TheLegendsLeague

(Watch the video first. Read the post later.)

Years back, my boy NaNa took me to York University to recite some spoken word poetry at an open mic. It was one of my first ‘performances’ ever.. and it was difficult as hell. There, while my nerves were shaking me crazy, I shared space in a room with Ian Kamau - someone who I then, only knew as Kamau. His performance was incredible and captivating. His voice held the attention of the entire room in an eerie way that had us all watching and waiting on his every word. He was (and is) the most amazing poet I had ever seen live. And he changed and inspired my way of writing until this day.

I since have come to know Kamau on a little bit more of a friendship basis. We worked together in TheRemixProject office and shared conversations and thoughts on many things. He taught and showed me how he built a table. I showed him that I would do my best to also build one. His was better but he never laughed too hard at mine. (:

There were so many times when I’d leave Remix, or he would leave Remix and my thoughts would circle somewhere in the sphere of “the world may not ever know the genius of that man”… honestly.

His writing is brilliant. His personality is calm. His performances are refreshing. And his new album is coming out in 2009.

For all you smart dumb motherfuckers, you may remember Kamau from k-os’ albums. For all you followers and readers of TheLegendsLeague, you may remember him from the bonus track on TheLegendsLeague Vol 2.5.

Tonight, I went on my facebook and saw that he had posted this video posted on my wall. I clicked it. I watched it. And now I’m doing what needs to be done in showing it to as many people as I can.

Kamau - you’re a huge inspiration to me, and to many of your peers. Believe me. Thank you for everything that you do to represent yourself and help us see into how beautiful your mind, and your ability to interpret some of the ugliest realities, is. We are really, really blessed to have you around brother. From the most honest place in my heart, to You, homey.

Check him out HERE and listen to Renaissance, please. (thanks Gav).

“We’ll never have a Renaissance
‘Cus we stand and point our finger
But we’re all confused.

- Ian Kamau

Welcome To TheLegendsLeague

(Photo of me looking in my bathroom mirror right after putting my old earrings back in.)

I woke up on Christmas morning and realized that the earring in my right lobe was missing. I was a little upset, but I’m used to this type of shit happening and expected to find it very soon. I spent the day with my daughter and when I left to go home, the earring in my left lobe fell out too!!! WTF, right?! I recovered that one and put it back in before hopping in a cab home.

For those of you who know me and/or have seen me before, you’ll know that I have my earlobes stretched to about a 4 gauge. This is actually a lower gauge than I was at before my last arrest where my earlobe was ripped in a fight and I was unable to wear anything in my left ear. Don’t worry, it didn’t rip right out, so relax. lol. I decided to let it heal and sized down to a 4 from a 0.

So I get home and I look in my bathroom cabinet for my old jewelry so that I can have a pair in my ears. And what do I see? My OLD, OLD zero gauge earrings from about 5 years ago. And what did Bryan do next? He put those motherfuckers in.I miss that adrenaline. I miss it a lot.

And it felt guuud as a motherfucker.

Here’s to Adrenaline.. Once Again..

TheLegendsLeague + DJ Mensa Present:
Layer Cake - A Motivational Mixtape
Acknowledgement | Advice | Actualization

Download the full mix HERE

I’ve known Dustin, aka DJ Mensa for about 20 years now. We went to grade school together, where we were always homies, either at a distance or walking home daily type shit. We went to the same high school, our parents were friends, he even lived on my street at one point.

As time passed, I got into b-boying, and I remember using old ass record players and 45’s in my basement trying to learn how to DJ with the rest of my crew. He and another friend of ours at the time, Jarett, picked up 1200’s and took their career choices from there. I couldn’t save a dime to get a set and kept dancing until my daughter was born and life really started to change.

I love that we’re both out here in Toronto doing our thing. We’ve reconnected as friends through our professions. He held us down week after week at Chinadoll during the early stages of TheLegendsLeague, and has been a real big brother figure to me through my troubles and struggles over the past couple years.

I’ve always wanted him to do a mixtape for TheLegendsLeague, and we had been meaning to drop one with a few other DJ’s almost a year ago. Most of them flopped, but Mensa gave me a short mix called, “The Layer Cake”. It was about 30 mins of tracks and interludes that got me on some real introspective shit about my life and my moves. To hear a mixtape like this from someone who has seen every aspect of me and knows me on a personal level, means a lot.

He put a lot into this and sent me a finalized version this morning. While listening to it, I did this cover art based on the line, “This is food for thought, you do the dishes”. The yellow is inspired by the film entitled, “Layer Cake”.

Here’s how Mensa broke it down:

This is the Layer Cake, a motivational mixtape. Over the years, hip-hop music has been able to communicate so much to me on so many levels, that it was only right for me to select the brightest gems out of the bunch and compile them for the masses.

Actualization:
N*E*R*D - PROVIDER
SIZZLA - BE STRONG
COLLIE BUDDZ - BLIND TO YOU
2PAC - KEEP YOUR HEAD UP
JAY-Z - ANYTHING
KANYE WEST - LAST CALL
NOTORIOUS B.I.G. FT. 112 - SKY’S THE LIMIT
LUDACRIS FT. COMMON & SPIKE LEE - DO THE RIGHT THANG

To all my homies and honeys… Turn your volume up to eleven and party to this shit with me real quick!

Neb, whattup!?

Whatchu say yo name was again?
And I know you from where?
Elementary school?
I don’t know you maaaaaaaaaaaaan!

a: “Where’ve you been, Bry?”
be.: “I’ve been right here… waiting for the world to arrive.”

I find it kind of funny,
I find it kind of sad,
the dreams in which I’m dying
are the best I’ve ever had.

I find it hard to tell you,
I find it hard to take,
when people run in circles.
It’s a very, very
mad world.

Welcome To TheLegendsLeague

15 Years ago today, “3 days” turned into 2 weeks of growing up too fast, 8 boys, 8 girls, no shoelaces, no belts, no standing at the table, tapped phone calls, abuse, growth, self help, council, love, fear, strapped to mattresses, no daylight, no physical contact, a young girl, younger than my daughter, who dreamed of burning herself to death, and a level of understanding of this world that is irreplaceable for me now, and me then, at 12 years old.

I met Aaron. And Billy. And Jorge. And Heather. And Charlene. And all the others. And I hope that they have taken the control over their lives that they deserve to have. We fucking deserve this all. We deserve it. You fucking hear me?

When I say that this world is not for me, maybe I mean that my world is just not for you to understand.

Today also marks the anniversary of the death of my Auntie Remy.
We Love & Miss You.

This track speaks volumes on where my head is at.

Take it in…
No codes here.

What I’m searching for,
to tell it straight,
I’m trying to build a wall.
Walking by myself
down avenues
that reek of time to kill.
If you see me
keep going
be a pass by waver.
Build me up, bring me down,
just leave me out,
you name dropper.
Stop trying to catch my eye,
I see you good,
you forced faker.
Just make it easy,
You’re my enemy,
you fast talker.

Change, change, change, change.
I want to get up out of my skin.
Tell you what,
if I can shake it
I’m ‘a make this
something worth dreaming of…

Welcome To TheLegendsLeague
.the only thing that matters in only a matter of years.

I posted the Santogold / Dip Lo mix a few months back. Loving Hov’s flow on this.

Jay-Z ft. Santogold - Brooklyn Go Hard

“I brooklyn dodger them,
I jack, I rob, I sin
Amen.
I’m Jackie Robinson,
except when I run base
I dodge the pen.”

Brooklyn Go Hard - Jay-Z feat. Santo Gold

(Repeat may be very necessary.)

I was introduced to Jose Gonzalez by my good friend, Gavin Sheppard - my brother, whom I miss very, very much. This song has since been the conversation piece and background for talks at work with my boss, friend, and mentor, Ben Shirinian, and the motivation to go see Jose perform live with my old friend, David Guenette. (We missed the show, Dave. But we’ll enjoy the view from the crowd sometime in the near future). It is a song that makes me think about old friendships that I wish to revisit, a new brotherhood with my boy, William Nguyen, and the growth that has come from my relationship with my lady, and love, Stacey. It’s the song that makes me feel the warmth of sharing laughter with my daughter, Saren-Sol, seeing her grow, and learn, and become the greatest teacher I’ve had. It plays the music that crushes my heart when thinking about Kevin, about crying at his funeral while Andrew held me tight, and sobbed out, “why”, while we watched 4 caskets pass at Josip’s funeral - his mother, his sister, his father’s funeral, all on that summer afternoon. It is the music of us, at 14 and 15 years old, questioning this world, and again, wondering why our fathers were as they were.. and not like theirs. It speaks to my love for my sister, Zaki Ibrahim - how she has always spoken to me directly, with nods, and stares, on the front porch and rooftop, staring into the ‘why-the-fucks’ of our frustrations and coming out with only this - ‘I need you to remember to love yourself as much as I love you. Okay?’. yes. (say yes). It’s what makes me remember waking up to you, tubes and machines hooking me up to something alive, and you saying - ‘I thought I was never going to see you again. Not like this’. And you won’t. I promise. It’s what makes me saying “I’m glad I don’t have to lie about the good words I put towards him as a man, and I won’t have to lie about missing him” hurt a little more inside. Because I know that is what we all meant. Not only on that afternoon in April, but everyday he was with us. It’s what makes me understand what having Jay around means. And what makes me realize that I may never know Junior again. It is me in your father’s bathroom, on the floor in tears, because Loyan was not just everyone else. It’s me crumbling to the floor when I saw you on the news. When I got the phone call from Jay and said, “….no…..not Mikey“. And when we finally spoke on the phone. I only needed to know that you were okay. It’s what makes me feel young knowing that he’s free, and we grew up side by side.. until I went away at 12, and finally met him. Thank you, Aaron. It’s me saying, “I am sorry”. For the corkscrew in the elevator, the kick in the face in the parking lot, and choking him at the bar. I am sorry. For the crushed ribs, and strangling her on the freeway. For robbing your father because I needed money for alcohol. For stealing his jewellery to run to the pawn shop. And for watching it all turn to dust. I am sorry. It’s what makes me remember the feeling of Chris‘ couch, us sitting, reading poetry that we both knew would someday be published and celebrated by the world. His mother asked us for a sip. And we shared. It’s me walking in the center of the road, tears in my eyes and 2 pints in my hands, and speaking with an officer who was concerned more about how I felt than taking me to jail. It’s not wanting to be home, in thousand dollar outfits, slumped behind fences in back alleys trying to find sleep. It is the music that speaks to the father I now have, who not only raised me with a firm hand, but has learned when change is important, and that truth is what hurts the most - and heals the best. It is the fact that I don’t know what to say of my mother. It helps me remember having a day pass, and you hugging me, crying, and telling me you missed me when they took me back. I love you too. It is us together in the basement. And me walking 5 hours to your house at 11 years old, when you moved. It brings me to every place I need to be when I am looking for inspiration, to every moment that meant anything of influence in my life. And it carries me through every emotion I need it to. But most importantly, it brings me back to you. It is what helps me say, I am sorry, but this is over. Because it doesn’t feel right. It is what helped me say, this needs to begin.. because I am tired of feeling wrong.

When I think of everything that has happened, I am never at a loss to create. I am never at a void or sensation of emptiness. My experiences, my life - it is full. It is the motivation for why TheLegendsLeague is important to me. It is the people, the experiences, the lessons that I have learned, all wrapped into everything I write, draw, design, and present to you.. in hopes that you may be able to learn, relate, but most importantly, share with others. And for this, I am grateful. And I thank you.

Love&Respect as usual,
bryan.

if your name is not mentioned and you feel disrespected, it probably means one of two things - you need to hear it to know that I care, or it should not have been mentioned in the first place. where do you stand?

I had never seen the video for this song, which is one of my favorites off of Junior Jack’s Trust It album. I used to have this shit on repeat when it first came out and actually had this playing in the whip right before I got my first salary paying job. The whole album is crack if you’re into house/electronica, or you’re a dancer. This track reminds me of going to afterhours spots here in Toronto with my old co-worker and friend, Dave Angelson. His musical knowledge is endless and he taught me so much about being more refined and letting go of my past. Hopefully one day I’ll take heed. We spent some dope nights illin’ and dancing til the wee hours and then talking about it the next day at work when I was still at HMV. I’ll post a Classic House mix he gave me real soon.

Go pick this album up if you don’t already have it.

I apologize if the video offends any of ya’LL, I just thought the song would help get your Monday going a little bit.

Listen to every single word. Please. One of my all-time favorite Hip-Hop tracks by one of my all-time favorite emcees.

I LOVE YOU GUYS! ALL OF YA!!

Have a good weekend.

peace.
be.