RIP DJ Screw

Today is the anniversary of Robert Earl Davis aka DJ Screw’s death. DJ Screw is a legend. He was a pioneer of a mixing style that everyone on every coast uses today. I personally began listening to Screw tapes back in the early 90’s and still “bang Screw” till this day. I was blessed to have gotten the chance to know him and kick it with him on a few occasions. He was one of the most uplifting, inspirational, God fearing, talented, supportive people I’ve ever met.

Social Media Addiction

The other day, I was at home watching the Rockets barely win by 3 while updating some profiles I have when I realized, I have a lot of different profiles. For the most part, the bios are the same but everything else is different. I use Firefox as my primary internet browser because of the available plugins that help with SEO and the tabbed browsing. While updating and saving, I realized I had about 10 tabs open. I began closing them and looking at what they were and I realized I may be addicted to social media.

Optimization…

Optimization…what is it? Everyone is saying it. Does it mean something or is it just a “buzz word”? To me, it is both, especially since I work at a SEO & Social Media Consulting firm. According to “Merriam Webster”, optimization is basically the art or process of making something, regardless of what it is functional and effective. I began to start thinking outside of the box with this term “optimization”. In regards to search engines, it is basically skillfully designing and coding a website inside and out to be highly functional and relative in the search realm and highly effective in converting site visitors. If Google, Yahoo, etc… can find it easy enough because it is relative to the searched key word or phrase and therefore list it on the 1st page then the optimization was done well.

Where is Steve Francis?

First, I can’t be mad at the current standing of our division.  The Rockets are number 1.  They should be 5-0 though.  They folded against Dallas when we had them beat.  I think an appearance from Steve would’ve sealed the deal.  I’m not sure what is going on in practice or behind closed doors but they need to do something.  I like the fact that Mike J is ballin right now and Skip is having a better season, but in order to be a true threat we’ll need that third threat and currently he is keeping the pine warm.  I’d hate to lose him to a team like the Lake Show or even Miami who could benefit from an All Star guard at a cheap price.  I heard he wasn’t “fitting” in the offense that Rick has implemented.  The offense is a run and gun high post based offense that I think Steve should flourish in.  I guess it’s cool right now, because we are winning, but, we all know that T-Mac won’t give us a full season and Yao is already tired.  I believe with Steve in the rotation, T-Mac might last a full season and Yao could rest more on offense.  Don’t forget he once led the league in rebounds from the guard position.  Anyway, good job Rockets on the season thus far and I’ll be patiently waiting for my boy to get in the lineup, somewhere…ya dig.  Peace & Blessings!

Link Building 101

I’m employed at a company called Pop Labs and basically my role is two-fold. I am a project coordinator which means after an account is sold by our sales team, they are assigned to me or one of or PC’s and we manage the account. I make sure that the client understands exactly what we are going to do, how we are going to do it, why we are going to do it and how they will benefit from it. I’m also on our marketing team. During the development of the new account, we research the client’s business, competitors, keywords, etc…and begin developing the online marketing campaign. A major part of what we do is optimization.

If I can do it, you can do it…

Hardworking, loving, single father. After my wife and I split some years ago, I fell into the usual role of paying child support and having my kids on weekends. This situation took some getting used to because I was used to having my children under my roof. I was accustomed to putting them to sleep and waking them up. Anyway, while shopping yesterday evening I overheard a conversation between two guys about their children. One guy (African American probably 30 years old) was saying he didn’t understand why he had to pay child support and let his kids visit him. It should be one or the other.

Say…So

This past Saturday, I went to support a few local gospel hip hop artist I know at a Youth Explosion at First Mount Carmel in 5th Ward. There was also a guest minister named Pastor P, from this church in Sunnyside (I forgot the name of the church). I writing this because over the past few years I’ve been doing Holy Hip Hop, people who know me and know my past tend to question how or even why I do it. In the past, in particularly junior high, high school and college, while I went to church everyday, the church wasn’t in me. I knew the word of God, right from wrong, etc… but I continued to participate in activities that I shouldn’t have. I won’t go into depth about those but I will say, I was far from a saint. These days, when I’m out ministering and trying to walk the straight and narrow, I always run into people I’ve known for years. I’ve come to find out that people will label you by what you’ve done in the past, regardless of what you’re presently doing.

Stay Prayed Up!

Have you ever went days, weeks or even months without praying? I have. It is easy to get caught up in the day to day issues of your life, the good and bad, and try to handle these issues yourself, rather than “take them to God”. Then, what eventually happens is, you hear a word or God speaks to you through someone else or even gives you some sort of sign that he is still in control and you realize that you’ve been slacking in your communication with him. Right then, you make a conscious decision that you are going to pray more often. For me, that first prayer is tough. It’s kinda like when you call someone you haven’t spoke to in a while, you catch up on what’s been happening since last time you spoke.

Original Screwed Up Click - Who’s left?

It saddens me greatly to write this post and I almost didn’t. Yesterday, Big Moe, another original SUC member passed away at the young age of 33. I was blessed to have known him and had the opportunity to kick it with him on a few occasions. Big Moe was not only a very talented individual, he was an overall great person. He had a love for singing, rapping, chilling, sipping and really just being around friends and family. He was truly a blessing to the Dirty 3rd and especially H-Town. He will be missed but never forgotten. 1 Luv….

His death made me focus on a hard reality. The people who created the music that I grew up listening to, Screw tapes, were quickly diminishing. It started with the very untimely death of Fat Pat and then the originator of slowed down music, DJ Screw. Fat Pat’s brother Big HAWK passed recently also. There are countless others I could mention like Mafio, Gator, Big Rue, etc…

Work in the church

What is work in the church? Why should you work in the church? How do you benefit from work in the church? Why do I have to go to church? These are several questions people saved and unsaved have asked me. I personally believe that just as much as the church is a place to find strength, love, worship, praise, a message from the Lord and basically learn and practice your religion, it is also a business.