#thisisthepart

#ThisIsThePart where silences say more than words. Where two ships pass each other in the night, blasting cannonballs at each other for spite. Where pirates of passion, once "hooked" on each other, now walk the plank of purgatory. 

Too attached to stray. 

Too detached to stay.

Whose line is it, anyway?

(Samples "Great Divide" by The Cardigans. 

Painting courtesy ofwww.reshadapullenjireh.com. 

Photography courtesy of www.rdionefoto.com. 

Hear the continuing #ThisIsThePart saga at www.soundcloud.com/brokeballer!)

The woman who inspired much of #ThisIsThePart put me on to "Guilt Junkie" by Vinia Mojica by way of mixtape when we first started dating. I couldn't have known then that I would end up feeling like the song by the time we were finished.

So this song is dedicated to the song it samples, the woman who put me on to it, and the point in the relationship when the voice that was once music to your ears now sounds like it could belong to one of Charlie Brown's teachers.

But it is also dedicated to "Love Jones", one of my favorite films, and to the best-ever way to end an argument: storming out to get some muh'fuckin' Toasted Oats.

Painting courtesy of www.reshadapullenjireh.com.

"I see the sky in your eyes, but your tears start clouding it / I made a map of your mind, but you're always rerouting it / You're good money to me, but you call yourself counterfeit / Can't confide in me, because you don't have the confidence . . "

Said sentiments sound much lovelier as crooned by one Basic the Bassist on the original version of this song (produced by Christylez Bacon). But I couldn't very well give y'all that version for free, now could I? (Look out for the video produced by Gemal Woods for Park Triangle Productions at www.brokeballer.com and the brokeballer YouTube channel!)

In the meantime, you're stuck with this Pharcyde/Dilla shout out of sorts, lamenting love's Allyson Felix's who strode prettily when you wish they would have dove for your gold. Rollin' over hurdles and Hasting out of reach, leaving you lonely on a podium where even Bolt couldn't compete . . .

"Baby girl, you're the truth, but you're always in doubt of it / You're sweet, smart, and cute, but you can't take a compliment / I think the world of you, but you think you're the apocalypse / Doggonit, I'm through; ain't this about a bitch? . . "

Painting courtesy of www.reshadapullenjireh.com .

“Subject of what I do be you . . ” ~ Dwayne B the Crochet Kingpin

Ladies, it’s been a while since you got a good hip hop serenade, hasn’t it?

We’ve heard anthems to “trap queens”, “ride-or-die chicks”, and “down-ass bitches”. We’ve heard of Desiigner’s “broads in Atlanta” and of how Young Dolph’s girl liked to argue so he “sent the bitch to law school”.

But I think it’s been a minute since a rapper not named Common has just plain said how he loves a woman and why. (I mean sure, you got J. Cole and Drake, but ummm … #ItsComplicated .)

Here, on “Diggin’ You, Dawlin’” (produced by Deon Jenkins aka “Detoxx” of 3DVMX and Green Collar Media), I enlisted my cherished partner-in-rhyme Dwayne B the Crochet Kingpin, who deftly supplied love-laced lines swimming in sincerity as thick and sweet as Southside syrup; almost like poetic pick-up lines said semi-shyly through a mouthful of mambo sauce. (“See I’m prepared to thank my lucky stars / I’ve just been floating out here on lonely Mars / And there’s nothing in between us, Venus, but Earth . . ” ~ DB the CK)

As for me? Well . .

“I’m diggin’ you, dawlin’ / You’re wicked like a fifth of Bacardi / Hittin’ like the spliff of a Marley / Little dimepiece niece, you need to get with the Don / So you could come get this itty bitty piece of New Orleans . . ”

Fun Fact #1: I wrote the first verse of this song in 2003 when I had a crush on a classmate who ended up on America’s Next Top Model, making this song the oldest contribution to #ThisIsThePart. The second oldest was the previous featured track, “A Laughing Matter”, a poem written in 2009.

Fun Fact #2: I have to laugh (and sometimes explain) whenever I perform this song and get to the part about: “It’s Deon, son / Detoxx, young / No relation to Dre’s disc / ‘Cause Peezy’s CD release date’s sacred / Valentine’s Day 2012, honey belle . . ” “Peezy” is short for “Droopeezy”, one of my nicknames, and with these lines I was shouting out the track’s producer, Detoxx, and playing off the title of Dr. Dre’s never-released album which became an urban legend due to its frequently pushed-back release dates. Having just now officially released #ThisIsThePart in 2016, I obviously missed my so-called “sacred” release date. Guess it’s like Snoop said on “F*ck With Dre Day”: “When ya diss Dre, ya diss yaself!”

(Painting courtesy of www.reshadapullenjireh.com .)

“A Benjamin Buttons laugh; old as forever, young as tomorrow . . ”

I wrote this poem in 2009 for a singer on whom I had a “crush”, if you will. I wanted to challenge myself to write a poem about a woman without saying anything about her body. For her, it was easy; not because her body didn’t stand out, but because her unfiltered, fun-filled, comfortably country-assed laughter stood out just as much.

“Distortion To Static”, the song that first put me on to the legendary Roots crew, was a natural choice for the instrumental. Why? “Funny” you should ask.

“Ha ha ha ha ha / ha ha ha ha ha / ha ha ha ha … ” ~ from the hook of “Distortion To Static”

“You laugh like Snoopy … and doggonit, I want to laugh like that … so kiss me … ” ~ from the poem “A Laughing Matter” by Drew Anderson aka Droopy the Broke Baller aka The Druid