Poem For Sale (Inquire Within)

Pennies and cents loom over me
Talent and drive by the pound
Some days I don’t even know how I get around
Pennies and cents, I savor the strain
I feel like 2pac screaming, “No more pain!”
I wonder why and literally create with my own hands
Artisan spirit, economy demands
Pennies and cents
Change for some, sacred for me
One big tribe of creativity
Barter, trade, switch,
Hook me up with your stee
Yet and still,
Pennies and cents loom over me
Damn Adam Smith and his
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Fuck laissez-faire, I fucken mean that from the heart
Forcing me to put a price on my one of a kind art
Blood, sweat, tears, canvas cold hard cash
If it were up to me I swear to God money would be trash
That shits the devil to a financially illiterate individual that loves to live free
Hence, the title of this poem,
“Pennies and cents loom over me”
Money makes the world go round, that’s just to keep it real
When you ask me to do something for free
How you think that makes me feel?
To place a price, when rent is due seems like a good trade
We’ve reached this point, please respect the path we pave
it’s not a hobby, this is my source of income
Life’s not cozy, but my friends are real
Worse come to worse I know I can always count on a humble meal
I understand GURU wanting Mass Appeal
To translate the love into dollars because secretly,
I don’t know if you know this but,
Pennies and cents loom over me…
Alternative economy, black market stee,
But even there you will find a need for currency
If you don’t believe me, I’ll sell you this poem as proof of my reality
The going rate for this piece to be heard
Will be five bucks a pop, and if you aint got it on you, fuck it,
I’ll take what you got, you’re my client
I’m your artist and for you I’ll produce only high quality, top notch,
Mutual aid, you put food in my fridge
Nice shirts, maybe a nice watch
But overall more than hearing me vent
This is an honest buck that helps pay my rent
In my pocket as of now I have lint, pennies and cents
Este es el trueque, y esta e mi canasta,
Mochense con el billello, este es mi cello
My raw material, this is my seal,
Proof of purchase that your working class poet keeps it real
Tell the world you paid top dollar for these words
Tell them I strategized the morphemes,
Syntax, nouns and verbs
Attention to detail with aesthetic symmetry
And all because, capital forces
Pennies and cents to loom over me
So before I go any further, with all due respect,
From artist to client, I ask for one and only one favor
And that is to at all times respect my labor,
That being said, the condition for my reciting this
Is solely to get ahead,
Time’s up poems over, what’s up client?
Break bread.

Working Class Life(Online Mixtape)

Something to hold you over and get a glimpse into my perspective
Working Class Life(Online Mixtape)

Working Class Life(Online Mixtape) by ElGrasshopper

Nothing 2 Lose (Loosenut)

Frank Gorshin (OG Riddler From the "Batman" TV series.)

I go all in like nothing to lose
like i got the backing of all my trues
been done paid off all my dues
deciphered and broke down all the clues
not lacking, stacking poetic stanzas
words are the paint, ears become canvas
hear ye, hear ye, we are no longer in Kansas
i'll hit you hard with subversive dialectic grammar
like sharp sickles and a big ass hammers
walk the path, sway but never stagger
revolt of the roaches, preemptive scatter
and when we reconvene
the enemies dream will finally shatter
in the end collective victory is what really matters
i got this revenge and it eats away at me bitterly
know what I mean? seriously, code red type like emergency
words morph into verbal literary artillery
dumping words clean, spazzing out cynically
Ain't no stopping me, this is lyrical diversity
PhD Red Brick Hard Knock University
releasing ill rhymes makes my life livable
triple entendres with every last syllable
like c.d.'s and tapes to everything digital
I've come a long way and with persistence
success has proven to be cyclical
my style at first glance appears simple yet not typical
split second later all these words become visual
i only ask for your attention and the occasional residual
how do you figure I'm not going to mention
the financial means to my spiritual ritual?
i have no ill intention, trying to make an honest buck
in this life nothings promised
i rely on talent more so than luck
entitlement tends to get some minds stuck in a rut
so what i do is take out the blinds that have us all stuck
chuck them shits and trust our own gut
and if not then label me 5150,
screw loose, loose nut,
you know me OG (...like i give a fuck)

Unexpected Victory Mixtape Trailer

Props to Raekwon for dropping a free mixtape that bangs.

(Unexpected Victory) Raekwon Mixtape Review

Download Link: http://www.livemixtapes.com/download/15743/raekwon_unexpected_victory.html

A good way to start off the New Year is with some new music, two free mixtapes hit as freedownloads on the first, Reakwons “Unexpected Victory” and T.I.’s “Fuck Da Street Up” I downloaded both. First one I threw on was Chef’s shit, I’ve heard random shit here and there but it’s been on me really that I haven’t kept up with Rae (even though he is one of the forefathers of the drug flow), and a free mixtape ain’t bad, it has a sick line up on the production and has mad features, it has a song in there produced by 9th Wonder called, “A Pinebox Story” a sick beat just like 9th Wonder is known to do over one of those infamous rhymes with no hook and mad bars, he compliments the features really well, it’s the evolved flow, seen from the eyes of an older God, “Goodfellas” is a good example of that, production on that is pretty ill, got those violin sound effects. I’m thrown off track by the next song, it’s got that smooth beat, romantic tip, and I see who’s on the track, yo, CL Smooth. Ha, you gotta hear that track, imma leave it at that. Good one Rae, that shit bangs. Track 7, “That goog good” I’m going to play that track out, that’s the kind of track that gets you ready for your day, he says, “Fly’d up poet” The Chef is definitely on point, the parallels of rap/rhymes as drugs is present, reinvented, stepping his game up knowing that it’s a different and younger generation of listeners, cyber listeners , that download, I’m hearing track 10 (This Shit is Hard) and taken back to the Cuban Linx album and heard that rap style and how it was tapes and c.d.’s and now in 2012 two decades heavy in the game after the innovation of the download and to stay relevant, he is pushing rhymes, the succesful hustler adjusts to the game and handles. YOOO, TRACK 11 (Soldiers Story) on the reflective tip right from the get go, but from the eyes of a teacher, he goes in hard and does one of those flows like from the days with Cappadona and Ghost, the joint begins like this, “From out the rising sun, north/ I max in a loft, writing poetry/ click, clack my brain will go off…” and goes in for a cool minute. Certified BANGER. The track I’m most anxious about is the one called MTV Cribs, hearing a rhyme from Busta on a Raekwon Mixtape is a good way to begin a year, just came on, matter of fact I’m gonna play it back cus that sounded like grown folk rap (never thought I’d see the day I’d say that err.. type that), rewind, press play. “Yo, I welcome ya’ll in my crib, the fortress of I, Self, Lord and Master/ Crystal chandeliers looking like Satellite dishes from NASA/ Yeah, you niggas is bugged/ shoes forbidden in my crib especially on my Alaskan Polar Bear rugs..” and if you listen carefully you’ll hear a shout out to Basquiat. This is good product. The track with Capone-N-Noriega is fire. The Chef baked up a good batch of that bomb with the exception of maybe Face time (track 15), the mixtape as a whole caters to new fans, his regular fan base and to those that might be stuck on the 95 album and maybe to those that only know the myth of “Shallah Raekwon The Chef” , he’s no longer in his early twenties and isn’t trying to sound like he did in 95, he’s a grown ass man that set the precedent for a genre within hip hop, right there from the birth, this is the evolution. “…emotionally frustrated from the paper, no end and no beginning” (Track 16, “Gansta Cazals” Feat Styles P, JD Era, Camouflage) Through the mixtapes up and downs I think the brother made good. Being one of those heads that first heard The Cuban Linx album in 95, I quote “Striving for Perfection” (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx) “I'm not trying to just be, sitting on motherfucking two-hundred thou and acting like I'ma just be a drug dealer all my life, nah son, I got bigger and better plans son…” Yup, bigger and better plans.
(tried listening to T.I.’s mixtape but it carries a different pace than Rae’s I’m burning one giving it a quick lesson, “Fuck Da City Up” we'll see...)
-G.Hop


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