Just in time for the day after Valentine’s Day, we present to you “The Guide to Jumpoffs”.  It’s kind of like “Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul,” but not really.  This book has been in the works for a long time, and we are happy to finally have it available for your visual consumption.

The authors of the book are:

Dr J, Rahim the Dream, Nova Giovanni, 8 Plus 9, and The Guy (an Anonymous writer).  Also, follow our Guide to Jumpoffs Twitter account, it could be anyone of us tweeting something related to  the books material at any time.

Before you women run off and say “hey this book is sexist”, remember that both MEN and WOMEN can be jumpoffs.  Happy now?

Download it below:

ThisistheDream’s Guide To Jumpoffs (Download)

“@Cole_STP: Aaliyah was one of the promising ones who would have definitely changed the R&B game even today.”

Earlier this morning, I tweeted this and I have to say, I stand by this statement.

Its mind boggling that at my age, I am disgusted with the state of music as it is today. A lot of people will not agree with me and that’s fine. There are few artists that I really appreciate in this day and age and it’s sad that in order to say “good music”, I have to creep into the crevices of the archives and pull out music from the 80’s and 90’s. That’s the music that I can consider great music for my time, even though I am an avid 60-80’s fan. I could still listen to some good Ella Fitzgerald and many more great artists during that time. I could still listen to some good disco and still feel the need to do some of the old time dances that yes, didn’t need my butt shaking up against a man. A lot of y’all won’t hear me on this one, but that’s fine too.

Aaliyah Dana Haughton would have been 33 years old today. That’s pretty amazing. I’ve heard people say that she would have been a great entertainer, but her singing wasn’t all that, but that’s up to your feelings. Many people such as Beyonce have been classified as great entertainers and personally, she has the voice to match what she does. I mean Jay-Z on Life and Times posted a video of her singing A Cappella to 1+1 before American Idol and I mean it was something epic. Pure passion and soul, coming from the inside and sounds melodic on the outside. Whitney Houston pre-Bobby Brown, changed the game. Mariah Carey did too. If you can hit a note like her, then come see me and prove it. You really can’t hate on women of this caliber, because they brought it and they worked hard to get where they were today.

Aaliyah gave us hit classics. She hit home with a lot of songs. I remember just sitting and watching music videos and just being in awe of her dance moves and just watching her sing her heart out. “One in a Million” will always be one of my personal favorites and “Try Again” is just something I could still bump with my girlfriends on those nights where it is appropriate to play those woman-empowering songs and be proud to be a woman. She died too soon, because I still strongly feel that she had a few more hit albums in her. She could have probably surpassed Beyonce’s success. Seriously.

What I am getting to here is that Aaliyah clearly shows the deteriorating state of R&B. We have to reach back to get classics. The newbies aren’t really pushing R&B to where it should really be. R&B always had a mature feel to it. The state of relationships and how we act as a people definitely influenced the new R&B and it really is not the same. We don’t get those songs about how great it is to be with someone you love. I hear about the one night stands and the “Quickies”. Yes I am referring to Miguel, but you see where I am going with this. Not a lot of people will really understand how much it hurts someone who has a positive hope for the music industry to actually be what it really is supposed to be. It really isn’t supposed to be about the money, but the business aspect of it has to be discussed in another article.

So as I listen to “Rock The Boat” and all her discography for the day, I want to know who will really step up to the plate after Beyonce, and all these other greats have run their course. Hopefully we shall see.

written by @MelanieJoySims

–

Blue Ivy Carter is perhaps the most exceptional baby in all
celebri-babidom, right now.  She has half as many collabos with Jay-Z
as J. Cole does — and at less than 72-hours-old — B.I.C. did it in
only a fraction of the time it took Jermaine.  Months ago, she
diverted attention from even the .003 percent chance that her proud
papa might respond to Lil Wayne’s “gotcha baby money” rebuttal to that
line about “Baby money,” and Blue accomplished it simply by giving
Tweeps something else to buzz about, specifically, her in utero debut
at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.

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Follow Christina at @CROMAN_

“Oversaturated”

The over saturation in this world has gotten to a point where it makes it damn near impossible to find credible sources for anything, especially in fashion.

With “models” around every corner, “photographers” at every event and “blogs” covering every story, it can be quite a difficult experience when finding who is real and who is here just for the title. Professions like these are meant to be driven by passion, love and dedication. Sadly not everyone thinks of them in that light, we have a bunch of posers looking to be “the next big thing” as if there isn’t more to life. Where are those models who are drawn to the life because they were destined for this or the designers who create for the love of the art. The bloggers who are actual writers spilling their hearts for the world to read. The photographers who strive to capture that perfection shot that’ll leave you breathless. Those very talents that have the capability to inspire a world of creatives. This is missing, but how do we fix the problem?

I would be lying if I gave you an exact answer, truth be told I have no clue. Maybe it’ll be writers like myself addressing the issue or websites like this one who are allowing people such as myself to speak out. Perhaps it’ll be that one generation that says enough is enough. It might just be that group of people who decide we are going to do this right and be the example our fashion world needs again. Either way, a change is coming. A time where true talents and real artists will be praised and admired for their work. Back to the understanding that you are nothing but a creative mind sharing your thoughts. I have a great belief that this is already starting to unfold, slowly but progressively. Artists all over I urge you to be everything and more. There is no better time than right now.

Editor’s Note: I felt as though this was appropriate to post now after watching the video below, and feeling some kind of way about it.  Voice your commentary in that comment box after if you feel moved to.  This post is from our Last Dollar Van To Brooklyn e-book.

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