Dicovering your inner strength

1. Discovering new challenges

If you think you are weak and considering giving up on yourself, I must tell you that would be a mistake on your part. Trust me, I have gone through my pains, my struggles, my defeats, my misery, and my pain, and will continue to go through that every day as I go through my weight loss journey. I let my excuses and weaknesses get in the way of my goal. But one day, I looked in the mirror and told myself, “No more excuses.” It was time to really work. Put in work, do the work, and stop complaining about the work. And damn it was when I rediscovered my inner strength underneath my weak spirit. My spirit grew stronger. Now, I am not finished with my journey by a long shot. I will always be working progress just like every person on this earth. But, finding my inner strength has been the best thing for me, and I can’t tell you how much better I feel about myself. The steps I take.

1. Accepting new challenges.

2. Physically challenging myself

3. Mentally challenging myself

4. Never accepting defeat

5. Removing toxic energy.

There will be a thousand more steps you can take for your journey of inner strength, but for me, those are some of the few steps I take, and there will be more to come. You will grow, and you will learn, and you will endure to build a new you. During the height of the pandemic, I grew scared of the world. I was letting my anxiety defeat me every day. Missing out on great moments and feeling sorry for myself and just eating fast food every day. I’m sitting on my butt watching youtube clips and playing Madden all day. I was wasting away, and here was the real sad part. I had a gym membership and was doing nothing with it. One day, I talked to one of my best friends, who was helping his mom while battling throat cancer. But she kept fighting, not letting her cancer be an excuse, and we had a heart to heart talk, and she told me, “I am very concerned about your health, Devin.” She was talking to me like a concerned mom. And of course I gave her the old classic “I’ll work on it”. She looked me dead in the eyes, held my hand, and said, “No, you won’t.” It broke me because deep down, I knew she was right.

Something in my said to me, “This is your last chance,” and I kept listening to her in my mind with those words, “No, you won’t.” And kept hearing it over and over, and honestly, I got sick of it. I think she knew those words would drive me to do something, and thank goddness, she said those words. The first thing was to help with my mental health, so I seeked therapy. It was a major help. Then, I decided to use my gym membership and push myself to limit that I never thought I could reach. I wanted more; I wanted to keep pushing challenges, pushing for more, and more. I was done with fast food. I began hating my couch, lol. I just wanted to see what limits can go past.

1. 3:30 am 1 hr yoga session

2. 2 hour work out session at gym

3. Finding new challenges

4. Meditation

5. Work on new projects

6. Strict diet plan

7. Do it all over again.

8. Never give up on the goals

9. Endure punsishment and defeats

10. Learn from that punishment and defeats

A little sweat never hurt nobody, and a deafeat doesn’t mean you have to stay defeated. The struggles and losses were massive, but I wanted that, not for the excuses to give, but I wanted to learn. I didn’t mind embarrassing myself at the gym. I wanted to come back to prove myself, “I can f***ing do this.” Everyday, I told myself that and still do. I guess the reason why I am sharing this is because there are people out there going through the same struggles that I am going through, and I want to tell you and all of you. YOU CAN F***ING DO IT!!! All you have to is just get up and try.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog, and if you have experience, please share your story, give helping tips, or just give a motivation speech. Anything for positive energy helps. But in the meantime, thank you and have a good day. Peace.

Battle of the iconic rap groups. My review of Bone versuz 3 6 Mafia

The History

These two historic rap groups goes all the way back 26 years. I remember being a little kid, i think around 8 or 9 years and discovering Bone thugs and Harmony. First time i heard them, my first thought was the way they rapped and harmonize was the first i have ever heard that type of rap and it was beautiful. When “Thuggish Ruggish Bone first drop, that song spread fast around the bay area and we loved it. Then to find out they were from cleveland Ohio. Members “Krayzie Bone, “Wish Bone, “Layzie Bone”, “Bizzy Bone”and “Flesh-N Bone” came in on the scene with the dookie breads looking like they came from LA but to find out they came from Cleveland Ohio first we have ever heard any rappers from there while adopting had a very west coast sound to them due to the greatness of the late Eazy-E. They had hit after hit and we could not get enough of it.

Then maybe about 2 years later another group rises from “Nawf Memphis” was 3 6 mafia. “DJ Paul” “Juicy J”, Lord Infamous” (R.I.P”) “Cruncy Black” “Gangsta Boo” and “Koopsta” (R.I.P). Now before we heard 3 6, a lot of family and friends were already listening to “Brotha Lynch Hung” so the dark horror rap sound was heard around our parts but 3 6 had different sound to them. They had some buck, get crazy down south flow to them and of course we fell in love with them as well. A lot of parent were not letting their kids listen to 3 6 due to the belief that 3 6 was satanic worshippers but in my house hold anything goes lol. No i am not a satanic worshiper and i am not here to claim 3 6 mafia are worshippers themselves. Their music was to great and went hard to pass up.

Now growing up we heard the diss track called “Live By yo Rep” aimed at bone which had a lot of people talking about the beef but Bone went on to focus on making even bigger hits and 3 6 was taking over the underground rap scene. Couldn’t hate on either direction.

THE VERZUZ BATTLE

Now to start off my biggest complaint to the battle was the crowd. No energy, no wild crowd, just basically have a large group just recording everything on their phones. Not really hating on the phones but damn come alive LA you have the two biggest rap groups in front of you going to war. We needed more energy out of you. Maybe one day they will announce a rematch. Now i knew going in this battle was going to be tough for both groups. Each one countered a hit of their own from “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” to “tear Da club Up”. I was hyped, bobbing my head while watching. Get some energy in me like was a teen getting ready for a football game again and i loved it. Watching my childhood rap groups go at it made me remember why i love rap so much.

Each group had their special guests appearances which made the show even better. From “Lil Flip”, “Chamillionaire” “Lil Eazy E” the spirit of the late great “2 pac and “biggie” along with Terrance Howard was amazing. There was a lot more guests but i will let you see them for yourselves if you have not watched the show yet.

Now time address the elephant in the room and that was Bizzy scuffle with Juicy J and the little fight that broke out. I know a lot of people were upset about what happened and what “Gangsta Boo had to say about Bizzy but for me and honestly i didn’t take it serious. Some ish was said and Bizzy threw a water bottle and i think Flesh hit somebody with a mic but then both groups went backstage and hashed it out but came back and finished the show. Bizzy came back and finished the show and when they needed him he was ready and was pretty much ripping 3 6 apart in some of the battle but we all know Bizzy is one that many rappers do not want to battle.

OVERALL

This was a great show that i wish went longer and also there was a lot of hits that were not performed but i still loved the show and for me there was no winner. Both groups talked a lot.of s*** to each other but had a lot of for each other as well. Now coming in I thought Bone would edge them out but 3 6 proved that they are not second to Bone but Bone proved that even though they haven’t had a hit in years they proved that they are still Eternal and loved that about Bone. I know a lot of people were discrediting one group to make the other group look better but with these two, i don’t think you can do that. There was something else missing or i can someone and that was

One of the most underrated but yet one of the most influential rappers to ever bless the mic who passed away almost 8 years ago to this day. He was my favorite member from 3 6 mafia and if you want to listen to a great display of his skill then listen to him on “Tear Da club up thugs” “CrazyNDalasDayz” album. His flow would have been a great counter to Bizzy bone. R.I.P to the Scarecrow.

I hope to see a rematch with a different crowd, more hits, more guests and no fight break outs and maybe we will get a clear winner. Let me know who you think won the battle and let me know what city should host the rematch if there will be one.

My overall grade i give the show a solid B but thats just me. Tell me what you thought of the show and tell me your favorite song from each group. Until then thank you for visiting this blog. Until then be safe and have a happy holiday. Peace

The Lox vs Dipset.

I can remember a time back in my teenage days back in High School, being a 16 year old kid who was always blasting mostley west coast rap full blast before going to school every morning various rappers like “E-40”, “Too Short”, “C-Bo”, “Yukmouth”, “Mac Dre”, “Snoop Dogg”, “The Dogg pound” “Dj Quik” and etc. Also had a deep love for the south rap scene as well. But growing up it was all about the west for me, it was like a traditon passed down, my two older brothers and uncles and even my father who cant stand rap these days engraved it into my head. But east coast didnt get to much love. Some east coast rappers made it into the mix like “Nas”, “Rakim” “Wu-tang” “redman”. “DMX” and etc. Now we didnt hate east coast rap it was just the west was number 1 in my heart. But another East rap trio caught my attention a long time ago and and still blast their music to this day.

I was a big fan of these guys ever since I heard them on “Money power and respect” featuring “Lil Kim” and “Dmx”. “Sheek Louch”, Jadakiss” and Styles P” form the Lox. They had hits and each one was great on the mic and each one of them had good solo projects in my opinion. They convinced me in the late 90s to give east coast rappers more play in my to big to fit on my bookshelf cd player. As time went along and and going to highschool times and the rap scene somewhat changed. My fellow classmates started wearing pink which that hella caught me off guard. And then one faithful day after school I see “Camron” video “I really mean it” Camron comes out of the escalade wearing a pink coat and pink boots. Then i told myself “ohhh” when i figured it out.

Dipset was everywhere, hit after hit, every house party, every time you turned on “Rap city tha basement” or “106th and park”. They just kept coming out with the tracks. I wasnt feeling their music but I could not deny or hate on their impact. And they did keep the parties going. Their music videos were cool to watch and they were trend setters when it came to fashion. They had it all, the swag that early 2000s teens wanted, they were killing it.

Over years, over all the hits and transitions every artist went through in their respected careers and it leads to something, something that could be possibly be bigger then all their hits combined. Their “Versuz” battle maybe the biggest. Now over the past year we have had differnent music artist get in on the action. You had “Snoop Dogg” vs the late great “DMX” (RIP). You also had Teddy Riley vs Babyface. Keisha Cole vs Ashanti, “Earth Wind and Fire” vs “the isley brothers”. (Steve Harvey ruined that one for me). Keith Sweat vs Bobby Brown and of course the controversial “Jeezy” vs “Gucci Mane”. My favorite one of course was “E-40” vs “Too Short”.

Then it was announced “The Lox vs “Dipset” Madison Square Garden.

Leading up to the battle the set up was perfect and quite funny. The back and forths on social media were funny. I learned Styles P is hilarious as a internet Troll. The exchanges that him and Jim Jones had kept my attentions on a high alert. I mean this guy from thr bay area who didn’t bump much east coast rap but this battle, this build up kept my attention and the more i saw more anxious I was getting. Then the day finally comes.

The stage is set, Madison Square Garden is packed with fans, rappers, athletes, thugs, gangsters etc. Michael Buffer the Michael Buffer is front in the middle of the stage. The lox comes out first to DMX “Intro”. I had goosebumps, it was like watching 3 Mike Tysons storming the stage. These guys were hella ready.

Then it’s Dipset turn to come out and they came late. Camron arrives finally with a beach chair. One group was there to have fun while the other, well you saw what happened.

Jadakiss came for blood and Dipset did not have a answer for him. He took over while calling Dipset for “lip- synching” he was funny, he performed great along with his fellow members. It was fun and high energy and the catalog songs that they were bringing out was great. I am not from NY but for a minute watching the performance I felt I was from NY.

On the Dipset side they seemed off, low energy, forgetting lyrics, Jim Jones looks like he fell off stage, Juelz Santana prettt much throwing an Alley oop to the Lox with the “i dont think these dudes like girls” line and Freeky Zeaky looking like a Hype man dancer had me in tears. From multiple youtube channels i heard Camron almost left before the battle even started. Dipset chemistry was off. But overall I still enjoyed the their performances.

The lox wanted to take over everything,..including shoes lol

There was quite a bit of funny parts. The shit talking was funny as hell, Camron trying to kick off Styles P. Camron and zeeky mocking The lox during the D block song with thier marching had me cracking up. I know some people and and crtics had issues with the antics and some of the words said towarda each other buts its all love.

Overall this was so fun to watch and this is my favorite versuz battle out of them all. And i hope this series continues and grows bigger bigger and it was great to see the crowd enjoying the show. I hope musicans take full advantage of this and keep this thing going. Now for a wish list verzuz, here are some I would love to see.

“Dr Dre vs DJ Quik” “Tha Dogg pound” vs “Outkast. “Bone Thugs and Harmony” vs “Three-6 mafia”. And alot more.

If you are a hip hop fan i recommend watching it, its fun as hell, funny, and just exciting to watch and if this isn’t your type of show well thats okay but just let people enjoy the show and keep moving. Hope everybody has a great weekend and stay safe.