Troy

I'm experimenting with Instagram again (everyone touts it as the best way to engage with people). I found an easy way to post from my lap top (installing Instagram on my cell phone is a nonstarter).

What is "right" has changed. The class distinctions in the way Black people dress, particularly the women, is quite pronounced today. Has rap had an influence on the culture, or is rap reflective of the culture? I think it is the later. The problem is it is reflective of a small portion of our culture and white people are the ones profiting off exploiting this small portion of the culture. White folk and many Black people them embrace this as if it is somehow reflective of the whole (stereotype). They do this at our expense and at no consequence to themselves. We need Black owned media, but we need conscious Black media, because many of the Black media platforms we do have simply do what white media does -- because it is so very lucrative.

While talking about the problems with rap music today, it made me think about a documentary I watched earlier this week, I Called Him Morgan, on Netflix. The sound track alone was worth the price of the ticket. Art Blakley's Band -- Damn they were good!

Yeah, we aged out fam. Still when we were younger the lyrics were cleaner (definitely more songs about love), the presentation is was classier, the musicianship was superior. It was just better, objectively so (at east that is what I think). The dirty stuff available back then, but it was kept away from children, because we knew it was in appropriate for them. As a kid If you managed to get you hands on some Blow Fly or some other dirty rapper you listened to in hiding. You did not drive down the street blasting it out you car windows.

This is largely why I don't keep up with mainstream rap today. I learned who Megan was on this forum (I'd heard her "music," but did not know her name). Well @Pioneer1 why don't you share information about the Black female rap artist worth listening to. Who are the Black owned media platforms hyping?

To be clear neither do I. I shared the video for the reasons I provided. The title of the post was taken from the YouTube video.

I never wrote the above. You also have a habit of over simplifying things. If you reread what I actually wrote.... nevermind I've already determined that you are incorrigible when it comes to issues if race.

I never read this article and while i hear of Drum and Spear I was unfamiliar with DC's Pyramid Books. @Nnamdi Azikiwe are you familiar with the Brothers who ran Karibu Books?

I could Block Amazon's ads coming in through Google, but I have not as they drive up the price in the auction. My kin folk know to come directly to me for the directly.

Here we go.... Dude there is only one race, all the conclusions you derive from the false belief of multiple races are just wrong. You implied that Kathleen Clever looks caucasian, so in your book what "race" is she? Is she kin folk? By the way Italian is a nationality and does not describe the way one looks, any more than American does. This is a stereotype, and as such is completely useless in understanding the behaviors of people. I know clinging to these stereotypes makes it easier for some to understand the world, but ones understanding is naturally flawed when it is based upon stereotypes. It goes without saying, there are evil white people, but there are also righteous and courageous ones too. I know there is no way for me to explain this to you in a way that you will accept, so I not going to try.

Of course not these platforms are optimized to create filter bubbles -- which narrow the focus of the information that people see. In order to be seen on social media. Sites like AALBC must pay for promotion to be seen on Facebook. Everything else that is seen is algorithmically drive to drive engagement. People who commune news solely from social media are being feed celerity nonsense, like Gal Gadot BS that started this conversation, propaganda, and lies.

All Skinfolk Ain't Kinfolk is the name of a documentary film by Angela Tucker. You can watch the entire film here. I have not watched the film yet, so I don't know how "All Skin Folk Ain't Kin Folk" ties in with the film. I have no idea who the major of New Orleans is right now so I'm sure I'll enjoy the film based upon what I've seem so far 🙂

Sure we do, we just don't use our alternatives. AALBC and other Black owned business -- including the ones selling through Amazon today can sell these books directly (all the ones I looked at have websites). If people did not sell on Amazon readers would have to seek out our sources for these books. Once Amazon is out the loop the additional profit could be used to build our businesses and that money would stay in the community longer -- rather than going straight into Jeff Bezos' (JB) pockets Which Pyramid Book are you talking about? I'm familiar with Pyramid Book in south Florida: https://aalbc.com/bookstores/store.php?store_name=Pyramid+Books

LOL (where are you getting these photos). Please elaborate.

Your skin folk ain't always your kin folk. Similarly, people who aren't your skin folk can be your kin folk in action and mentality. While the prospect of me marrying a white woman is virtually nill, I can not really come up with a good reason to tell another Brother not to do it. If you subscribe to Cress-Welsings idea that Black people can annihilate white people generically perhaps this is something we should encourage 😉

This is a terrible solution. Sometimes, even advertisers, will tell me that they don't see their ads on AALBC. 100% of the time the reason was that they were blocking ads -- all my ads are books. Users of ad blockers don't understand that this hurts sites like AALBC. Ad block users are usually not sophisticated enough to white list the sites support. As indie sites are hobbled and the ultra-massive corporate sites get stronger. Google ads often get around these ad blockers. You can't "opt out" it is built into the way the internet works. If you visit a site you also communicate the last site you were on and where you came physically located. This info is logged and shared. That is just the tip of the iceberg

So you take Google at their word?

I think this a great idea. In fact this is my reasoning with the book I have. There are many book that are published by Black people that we could monopolize, but the problem is too many Black people are making too much money selling these books on Amazon as third-party booksellers. Unless that changes we will never be able reap the financial rewards that come with ownership. Black people did not publish Morrison, but we published Brooks. But again today most* of the books published by TWP make their way to Amazon. If we stopped selling to, and buying, our book from Amazon, the Black Book Ecosystem could thrive. Getting Amazon out the mix would help a great deal. *I don't know what percentage of Third World Press' (Haki's publishing company) books are sold on Amazon, but it is significant.

It seems there is a big difference between what Google shows you and what they show me. Remember back in the summer I asked what if I married a white woman? It seems Boyce is clear on how he feels about that.

What Google shows you will be different than what google shows me. Don't believe me, this is what Google says. Your searchs are definitely used to decide what to show you. The Google ads you see here are customized to you. Even your sesrch results are customized. You really did not know this huh? The web is our best hope for media control. But too many of our people are fixated on the facebook sites and Twitter. This will change over time I believe.

This will be the very next thing i read, once I get my hands on it. Given how much has changed since it was written i doubt it will have much practical application today. I'm interested in the the motivation and goals. Plus we have the benefit of hindsight.

I just uploaded a video and here was what Google's YouTube showed me. Ever since I watched the Candice Owen's Video YouTube as been showing me here videos every single day. Now it is unfortunate Google shoves these video in from of me. Does Google have a plan to marginalize Kamala Harris and discourage Black people from voting for her with these videos? I dunno, but YouTube's behavior would be indistinguishable from a planform that had that agenda

Not necessarily. Sometimes you have the share the thing you are talking about to make a point. I do it myself from time to time. The question you really should be asking yourself is, what is it about your behavior that tells the entire WWW to send you this type of content? I was completely unaware of the "controversy" until you posted it here. I agree with you; it much ado about nothing, designed to incite engagement and revenue for the platforms sharing this bullshit.

Plus 45 is not exactly the picture of health. Since 45's lying may be pathological. I would not put it past him make up this lie to say the had the virus, and beat it in a few days, to demonstrate to people like Danelle that the virus is nothing to worry about and to show how strong he is compared to that pus*y Biden, who is running around with a mask on 24/7. Getting others to follow this scheme would not be a heavy lift for him. So no, I would not be surprised if it is ever discovered that 45 did not have the virus.

Sad but somewhat true...