Kendrick Lamar G.O.A.T Perhaps?

American Rapper Kendrick Lamar born Kendrick Lamar Duckworth in Compton, California is in my personal opinion one of the greatest rappers of all time and not just in my generation. His musical flow is like none other. He's often stated that his biggest musical influences and top favorite rappers are the late great Tupac Shakur,The Notorious B.I.G, Nas, Jay-Z, Eminem, DMX, Ice Cube and Prodigy of Rap Group Mobb Deep. So far Kendrick has won a total of Seven Grammy Awards as well as received the key to the city of Compton back in the year 2016. Kendrick Lamar has released a total of three studio albums in which two of those three were certified platinum. He is also currently signed to Top Dawg Entertainment and Aftermath Records as well as a member of the rap group BlackHippy alongside fellow labelmates Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q.

Kendrick Lamar first gained recognition from Dr. Dre when the legend heard the song "Ignorance is Bliss" on Kendrick's Mixtape/EP Overly Dedicated back in 2010. Since that moment Kendrick and Dr. Dre has been working together on several of Kendrick's songs and Dre's long-awaited Detox album. In fact Dr. Dre made an appearance on Kendrick's good kid, m.A.A.d city album on songs called The Recipe and Compton; Kendrick himself even made an appearance on Dr Dre's album Compton on the tracks Genocide, Deep Water, and Darkside/Gone.

In Conclusion, Kendrick is one of my favorites is because his punchlines are amazing and he's an innovator as well a great influence and role model on the youth today. Kendrick doesn't drink alcohol or smoke marijuana and although he knows people who "Gangbang", he himself doesn't participate in those activities. Kendrick is rarely involved in Rap beefs but when his name is mentioned he answers back with a dope track of his own. In my honest opinion, I believe that Kendrick Lamar is the King of Hip-Hop and will be on top of the throne for several more years to come.

 

Ice Cube

Recording artist, songwriter, record producer, actor and filmmaker Ice Cube was born O'Shea Jackson Sr. on June 15th,1969 in South Los Angeles, California. He is best known for being apart of the legendary Hip-Hop/Rap Group N.W.A with artists consisting of Eazy-E, DJ Yella, MC Ren, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube during the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Cube is also known for releasing several platinum solo albums such as AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Death Certificate, The Predator, and Lethal Injection among other great albums. Ice Cube is also known for directing, producing and starring in classic such as Boyz N-The Hood with Cuba Gooding Jr., Anaconda, First Sunday with Tracy Morgan, All About the Benjamins with Mike Epps, Ride Along with Kevin Hart, Straight Outta Compton the N.W.A. Biopic in which he Produced and his son O'Shea Jackson Jr starred in the film as his father, and Friday which is argued to be one of the best hood movies ever made.

Before Ice Cube became one of the most famous black actors/film directors/rappers of all time he was apart of one of the most controversial rap groups of all time N.W.A. While he was a member of this group he was said to be the one that wrote most of the lyrics for the group. He was also known for leaving the group first due to the fact that he was being treated unfairly, and that he wasn't getting paid.

Ice Cube is said to be one of the West Coast's Hip-Hop/Rap pioneers. As a solo artist, Cube released nine studio albums and six of those went Platinum. Ice Cube is known for recording hit singles It Was a Good Day, Check Yo Self, You Know How We Do It, and Go to Church.

As an actor he played in several great films. One of my favorites had to be Friday. I say that because in the movie while it taught me several different life lessons it was also well written.

In Conclusion, Ice Cube is one of the most influential people in my eyes mainly because he's come a long way from the bottom to the top of his game.

History of CM Punk Past-Present

CM Punk born Phillip Brooks is a Ex-Professional wrestler now turned MMA fighter for the UFC. CM Punk is known as one of the best wrestlers of all time inside of the wrestling ring and on the microphone; with his most notable incident being the Pipebomb that he dropped on a episode of Monday Night Raw when he came out and sat on the stage and voiced his frustrations about the company. He has wrestled for several different promotions all over the world such as Ring of Honor, Full Impact Pro, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, NWA-TNA which is now Impact Wrestling and perhaps the biggest promotion in Sports Entertainment today World Wrestling Entertainment(WWE). The CM in CM Punk originally stood for Chick Magnet was a tag team he was thrown into at the last minute in the early stages of his career.

What makes Punk one of the best wrestlers of all time is that every single promotion that he's been apart of he has won that promotion's biggest title and held for longer than 100 days. He has had big matches against wrestling legends John Cena, The Undertaker, AJ Styles, Jeff Jarrett, Raven, Sabu, and Colt Cabana who is one of his closest friends.

Before Punk reached the WWE he had spent some time wrestling for several Indy promotions with big name wrestlers like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins, as well as Daniel Bryan. While wrestling on the independent circuit he had won several different championships titles.

In Conclusion, during the year 2014 Punk decided to retire from Professional Wrestling because of several different disputes with Vince McMahon and Triple H. These problems stemmed from Punk feeling as he was being mistreated and that he felt that he deserved more main event opportunities over guys like fan favorite 16 time World Champion John Cena. Now although he was the longest reigning World Champion in the company's history he felt that his career was being wasted so he decided to retire and pursue a career in Mixed Martial Arts with the UFC. During the 2016 calendar year he would finally have his first UFC fight and would end up losing pretty badly in less than 1 minute. The question now remains will CM Punk return to the Octagon for a second fight or will he come out of retirement and return to professional wrestling.

Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions are a sports team in the National Football League.  Detroit Lions.com is their official website. The Detroit Lions are currently owned by Martha Firestone Ford who is the Widow of William Clay Ford. The Lions were originally an organization based out of Portsmouth, Ohio. This organization did not officially move to Detroit, Michigan until the year 1930.

  The Lions who currently holds a all-time record of 551 wins, 654 losses and 32 ties which is not really that good because to this day they still haven't won a Super Bowl Championship. The Lions are also known for either not being able to make it to the playoffs or they will gain a playoff spot then lose in the very first round of the playoffs. During the 2016-2017 season the team showed that they knew how to finish football games and win the game by working hard and limiting the mistakes that were made in the second halves.

In my honest opinion, I believe that the Detroit Lions are getting closer and closer to acquiring all of the pieces to their puzzle so they can make a legitimate run at winning a Super Bowl Title. All they need right now is to bolster their Linebacker position, their running back position and getting another wide receiver.

HBCU's

Historical Black College and Universities are arguably one of the best higher education schools to attend. HBCU's were created because before the Civil War, higher education for African American students was virtually nonexistent. In fact some were forced to teach themselves entirely. Some schools for elementary and secondary training existed, such as the Institute for Colored Youth, a school started in the early 1830s by a group of Philadelphia Quakers. Growing up I always had dreams of attending an HBCU because I loved the Greeks, the band and the different atmosphere of the campus. Also, a lot of famous black actors and actresses have attended HBCUs.

 
 The Institute for Colored Youth, was the first higher education institution for blacks, was founded in Cheyney, Pennsylvania, in 1837. It was then followed by two other black institutions--Lincoln University, in Pennsylvania (1854), and Wilberforce University, in Ohio (1856) which is now called Central State University. Today there are a total of 107 HBCUs in the United States, including public and private institutions, community and four-year institutions, medical and law schools.

HBCUs are considered second chance schools in my honest opinion. In my three years at Lane College I've noticed so many tell me about how they used to attend big schools such as University of Memphis, Ole Miss, and other Division 1 schools.

In Conclusion,  I would recommend students to attend an HBCU because there are so many opportunities for everyone who wants to get involved, and chances to get a good education.

Fashion in Hip-Hop

The fashion game has evolved and changed over the 21 years that I have been on this planet called Earth. Where I grew up at people in my neighborhood wore Fila, Champion, Nike, Adidas, and Reebok among other big name clothing and shoe brands. Many musicians revolutionized and paved the way for having their very own clothes and shoes. At a young age I remember clothing lines like Rocawear, Phat Farm, Sean John. Rapper clothing lines/brands were a rarity once upon a time. Nowadays it seems like rappers get a clothing line as soon as they get a deal, which is unfortunate. Rappers are very busy people and it's hard being a great artist in two demanding industries. Only a few have been able to pull it off. Some simply put their name behind a clothing line to make a quick buck which in turn diminishes their personal brand because the clothes are so very. Faithful fans will rock their clothes even though kids nowadays make fun of them in school. Clothing labels like Rocawear, FUBU, Phat Farm and Wu-Wear has paved the way for rappers to be viewed not simply as recording artists, but as trendsetters, innovators and successful businessmen.

Perhaps the earliest embodiment of hip-hop’s embracing a more “inspirational” aesthetic was the adoption of “preppy” brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, and Polo Ralph Lauren. This was matched with an interest in luxury labels like Louis Vuitton and Gucci, Balmain, Prada, and Burberry. Nowadays rappers like A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, Travis Scott, don't just rock fancy clothes they also model clothing for big brands such as Gucci, Prada, Dior, Maison Martin Margiela, and HBA, Rick Owens, Yves Saint Laurent, and Moncler.

Between the years of 2000 and 2008 fashion in the rap game was at its high point. During this time rappers like 50 Cent had his own style which consisted of wearing tank-tops, New York Yankee fitted hats with the white wave cap underneath, baggy jeans, and bulletproof vests. Then you also had guys wearing really big white t-shirts, Grills in their mouth, big chains around their necks, and Nike Air Force One shoes.

The way this new generation is setup is that they so many more different brands to choose from. I also believe that most artists receive free stuff from the foreign expensive companies. I see so many artists today wearing skinny pants, $1,000+ sneakers, custom fitted suits and skirts.

Professional Wrestling Then Vs Now

Wrestling is not what you think

The sport of Professional Wrestling has evolved so much over the past thirty plus years. Growing up there were only three major well known promotions/companies in existence. Those Companies were World Championship Wrestling, Japan's New Japan Pro Wrestling, Mexico's Lucha Libre AAA, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment which was owned by Vince McMahon. Back in the day wrestling was dominated by wrestlers such as Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat, Bruno Sammartino, Macho Man Randy Savage, Sting, Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger, Harley Race, Junkyard Dog, The Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair, Killer Kowalski, among other legends.

Growing up I enjoyed watching wrestlers such as The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kane, AJ Styles, John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Ric Flair, Sting, Vampiro, Konnan, Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Booker T, Kurt Angle, The Hardy Boyz, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sabu, Terry Funk, Randy Orton, Chris Benoit,  and Chris Jericho.