PORTFOLIO & REPERTOIR

I know what you’re thinking… Enough with the: “Starbucks Mania – I gotta have my latte perfect so I can Instagram the foam heart on top, bullshit!” Relax, that’s not where I’m going… Stay with me. The much more relevant idea beneath the seemingly forced existentialism in my original question, is this idea: If we could begin to discern our likes and dislikes down to the minutest detail and not punish ourselves for them, are we in indirectly feeding our productivity (not taking away from it) by feeding our happiness? I can’t speak for everyone, but I assume there has to be others out there like me, that often, self punish or bad talk themselves, when they gravitate towards a preference “they can do without”. This could be a particular brand of coffee, a T.V. show that is a guilty pleasure, a daily ritual, an exercise regiment, a meal, a possession, etc. Anything that sets the alarm off on this inner voice that says, “You don’t have to have this exactly like that. You’re being rid...

Poet Ali , a photo by TEDxOrangeCoast on Flickr.

Poet Ali , a photo by TEDxOrangeCoast on Flickr.

My commitment to you is: where you see this logo, you will know that I poured all I had into this project.  I ask that you please help me share by following these pages where I will post my latest projects. It will only take a second. I won't waste your time.

some choreography for my students I was asked to create a combo for a breakdown of this song - it the assignment was for all females, thus I employed the use of my gluteous maximus auraleus - spell check - holla'

Dear Friends, I would be nothing to you if I did not take what I have learned from my time here on earth and share it.  Especially with those I love: My Friends. The last 5 years have left me particularly silent about the subject of my Dad's passing...At least publicly.  I can assure you there was no silence in my heart or in my writings, as I have filled more pages than anyone will ever know.   My Fathers Eyes - A Special Dedication Recently I have been thinking of my closest friends (many of whom are in their late twenties and early thirties). As time dawns on us all, I realize that the most loving gift I can give to them is to talk of the very thing that has robbed me of so much of joy: Losing my Father.  But even m ore important: The dire necessity for someone to spend time with their own father. If I could not muster this courage, I would be no friend of yours.  I would be nothing to you.  This is a realm I know all too we...

Once upon a time in Hip Hop music our greatest icons, those we aspired to be like were not only gifted writers, truth spitters, and lyricists, but those who had the lyrical prowess to spontaneously improvise rhymes, verses, and sometimes entire songs. I have spent my training in this art form in the wake of those historic greats.  We need to take our culture back.  Too often you see a post on the internet or a clip about someone dropping a freestyle and the education needs to be put out there - DO NOT CALL IT A FREESTYLE IF YOU ARE KICKING A WRITTEN VERSE!!! PERIOD! That would be the equivalent of a Jazz Musician saying he was improvising a solo when he had it completely charted out, or an artist drawing something "freehand" when he had light pencil lines underneath of the sketch.   And this isn't about new school, old school, or any other BS movement. It's simply about proper terminology.  Call your performance - live 16, or flowing, or rapping live, or whate...