliate, and embarrass them. According to www.stopcyberbullying.org, there are two types of cyber bullying; direct attacks and cyberbullying by proxy. Direct attacks involve text messaging, instant messaging, impersonation, sending porn,stealing passwords, sending viruses, sending personal pictures or videos through email or SMS messages, and interactive gaming such as Xbox live or online gaming. Cyberbullying by proxy is when the cyberbully gets someone else to do the damage for them. They may pose as their target online and use the people around them to participate without their knowledge; this can sometimes even mean adults. Cyberbulling has never really been exploited in the media until recently, when Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi took his own life, after his roommate, Dharun Ravi, and one other person, Molly Wei, streamed video of him engaging in a sexual act with another man. According to the NY Times, Ravi posted a message on Twitter on September 19th admitting to turning on his webcam from Wei's room the night that Clementi asked for the room until midnight. He attempted to produce another live feed on the 21st, just a day before Clementi jumped off of the George Washington Bridge. Ravi and Wei are both being charged with invasion of privacy. The effects of bullying doesn't stop with Clementi; he was just one of five teens who committed suicide over a 3 week span because they were being taunted over their sexual orientation. Thats not where it started either. Let's not forget April of 2009 when a Georgia fifth grader, Jaheem Herrera and 11 year old, Massachusetts native, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, both committed suicide after being bullied at school. The truth is, bullying might as well be a modern day genocide. It is about time that communities come together to help prevent bullying in schools, neighborhoods, as well as homes and places of business. Educating children, at home and at school, about the consequences of bullying and instilling in them respect for others during early childhood is a start. Teaching children to stand up against bullying won't prevent it from happening but it will help show bullies that there is no place for that type of "violence" in their community. Most importantly, teach your children to report bullying and encourage teachers to take it seriously. Teachers who fail to intervene should be held accountable as well. Parents should be active in their children's lives and know what types of activities they participate in. I understand that after a certain age, kids want to keep their parents at as much of a distance as they can, but as a parent, you need to know how much distance is too much. Bullying can cause victims to live a life full of fear, anxiety, loneliness, and depression; ask yourself, "is that really any way to live?" Bullies should be held accountable for their actions up to 100%. In my opinion, Ravi & Wei should be charged with more than just invasion of privacy. In fact, anyone who could be the cause of someone else taking their own life should be charged with murder. I am by no means knowledgeable in law, but in cases such as these the maximum punishment just doesn't seem enough for the hurt and pain a bully inflicts on their victims. It's time that everyone stood up and said no to bullying.
