*Easter Special* New Old Malik-16 video “212/Check-In”

I don’t celebrate Easter at all,

but I thought that shouldn’t stop me from sharing a Holiday treat with you all who do. Not that what I’m sharing has any semblance of what this Holiday supposedly represents. I mean, it is kinda colorful, I’m wearing greens and purples and oranges….But nevertheless, I’ve been sitting on this for some time and I decided that today would be the day.

Besides, I want to conduct my own little social experiment to combat this VEVO count debacle that happened with my first official release.

These are the visuals to what was to be the 2 lead singles off my first mixtape of original music, Party Of 1: The Best Rapper Never Heard. “Check-In”, which is still one of the leads (along with “Grown”) and “212” – which is no longer featured on the project (and relegated to freestyle fodder when I’m prompted – which I just recently used on my college radio appearance btw) but made it into the first half of this video. “Check-In” feels perfect for the change of weather about to occur. Playful, but full of clever lines, produced by my ace, Jim Nastic/K.Lio, even if you don’t feel my off-key alto adlibs on the hook, you’ll find yourself singing along with it at some point. The video plays off of the hotel analogy in the hook and finds me roaming the halls, checking myself out – as you should, and elevator joyriding, all before checking out. See what I did there? The first half is just an unofficial ode to Manhattan, with the same title as, but way more str8forward than whatever ms. Banks did with hers.

This is a dirty gem from my guerilla video era last winter when I was just grabbing whoever had a camera and asking them to shoot footage in hopes that it could be put together into something. And lo and behold…With the combined efforts of the homies Khadj and Kompel, who have NEVER shot videos before in their entertaining lives – to the point where those out-of-focus shots were not actually done on purpose, and the then-novice experience of one Stephen Redhead, We made something. Completely directed by me, this ironically is the ONLY video that NameisE completed before he and I feel out. Again, ironically, this is the one video he had NOTHING to do with. He just wanted to edit it because the quality was annoying him. I promise my official videos are nothing but that…Official.

So. As most of you make your way out of church, I hope this starts your sinning off correctly. Watch, share, notice the cameos if you know those people, and just know that yes, fuck it! My mixtape is dropping this season, even if it’s just for you guys who care.

Hope this holds you over until the next official single release on S.F.E./Universal

16’s Candles sponsors “Plates & Crates” – A new monthly event to look out for

Let’s Do it Again…

“The Deficit” – Musings From The Media Sweetheart

The Deficit:

What is it about feelings, love, emotions, and all other forms of “gushy stuff” that people find so terrifying? Why is it that people are more likely to have a guard up rather than an insuppressible excitement to dive into the unknown and present themselves as vulnerable to a new person as well as new experiences that they would bring about? I’m not so much interested in the reason because I know very well why this is. What I’m more concerned with is why people do the hurtful things to one another that create this dysfunctional network of broken and distrusting individuals that only lend this toxicity into every subsequent interaction with the opposite sex.

 

I find it rather perplexing and difficult to fully comprehend why people hurt the ones they claim to love and care for. When you awaken a love in someone you are now charged with a responsibility of making sure that you take care of that heart. Unfortunately, nowadays, people don’t take this responsibility seriously. Many don’t even realize how heavy it really is. Either way, I’ve always tried to live by the golden rule of treating others the way I want to be treated and I think many should return to this way of thinking. If you wouldn’t want your significant other to do some messed up ish to you, you shouldn’t do it to them.

 

I definitely feel like a lot of this chaos and confusion can be attributed to deficit. Not of the economical sense that our nation is facing but deficit on a more personal level. Men with a deficit, or lack, of self control and/or confidence who gauge their manhood and self worth by the amount of women they’re able to juggle. They need to feel this attention in order to feel good about themselves. To feel like men. This, coupled with insecure and incomplete women willing to buss it wide open for any old ‘rando’ who spits up some lame pick up line because Daddy wasn’t there and they long for the affection of a man makes for a dangerous recipe. Even when they have a great girl by their side they feel the need to take to the streets and behave like a dirty dog seeking fulfillment they don’t even realize they’re after. The same holds true for women. They’ll gladly profess their love for their ‘bae’ on Facebook all day long but they’re still DM’ing some random guy on InstaDM who just ‘liked’ every picture she’s ever put up. Unfortunately for everyone involved they don’t realize that these antics aren’t going to bring them any closer to the contentment they’re so fervently after. The only way to attain that is through major introspection and realizing that “pussy, money, and weed” and this new notion of “making it” aren’t the things that make you successful in this life and subsequently, happy.

 

When I’m out and about I see a lot of people who are trying so hard to fit in, so hard to fit the bill of what is being portrayed to us by the media. I see girls with weaves down to the backs of their kneecaps, talon-like manicures, all dressed in the same outfit from Forever 21. I see ‘men’ with their ‘Trues’ sagging to their ankles, a two-hundred dollar pair of sneakers that they already had when they were eleven, and a grip of pointless tattoos. All I see when I look at these people are “individuals” who have not the slightest clue of who they are or what their purpose is in this life therefore they allow modern media to dictate to them what they should look like, who they should be attracted to, and how they should behave. Because all the rappers are talking about how many ‘bad bitches’ they’ve smashed, the man with no sort of self-concept rationalizes that he now has to go out and try and smash a gang of bad bitches. You see where I’m going with this?

 

People who are truly as different as 2 Chainz claims to be realize that these antics aren’t of any value and therefore aren’t worth the time and energy required to execute them. These people are too involved with attaining REAL success to even be bothered with trying to juggle more than one partner as well as maintaining the lies to cover their behinds. If you’re focused on trying to sleep with a bunch of video vixen wannabes that focus isn’t geared toward your success, therefore all its doing is inhibiting you from progressing. Y’all need to leave that mindset back in high school where it belongs.

 

I know that there are plenty of other reasons why people cheat or betray the trust of their significant others but when I break it down, all the aforementioned seem to be at the core of why many relationships go up in flames and therefore leave the survivors with some serious mental and emotional scars.

 

Let’s all do each other a favor. Take out one day to reflect on ourselves and realize what it is we’re meant to be doing, Let’s all focus on what’s really important and letting go of destructive behaviors and ways of thinking. I’m sure if we did we’d notice a measurable difference in our generation and fewer emotionally scorned men and women and a lot more success and contentment.

 

As always, I wanna hear what you guys think so feel free to comment and share!

 

Toodles,

M.S.