That's What It Looks Like...And This Is What It Feels Like!

So Saturday night the ReadNex featured for a packed house at the Julia DeBurgos Cultural Center over on 1680 Lexington Ave. The event was Lyrical Revolt 10: A Celebrations of Hip Hop. The ANSWER Coalition put it together as a benefit concert featuring the 4 Elements of Hip Hop. The ANSWER Coalition is an org that "mobiliz[es] against all wars from Brooklyn to Baghdad. It was a pleasure and an honor to work with them on such a valuable and worthwhile cause. Other features of the night were the crowd rousing Rebel Diaz were the lyrical mindblowing Hassan Salaam. If you were'nt there...WOW I Mean.. WOWIE! did you miss an amazing event.

All night I had butterflies. I didn't know what was going on. It was like all of the drama that I've been dealing with (family, money, workshops...the usual) throughout the past few weeks built up inside of me that day and evening. My mind kept dwelling on what had to be done. The work that I'd have to do to push myself forward. The endless work that has to be down to uplift mi gente of all shapes, colors and locations. It all built up inside and created within me a dense fog the size of a single mom's determination. I couldn't think, hear, eat, taste, feel or be the man that I normally be. Then...lo que paso, paso.

It was time! Osiris (one of the hosts and event organizers) announced us and we had no choice but to grab the mics, allow DJ H20 to get in position and rock the crowd with words, music and truth in the hopes that the sun could shine for just a little longer. After that I recall little. I hear that we were amazing. The photos I've seen show intense passion in each one of our faces. Psychologists call what I experienced "Flow". The point in which the mind looses itself in an activity so much that time, feelings, thoughts and everything else suddenly stops. When I perform sometimes...I experience exactlly that. Everything stops. I see no faces...hear no sounds...I merely feel energy and a presence both within and around me. When I walk towards a micrphone it feels like walking on a cloud and knowing that at some point the weight of your body will bring you crashing down. But when I grab the mic...I float. Peace comes to me. No...I become Peace. Afterwards people shake my hand and or pat me on the back as they tell me how great the performance was. I usually find myself in a state of confusion. Not knowing what occured. Not sure that what just happened indeed did happen. All that I'm sure of...is that I'm alive.

That is one of the reasons I do what I do. Why I educate our Youth on how to use Poetry as a means of expression. Speak about issues that I feel strongly about. Perform pieces that were given to me by a power above me. Because as my life bring thoughts in others to life...they revive and purify all of my being.

Learn, Educate, Repeat!
Latin