CAN WE SMILE.

DEADASS, CAN WE SMILE?

Pardon my language. I'm home, in Chilltown, Jersey City.

As I was pulling up to the baseball field to write this, I'm driving past my cousin's old crib, basically mine too, on the late night.

Right when I hit the corner, a cop is checking a young one's pockets.

No lights on. One cop. But still, even one cop feels like a posse sometimes.

Just seeing the car in the rearview gets ya body shaking like when the Knicks won!

But that same presence of the boys in blue, Black, or whatever color with the badge of "protect and serve" is still in existence, and hasn't evolved since we stragged these blocks growing up.

I have homies that are members of the organization now, and I know their heart. But that doesn't change the presence that's associated with that badge.

It's always love, but still, it's the reality.

I wasn't supposed to go there to kick this off.

But this is what's happening while I'm still living in my dream.

Can't run from what's in front of you, even if your faith is strong.

Ight, back to regular scheduled programming.

Thank you for checkin in. I really appreciate it.

Finally got a scanner. Shoutout to my guy Edgar for the alley.

Now I can start sharing these smiles.

I wanted to share this today, as I write on August 17th. ironically, it's the same day Yo! MTV Raps got off air, 31 years ago.

I feel like these SMILES can give you that same glimpse into culture just from a pic.

This one is like a freestyle, like their first episode. Just not live , but publishing a couple days later.

I've been recruitin smiles like Ludacris over the years and gettin them in flow to share.

I'll do a formal intro to what this is later.

What was written prior, to open this up, was definitely spur of the moment.

so let's just start from scratch and get to it.

Can we SMILE?

That's a real question.

Can we find joy in seeing more in life experiences, through everything that's going on in this infinite but finite time called life?

And I think we can.

These smiles you are about to experience are a witness to it.

Because all we need is us coming together.

Even if music, sports, fashion, or wellness is the door in.

We are still together.

Just like New York this summer, it's wild that the Knicks won in 1973, and it took them 53 years to do it again.

You have to have some unwavering faith to see more in all those life experiences of losing.

Besides that, and as I hope we all know now, 1973 is the same year Hip Hop started partying.

But the funny thing is, it's also the year George Steinbrenner brought the Yankees, and the dynasty I would grow to admire was born.

Shoutout to the Bronx.

You can never front on their influence on the world.

Everyone knows the Yankees, and everyone is living off Hip Hop one way or another.

and both were forged when the city was burning.

Okay, but back to the question.

Can we SMILE?

More specifically, fifty-three years since Hip Hop started, can we still smile?

All they needed from the beginning, while navigating their personal trials and their city literally burning and cops wildin on bridges, was a turntable, records, and people to chill out and party.

From there, we are now living in a global culture that we have been manipulated to think is simply “pop OR TRAP culture,” when really, Hip Hop is the case study for so many of the influential products and experiences that we consume today.

These smiles represent that joy of being just us in culture every day, seeing more in life experiences through sharing our art and being our individual selves. 

The way the culture is supposed to be lived.

Doing our own thing.

Evolving.

Competing to be the best.

pushing one culture forward with all the best artists and creatives.

But there is no Hip Hop without the people coming together to share a common joy through our united taste and art.

That’s what this is.

Just Us In Culture Everyday.

Seeing More In Life Experiences.

discovering the joy.

Sharing the art.

Playing in culture

Just Sip & Smile,

Your first sample.

One Love. 

PS: The answers are the SMILES, and below are some bonus ones.