Buy Back the Block - Rick Ross

Give the Children their Medicine with Sugar in it....

I'm not a huge fan of the current climate in rap music. Today's music has way to much killing, drug dealing and womanizing for an old man like myself. Now that's not to say I don't enjoy ratchet car turn-ups but I can't personally listen to it all the time! On a recent trip during thanksgiving I came across this Rick Ross record " Buy Back the Block". When you get Rick, 2 Chainz and Gucci on one song you know there will be ratchetness BUT these three black kings give knowledge to the youth in between the ratchetness on this song. This song will hopefully push the young kings into realizing that they need to have OWNERSHIP! 

                                                                  Buy Back the Block

Thankful for friends and Booze.....

Thankful for friends and Booze.....

Tonight is the night (word to Betty Wright), the biggest drinking holiday of the year. Millions of people across the country will be returning home for thanksgiving weekend today and thanks to social media, majority of them will be planning unofficial class reunions at local bars and clubs. We live in a busy world and unfortunately we don’t get to hang with our hometown friends as often as we’d like to. For the majority of the year we like engagement announcements, wedding and baby pictures on Instagram until tonight when we can hang out with our friends in person like it was 1994. I’m literally planning such a meeting myself so I thought I’d share with you a few things to keep in mind….

Location

Keep in mind your hometown has likely changed a lot and even though it will always be home to you it likely is no longer as you remember it. So make sure you understand where things are now before you agree to a meet up with friends. If you read this blog often you know how much I’m against drunk driving, it’s one of the stupidest thing a person can do (the other is riding with someone who is drunk). You don’t want to sign yourself up for a bar across town knowing that the drinks will be flowing pretty heavy all night long. Your thanksgiving will really be ruined if you have to get bailed out of jail by your dad thanksgiving morning (but it would also allow the family to not talk about politics during dinner). So pick a location that is close to you or a heavy uber/taxi area.

Find a place that has the best drink special or willing to give your large group a discount. It’s worth a try to ask and you lose nothing by asking. Once you do all the leg work of the prep, pass the info to the group to help sell your case for choosing that bar/venue. I’m willing to bet my life, that everyone will be more than happy to enjoy your cost saving efforts.

Money

It’s the holiday season and you’ve likely been in the holiday spirit since October 1st, but it’s important to not spend a year’s worth of  savings in 3 months. The holidays are a slippery slope, you don’t want to put yourself in a hole that you will spend the next year digging out of because you got “glad hands” during the holiday season (“glad hands” is country talk, apologies to the city folk). Basically don’t get to the bar tonight and spend a bunch of money on shots for people just because you’ve been stunting on IG all year, so you feel the need show your antics in person. Set a limit for yourself to spend tonight and go get that money in cash from the ATM. Once you’ve spent your cash, your evening spending is done. Keep the debit/credit card in your pocket for an unforeseen emergency. I know you will get the urge to buy drinks because I struggle with that myself. I enjoy keeping the party going even if it is at my expense. But when it comes to buying drinks at the bar you need to be selective or else you’ll be buying drinks all night. If someone buys you a drink then sure return the favor on the next round. But don’t offer every long lost friend you encounter tonight a drink.

Curfew

I know you’re an adult and you can come in anytime you want. But tonight you need to come home at a respectable time. In my house my father is always the good cop! I could come home at 5 AM with half the bar with me and he would laugh it off and tell my guest to not wake my mother. Now if I try that with my mother, we will have joint funeral for everyone including my father. Parents often don’t say anything about you coming in late during the thanksgiving holiday because they want you to enjoy coming home; you should take in to account their feelings. Even though you’re an adult, your parents still worry about what you’re doing while running the city night life. So you can put their minds at ease by coming home at a respectable time tonight. You will also benefit from your mother getting extra sleep because she will be able to devote proper energy into the meal for tomorrow. We all love our friends but your friends can come visit you if they really miss you. Make this weekend about your parents and family, spend more time at home than in the bar!

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving folks! 

 

 

Let's discuss waxing...

Hey ladies, lets talk about waxing…… I consider myself a feminist, I support and love women. I believe the strength of any nation can be judged off the lives of their women. Even though I believe women are much stronger than men in many situations, I enjoy engaging in "friendly" discussions about the differences between women and men. One of these discussions got me in trouble recently and caused me to have to get waxed. So recently I walked into a waxing shop and laid down to get my chest waxed. Thankfully for company policy an audience wasn’t allowed, but there is a video floating around of the whole chest waxing experience. So leaving out of this experience I have a couple of questions for the ladies (and men) that get waxed. Now my chest has never felt as smooth since the day I was born, so I can understand why people would like the feel of a fresh wax. And to the dismay of many people I realized it didn’t really hurt that bad.  But my issue is the price. Just for a chest waxing cost $60…. I couldn’t do that every 4 weeks personally. Too much money lost just for a smooth chest that only isn't put on display often. Now if I was a young guy running around with my shirt off, then sure I’d wax up before a trip to Vegas. But I’m entering my dad bod years, so I don’t think I should be spending $60 to achieve this feeling. As a feminist I understand that there are a few things that I will never understand but I have to support a womans choice to do them. Waxing is one of them even though I’ve never rubbed a womans leg and said  “girl you’ve shaved your legs, I don’t think we can be together” but I understand it makes women feel good. So just by that fact, it’s none of my business what they choose to do even if I personally along with many other men cant tell the difference. My only suggestion is we must find a way to do this in a cheaper way. I don’t know the cost for waxing for more than a chest,  but I imagine it’s more than $60. So ladies if you enjoy waxing, find a cheaper way to do this. Following my waxing I was educated on home wax verse commercial hot wax, and realize that doing it from home really isn’t a safe or effective option. Lets think of some options like finding a cheaper place for waxing, a coupon,  or buying multiple waxes up front for a price break. Enjoy what you love doing ladies and gentlemen, but you have to find a way to save money doing those things that make you happy.

Veterans Day is for the VETS

I support the veterans of this country and I support any initiative assisting the lives of veterans. Many restaurants offer a free meal for vets on Veterans Day and stores offer discounts. Which I love! While it’s crazier than a mad house anywhere in public on those days but I enjoy knowing that the people who sometimes pay the ultimate sacrifice can enjoy a meal or a discount. I mean it’s the least we can do for the people who keep us free. I hate seeing vets unable to find jobs or homeless while some millionaire trust fund baby skips out paying taxes. I encourage every vet to get out there and enjoy every few meal you can on Veterans Day! What I don’t encourage or agree with is people who attempt to get these perks without serving in the military! For those of you that don’t know, government access cards for civilian employees look a lot like the id for active duty service members. Undoubtly each year you will have some jerk who hasn’t seen a day of boot camp putting their civilian CAC on the counter for a veteran’s discount. Nothing makes my blood boil more than disrespect, and I deem this as totally disrespectful! I’m all about being “cheap” but you should NEVER seek to be this cheap! Come on folks, you can't be that strapped for cash that you have to go into ihop for a free meal. I mean seriously, you shouldn’t do this! Imagine speaking with a vet from the booth next to you and they find out you’ve never spent a day in the military? Can you imagine how that would feel? That would make me want to hide under a rock! The only way to reap any benefits on this day for the non veteran patrons is to take your vet out on this day. You aren't paying for that meal but you get to spend some time with your loved one on this special day. Make sure you  thank these men and women for their service and treat them with love and respect each and every day, not only on veterans day. 

This ain't Got Nothing to do with Money - Chance the Rapper

Chance the Rapper

I am a huge fan of his music and an even bigger fan of his business moves. For those of you who have been living under a rock, Chance the Rapper is the biggest star in music (I am not here to debate this, its fact). The thing that makes him so great is his subject matter, he offers a clear positive message for the world during a time of anger, rage and misguidance. Chance has given me music I can listen to in the car with my niece and nephews while appearing "hip" to the new music star to the youngsters. I forgot to mention that this unicorn of hip hop is from Chicago and doesn't glorify violence in his music! (That's like a dude from New York not owning a Yankees fitted hat.) While his music is a breath of fresh air, his business is revolutionary. Chance isn't signed to a record label and is showing no signs of ever being on one, even though the president of the United States has urged him to sign one to profit off his artform. What Chance has realized is his worth and the value of controlling yourself. Master P famously said "If someone is willing to offer you a million dollars to own you, what do you think you're worth". Clearly Chance has heard this quote. Chance releases his music for free and chooses to make money off his ticket sales and merchandise during the concerts. Putting him in control of his music from cradle to grave, which no other artist can say they have at this point. My favorite artist of all time Prince, changed his name in part due to the fact that he wanted to control the release of his music how he wanted to. Even today Lil Wayne is fighting to release the Carter 5 because his parent record label, Cash money wont allow the release. So I admire this young man for his ability to control himself, to truly be his own boss instead of a modern day share cropper (Yes, I just equated the music business to share cropping). 

Chance was on Jimmy Fallon recently performing a record off his last mixtape with every artist from my IPOD playlist.  And as I recently told a very good friend of mine, Chance makes Gospel music but calls himself a rapper. Gospel music is for the soul, it heals and inspires. Chance's music does all of these things.

Take a moment and listen to this amazing arrangement of the record blessings

Chance the Rapper: Blessings (Reprise)

Advice for the Thugs

While my job offers a really good insurance policy  a conversation with my financial planner landed on  the need for more life insurance. He suggested that I get an additional policy to provide for my future family in the event of my untimely death. As with most financial planners he gave me every worst case scenario one could think of in an effort to make me see it from his point of view.   While he was talking (ranting) about the importance of securing my family's future, I couldn't help but think about other people who should get life insurance and the number one group that came to my mind was THUGS.... By the traditional meaning of the word, thugs aren't supposed to care about anyone or anything. BUT my dear thugs I think you should hear me out…... You're out here living fast doing what makes your little thug heart happy, unfortunately all that robbing, stealing and killing is gonna catch up to you one day. When karma does catch up to you, you want to leave enough money so that your family can have more than just RIP t-shirts. So I suggest you get a life insurance policy. I know you may say "hey that's not gangsta", but what's more gangsta than making money off your own death?! You'll be right up there with Tupac! For an amount as small as $50 you could provide your family with money to change the entire family tree, they’d be able to avoid the path of crime you have chosen and could be functioning members of society. Most of you thugs claim you want a better life for your thug-love offspring, well this is a way to ensure your crime filled life isn't cut short in vain. Do something for the hood and do something for yourself.....get a life insurance policy. Because we  all know how this is gonna end, death or in jail. That's the only way this will end. (No you can't rap like jay-z, so stop passing out mix tapes in between your criminal activities). So get a life insurance policy and accept that a life of crime can only be good when it ends and there's a life insurance policy to look forward to.

 

Credit Coach Jeanne Kelly Interview With The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club - Credit Coach Jeanne Kelly

I respect what the Breakfast Club has done over the years. It's the perfect mixture of rachetness and righteousness. One day they could have someone from Love and Hip (If you watch that then we cant be friends) and the next week they can have someone to educate or provoke thought. The discussion with Jeanne Kelly is on the righteousness side. My thoughts on credit are evolving due to my growing knowledge of the Dave Ramsey's teachings. Like it or not you will need a good credit score because no matter how much you're able to save I doubt you could come up with $250K in cash to purchase a house.  Jeanne Kelly answers questions from the Breakfast Club allowing the listener to be a fly on the wall. Check out the below link on how to improve or fix your credit.

Credit Coach Jeanne Kelly Interview With The Breakfast Club