Growing (Up)
Howdy neighbors. Who is this? It is me, the G.O.O.D. Music Guardian Angel, Malik Yusef the Wordsmyth – AKA Mr. Let Me Get That Up Out Ya, AKA Alec Smart, AKA African American Gigolo, AKA Richard Gear.
I know I skipped a week but it has been crazy. I had a Grammy Pre-Party that was nuts, then of course the Grammy's took place – Kanye snapped obviously, then it was off to Vegas (some things I wanted to bring ya'll but they had to stay in Vegas, ya'll know the rules) but what I can speak on is that me, GLC and Taz from SA-RA had a G.O.O.D. Music suite party during MAGIC. It was hosted by Legendary DJ Clark Kent (please tell me you know who dude is), the clothing brands Nibiru, Phli, Fashion Geek and SatMorn who does Voltron.
And, all of this while still being on tour with Jill Scott and Raheem DeVaughn.
So, I know it is a little bit late but I need to borrow my vacuum cleaner back (I think it is so funny how I said "borrow my" because you can't borrow your own stuff back from anyone).
"But always the more" (never the less) we do the shit anyway. Ask for items, things and stuff back that already is ours, humbly requesting ced goods back from the people we know we had no business given it to in the first place, such important intricate part of our homes, lives, selves.
But yet and still, we hope against all hopes, that if we give a pig pearls, he or she will value it as much as we do. So we cast and hope, then "cuss" and borrow. So every time we do this, we are practicing something, a behavior if you will and each and every time you practice something, you become a little more likely to perform that act again only the next time with more frequency and less thought. Just like practicing jump rope or spades or swimming or driving or you get the "Picasso". There's a saying that the neurons (tiny little parts of your brain) that work together (practice) grow together. This is the reason, like bike riding is very hard to forget because the neurons have worked and grown together.
So, growing is what is bound to happen if you keep living. Sometimes you just grow tired, sometimes you grow old, sometimes you grow crooked but trust and you will grow. I suggest doing the most difficult growth of all – the valiant effort to defy gravity – the much talked about, the heavenly attempted, rarely achieved, "growing-UP". See, most of us, "including me" have never dissected that word. I should write a book one day called "The Art of Growing Up". Wow, that's some hard shit. We grow vegetables, we grow hair, go-tees and shit, some of ya'll I never met or have numbers on – grow weed. That's not American. But have you ever really tried to grow up? Not talkin' bout puberty, that is inevitable, talking bout actually "growing-upward".
But I guess the biggest part of growing up is out growing the things you are custom to but in actuality, serve you no purpose. So when I was doin' everything I could to get this certain woman to love me, I found that I gave her far too many precious things. Things I bought, things I learned, even things I received from other people, hoping that she would reciprocate (give them back). Do you all think she did? Of course not, she only took them for herself – used them at her lesure, exhibit them as examples of my indulgence. Primarily for her amusement and at times, the amusement of others. So as the hours of self-torture turn into days of the same, after months of this (years of this, who am I kidding?) askin' for my shit back, I decided to outgrow the need to please this individual. But it is said that the oppressed unceaseingly seek the approval of the oppressor. So I had to elevate my status, raise the esteem of myself and stand up for myself because I had grown wary of my circumstances by this point. So I made the steps to make the movement to GROW myself upwardly and away from those that would hold me down (her). Now, I will not tell you what her name is in this blog, maybe in a future one or in a poem to come but I will say that I am still growing "UP".
Peace to ya'll (in the most sincere voice I can muster)
I thank you and I love you.
Peace Out, Malik Yusef – AKA Mr. State Farm (I am always there like A Good Neighbor)