Heaven, Surprises & New roads

This was Originally Posted in July 2007 on (Speechmusic.com) Hey yawl, Gotta show respects to XXL magazine, MTV, VH-1, Smithsonian, BBC TV, V103fm and Queen Mother Imakhu’s radio show for showing love to AD last week! On the eve of our new album release (October 16th) we bout to hit places that we have never seen before: Singapore, Jerusalem (w/Black Eyed Peas), Dubai, & INDIA! Plus we’re about to hit Santa Monica (Aug. 9th), Jacksonville, Boston, New Haven, DC, Charlottesville, Asheville, Japan (Bringing in the New years), and more dates are still rolling in. Things are growing, like Afrika Bam said “It’s working!” If you wanna get a glimpse of the Brooklyn show I talked about last time, we got some new video of it on our official site! Also…Props to Ithaca, NY for their huge support and a wonderful night to remember a few weeks back! We are shopping for Publicist for the new release, and it’s so hard to get publicity as a positive Hip Hop group in our contemporary music climate! If only I had killed a dude, or at least shot or robbed a man, it would be so much easier! We hear a bunch of magazines tell us "WOW, we LOVE AD, but I'm not sure if you have a place in today’s market?" I'm Like... today more than ever, there’s gotta be a place for us?! We're more relevant than ever before! They gotta come out to the shows, feel the energy, then their doubts will fade, folks want more than what they’re spoon fed! In fact, Yolanda & I was crusin’ through rural Tennessee last week and a white cop pulls us over (I guess, I was speeding :-). I’m like (ut oh) here’s the typical cop bout to harass the black dude in the sports car. It turns out that the cop is a huge fan of the group! He starts showing love for our songs and specifically our message! That same trip, we meet a brother whose puttin’ on the Million Father March this Saturday in Memphis, there’s also one in 200 other cities across the states. Black men are encouraging the fathers to take their kids to their first day of school. It’s a big deal! Cats surely feel the need for changes and this is just one example… Props to my mom on celebrating the 31st Anniversary of her paper, the Milwaukee Community Journal. On August 12th, MCJ will be celebrating black men! There are scholarships being given away, a bunch of cool things are going down. www.communityjournal.net There is room for music that uplifts life instead of death! OK, I am still on an absolute high from the sermon my friend Andrew preached at my church last night! The title was “Where do we all go after we die?” (Whew) The title alone is the subject of everyone’s personal thoughts at one point or another! It was SO revealing, so powerful that I got a whole new perspective on HOW MUCH God has planned for those who follow Him! So much in the bible FINALLY clicked for me after 13 years of questions & confusion! (I’m a preacher – yet I was so confused on this issue!) The topic of death is still something that I believe MOST folk don’t truly have a clue about. (Especially from a biblical perspective) I now better understand how a Christian in the 1st& 2nd Century would literally be burned alive or eaten by Lions rather than deny the name of Jesus! Whew, deep stuff! Just a few of the things I learned: 1.) Nobody’s in heaven, nor hell right now… 2.) THE DEAD are conscious, i.e.: - aware of their own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc. 3.) Hades and Hell is NOT the same thing (in the bible) 4.) Our Spirits, our souls, are not necessarily eternal 5.) Dog’s, other animals don’t go to heaven 6.) And God’s judgment of us, is strictly from what we do on earth! Once we die, we can’t change our fate. Ummm, juicy stuff right? (Smiles) Anyway…if anyone’s interested, simply hit me back and I can send you some notes! Speaking on death, Thursday, July 19th, while I was preparing to do a concert with AD, my last living grandma, Bernice Thomas, died. We all called her Grandma Bonnie. To say we miss her is an understatement. Grandma Bonnie was the type to welcome folks into her home, cook big meals and take you in. Throughout her life, Bonnie had a bunch of “kids” and most weren’t hers. (Feel me) I was on tour when I got the news. Then the night we arrived home from the tour… We pulled into our driveway and Queenie; my oldest dog ran up to greet us. But soon as we got out the car, Queenie quietly layed down and died right there in front of my wife, the kids and I. She lived with our family for 13 years, I know she literally waited until I came back to say bye. It was a deep week, and a surreal night. I buried Queenie the next morning. Life is Poetry. Peace & Strength, SPEECH