A long time ago I only listened to Rap and R&B but now I have to say that I listen to almost everything and am more open to music. Anyhow, I was reading the Definitive 200 and was concerned with some of the submissions on the list of my former favorite genres. For those of you that don't know about the list.... www.definitive200.com has the list and all the shit that goes with it.

28 - Eminem Marshall Mathers LP -- to me lyrically he was at his best and is the reason he is the most well known rapper in the world
30 - Dr Dre Chronic
31 - Beastie Boys License to Ill
57 - 50 Cent Get rich or die trying -- this one surprised me a bit. i'm not a fan but i do own this somewhere
59 - Notorious BIG Life after death -- fucking amazing album and solid for a double album
63 - Eminem Eminem Show -- White America is my favorite song on this album and Haile's song is great too
90 - Tupac All Eyez on me -- this was the first of many cds released after his death and none can compare to it
94 - Nelly Country Grammar -- i don't get this one
108 - NWA -- Straight outta compton
128 - Jay Z Blueprint
154 - Will Smith big willie style --another one that i just don't get
156 - public enemy it takes a nation
161 - jay Z Black album -- i think it's better than the bluprint
170 - Tupac me against the world - dear mama fucking great
185 - Nas Illmatic
189 - Jay Z in my lifetime vol 1
190 - ll cool j mama said knock you out

Those are the albums that made the list in the RAP genre. However, further reading into it showed titles that I would have classified as rap but they are listed under R&B. One of these "R&B" titles is The Fugees The Score......that is my favorite album period. The other titles that i feel were put in the wrong genre are Outkasts Speakerboxx-The love below and Aquemeni.

writing is coming back to me. it's a funny thing i guess. I can blame it on more reading i suppose. Blame is the wrong word though because i happy to be writing again. finding words and characters spilling out at times. it is said that to be a writer you have to read as much as you can. i've read 11 books since january. i think that is a good start.

currently i'm reading On The Road, The Pornographers Poem, The Renaissance of Irish Poetry and an anthology of short stories entitled, Fetish. That is certainly an interesting read so far. Bukowski writes "Love for $17.50." This particular story is about a man that falls in love with a mannequin he buys at a thrift store. If you have the chance or the interest you should find the story. If you are wondering how I can read so many books at once, i wish I could tell you how. I've always been like that. Reading 4 books at once comes easy for me and I never confuse the pieces.

so it is said to write you have to read.....but i also read that to write you have to have something to write about. a story. meaning that even in it's simplest form, fiction is not completely fiction. we borrow from the things we see. The things we experience and also those things seen and done by the people we know. our characters come from our friends and our family and ourselves. i incorporate strangers. I see a old woman buying a case of Red dog today and i put her in my notebook because i can picture her going home, cracking open one of those beers and yelling at the tv screen while watching one of her favorite "stories." as simple as that a character is born.