PRETTY LATE BUT STILL PRETTY SWEET TO WATCH

YEAH, YEAH, I KNOW I'M 3 MONTHS LATE BUT FUCK IT: THIS VIDEO IS TOO DAMN GOOD, SHOUT OUTS TO CARL AIKENS AND JORDAN TRAHAN FOR TURNING PRO FOR CHOCOLATE! ENJOY THIS QUALITY SKATEBOARDING EVERYONE!

IF Biggie and Pac Was Still Alive....(An Utopia)

This morning, I was listening to Roy Ayers, smoking a spliff and enjoying an iced coffee with my girlfriend when this random thought just came to me: Can we imagine a world with Tupac and Biggie still alive? I would like to imagine a world like this, wouldn't you? Maybe the east coast/west coast beef will finally come to a close as Big and Pac eventually squash their beef and rekindle their friendship. The black community and the hip hop community as a whole would probably look to Biggie and Pac as something of a father figure to them, maybe even make new music with these two iconic figures. Who knows, maybe MF Doom would make a collab with Biggie, Madlib and $ean Price (RIP). I would have loved to see Pac and Big together on Drink Champs with NORE, talking about the evolution of hip hop, the future talent and the direction that hip hop is moving towards. Can we imagine a world where J. Dilla is still alive? I would love to imagine that world, maybe Slum Village and Common would still be doing music, imagine Lupe Fiasco working with Dilla? If Pac and Big was still alive, there would be less beefs and less young black men killing each other off over stupid shit like a block that they don't legally own, probably never will own. There would probably be more Nipsey Hussles in the world, less hate and jealousy in the black community. Can we imagine a world where lyricism means something? There would probably be less "mumble rap" and more trap artists rapping coherently in their songs without being high off lean all the time, maybe there would be more love and respect amongst one another in the community. Hell, maybe more artists would branch out and create their own music labels, scenes, and network with like-minded black creatives to collaborate with, form a healthy ecosystem of not only hip hop artists, but artists and fellow creatives in general. I would love to imagine a world where Pac and other departed hip hop icons are still alive, maybe self-hate in the black community would be a thing of the past, there would be less xenophobia in the Asian-American community, there would be less appropiation and culture-vulturing and if there is such a thing, it would get nipped in the bud so fast. Hell, if Pac and Big were still alive, cancel-culture wouldn't be much of a a thing, if at all. Maybe people who feel marginalized and attacked, instead of crying to social media forums, they instead have healthy conversations about it, create their own spaces and just leave alone the ignorant ones that would rather remain ignorant instead of educating themselves. A world with Pac and Big still alive would probably be a more healthy world for the black community, maybe even America in general. Who knows, Pac and Big may even spearhead a modern movement for Black America to receive their reparations payments from the US government. I know, I know all of this seems ridiculous and far-fetched to the pessimists of the world but a man can dream right? In the meantime, please enjoy this amazing cover by D'Angelo. Until next time ya'll...