Is hip-hop over molly? Kendrick Lamar disses drug of choice for many rappers

Reblogged from theGrio:

Over the past few months, "molly" has become the drug of choice to name drop in hip-hop and Kendrick Lamar has had enough.

“Sometimes you have the trends that’s not cool,” Lamar told MTV about the embracing of molly in rap.

From a business standpoint, Rick Ross lost his sponsorship deal from sneaker giant Reebok for his controversial lyric that described a date rape where molly was involved.  

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Finally someone in hip-hop speaks up for what's right within the culture. Even though I don't necessarily agree with his music its good to see someone speaking out against a negative trend.

Learn to See More In Teens

Come join us for our first ever Shop and Learn as we dive into, “A World Called Youth!,” through The Eye of the Mentor training this April 16; or April 30th. The training will be facilitated by Travis Corpening as participants learn to identify and help students manuever teen pressures, fighting, the influences of music, and youth subculture. 5$ of each registration will go to Outside the Walls and The Children’s Museum. Single registration is $25. $35 for the deluxe training package including the book and presentation material. Register at Teacher’s Aid today!

Are Our Fathers Falling Short?

On the most recent ShaperSpeaks Episode this past week I ask the very serious question…Are Our Fathers Falling Short? Most people will say that depends on who you ask. I can agree with that on some level.  Numbers however show that there is a definite problem somewhere in  family structure and we all can see it. ”According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 24 million children in America — one out of three — live in biological father-absent homes.” Of course no one can talk about an issue without telling the whole truth. And truthfully every family structure isn’t the same and no family is perfect. Honestly there are many students that go on to have happy and productive lives without a biological father living in their home.  In fact according to a child development study done on “nonresident father involvement and adolescent delinquency”…”low-income minority adolescents aged 10-14 years found that higher social encounters and frequent communication with nonresident biological fathers decreased adolescent delinquency.”

Those of you out there that know me, also know that yes…I am a guy (lol) so it’s not really in me to male bash.  My father for example was a phenomenal role model not only for me as a male but also my sister as well. Fatherlessness however is a problem and has been found to be linked to things like poverty, quality education, self-esteem, and even incarceration.  The facts are the facts, and I wouldn’t be who I am if I didn’t open the door to discuss them.  Thats exactly what I did on my show this past Sunday with special guest Carlos Braxton. From talking as young husbands how to have a good relationship with your spouse, to resources to help men be great fathers me and my guest analyzed it all.  In fact on March 16th at 8:30 A.M  the New Hanover County Partnership for Fatherhood will be having its 7th Annual Conference at First Baptist Activity Center. Click the link below to follow the conference blog. Also, keep checking shaperspeaks.com to listen to the entire radio interview discussing fatherhood with me and Carlos Braxton, airing this Friday night at 8:00 on here on ShaperSpeaks!

http://partnershipforfatherhood.blogspot.com/

The Facts Courtesy of the National Fatherhood Initiative

Incarceration

“Even after controlling for income, youths in father-absent households still had significantly higher odds of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a father in the household experienced the highest odds.”

Source: Harper, Cynthia C. and Sara S. McLanahan. “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration.” Journal of Research on Adolescence 14 (September 2004): 369-397. “

Education

“Father involvement in schools is associated with the higher likelihood of a student getting mostly A’s. This was true for fathers in biological parent families, for stepfathers, and for fathers heading single-parent families.”

Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers’ and Mothers’ Involvement in Their Children’s Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001.

Happy Birthday Dr. King

With the hustle and bustle of a national MLK holiday and an inaugural celebration upon us it made me think of what we’ve come though thus far in our quest for change.  It evoked memories from 2 years ago of watching citizens who, during the Dr. Martin Luther King Monument unveiling, felt it necessary to exercise their right to be heard. I decided to take the opportunity to lauch a special post celebrating democracy and our freedoms.  In the true spirit of Dr. King I would like for you to listen to his daughter Bernice King’s speech at the event. For me it was moving simply because I never had an opportunity to hear Dr. King speak in person and his daughter’s passion brought chills as an echo of what he may have said himself had he been alive.

Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. !

Live Chosen! Find Purpose in Entreprenuership

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending the WILMA Expo.  For those of you who may have been living under a rock the Wilma Expo is the “Wilmington region’s largest annual gathering for women. With thought-provoking stories, Wilma Magazine highlights southeastern North Carolina’s most successful women.” Entrepreneurs and people from all over the state served as vendors and attendees for the event. It was fabulous! Many of you who follow the ShaperSpeaks Radio Morning Show every Sunday at 7 AM know that this month our focus is entrepreneurship.  Drive… Determination…and an unrelenting desire to win despite all odds has been our language! The WILMA expo was a great kick-off!  Seeing so many stories of people finding their path through overcoming hardship I wanted to show the connection between pursuing an entreprenurial vision and reaching your purpose. Many of the same traits and characteristics that will make us successful people can also make us into successful entrepreneurs.  In December I’ve had the pleasure hosting special guests such as the director of Cape Fear Community College’s Small Business Center Doug Tarble, and the entrepreneurial minded M.B.A Pastor Robert L. Campbell of New Beginning Christian Church in Wilmington, NC.  As we move into 2013 many people still need solutions for financial growth beyond their current employment.  I believe entrepreneurship can be that solution.  Entrepreneurship serves as a more immediate answer to a lingering problem that many students, and unemployed adults face in the current economy. Recent graduates who are finding themselves without employment, students in community college trying to erase a criminally checkered past, and even young high schoolers who don’t really have an idea of what they want to do after they’re out on their own, can all benefit from developing and working toward an entrepreneurial vision. Entrepreneurship can help, not only adults trying to get beyond hard times financially, but also people simply in need of a fresh start emotionally.  Some of us have unbelievable talents and gifts in areas that could shape our futures however we’re afraid to pursue or launch out using them. As a result many times people’s gifts fizzle out or are never truly used to their full potential.

Knowing that this was one possible reason people get stuck in lives they aren’t happy living or in businesses that have ceased to grow I asked Mr. Tarble what are some of the reasons business fail?” After slowly sipping his glass of water he responds in a very matter of fact way by saying,”Going into business for the wrong reasons!”

Isn’t money the only reason to go into business?  Well…not exactly.  If successful, your small business will hopefully make a profit, however if you are starting business simply to make money research shows your chances of being successful are not as great as if you started it because you have a passion for what you’re doing.  You’ll also need to have a strong belief that, based on your own personal study and investigation, the product or service you are providing will actually fulfill a true need in the marketplace.  During a more recent interview last week one of the things I asked Pastor Campbell was, “What causes us as individuals to be afraid of pursuing our vision?” All of us have had a fear of pushing forward at one time or another. Pastor Campbell explains that you’ll need to push beyond past failures in order to succeed. Just because you failed once doesn’t mean you’re a failure. “Delayed does not mean denied,” as he so eloquently puts it.  That’s why everyone, business owner or not, needs the drive to push forward when others would quit.  Countless people have fallen short of claiming the growth that could have been theirs if they would have persevered. On this Monday January 31 New Beginning Christian Church will be holding their annual Praise In The New Year event at Cape Fear Community College’s Schwartz Center at 7.

Hip-Hop High School…What If?

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Will students’ classrooms eventually be completely dependent on cell phones and tablets?  I honestly believe that one of the keys to improving student academic output is engaging them in what we are teaching.  One of the keys to engaging students is by embracing youth culture and technology.  By using innovative ideas and out-of-the box educational techniques we can challenge the statistics that expresses that only certain students succeed.  Maybe then we will no longer rely on dismal numbers like the well known 3rd grade reading stats that some state agencies use to determine the amount of prisons to build.  I hate to say it.  For some of you old school educational purist out there this may sting a little.  But maybe it’s time to UPGRADE education.

I am the first to say that in any endeavor fundamentals are important.  However what if we could bottle unconventional genius?  What if we could find a way to duplicate or even inspire those intangibles that make young at-risk kids like Sean Carter into mainstream media and business moguls like Jay-Z?  As the video above so eloquently puts it; the hip-hop generation has always had to find ways to ”flip nothing into something.”  Although at times it’s definitely rough around the edges and highly commercialized, in its purist elements hip-hop is a powerful tool that is more than music. I am often brought in to speak to youth groups and adults about the positive and negative influence of hip-hop on the minds of young people.  Usually I talk about how society blindly capitalizes on the financial draw of violent or misogynistic hip-hop without caring how it effects teens.  Unfortunately this is mostly all  that we as adults know about hip-hop culture. 

Imagine if we could harness and utilize it’s power to build and change lives through designing the hip-hop classroom. Whether learning social education through the lyrics of songs like Jigga’s (Jay-Z’s) “Minority Report,” or learning to design complex web code to build videos hip-hop and youth culture in general is relevant and demands to be heard.  Although having hip-hop classrooms across America may be years away, we as educators need to always push the envelope and find new ways to create that spark in young minds.

http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2012/06/13/03games.h05.html

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/01/07/16cellphone.h28.html

Girls Dance!; Moving to Change

Click text below to listen to Episode 5 of the ShaperSpeaks show:

                                                                                                                                                                                                   D.O.I Dance Robbin Williams

Learning to self-brand, believing in yourself, and gaining improved self-worth are all a part of realizing your inner greatness!  All of these things are what Robbin Williams, creator of the D.O.I Dance conference, will be instilling in young girls on November 2nd, and 3rd.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Mrs. Williams along with two of her Dolls of Inspiration (D.O.I) on my show ShaperSpeaks earlier this week (Every Sunday on Coast 97.3 in Wilmington, NC!).  To say I was impressed with Mrs. Williams’ vision for the event would be an understatement.  The 2 day conference themed, Y.O.U. – Your Own Uniqueness is designed to encourage young girls ages 12-18 to find, embrace, and create what is unique about themselves.  Her goals fall right in line with national studies that show that young females involved in physical activities such as dance have higher levels of self-esteem, an improved self body image, and more trust for others.  Her conference will feature guest speakers who through interactive discussion will lead powerful workshops on beauty, body, and brains.  The conference will also including high energy, inspirational dance workshops, introducing creative movements. 

Her movement to help young girls is needed in a time when media influences are misguiding young people and causing teen girls to second guess the importance of their intellect.  Many of you already know the importance Shaper places on branding, vision, and growing into your purpose. With her focus of beauty, body, and brains I wanted to highlight D.O.I as one example of a powerful individual vision to teach others to Live Chosen!

Changing girls perception of beauty is a charge that everyone has to take part in. Take a look at this video by Dove called, Evolution that shows how our perception of outward beauty is truly just a mirage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

                                                                                                                                                  D.O.I Dance Robbin Williams