Hip Hop Block: Diggy Simmons Reaches for the Stars with Airborne

As some of you may be aware,
I'm currently a writer
for my school's newspaper The Greyhound
focusing mainly on hip-hop.
I write bi-weekly.
I first recapped the hip hop of the summer.
For my second article,

I focused on Diggy Simmon's Airborne.
I will now share with you the article
in paragraph form instead of my usual poem style.
Also, you can look forward to new episodes

of the Hip Hop Block starting next Wednesday
every other week after it premieres in the Tuesday paper.
Enjoy.

When Rev Run agreed to have his family filmed for MTV’s Run’s House, we all pictured a reality TV version of the Cosby Show. In some senses it was: five kids to start off with, high moral values, and a heart-warming after effect.

Like Rev Run, his kids had ambition. His two daughters started their own shoe and clothing line, and his oldest son Jojo pursued a rap career with two of his closest friends, calling themselves Team Blackout. Little was it known that Rev’s second oldest son, Daniel, also had the same passion for rhyming.

Originally Daniel, better known as Diggy, wished to start his own clothing line. With family connections and mentoring from Pharrell Williams, he seemed on his way. However, in the December of 2009, Diggy released his first mixtape The First Flight; this solo effort caught many record labels attention, eventually landing him a record deal with Atlantic Records.

Diggy’s style is laid back, smooth. There’s syncopation to his flow. On September 10, 2010, the now 15 year old rapper dropped his second mixtape Airborne, which has lived up to its hyped. The mixtape is laced with guest appearances, none completely overshadowing the young emcee.

He opens with the title track determined to make his presence known and everlasting. “With darkness all around me/elevating through the atmosphere/notions and doubts surround me/but not impact no fear/ya’ll want the celebration/I want the constellations/Aligning them all in my favor/shining through all the nation.”

R&B artist Colin Monroe assists Diggy on Big Bad World, in which the two portray the struggles of just trying to get by. In his second verse, Diggy shows us the rise and fall of a young couple with child. Monroe sings in his verse, “They say you should have whatever you like/but does that mean you get what you need?/or maybe the world could be yours in time/but does happiness grow on trees.”

On Super Hero Music, Diggy raps, “Wonder I’m the drum spitting thunder til I’m numb/a meteor hit the earth the day I came out of my mum/so I’m immaculate/who’s matching this?/ya’ll can’t win/cause the match is fixed.” Raekwon of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan also graces the track with a verse. You don’t gain such a high caliber cosign without serious skills.

On the next track, both Lupe Fiasco and Diggy’s mentor Pharrell lend their talents to create the epic Oh Yeah. As the beat pounds and a chorus repeats the title phrase, Lupe spits first, “Yeah we got nine lives/but they got nine knives/we only get one chance and they get 9 tries/tell you that dime’s fly/baby girl’s a fine price/all I see is money when I look inside this dime’s eye/life’s a b****, I’ll be rich if I make her cry/tears of tissue turns to money if you let it dry.”

Pharrell lays down an equally hot second verse, yet it is Diggy who still manages to shine as he closes the song. “Uh, ahead of time, sometime like a pre-me/and I got the co-sign from the two n****s pre-me/I don’t see none of y’all, you see me/y’all can’t see me, you Stevie/blow up and I make it look easy/yeah I’m so wack cause I’m on TV/if I am such an amateur, when I come around what you panic for?/cause you know I’m hotter than a planet’s core.”

This Feeling is Diggy self-assurance track in which he promises to himself that he will make it as an emcee. His talent and ability to accomplish such is apparent within the opening bars of the song. “Little n****, unstoppable/so astronomical/phenomenal/so I’mma take over this game, I promise you/the destined to do this, superstar like Wasalu/prodigy and passing you, conquering ever avenue.”

Diggy closes out with Great Expectations where he addresses the pressure he is under to perform well, even wondering if he really wants it. But as the song wraps up he proclaims, “I ain’t gon’ give up the game!” With so much talent and years to prefect his craft, we can look forward to the young lyricist becoming a fixture in the rap game.

A House is Not a Home

As I sat in a chair

staring blanking into space

at a friend's place,

I realized I had only been home

for a total of ten minutes, if that,

in the span of 52 hours.

This is a trend that has been growing

since my freshman year.

I got along with my freshman year roommates

probably the best that I have with any.

That whole hallway was a community,

and the other hallway on the floor

was like the next block over, basically.

I frequented different rooms so often

that my roommates had to ask

if I was rooming with them the following year.

I did plan on staying with them,

but due to complications at the end of freshman year

I went to stay with another friend and his roommates.

It was a six person room,

but three of the original five kids didn't come back

to the school or live on campus for various reasons.

The two remaining guys got two random guys

and then I came along.

My direct roommate wasn't terrible,

but we didn't click like I had with my previous direct.

It really didn't help when he found out

about one of my posts basically bashing him.

[I apologized shortly after, and we were cool again.]

Nevertheless, I still spent most of my time

at my friend's place on the floor above mines

or with various different groups that I traveled among.

There would often be nights that I wouldn't come home

until 4 in the morning, which has continued since.

Junior year

I decided to live with one of my friends

that happened to be an RA.

He's probably reading this now.

Hi, guy.

We received another roommate

who became my direct.

He moved after the first semester though.

...I'll just leave it at that. haha

But yeah... my RA friend,

he has high morals.

And I truly do respect him for it.

But I'm not as upstanding a citizen as he.

Therefore, I take my exploits elsewhere

as to not expose him to my reckless lifestyle,

though I'm sure he knows well what I'm up to.

He does follow me on Twitter after all.

The first year living with him,

I would be gone most of the day,

but at least I would come back and sleep in my bed.

This is my second year living with him,

but honestly,

I sleep on couches more than my bed.

I did receive yet another random roommate.

He's ok, but again no real connection.

The other fact is that we don't live

on the senior side of campus,

and that's where I've been spending

most of my time away from home now.

That hike back is not one I always feel like taking.

Sometimes, I even go to the senior side

before I go back home after classes.

In all honesty,

I've even been avoiding my actual home in Jersey,

especially during these past 2 years

that I've spent the summer on campus to work.

I'm only home for holidays.

I think in a way

I'm still trying to find where I belong.

I hop around so much

and like so many different things

and different aspects of people.

I just find it hard to just chill at home.

Also...

I was an extreme home body

during my pre-college career.

The only time I went out in high school was prom.

Yeah... I was wack,

spending weekends online chatting to my friends

instead of meeting up in person,

watching TV or playing video games on the weekend.

My life is the complete opposite now.

It's almost weird to think about.

I almost fret at the thought of life after college,

not having a multitude of places to visit

to escape my own residence on deck.

It's almost like I prefer to be a guest.

Hmm...

what can I say?

I love to roam.

Word.

Funday

If you'll allow, I'd like to break down
how each day of the week feels to me.


Monday
Hardly anyone likes Mondays.
They're the start of the work/school week
for the majority of the Americans.
I see Monday as my main obstacle in the week,
so it's best to just get it out the way.
Work from 9am to 1pm.
Classes from 3-9pm.
They're all fun classes,
but the 3rd class is 2.5 hours.
....needless to say I don't feel
like doing shit at the end of the day.


Thursday 1
Tuesday feels like Thursday to me
because they are exactly identical
unlike the rest of my days.
I start class at 3pm both days and go til 6.
The only difference is that
I'm always faced with the sad realization
that I am far from the end of the week.

Wednesday
Good ol' hump day.
Still have work from 9-1,
but no 3rd class, so I end at 6pm.
By the way, you may have noticed
I don't start class til late.
This is because I'm not a morning person.
We'll get into that in a later post.

Thursday 2
The real Thursday comes.
I eagerly wait for my classes to start
and once they're over
I always want to walk in the middle of the quad
and shout, "IT'S THE WEEKEND!!!"
Depending on my funds that week,
I'll either go out...
or work to make up for my lack thereof.

Saturday
You may be wondering what happened to Friday.
Well this is Friday.
But see, with a Friday
there's work and then fun.
On Saturdays, for the most part,
there's only fun to be had.
Sure, sometimes I get called into work,
but I could get called in to work on a real Saturday, too.
I keep saying I'm going to sit on the quad all day,
but I haven't yet.
You'll probably see a blog post once I do.

Funday!!!
You remember how when you were a kid,
you wished there could be 8 days to the week:
an extra weekend day to just lounge around
and push Monday even further away?
Well, I called this day Funday in my mind.
What better name could there be?
And now with a 3-day weekend for the whole semester,
my dreams are finally coming true.
Where I might have done homework on Saturday,
on Funday I can look at my books in my day-after state
and laugh at their covers, at their hopes of being read.
It's the perfect day to start day drinking like classy upper-classers.
Basically, anything I wanna do on Funday,
best believe I'mma do it.

Sunday
It's back to life,
back to reality.
I watch football games
with my fellow fantasy football players
as I assess what assignments still need to be completed.
It starts out as a mellow day,
and ends up with a grumpy Charles
because I remember I have to wake up
before 9am the next day.


But it was all worth it for Funday.
Word.

After Lunch Electric Feel

I come to you live
after eating lunch.
You would not believe
how much energy I have right now.
It's dumb retarded. [#jerseyslang]
I'm in the CMC
[aka the minority spot from old posts]
acting a damn fool right now.

There's just something about food,
the pure satisfaction,
the robust flavors,
the nice full feeling
[fat person moment].
Or maybe it's just cafeteria food.

In any case,
I honestly can not sit still right now.
There's loud rowdy music
blaring in my head
no matter what people say,
no matter what other music may be playing.
I am dancing my ass off,
annoying people,
trying to start small physical fight
just to expel energy.

I think I do this
so that I'm not too hyper in class.
Here I can just wyle out.
I equate it to recess.
...
I miss recess.
We should have recess in college.
...I guess that's what the time between classes is for.
But no.
Even in work we should have it.
I know some of you, my older readers,
may have tired bones,
but wouldn't it feel great to play flag football
or hopscotch or jump rope
or just let your imagination run wild
for a brief period after lunch
to help you get through the day?

Maybe it's just the over-active kid in me.
But either way,
rabble rabble woddle riddle.
...sorry.
I spit random lines out to in my hyper state.
Word.

School Years: Return of the Senioritis

The fact that I tried so hard

to parody a Star Wars title should say something.

Yes, my dear friends and associates,

senioritis is beginning to run its course through my veins.

I realize it's only been a week of classes so far,

but once senior year strikes,

the condition loses all concept of time.

As this has somewhat decidedly

become my last year of schooling

[at least until I feel the urge to attend grad school],

thoughts of "why does this even matter"

have popped into my mind.

No worries, I have no aspirations to pull a Kanye.

That would just be a waste of 3 years...

and my parents would literally kill me.

Let's be serious. haha

I thought I set up a good schedule for myself.

No classes before 3pm Monday-Thursday,

no classes on Friday.

Picked classes that all seem interesting.

But alas, there are some hiccups.

My 2nd English class,

required as core curriculum for graduation,

is already proving gruesomely uninteresting.

The teacher has decided to focus on the "surrounds."

It's like a nature writing class except we're reading it.

No offense to nature writers, but I can stand it.

And sure, we'll read novels later,

but I can feel she'll focus more on the surroundings than action.

I fail in sharing her interest in such.

The other problem is my Monday.

I decided to take on working one job from 9am-1pm,

knowing damn well I'm not a morning person.

That was the whole point of not having class til 3.

Ah, but there's more.

I have class from 3-9 on Mondays.

Sure, these classes are interesting...

but they're still draining.

But the true source of the senioritis

comes from my procrastination as usual.

However, I'm implementing a new tool in my arsenal.

I'm enlisting the help of a planner.

That's right folks,

for the first time in my college career

I'll be using a planner.

How have I kept up with everything until now?

I have a good memory when I want to.

But I'm trying to do assignments ahead of time

instead of waiting til the last minute

and I'm hoping the planner will help.

To my fellow seniors I must ask,

are you feeling the affects of senioritis yet?

I surely hope not.

But if you are unfortunate enough,

how are you dealing with it?

If we help each other,

we can all make it though.

Word.

Jiminy Crickets

On Monday night, I tweeted:

"The sound of crickets is underrated."

I tweeted Tuesday night:

"I'm very tempted to capture a few crickets so I can take care of them & they can provide background music for me to fall asleep during winter."

For the past few hours I've been attempting

to figure out this new obsession with crickets,

and I think I've finally figured out why.

I associate the sound with summer.

Perhaps Spring as well.

I've always been a fan of warm weather,

and with warm weather comes bugs.

Sure, most of them are pest

(especially bees... damn bees),

but some are ok.

Some people don't like crickets.

They say the critters keep them up all night.

But if you just give them a chance

they can be very soothing.

They break up the dead silence that we're afraid of,

letting us know we aren't alone.

They also come in handy when someone tells a bad joke.

[crickets] ...see what I mean?

(tangent)

I wonder if I capture one

if it'll guide me like Pinocchio.

I'd like to be a real boy.

Jumping inside whales,

becoming a carnie,

always having a way out.

Maybe he'd fight away termites,

or even better BEES!

Then he'd invite Glinda the good witch of the north

for tea and crumpets and whimsical times.

(tangent over)

Anyway,

I think the cricket has become my favorite bug

...at least until I see a troop of ants carry another picnic away better than Yogi Bear and Boo Boo.

Word