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Daily Word: Happy Holidays!! (You Have to Want Success As Bad As You Want To Breathe!!)

By: seandrasims Updated Category: Headlines
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Merry Christmas! And Happy Hanukkah and Kwanzaa! Even though today is a holiday, you know I have to continue to motivate and inspire! Being that it is Christmas and all, I have a special gift that I’m sharing only with you!

I recently had the pleasure of conversing with Eric Thomas, or ET the Hip-Hop Preacher, as many people know him. If you are not familiar with his work he is a renown speaker, educator, author, activist, and minister. He has risen to national prominence by delivering high energy messages that are teaching his audience how to live up to their full potential and greatness by breaking the cycles of mediocrity. His video, “Success: As bad as you want to breathe”, has garnered more than 22 million views on YouTube, and as you will tell by our interview, he is nowhere near finished… In fact, after 20 years of inspiring and motivating people into action and with countless successes under his belt, he is just getting started!

Without any further ado… The Motivator’s Motivator…

Ash Cash: So, ET, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to me. I’ve been a fan of your work for some time now, so it is truly an honor to get to share your wisdom with my audience. So let’s jump right in… How did you become ET, the Hip-Hop preacher?

Eric Thomas: I was working at the University of Michigan, and one of the students actually gave me the name; it was my graduate assistant. I used to use Hip-Hop hooks as a way to attract young people and get their attention, and I knew they were familiar with the lyrics. A big part about learning is really making connections so in telling young people… if you study and handle your business, “you can have whatever you like” *T.I voice*, so that’s where the Hip-Hop came from. And then, a lot of people say my style of speaking is like “you preaching at me” like a preacher, so thus the name, ET, the Hip-Hop preacher. People have called me ET for years; when I was in school, ET the movie was out, so people referred to me as ET.

Ash Cash: When did you know that motivating and inspiring people to be better was your calling?

Eric Thomas: I’d say in college, you know, I did my first message. And you might laugh, but I was at an HBCU, predominantly-Christian institution, and my first message was “pimping ain’t easy but somebody gotta do it,” and people took to it! It was risky and way out of the norm, but the audience was receptive and responded to the rawness and transparency, and at that point, I knew I had something and I knew I had to develop it. I kind of knew that there were a lot of people that didn’t go to church and normally wouldn’t listen to people, but they would come and listen to me talk. At that point, around 19 or 20, I knew this was a unique opportunity.

Ash Cash: How did the secrets to success video change your life?

Eric Thomas: I tell young people all the time, because they think I’m an overnight success, I’ve been doing this for over 20 years! And that means inspiring and motivating people. I started as a GED instructor, I created my own GED program, and I realized that a lot of young people that don’t do well academically. It’s not that they don’t have the competency to do it or the skill set to do it; it’s just that they weren’t motivated to learn. They weren’t interested in school, so I started just talking to students and just really going in on them like, “Yo, this is life or death.”

So when I got to Michigan State University, I did the same thing in that particular program, and it’s a program that I did for free, so I’ve been doing this forever. But what YouTube has done is expose more people to my message. The Internet is global, so as a result I’ve been to Egypt to do some work. Now I’m on my way to London to do some work; I’ve gotten an invitation to South Africa and Australia. Not that the work changed; it’s just that YouTube gave me a platform or a stage that was much bigger than the stage I had prior to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.

Ash Cash: You talk a lot about waking up early. What’s the significance of that? Why should people wake up early?

Eric Thomas: Somebody asked me the other day, “Yo E, I don’t know if I’m an early person? Or a night person? I like to work at night.”… I said, “Listen to me. I’m going to keep it 100, because if you’re working at night, you are working on the dreams of the man who woke up at 3 in the morning. You’re making his dreams become a reality, because you’re working while he’s up at 3AM doing business plans. I’m discovering that the people that wake up early are really the trendsetters. They are up giving the commands on what the whole world needs to do, so the worker wakes up at 8AM, but the dreamer, the innovator, the creator, the engineer is up at 3 or 4 in the morning making it happen. So that’s why I feel you have to get up early. So what, you like to work late! Yes, I’m a worker, too, but I’m working on what I’m passionate about and what I believe in, not what someone else is passionate about!

Ash Cash: What is some advice you would give to Generation Now on how to succeed in business?

Eric Thomas: Work! Look at the secrets to success; look at your family, your community, your culture. Take a look at what they have done to be successful, and don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you are going to get success on discount. So one of the things I know about my family, my generation, and my ethnic background is that we put in work, and I’m not just talking about just to eat. You have to think about the Civil Rights movement; they were putting in work, marching, walking miles and miles, sacrificing, getting on the bus, feeding one another. They had schools, voter registration. They were working! They were hard workers, so my advice is to work. Understand the value of work, and know that you get out of life what you earn.

Some things have to be taken; it’s not given to you. They are not handing out multi-million dollar contracts or degrees. You have to use your brain! I don’t just work! I think about my work, reflect on my work, and think of what changes can I make. How can I elevate my game? What adjustments need to be made? How do I prepare myself for a year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now? What can I do today to position my wife and kids, where they don’t have to worry about anything if I die? My community? My church? So I would say work!!

And appreciate the value of work; don’t look at work as something negative. Embrace it, and don’t ask yourself, “What can I get out of the process?” Ask yourself, “What can I become?” And finally, think big! Don’t be afraid to see yourself as a CEO, don’t be afraid to see yourself owning that company, don’t be afraid to see yourself with stocks… I tell my son, don’t just buy 59/50 [fitted caps], own some stock in 59/50. Dn’t just buy Jordans; own some stocks in Jordan. Get past the low-hanging fruit. Anybody can grab that! Elevate your thought process and your mind, and be creative.

Ash Cash: So far, you’ve worked with the Michael Jordan Classics, you opened up the NBA season, you have contacts with Nike, NFL, and college basketball teams, you have a best selling book… What’s next for ET?

Eric Thomas: Finishing this PhD in May! I’m behind a little bit, so I gotta put in some major work to graduate on time. So that’s immediate for me right now. I have a book coming out in 2013, and then I’m aiming for the Nobel Peace Prize! I’m trying to serve so many people! Somebody has to recognize me for blessing people, changing people’s lives, me pouring into people. And I don’t have to get it in my lifetime; I just want my kids to see that when you serve and put other people first and invest in other people, it will come back!

We live in a society that says “you gotta get yours,” and I’m not suggesting that you don’t handle your business, but I want to show people… Gandhi gave, Mother Theresa gave, Martin Luther King gave, Rosa Parks gave, Sojourner Truth gave, and these people had a rich life! They may have not had a Rolls Royce, Range Rover, or lived in the best neighborhoods, but they changed history forever, and they changed lives forever, and that’s what I aim to do. I want to change as many lives as I can. I want to help as many people as I can, and I want to let people know that serving and doing for people is not outdated – and certainly not overrated!

Eric Thomas is the author of The Secret to Success and owner of Eric Thomas & Associates, LLC. For more information, visit ETinspires.com.

A Christmas Story: Rest In Peace, Capital STEEZ

By: K1ng Eljay Updated Category: Headlines
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I was originally tasked to do a review of the Pro Era mixtape that just dropped, and that’s still coming. But midway through writing it, I began to hear rumblings of one of the members taking his life. Initially, I thought nothing of it and just continued to write, but as the story finally tumbled out on every news outlet from MTV to Complex (to AllHipHop.com, of course), it became clear that something terrible had happened… and it was an instantly sobering moment, where the important things came into focus, more now than ever.

https://twitter.com/K1ngEljay/status/283263259656728576

My first time ever hearing Capital STEEZ rap was on Joey Bada$$’ “Survival Tactics.” Being that I was already impressed with Joey and the Pro Era crew, I honestly began to wonder who would be the weakest link in the team (because that’s what we do! We compare, lol). After hearing his verse, I didn’t think it was STEEZ, exactly, but I still had my doubts. I felt his talent was raw, but I didn’t know enough to formulate an opinion on him.

That turned out to be a good thing, because after playing the aPROcalypse project and hearing his verses, he impressed me the most, arguably more than the lead man himself. It was refreshing, and the chemistry he had with the other members was notable in its own right, to me. And literally, as I’m still amazed to what I’m listening to (but honestly, still not quite comprehending that I stumbled onto someone great and brimming with talent), I read the note from Statik Selektah.

Capital STEEZ was dead via rumored suicide, on Christmas Eve of all days.

https://twitter.com/CapitalSTEEZ_/status/283074491498770432

The horrific event should matter, not the date, I know. But I also know that anything can happen to anyone at any time; Newtown can attest to that, and so can Chicago if you’ve been paying attention… But even still, the fact is that the consumerism side of Christmas is themed around giving. It truly messed me up that after finding a member of a team that I was beginning to rock with, it’s done. Over before it began. That gift I had discovered while perusing music had a depressingly somber string attached. All of the potential, just… Dead.

From a musical standpoint, it’s one of the worst feelings I’ve had since I began writing for AllHipHop.com, because it hits too close to home.

I’ve been in the same unfortunate situation, where someone close to me did the same thing. It puzzled me to the core, and all I could think of to answer my questions… were more questions. How could I have been there? How I could’ve prevented that from taking place? How could I have stopped it? Were there signs? Was he trying to tell me? How in the hell did I miss it? How come I never really told him how much I appreciated him?

But with that being said, there’s no way to know how those connected to him feel right now. Statements don’t do it justice, and everyone reacts differently to things like this. Words can’t convey exactly what was lost, but maybe it can help us to understand that now’s as good of a time as ever to let people know you love them. What’s the point of places roses by tombstones when you have a chance to just hand it to them?

As a culture, we have a tendency to take things for granted. We make assumptions on the daily that when children go to school, they’ll be safe. We automatically think that a quick late night run to Taco Bell won’t end in us being injured or killed in a car crash, but instead with us plopping back down in front of our TVs to watch SportsCenter and wait for a Josina Anderson sighting (maybe that’s just me). Thankfully for a lot of us, we have a chance to eliminate some of those assumptions and be more appreciative over the course of the holiday season, especially to the ones we care about. Some people won’t get that courtesy, and that in itself should be the wake-up call to do better.

As for the Pro Era crew and everyone else affected by this… again, words can’t really put into focus how I feel about this. I hope it means something when I say that I’m truly praying for you all. I wish nothing but the best.

https://twitter.com/RobMarkman/status/283229885466566657

Rest in Peace, Capital STEEZ.  

5 Reasons Why You Should Watch “Django Unchained” and 5 Reasons Why You Should Skip “Django Unchained”

By: Chuck Creekmur (@ChuckCreekmur) Updated Category: Headlines
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It has been a long time since movie goers will be as conflicted over a movie, but that’s the sort of film “Django Unchained” is. The movie, the latest, by Quentin Tarantino, tells the story of Django (Jamie Foxx), a Black man that finds freedom in a most unlikely manner. He eventually becomes a bounty hunter with a most unusual ability to kill. And, kill he does. He’s motivated to ruthlessly murder any and everything that stands between him and his lovely wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) and those are mostly White plantation owners and workers that seek to hold him back. The movie offers compelling acting from Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Johnson and a lot of co-stars.

With that, Django will continue to generate dialogue between those that that love it or hate it. The opposed notions are representative of the characters in the movie since most of them have no grey matter. With that, AllHipHop presents an effort to offer both sides of “Django Unchained,” the good and the ugly, as told by this writer and the creators of this controversial movie.

5 Reasons Why You Should Watch “Django”

1) In Some Demented Way, Django Is A Heroic Figure.

Quentin Tarantino [director] says: “There are a zillion dramatic exciting heartbreaking triumphant [slavery] stories that can be told. Everyone always says there are no new stories, but there’s a whole bunch of them, American stories. And I wanted to be first one out the gate with it.”

2) Ultimately, “Django Unchained” Is A Triumphant Love Story Between A Strong Black Man And An Unbreakable Black Woman.

Django Unchained Jamie Foxx Kerry Washington

Kerry Washington [Django’s wife Broomhilda] says: “I was very moved by love story because [enslaved] Blacks were not allowed to fall in love and get married. This is a story about a husband and wife when blacks weren’t allowed to be husband and wife. We get to see romantic stories all the time…those crossed loved stories. They’re not from different Italian families like romeo juliet, but Jamie [as Django] had to take down slavery and Candyland for his woman. I feel like this is a movie I had to do for my father. He had no superheroes. Django is a hero.”

3) Django Is An Enslaved Black Man That Immediately Seizes Power Like No Other Enslaved Black Man.

Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained

Kerry Washington says: A lot of times people in past may have felt nervous about playing a slave because there are so many narratives about powerlessness. This is a film about a black man that finds freedom, rescues wife, who’s an agent of his own power. A liberator. A hero. Nothing shameful about the film. It’s exciting, hopeful and inspiring.

Jamie Foxx [Django] says: First off, everything in this film…we never get a chance to see a slave fight back, actually do for himself. there are lots of firsts in this movie…you make comments based on things you see you see for the first time…I knew coming into this that there would be a lot of things said…it was a fantastic ride

4) The Movie Is Funny And Well-acted.

Somehow, despite the subject matter. Quentin Tarantino – the sick genius he is – manages to create humor in “Django Unchained.” The funniest part was a gut-busting Klan gathering gone wrong, but there was many others in the movie. Quentin Tarantino: “In editing, I needed a cheer in end and had to figure out how to balance emotions. I didn’t want to traumatize audience so bad that they cant enjoy the movie.” So, don’t feel badly if the movie is enjoyable. The talent in the movie are without peer.

5) For All Of The Violence And Excess, We Get To See Slavery In Its Most Brutal, Racist And Horrific Form.

Django Unchained Killshot

Leonardo DiCaprio (The villainous Calvin Candy) says: “[Being the villain in “Django Unchained”] sucks, man. Being the biggest villain of the piece. My character represented everything wrong with the South. He’s like a young Prince trying to hold onto all his privileges at all costs. He’s a walking contradiction: raised by Blacks and lived with Blacks but had to see them as non-human. Calvin Candy is a narcissistic, self indulgent racist. He’s one of the most horrible characters I read in my life, but I had to do it. He’s too good of character…I hated him…could not identify with him.”

(Editor’s note: These quotes are from an exclusive press conference in New York City that featured the major characters of “Django Unchained.”)

5 Reasons Why You Should Skip “Django”

1) The “N-Word” Is Used 114 Times (Or More)!

The biggest mistake I made while watching “Django Unchained” was trying to count the number of times the word n***er was used. I stopped at 64. Sure, some argue it is powerfully contextualized in the movie, but I found it exclusively offensive. Spike Lee agrees. The “Do The Right Thing” genus tweeted, “”American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them.” To me, Tarantino made the word into another character in “Django Unchanged,” a faceless antagonist. In “Django Unchained,” n***er is almost exclusively in a Virulent manner. My friend and activist Tarik Ross said, “QT got his rocks off having his characters saying the N word. He likes to say it to RZA and who knows how many other silly negroes who also get their rocks off saying it back to him.” At the end of the day, it was unnecessary, but true to Quentin Tarantino’s previous use.

2) Tarantino Spin Or Not, Do We Really Need Another Movie About Slavery?

Django Unchained Leonardo DiCaprio

There are so many slave flicks. Clearly, none that are of the Tarantino fare, but better from a historical and educational point of view. If we want a super hero for the current era, I recommend Quentin Tarantino or John Singleton or Spike Lee get The Nat Turner rebellion or the Black Panther comic book green lit into a big budget movie. Now, those are real super heroes – straight outta Africa!

3) Mass Killing Is Way Out Of Style!

A friend of mine, MSNBC analyst Ari Meliber argued – in an excellent piece for the Atlantic – that “Django Unchained” is actually amoral and void of critical thought of similar movies like “Inglorious Bastards,” a holocaust period flick also by Tarantino. He says, “While ‘Django Unchained’ presents a morally stark universe, where people do and say evil things with no remorse, it also luxuriates in the license that such evil provides. We are invited to cheer on the slavish killing of men and women, black and white, because they are implicated in an evil institution.” No spoilers here, but if we are going to argue realism – in the instance of the overuse of n***er – then we have to agree that the “black and white” portrayal of the characters reduces them to overly simplistic characters that really cater to people most base emotions. African Americans cheered at the end of “Django Unchained” at the screening I attended. No bueno.

4) It Gets Boring!

Frankly, “Django Unchained” clocks in at 165 minutes. As we sat in the movie, I began to wonder when it would all end. Parts of the movie dragged on endlessly and perhaps worse – pointlessly. Even amid the periods of action, the gun violence gets routine and generic.

5) Opening date on Christmas. Really? This is not the movie to enhance your holly, jolly holiday.

Django Unchained Samuel L. Jackson



Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur is the co-founder of AllHipHop.com and can be found on Twitter at @ChuckCreekmur.

Symbolyc One: Superstar Rappers, Hit Songs and A Grammy Award

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: Features
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Waco, Texas native Symbolyc One is celebrating the close of a successful 2012, a year that saw the producer win an ASCAP Award and a coveted Grammy Award, for his work on Kanye West’s#### album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

In 2012, Symbolyc One, who competed in national beat competitions hosted by organizations like iStandard, and Sha Money CL’s One Stop Shop Conference, proved his worth after years on the competition scene.

In the past 12 months, Symbolyc One’s productions have appeared on albums by Game, Xzibit, LeCrea, Talib Kweli, 50 Cent and others.

Symbolyc One breaks down the past 12 months for AllHipHop.com in this exclusive interview below:

AllHipHop.com: The year 2012 was a great year for you. You won two ASCAP Awards and a Grammy Award. Tell us about it.

Symbolyc One: 2012 was like incredible. My first Grammy, for Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy album. For the ASCAP Award, I won for Beyoncé’s “Best Thing I Ever Had and that was like the top R&B song on the urban charts for 2011.

AllHipHop.com: The new project just dropped and you have legends. You’ve got 50 Cent, Eminem, then you go on to the Maroon Five and Adam Levine, solo produced by you. How does it feel?

Symbolyc One: It feels great. Me and my wife, we’ve been tripping. Every day, we’re looking at how everything is just forming and has catapulted into something just incredible. That song actually came about two years ago, You know to see it now sprouting and blossoming, it’s unbelievable.

AllHipHop.com: You also have pushed through with Kendrick Lamar, Talib Kweli and Curren$y, bridging the gap from the older Hip-Hop with new substance.

Symbolyc One: I’ve been fan in since the beginning of time, of all of them. You know Kendrick being the newcomer of the three, he’s been doing some amazing things in the industry. Overall, he’s not just a talented person he’s a really good dude.

Check out the full feature with Symbolyc One:

Rapper Capital Steez Of Progressive Era Commits Suicide On Christmas Eve

By: Grouchy Greg Watkins (@GrouchyGreg) Updated Category: Headlines
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(AllHipHop News) A member of a rising Brooklyn rap group committed suicide early this morning (December 24).

Capital Steez of the rap group Progressive Era aka Pro Era, took his own life at some point early this morning.

The rapper posted a chilling, final tweet just before he committed suicide.

https://twitter.com/CapitalSTEEZ_/status/283074491498770432

Group member Joey Bada$$ took to Twitter, to mourn his fallen friend.

“Giving my respects to Capital Steez & his family,” Joey Bada$$ tweeted. “We should all be thankful for what he has done for the Pro Era family.”

The news comes on the heels of a breakout year for Progressive Era and it’s leader Joey Bada$$, who released several successful videos, including the one below featuring Capital Steez:

EXCLUSIVE: Cappadonna On “Eyrth, Wynd & Fyre” and Getting That Wu-Tang Feel Again

By: seandrasims Updated Category: Features
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Cappadonna has had an interesting position when it comes to a career in Hip-Hop music. Always an affiliate, and eventually an official member of the Wu-Tang Clan, Cappadonna has had both a more outside and complete inside view of the Clan’s day-to-day relations.

Planning to drop his Eyrth, Wynd & Fyre album this coming February along with announcing the targeted release of his sequel to the 1998 classic, The Pillage, Capppa’s target is mass product in 2013. Like other veteran artists, he is also becoming more reflective in his music, something he says he believes is only inevitable.

“I just see myself basically settling down with it and really finding something that’s comfortable,” he says. “That works, and I really think that I’m on top of my mojo.” AllHipHop.com speaks to the Staten Island legend about his recent work, the happenings going on within the Clan, and more:

AllHipHop.com: Eyrth, Wynd & Fyre is coming near the top of 2013. Last year, you dropped The Pilgrimage. What was the mindset behind this one and what can fans be anticipating?

Cappadonna: I believe this one right here, I leaned back a little on it. I just got more into the message and the music man, and just tried to focus on that a little more – production by J. Glaze. I kind of was just really free in the mind when I did this CD right here – Eyrth, Wynd & Fyre – those are elements right there. That fire’a that truth, and that wind, that’s the substance, and the Earth is the strength that keeps me grounded. So these elements right here exist within my style and life, what I had to go through, so I got that and I got the other double CD with DJ Snips and J-Ronin and of those producers, good looking out for J-Ronin on A&R’ing the project. But yeah, things is right, man.

AllHipHop.com: A lot of veteran artists tell me that they are taking a step back and being more reflective over their music and their music careers. Is that what you’re doing with this one at all?

Cappadonna: Yeah, man. I always look at the kind of work that I was doing, and I definitely, from myself hear a little more maturity in this album and some growing. Even trap-wise, I sound like I’m really trying to put a little more together than usual.

AllHipHop.com: You were featured on Wu-Tang’s “Six Directions of Boxing” off RZA’s Man With The Iron Fists. What was it like recording that track and getting back onto a record with a bunch of Wu members?

Cappadonna: Man, it just felt like we were back to our old tricks again [laughter], so it’s like I definitely want to do more of that, and it was even more fun going to the Jimmy Fallon show and performing the song. It was a beautiful thing, man, and I had a lot of fun doing [it] and even more fun being with the fellas.

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, I remember actually seeing that [Jimmy Fallon] performance. Speaking of Wu-Tang, what’s the vibe like in the Clan right now?

Cappadonna: I think everybody is really trying to get back into the feel of everybody again. We had to do a little separating, soul-searching, but other than that, there’s still mad differences, man, that’s all. We just got a lot of different minds, and everybody don’t always agree on the same thing.

AllHipHop.com: A lot of people remember you as THE guy on “Ice Cream” off of Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. But I think the first time I heard you was when you killed that verse on “Ice Water”. What is your favorite Cappadonna verse ever?

Cappadonna: “Ice Water” is definitely one of my favorite verses, but I like the verse on “Camay”, I like “Winter Warz,” I like “Triumph”, so it’s probably a collaboration of a bunch of different verses, but the one that everybody loves the most is and caused me to love the most is “Winter Warz”.

AllHipHop.com: Maybe a more open and honest question…where are you at this point in your career both as an artist and as a person in your life?

Cappadonna: I just see myself basically settling down with it and really finding something that’s comfortable, that works, and I really think that I’m on top of my mojo. It could be a little sharper, though, but that’s just as far as the music go. But as far as the business, it could definitely use some sharpening.

AllHipHop.com: What’s next for you in the immediate future?

Cappadonna: Man, it’s that The Pillage 2 project, trying to drop that maybe September, and if that’s too soon, then I’m gonna pick another date, but that was one of my thoughts. We’re trying to do Hip-Hop the best way we know how, and balance it out one more time – Wu-Tang forever. Plus, we working on something and we’re just talking; hopefully, something pans out well in that we can all be successful in completing another album with the benefits of our labor.

Look for Cappadonna’s Eyrth, Wynd & Fyre album in February 2013.